Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

Be a wild strawberry.

He really is that stupid.

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

Quote tweet friends, screenshot enemies.

The words do not have to be perfect.

The lights are all blinking red.

Prediction: the gop will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

Relentless negativity is not a sign that you are more realistic.

Beware of advice from anyone for whom Democrats are “they” and not “we.”

Text STOP to opt out of updates on war plans.

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

America is going up in flames. The NYTimes fawns over MAGA celebrities. No longer a real newspaper.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

Not loving this new fraud based economy.

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires.

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

Fight for a just cause, love your fellow man, live a good life.

How stupid are these people?

The press swings at every pitch, we don’t have to.

You cannot love your country only when you win.

Polls are now a reliable indicator of what corporate Republicans want us to think.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Today’s Vote for Senior Drama Club President

Today’s Vote for Senior Drama Club President

by | 201 Comments

This post is in: 

Pastor Mike Johnson is taking another run at the speakership this afternoon, and it’s going to be lit.  He’s got a one-vote margin to play with, since Thomas Massie has decided not to vote for him already.  His reasoning is pure MAGA:

“I’m a single man now. I’ve lost my wife, and she was probably the nicest part of me,” he said. “What do I have to lose?”

Massie won’t say how much if any support he has for ousting Johnson, or disclose his plans for an alternative speaker, other than to say he will vote for a person, not just vote “present.”

“I’m a selfish asshole and my long-suffering wife is no longer around to curb my asshole tendencies, so here we are” is every old white MAGAt widower or divorcee.  (That link is to Evan Hurst’s piece at Wonkette, which is good.)

The Post runs down the possibilities, [gift link] which include some members voting “present” to give Johnson a smaller majority requirement, and other possibilities like the House passing a rule requiring less than a majority to elect the Speaker.  The latter seems pretty far-fetched, because why would a Freedom Caca member who hates Johnson vote for a rule that would basically elect him?  Another option is a Speaker who isn’t a member of the House, but, again, you have to get these cats herded together to vote for that person, and some clown like Vivek or Elon who has no knowledge of the rules of the House would be a tactically terrible choice.  (Elon would do it for about two seconds since it’s a full-time job and he has other places to ruin.)

There’s also the possibility that lack of a Speaker could lead to issues with the certification of the election, but there are stopgaps for that.  (By the way, this is a good litmus test for any news source you’re following. If they mention this possibility without saying it probably won’t happen, they’re not reliable, IMO.). And there are also stopgaps for authorizing Jimmy Carter to lie in state, but that’s in danger, too, until the clown car picks a driver.

One of my interests in looking at the roll calls is the absentees.  I think there are a few members who are in poor health who might not vote (though they may be able to give their proxy to someone).  I want to do some research into that, since reps who can’t vote consistently are going to be an issue for both caucuses when the margin to pass any legislation, if they manage to elect a Speaker, is two votes.

(I was able to cancel my Guardian subscription, and my cancelled Post subscription doesn’t run out for a couple of months, so you’ll be getting some Post links, which require a sign-in.  It’s not a perfect media world and I’m still looking for the paywall-free decent source for “just the facts” news.)

Reader Interactions

201Comments

  1. 1.

    Geminid

    I read yesterday that all 215(?) Democratic Representatives are expected to attend today’s session.

  2. 2.

    Doug R

    Their problem with lowering the vote to a plurality is that we’d probably get Speaker Jeffries.

  3. 3.

    @mistermix.bsky.social

    @Geminid: Hope so.  Quick research shows that proxy voting is part of the rules package and each session of the House doesn’t have rules until it passes the rules package, after a Speaker is elected.

  4. 4.

    Bill Hicks

    Is there something wrong with the Guardian that caused mistermix to cancel his subscription? I thought it was considered to be pretty good like NPR and not as bad as the NY Times, but I miss all kinds of things. Also, I assume everyone knows that Guardian does not have a paywall.

  5. 5.

    Suzanne

    I’m still looking for the paywall-free decent source for “just the facts” news.

    A reminder that archive.ph is there for you!

  6. 6.

    Geminid

     

     

    @Geminid: Politico reported this yesterday in an article titled “House Democrats Expect Full Attendence Ahead of Speaker Vote.”

  7. 7.

    Jeffg166

    The felon with his “mandate” can call every freedom caucus member and tell them he wants Johnson. Are they going to say no?  Doubtful.

  9. 9.

    Geminid

    @Jeffg166: Trump probably can’t persuade Massie but I think the rest of the Republican Caucus will go along, if only because it’s in their own individual and collective interests. There really is no viable alternative anyway

    Ed. Trump publically endorsed Johnson on Monday. Then, noted political strategist Elon Musk chimed in and endorsed Johnson as well.

  10. 10.

    Scout211

    Nice title, mistermix.  Senior Drama Club president is *chef’s kiss.*

    The whole thing (to me) smacks as a prearranged moment of “heroic drama” as the much maligned Speaker Pastor overcomes the odds and triumphs to become the SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE!!!111!  The cameras are rolling! The media is focused! He’s the MAN OF THE MOMENT!

    Not interested in the manufactured drama.  Let me know when it’s over.  Zzzzzzz.

  13. 13.

    Jeffro

    apologies for focusing on the least important part of all this but…Massie loses his wife and that, somehow, is what’s making him foil MAGA/trumpov?

    (btw after some Googling, it’s truly weird – she passed away this past summer, cause of death undisclosed.  which apparently set off all of the MAGA conspiracy theorists)

    anyway, I don’t wish ill on any of the House GOP or their spouses, but I do hope that some of them, somehow, see the light and put their country ahead of their party

  14. 14.

    Old School

    There’s also the possibility that lack of a Speaker could lead to issues with the certification of the election, but there are stopgaps for that.

    The “stopgap” mentioned by the Post article is the House electing a temporary speaker.

    I’m not sure how plausible that idea is.

  15. 15.

    Scout211

    @Jeffro: My Congressman’s wife died a few years ago (Tom Mc Clintock *spit*)  and there was a similar radio silence on her cause of death for a long time.  Local news finally announced over a year later that she died of dehydration an gastroenteritis after taking an herbal/dietary supplement.  Link

  16. 16.

    Steve LaBonne

    @PaulWartenberg: Their US political commentary is very Berniebro oriented and not much use for understanding how politics actually works, but the straight news coverage is very good.

  19. 19.

    Geminid

    @Jeffro: Massie has always been a contrarian, especially when it comes to foreign policy. Plenty of Republicans oppose aid for Ukraine, but Massie opposes aid for Israel as well and that’s unusual for a Republican. Ed. Massie has cited both those issues as reasons he opposes Johnson.

  21. 21.

    @mistermix.bsky.social

    The Guardian didn’t make the media list in the thread WG posted a while back due to a couple of anti-trans editorials by the Observer editor.  So I’m respecting that. No other reason. I’m on my phone or I’d find the link.

  22. 22.

    Jeffro

    @Scout211: it’s just odd.

    oh well, we’ll hear more about it eventually.

    @Geminid: also odd.

    Perhaps he has some sort of fantasyland in his mind where the richest nation in the world just…sits on its wealth, yet is still somehow able to influence other nations, ensure its security, etc, without spending a dime.

  23. 23.

    Torrey

    It’s not a perfect media world and I’m still looking for the paywall-free decent source for “just the facts” news.

    OK, but there really isn’t such a thing as “just the facts” news. Humans are narrative-creating animals, and any collection of facts or sequence of events will be presented in such a way as to structure or encourage/allow readers to structure a narrative, to emphasize some, to view some sequences as causal, others as simply sequential, because that’s how we think. I’m reminded of the mental gymnastics readers have to go through to think like a “Fair Witness” in Stranger in a Strange Land. (If you haven’t read it, don’t run right out for a copy–it’s really not that good.) Character A points out a house at some distance that was recently repainted and asks what color it is. Character B replies, “It’s white.” The Fair Witness says, “it’s white on this side.”

    I agree that reporters tend to “go for the narrative” and are sometimes trained to do what is sometimes called “writing for story.” But I don’t know if it’s possible for that not to happen, one way or another.

  24. 24.

    Steve LaBonne

    @@mistermix.bsky.social: The Scott Trust is in the (controversial) process of selling off the Observer (though it will retain a minority stake). I see little reason to tar the Guardian with whatever sins the editor of the Observer has committed.

  26. 26.

    slybrarian

    I don’t really expect the same kind of extended drama as happened with McCarthy, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it took a couple votes just so the crazies can show they mean business and extract some concessions. If nothing else they’re also really lazy and have weekend plans. I think there may be some performative ‘presents’ too.

    Then again, we’re dealing with several kinds of weirdos who may not be working together and so we may end up with conflicting promises and rotating groups of ‘no’ votes. Locally, who knows what Victoria Spartz (R-Cornfields) is going to do, since she performatively flounced from the caucus for what seems like a mix of spite and a desire not to have to actually do anything.

  28. 28.

    Jackie

    @Suzanne:

    A reminder that archive.ph is there for you!

    Do I replace part of the original url address with archive.ph? Or what are the actual steps?

  33. 33.

    Steve LaBonne

    @Old School: And I just noted the problem with that. I am on the Guardian site regularly and I have yet to see any transphobic content, even though the current wave of virulent transphobia in the UK almost makes the US look tolerant by comparison.

  35. 35.

    Suzanne

    @Jackie: Very easy! You navigate to archive.ph, and then copy/paste the link you want to read into it and hit save. I have sometimes had to delete some of the junk at the end of the link (everything after .html) if I follow the link from social media.

    Another weird thing I have noticed is that the headlines sometimes change in the “archived” version relative to the “real” version.

  36. 36.

    kindness

    @Bill Hicks: “pretty good like NPR”

    Ohhh.  Just Ohhhh!  Nice Polite Republicans hasn’t been good since Bush II.  I stopped giving them money in the 00’s.

  39. 39.

    TBone

    Mike Osmand

    ‘Wake Me Up Before You Go Go’ by Wham was released nearer to the end of the Second World War than to today. Happy New Year everyone!

  43. 43.

    TBone

    I’m remembering the meme or quote that said “Mike Johnson always look likes somebody just remotely activated his butt plug” and now I can’t unsee it…

  46. 46.

    Geminid

    @Jeffro: Rep. Massie seems to be an Isolationist through-and-tvrough. That’s a strong strain now in the Republican Party base, but not that many Congressional Republicans are so absolutist. Senator Rand Paul might be.

    Massie represents Kentucky’s 4th CD. It runs east from the Louisville suburbs along the Ohio River. It’s rated R+17, so Massie may be around for a while since he’s 53 years old.

    A Balloon Juice commenter, “Le Comte…” lives in the 4th and was fairly disgusted with his Congressman. Le Comte hasn’t commented for quite a while now; I hope he’s Ok.

  47. 47.

    TBone

    Seen at crooksandliars

    District Judge Lewis Liman refused Rudy Giuliani’s request to not appear for Friday’s defamation case hearings for supposed “medical reasons” stemming from… wait for it… the World Trade Center attack on 9/11.

    “I do not recall a time when the disbarred Giuliani ever used “lung issues” deriving from Ground Zero as an excuse not to do anything. This creep flew to multiple states while holding many fake hearings with Trump supporters to attempt overturn the free and fair election of 2020.

    This is a slap in the face of every first responder who has suffered…”

    crooksandliars.com/2025/01/giuliani-fails-using-911-try-and-skip-out

  50. 50.

    zhena gogolia

    @Steve LaBonne: I canceled my subscription because of their coverage of US politics. My impression was that there was a paywall after a few articles read, but BJ commenters assure me I’m wrong. I’ll bow to that. I never try to read them any more.

  53. 53.

    TBone

    Rupar (video at link):

    Mike Johnson says terrorist attacks like the one in New Orleans are a top national security concern “especially when you have an open border,” then in the next breath acknowledges there’s no direct correlation between the New Orleans attack and the border

    bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3letznbi3qc2y

  54. 54.

    Steve LaBonne

    On the OP topic- if Johnson falls by the wayside, we should have a betting pool on how many ballots it will take them to elect a successor. I’ll go with 100.

  57. 57.

    Scout211

    @rikyrah: 

    Some details  from AP

    Livelsberger had recently returned from an overseas assignment in Germany and was on approved leave when he died, according to a U.S. official.

    A law enforcement official said investigators learned through interviews that he may have gotten into a fight with his wife about relationship issues shortly before he rented the Tesla and bought the guns. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation.

    Among the charred items found inside the truck were a handgun at Livelsberger’s feet, another firearm, a number of fireworks, a passport, a military ID, credit cards, an iPhone and a smartwatch, McMahill said. Authorities said both guns were purchased legally.

    Investigators identified the vehicle’s driver — who was burned beyond recognition — as Livelsberger, of Colorado Springs, on Thursday. The cause of death was suicide by gunshot, according to the Clark County coroner.

    Livelsberger served in the Green Berets, highly trained special forces who work to counter terrorism abroad and train partners. He had served in the Army since 2006, rising through the ranks with a long career of overseas assignments, deploying twice to Afghanistan and serving in Ukraine, Tajikistan, Georgia and Congo, the Army said.

    He was awarded a total of five Bronze Stars, including one with a valor device for courage under fire, a combat infantry badge and an Army Commendation Medal with valor.

  60. 60.

    rikyrah

    Did we even discuss this?

    I honestly don’t know what is there to discuss.

    An online chat of 70.000 men…who shared stories, videos, tips of how they were sexually assaulting wives, and other family members.

    70,000?

    I can’t put into words how …the chills I got just reading the story…… I mean, the actual revulsion I felt, reading the story…

  63. 63.

    Scout211

    @Steve LaBonne: Since we are doing fantasies, how about some Republican making a big f*ck-up in their vote and we have two years of Speaker Jeffries.  One can dream.

  64. 64.

    Geminid

    @Steve LaBonne: Man, if Johnson goes down, electing someone else could be like solving a 20-sided Rubic’s Cube.

    I think Johnson will get the job. It might go 2 or 3 ballots though if Chip Roy and/or someone else joins Massie in opposition on the first ballot. Roy likes to bluster but he’ll likely fall in line eventually. If Johnson can’t win early though, this could go on quite a while.

  65. 65.

    hrprogressive

    @Torrey: ​
     

    The problem is that, in many cases, “news outlets” have often gone out of their way to frame stories in a way that, at first glance, might appear “objective”, but in reality, is in fact narrative-setting by virtue of lying by omission.

    Consider a few years back when the Associated Press put out a style guide tweet or series of tweets talking about “avoiding use of the phrase ‘Officer-Involved Shooting’ without additional details about who, what, why, etc”.

    Consider the following hypothetical “headlines”

    “Officer-Involved Shooting at McDonald’s Leaves 1 Dead, 1 Injured”

    The above tells me virtually nothing, other, other than very basic information.

    Now, consider two possible scenarios:

    “Attempted Robbery at McDonald’s, 1 suspect killed by police, one officer injured in shootout”

    “Police kill unarmed motorist in McDonald’s parkint lot, after traffic stop, passenger injured by police gunfire”

    Both of those fictitious headlines would be, IMO, pretty objective accounts of two very different hypothetical scenarios.

    Is it likely that there is zero way to tell either tale that doesn’t evoke *some* reaction by someone somewhere?

    Probably not.

    But in today’s modern landscape, it is much more likely that the first hypothetical headline gets published, and the second one either doesn’t, or gets so watered down that the facts are obscured.

    Why?

    Because the second one, even if it objectively true, and accurate, paints the cops in a bad light. And today’s “journalism” is owned by corprofascist Shareholders who don’t want the public to turn on them or the cops, who protect their wealth.

    So, it’s much more likely that the facts of the incident will be obfuscated for sociopolitical reasons.

    But, the thing is

    The public deserves to know the facts at hand, whatever they are.

    That’s the type of journalism we should be demanding, and receiving.

    And we don’t get it.

    And it basically exists like this for virtually every story out there that would “afflict the comfortable”.

    So. Yeah.

  67. 67.

    different-church-lady

    We should all keep in mind the absence of Big Head Matt, the head clown of the previous circus. Without that agent of chaos the show might not be nearly as big.

  68. 68.

    rikyrah

    @rikyrah:

     

    Telegram ‘rape chat groups’ with up to 70,000 members uncovered Jorg Luyken Thu, December 19, 2024 at 8:24 AM CST

     

    Thousands of men are participating in chat groups in which they share suggestions on how to rape and sexually assault women, a German investigation has revealed.

     

    The groups, on the instant messaging service Telegram, have as many as 70,000 members who mostly communicate with one another in English and appear to come from a variety of countries.

     

    Users claimed to have assaulted women in their household, including wives, partners, sisters and mothers, and also shared instructions with others on how to do the same.

     

    https://www.yahoo.com/news/telegram-rape-chat-groups-70-142422399.html

  69. 69.

    artem1s

    @TBone: He hasn’t tried the old Noun, plus a Verb = 911 in a while now.  He’s really getting desperate. Too bad his bedroom at MAL has been taken over by another of TCF’s brown noses. Hope Elmo ends up just like Rudy did – broke and begging for a place to live.

  70. 70.

    Belafon

    @kindness: So you’re why they’re declining? /sarc

    I feel that Democrats pulling funding for things that require public support just causes those sources to slide into an oligarch’s hands. There might have been a time where you could pull your funding as punishment, but we just watched Musk throw $44B at twitter to bend it to his will.

  71. 71.

    randy khan

    @Scout211: The more embarrassing the reason for the death, the more likely it is to be kept quiet.  This is true as a general matter (something I particularly remember from the early days of AIDS, when parents often would not acknowledge that their sons were gay, let along that they’d died of the Gay Disease), but is especially true for people in the public eye who can get away with it.

  73. 73.

    lowtechcyclist

    From the WaPo, MTG is against “drama.”  I LOL’d.

    Shortly before the speaker vote, President-elect Donald Trump posted a video of Georgia Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene voicing her support for Mike Johnson as speaker and calling for the end of “drama.”

  77. 77.

    Peale

    @Bill Hicks: It also could be that he grew tired of the movie and TV book reviews that start “This thing that you’re enjoying is actually awful and you’re a bad person for enjoying it”. Guardian cultural criticism can get a bit tiresome after awhile. If I want to be told that I’m a horrible person without any taste, I can just visit my mom.

  80. 80.

    Scout211

    @Jeffro:

    An X post from a news reporter at WDRB on 10/5/2024

    Cause of death for Rhonda Massie: “Respiratory complications of chronic autoimmune myopathy (exact type/etiology unknown). The death is contributed to by multiple additional autoimmune diseases.”

    She died on June 27 in Scioto Co. Ohio

  83. 83.

    Baud

    Joe Katz‬ ‪@joekatz45.bsky.social‬
    ·
    34s
    Reply to Joe Katz
    The clerk just announced officially Matt Gaetz will not serve in the 119th Congress and people started applauding, lol

  84. 84.

    lowtechcyclist

    @rikyrah:

    Did we even discuss this?

    I honestly don’t know what is there to discuss.

    An online chat of 70.000 men…who shared stories, videos, tips of how they were sexually assaulting wives, and other family members.

    70,000?

    I can’t put into words how …the chills I got just reading the story…… I mean, the actual revulsion I felt, reading the story…

    Other than saying “holy fucking shit,” I’m speechless.

  85. 85.

    wjca

    @zhena gogolia: My impression was that there was a paywall after a few articles read

    The way you get around that is pretty straightforward.  The way they track how many articles you have read is with a cookie.  It increments a counter each time you open an article.  So,

    • Always open an article using the “open in incognito tab” option (however your browser does that).
    • When you close the tab, poof! the cookie gets deleted.
    • Next time you go to an article you generate a brand new cookie, so it looks like your first ever article read.

    Alternatively, you can just go in and delete your accumulated cookies.  The down side of that being some cookies may impact stuff you want.  So better to go with the incognito approach.

  87. 87.

    TBone

    @Ben Cisco: 🎯 I’m so fond of Four Seasons Total Landscaping and also the habit dye rivulets incident, those are consoling when I see any reference to his pathetic… patheticness.  When he held one of his phony election hearings here in PA with that blonde asshole lady from NJ spouting off, I almost swore off the Internet/all news.

  90. 90.

    Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony

    @Baud:

    Alabama, where a third of the population is black, will have 2 black representatives in Congress at the same time for the first time in U.S. history.

    Some ‘good ole boys’ will be good n’ mad. I think its about time.

  93. 93.

    Geminid

    @Baud: Alabama’s second majority-Black District resulted from a lawsuit under the Voting Rights Act.I believe thesame is trye for anotgwe seat on Louisiana.

    Virginia’s 4th CD was redrawn after a successful VRA lawsuit. The late Dan McEachin won it the new 4th in 2016, znd Rep. Jennifer McClellan holds it now.

  96. 96.

    Motivated Seller

    …which include some members voting “present”…

    Seriously? You have one job!  If you can’t make the call for the 3rd-in-line to the Presidency, move out and make room for somebody that will.

    Must be nice to do F-all and still get paid.

  100. 100.

    Baud

    I’m enthusiastically endorsing Ben Wikler for DNC chair because I know him and he knows how to win. Ben and his team have been organizing and communicating all over, nonstop, in a tough state. Tammy Baldwin won. 14 state legislative flips. Let’s do this everywhere.
    — Brian Schatz (@schatz.bsky.social) Jan 3, 2025 at 1:01 PM

  101. 101.

    TBone

    Nothing is ever gonna make sense ever again, is it.

    ‘Pro-Life’ Texas Just Did Away With Car Safety Inspections

    Despite the state’s notoriously dangerous roads, the Texas legislature decided safety inspections were just too inconvenient.

    The latest case in point is the state of Texas repealing requirements for safety inspections for noncommercial vehicles, as of Jan. 1. The fee remains part of a vehicle’s registration cost, though.

  102. 102.

    Kay

    There will be fewer women in Congress this term for the first time in 46 years.

    Women in the US are really lurching backward – it’s a real shame for those of us who voted for progress for our daughters and granddaughters. For the first time in my life I think there genuinely may be more opportunities for my 3 granddaughters outside the US.

  104. 104.

    tam1MI

    @TBone: Pro-Life’ Texas Just Did Away With Car Safety Inspections

    I guess they wanted to get in on that exploding Tesla action.

  105. 105.

    KatKapCC

    @TBone: To quote George Carlin: “If you’re pre-born, you’re fine. If you’re pre-school*, you’re fucked.”

    (*or apparently any age at all!)

  107. 107.

    TBone

    @tam1MI: Elno has a factory and a company town slash prepper compound in Texas! One of his female vessels lives there with progeny and other vassals.

  108. 108.

    Kay

    We’ll be down to 28% from a high of …29% in 2024. Our national “best” is just terrible and it’s going in the wrong direction.

  109. 109.

    Torrey

    @hrprogressive:

    Good points, and you are of course right on just about all conceivable counts. In fact, the example you gave is exactly the one used in journalism classes, although sometimes the example phrase is “police shooting” instead of “officer-involved shooting.” Part of the problem, as you observe is that the headline writer isn’t the person who actually writes the story, and often enough headlines show very little awareness of what the story actually says. That’s something about journalism that desperately needs fixing, since many people don’t get past the headings or, perhaps a bit better, the subheads.

    But an even better example occurs in the discussion where at entry #59, just above yours, TBone says, “somehow I’m having trouble with the ‘blame the wife’ whiff of that,” in reference to the mention of Livelsberger having “gotten into a fight with his wife about relationship issues shortly before he rented the Tesla and bought the guns.”

    And that sequence and the way it is worded are pretty interesting as well. Who reported the “fight” and why did the reporter write “he got into a fight with his wife”? Was that the phrasing of the police? The wife to the police? Why “got into a fight” and not, say, “had an argument”? Notice that, even though “relationship issues” covers a lot of territory, we almost automatically try to fill in the blanks.

    The point I think we are both making is that, while admittedly this story could have been a lot more carefully written if reporters were trying hard to avoid–or at least be aware of–assumptions, there isn’t a way to do without them. We as readers will construct a narrative with whatever we are given.

    (That’s a lucky thing for mystery writers, of course, because they make their living directing us to narratives other than the ones that they will ultimately reveal as what really happened.)

  111. 111.

    Trivia Man

    @Torrey: West Wing had a great scene demonstrating the difference between helpful and compliant.

    Q: Do you know what time it is?
    A: It’s 11:15
    Response: Don’t do that!! If a lawyer asks you that question, your response should be “yes” and nothing more!

  112. 112.

    TBone

    @KatKapCC: you know it.  I find it helpful to remind them that you can’t freeze a baby or you’ll kill it, but you can freeze an embryo and then say “hope that helps you remember the difference.”

  114. 114.

    Kay

    Amazon union just filed with the NLRB to hold an election at the Raleigh Durham warehouse. If they win it will be the first unionized warehouse in the south. Bold move! I love that.

  115. 115.

    TBone

    @Kay: I really hope the NLRB isn’t already too hollowed out to move on this before it’s too late.  I haven’t checked in on them in a while…

  117. 117.

    TBone

    @Torrey: I am honored to be used as an example in your conversation with hr which I was already reading with admiration before that.

  121. 121.

    Belafon

    @Kay: I’m glad they’re going for it, but since a union couldn’t even pass at an auto manufacturer in the South, I’m not expecting it to win.

  122. 122.

    Geminid

    @Kay: My district, VA07, went from Rep. Abigail Spanberger to Rep. Eugene Vindman. A silver lining: Spanberger will likely be Virginia’s first female Governor.

    Virginia still hasn’t had a woman Senator.

  123. 123.

    Citizen Alan

    @Old School:  When the video popped up, I literally flinched. Not even remotely human looking. What is wrong with Republicans that so many of them can’t look in a mirror or watch themselves on TV and realize how repulsive they intentionally make themselves to people not in their cult?

  125. 125.

    Betty

    @Jeffro: Massie is the guy who had his family pose for their Christmas card holding various guns. What a weirdo. Sorry about his wife. I wonder who is taking care of the children.

  126. 126.

    Steve LaBonne

    Two votes for not-Johnson plus 5 goopers not voting on the first reading. He’s dead, Jim. Time to break out the popcorn.

  128. 128.

    Mai Naem mobile ¹

    @Jeffro: out of curiosity I tried looking for the cause of death after Massie’s wife died. There was an autopsy done. The only thing I found was just a blurb on twitter(not any official sourcing) that she had died from inflammation related to an autoimmune disease. There was a memorial posting that said that she had had health challenges the past few years. I don’t understand why there was no interest shown by any Kentucky media org. on her cause of death.  She was only 50 and outwardly she didn’t look ill.

  129. 129.

    Geminid

    @Geminid: House Democrats lost another woman member last year when Colorado Rep. Yadira Caraveo lost her reelection by ~3500 votes

  130. 130.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @TBone: That’s a good one.  I confess, I often don’t have the best quick response to that bullshit and want to get into a lengthy rant on bodily autonomy.  This is better for quick shutdown.

  132. 132.

    Scout211

    Voting now.  I guess I am paying attention

     

    Mike Johnson in trouble

    Three Republicans have voted against Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) for House speaker, likely enough to doom his candidacy unless something unexpected happens before the votes are tallied, such as several members changing their votes.

    Five Republicans who have criticized Johnson declined to vote when it was their turn. The clerk will call their names again at the end.

    So the games begin.

  134. 134.

    lowtechcyclist

    According to the WaPo tracker, everyone who initially withheld their votes has voted for Johnson.  But with 216 votes for Johnson, 3 GOPers voting for other Republicans, and 215 votes for Jeffries, Johnson doesn’t have a majority of those who voted.  So it looks like we’re headed to a second ballot.

  135. 135.

    Steve LaBonne

    @different-church-lady: He will lose even if they all end up voting for him on the second roll call. At this stage of the game they have nothing to offer. ETA I see they went ahead and voted for him. They had no leverage- yet.

  136. 136.

    rikyrah

    @Kay:

    Amazon union just filed with the NLRB to hold an election at the Raleigh Durham warehouse. If they win it will be the first unionized warehouse in the south. Bold move! I love that.

    Not too South…they might have a chance.

    Hope they learned the lesson from the anti-union clowns in Alabama who completely got pantsied by management when they voted down the UAW. I still LOL thinking about it. Management showed them their entire azz to kiss the nanosecond after they voted down the UAW.

  140. 140.

    fancycwabs

    Having Had a WaPo subscription, and then cancelling it, means I can’t read paywalled WaPo articles even if they’re gift articles because Jeff Bezos is a dick that way.

  141. 141.

    Belafon

    @Citizen Alan: I don’t think the person people see in the mirror is actually them. I’ve noticed that what I see in a mirror isn’t always what I see in a picture of me.

  144. 144.

    lowtechcyclist

    @different-church-lady: More than half.  So if all 434 Congresspersons are voting (as they are now), Johnson needs 218.  So he needs two of the three Rethugs voting against him to change their votes.

  145. 145.

    lowtechcyclist

    @BritinChicago:

    Shouldn’t the response be “No” unless you’re actually looking at a clock/watch?

    Being of a certain vintage, I’d probably answer:

    Does anybody really know what time it is?
    Does anybody really care?

  146. 146.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    @kindness:

    “Pretty good like NPR” is an oxymoron.

    Totebagger Radio has existed for the last 12+ years to give right-wing framing and talking points a respectable sheen, quietly pushing the Overton window from the center to that whole areas of public concern are no longer up for discussion in this country.

    It’s designed to reassure middle class whites on both sides of the aisle that everything is gonna be alright.

  150. 150.

    randy khan

    @lowtechcyclist: But apparently the 5 last votes were people who don’t like him, either, but had been planning not to vote until they realized that not voting would make Jeffries Speaker (which sounds good to me).  So he may actually have 8 holdouts, and could need 7 of them.

  152. 152.

    Gloria DryGarden

    @Geminid: suddenly the image comes to mind, musk, trumple, johnson, in a circle jerk,

    sorry. It’s a vile image.

    im leaving now, I won’t derail the thread, I have to go do car post-saga 2.0 tasks

  157. 157.

    KatKapCC

    Why are they not gaveling the vote? I keep hearing the C-Span people saying it hasn’t been, like, finalized or whatever.

  159. 159.

    Kay

    JD Vance was smirking like an asshole when Harris was swearing new senators in – he’s such a pig.

  160. 160.

    Gloria DryGarden

    @different-church-lady: starting a sentence w “a nice man” followed by a verb, leads to many thoughts. I’d like to see 10 people complete  that sentence. Women have often had peculiar experiences with “ nice men”

    btw, my Uruguayan brother told a story of being asked the time by a Chileno. The common phrasing in spanish in one country can be entirely not-nice words, in another dialect of spanish. This was quite an example.

     

    @TBone: in honor of introverts day yesterday, I tried for some poetry writing. My first attempt didn’t go well, but I came up with this, sharing for the likers  of poetry. (I’m not saying this one’s any good either.
    Curled in coziness
    Disconcerted introverts
    Renew by Resting

  162. 162.

    Jeffro

    @Betty:Massie is the guy who had his family pose for their Christmas card holding various guns.

    I’d say “you’re going to have to be more specific” (they ALL do that now on the right) but yes, I remember him and his family ‘leading the way’

    barf

  163. 163.

    Kay

    OTOH Bernie must have said something funny, because he made her laugh. I don’t think of him as funny, but good job :)

  164. 164.

    Steve LaBonne

    @KatKapCC: Squeaker Johnson is still working on two of the holdouts so they’re holding the vote open until he fails (he will).

  170. 170.

    Gloria DryGarden

    @different-church-lady: I don’t know it, I’ll look it up.

    Since I don’t know it, I’ll start my nice man idea, stream of consciousness, only possibly useful.

    a nice man offered her a ride

    a nice man approached her at the picnic table where she was writing in her journal

    a nice man told her to smile, it made her more pretty

    the men in her family were mostly nice men. We gradually heard about her uncle, but she never said much about her father. If the story wasn’t nice, they wouldn’t hear it.

    The congressman was a nice man

    etc

  177. 177.

    KatKapCC

    LOL pathetic. Applauding him because he begged and pleaded and got two losers to change their votes. WOW GREAT MOMENT BE PROUD OF YOURSELF.

  178. 178.

    Gloria DryGarden

    @different-church-lady: the many flavors of vileness. So many options, not enough time to try for poetic Justice or other forms of irony.
    maybe the 3 guys are just rubbing each other’s backs, or passing an envelope  w a few million, hand to hand, around and around…

    *my mind is not in the gutter, the news events are, the strange persons setting up to rule are. To rule from an opulent gutter, building on the worn out labors of people they don’t see or care about but are happy to profit from.*

    dorothy a winsor, is that a Demi poem?

  182. 182.

    Gloria DryGarden

    @Geminid: thank you.
    My mechanic said last month, let’s not even change your oil until you know you can get your plates.

    It took 6 weeks of saga and steps, and waiting at the car shops, and a bunch of $$, to get to take the required emissions test, which I always pass. Now that I know my car won’t be towed for expired plates, I can move on with life tasks 2-53, and car 2.0, 3.0, 4.0.

    really these advanced complications have not led to advancements in life.

  187. 187.

    Suzanne

    @KatKapCC:

    Applauding him because he begged and pleaded and got two losers to change their votes. 

    LMAO. These people are so pathetic and weak.

  189. 189.

    Jeffro

    Jeffries, on-point already with the reminder:

     

    The GOP Civil War is in full swing. And it’s only Day 1.

  191. 191.

    Gretchen

    @Jeffro: Massie did say that they didn’t get covid shots, but had antibodies from previous infection. Apparently he didn’t know that one can get multiple bouts of covid, which isn’t a good idea when you have immune problems.

  192. 192.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Trivia Man:

    But if you look at your wrist and then say no then you are a dirty liar and subject to penalties for perjury!

    Why? I haven’t worn a wristwatch in decades.  And even then, how would I know the watch was accurate?  I could tell them what time my wristwatch showed, but I couldn’t tell them what time it IS.

  193. 193.

    Ruckus

    @Jeffro:

    see the light and put their country ahead of their party

    I believe I see a fatal mistake.

    In their minds their party IS the country. I mean jees how can anyone expect the democratic party to have any say in a democracy?

  194. 194.

    Ruckus

    @rikyrah:

    If you have someone you think may help you in any way and have money, you are going to pay the fool at least a minimum buy in. And tell me Jared is in any way not a sell out to whomever will offer him money. To me it seems that not many in trumpworld have skills. His niece does and seems reasonably smart – especially in how great her uncle isn’t.

  195. 195.

    Ruckus

    @hrprogressive:

    This is one reason I no longer read newspapers. They have a fairly large financial cost to print a newspaper. They have to sell what most of their buyers want to read/see in their paper. And many people see more than enough, well, crap in their lives that they don’t want to read about more. And far more people likely watch the news on TV, or even the web, than pay for a paper any more. Now local news may be interesting but how interesting? How much of it doesn’t affect most of us at all? And yes a lot of people read a paper to get news, etc at the rate they want it and without a lot of commercials.

  196. 196.

    Ruckus

    @artem1s:

    elmo is going to have to spend, give away, burn a lot of money to get to broke. He is the world’s richest after all….

    Now I’m not saying it wouldn’t be interesting to see him fall that far down the financial ladder but still, in his lifetime I don’t see him going broke. Not world’s richest quite possibly, but a hell of a lot farther unlikely.

  198. 198.

    Ruckus

    @TBone:

    Still.

    But then he is, but I can’t tell if it’s somewhat or all.

    No, I thought about it, for one second – IT’S ALL DICK.

  199. 199.

    Ruckus

    @Steve LaBonne:

    You don’t really think they like each other any more than we like any of them do you?

    I seem to be the only one here.

    Oh well I did come in late……

  201. 201.

    Shane in SLC

    @Steve LaBonne: Yeah, I’m similarly puzzled. It seems to have become an article of faith in some circles that the Guardian is virulently transphobic, but no one really points to any concrete examples. The article in Medium that someone posted here and a couple of weeks ago clarified things a little: they treat the existence of trans people as something up for debate. Fair enough: that’s a problem. But is it a grave enough problem to give up on pretty much the only major international English-language news operation that isn’t at this point openly fascist and controlled by billionaires? (Only the BBC can really compare with the scope of the Guardian’s journalism, and it has problems of its own.)

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