Let’s see how this Instagram embed works. It’s the video that AOC posted the night before last, and it currently has about 245K likes. Instagram doesn’t report views. If the likes/views ratio on Instagram is anything like YouTube, conservatively, that video has had at least 3 million views. And it’s long.
Here are the stats on the Bernie video I posted the other day.
The latest video he posted on Elon’s neo-nazi actions isn’t even him talking, it’s some other dude who looks like John Cole’s younger brother with darker hair, but it’s a great, short overview of Elon’s neo-nazisim.
As I mentioned yesterday, Democrats have history with some of our electeds bowing before a new regime instead of standing up to it. The Laken Riley act is the latest example of that.
I don’t know if this guy is right, but I hope that we won’t repeat the error of elevating party members who did the wrong thing under pressure ever again. I have never voted in a primary for a member of the Democratic Party who voted for the Iraq war. (And yeah, I’m talking about Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden. Both wrong on one of the most important issues of our time.).
Evan Hurst has been tearing it up at Wonkette, and his latest piece is titled Opposition Leader Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: ‘In This Country We Hate Nazis.’. He’s right. She’s the current leader of the opposition, showing us how it can be done.
My tagline for tweets where I call out a Democrat on BlueSky for doing something good is “It’s Not That Hard”. And, compared to what is going to happen to big part of this country — immigrants, LGBTQ folks, anyone who’s black or brown — it really is not that hard. Our electeds need to follow AOC’s lead, and get on their socials and make noise — especially if they’re in a safe seat.
As someone said on Bluesky the other day, “honeymoon” and “mandate” are things that are given to a President by politicians in his party and the other party, not something intrinsic to a Presidency. We need to oppose everything to show that Trump shouldn’t have a honeymoon or a mandate.
Since a lot of you follow a lot of Democrats on social media and elsewhere, please shout out anyone who you think is doing a good job as being part of the opposition party.
TBone
I must give a shout out to my local college radio station, WQSU who rawked me all the way to the animal hospital and back without interruption 60+ minutes of music about MERCILESS LOVE and FEARLESS LOVE. I wish I could link the playlist that sounded like it was made especially for me today – hubby is very sick today and getting him bundled up into the vehicle was no small feat BUT Noah and hubby TRULY needed each other today, the love they have together, all three of us loving on each other today. Thank you for GETTING ME THERE WQSU!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tWfVQdfEEjI
zhena gogolia
I proudly voted in both primary and general elections for Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden, two of the most sterling and consequential public servants of my lifetime, who worked tirelessly to make people’s lives better over many, many years.
TBone
@TBone: the KIDZ ARE ALRIGHT and doing much great opposition over the airwaves here in the Susquehanna Valley! Every word about MERCY harkened to The Right Reverend Mariann Budde and ALL Dem opposition through Our Bards of Lyric!
Baud
@zhena gogolia:
I also don’t view their nomination as errors.
[email protected]
As I’ve ended many of my posts recently:
Buttigieg/AOC 202
oops sorry, I reversed my log in due to old fart fumbly fingers Kosh III
zhena gogolia
I checked to see what Chris Murphy was doing. I saw a clip where he confronted Stefanik about the Nazi salute. She dismissed the concern and mimed Musk’s gesture as two fists in the air. I realized that Murphy had fallen into her trap — in order to mime what it actually was, he would have had to give a Nazi salute himself. Instead he read her some tweets from gleeful white nationalists. She continued to blandly lie.
zhena gogolia
@[email protected]: That ticket will rival McGovern/Shriver!
@mistermix.bsky.social
@[email protected]:
MattF
About Jamie Raskin, note specifically that the NIH campus is in his district. So, there are, as well, a ton of very highly qualified medical and biological scientists here in Bethesda. E.g., my next-door neighbor worked with Anthony Fauci for many years.
FDRLincoln
I just called my three congressional representatives.
Senator Jerry Moran R-KS: Conservative but not completely insane, does not always support Trump.
Call went to voice mail; i left a message expressing my dismay at the rash of executive orders, particularly the NIH stuff.
Senator Roger Marshall R-KS: Ultra-right wing Trumper. His office is not taking calls, “not available.”
Congressman Tracey Mann R-KS: Ultra-right wing Trumper. I talked to a staffer, who sounded shy, defeated, and shell-shocked and told me he (the staffer) “understands why you are upset” about the EOs and will pass that along to the Rep, although he is not sure what the Rep’s actual position is.
Leto
Maybe that’s why it doesn’t have as many views as it should. Don’t scare your audience! (I keed, I keed!)
John Cole
Poor bastard.
Kosh III
@zhena gogolia: Yeah, it probably won’t happen but Mayor Pete was super competent as Secretary and we will need competency to rebuild what the Felon destroys.
Besides, I supported Shirley Chisholm.
zhena gogolia
@Kosh III: I adore Buttigieg. But if Harris-Walz couldn’t win, I just don’t know. The country is lost.
zhena gogolia
@Kosh III: Just to be clear, I voted for McGovern. He would have been a fantastic president.
ron
Maybe it’s too much to ask, but could the opposition get off of the platforms owned by Musk and Zuckerberg and could this site stop embedding links to them? I refuse to give clicks to anything touched by them.
Citizen Alan
@zhena gogolia: I hate to say it, but we may need to just accept that, for a few more cycles at least, we need to go with middle-aged straight white men who are allies to black and gays on civil rights but who don’t trigger people who basically agree with Dem policies but who psychologically cannot bear the thought of being ruled by a minority, a woman, or a gay/lesbian. White supremacy is a hell of a drug, and 20 million or so voters stayed home because they looked at the worst, most repulsive human being to stand on the public stage in my lifetime and the most accomplished black woman of the day and decided there was no difference so why bother to vote.
@mistermix.bsky.social
@ron:
That’s a difficult ask, because you can’t just re-make followers when going to another platform. AOC has addressed this directly by saying that BlueSky isn’t big enough right now for mass outreach.
BTW, Sundar Pichai was also at the inaugural and he’s the CEO of Alphabet, which owns YouTube, so they’re suspect, too.
This is the conundrum of living under a broligarchy.
Trollhattan
How long was Obama in office before Mitch announced his only jerb was to prevent Obama getting reelected? Honeymoon shcmoneymoon.
Also, nice “Patriot” thing you’ve got going there, Turtle. Too bad about those “he’s practically dead” rumors. Ugh, what’s changed?
Hildebrand
I love that Trump and Johnson and the rest are just absolutely losing their shit over the Bishop’s sermon. I want them to continue to blow gaskets publicly about a sermon extolling the virtues of showing mercy.
I mean, honestly, this wasn’t Pastor Jeremiah Wright going full ‘god damn America’ – which is a brilliant sermon, by the way, and he got screwed by everyone, including Obama, because they didn’t even begin to listen to the whole thing. It’s a masterpiece.
Nope, she gently, but insistently, called for Trump to show mercy to marginalized communities, and these guys are losing their minds. I love this. I hope they loudly and stupidly whine about this for a very long time, because it reveals just how shallow, hate-filled, and un-Christian they actually are. Keep going lads, keep ripping off your own masks.
Quinerly
Senator Chris Murphy has been excellent this week. I’m very impressed.
Kay
@ron:
I’m with you. Let’s just be trendsetters. They’re all going to be kicked off the other platforms eventually anyway for criticizing Donald Trump, Elon Musk or Mark Zuckerberg.
Hilbertsubspace
I have faith that we can push back against this. But we must watch out for and predict the actions the administration is going to take. A good (minor*) example is Greenland. Democratic leadership should already know if he is going to attempt to annex Greenland. He is clearly serious about it, but that doesn’t mean he will act on it.
*Apologies to Greenland
Quinerly
Seattle judge temporarily blocks Trump’s birthright citizenship EO.
Judge said he has never seen anything as blatantly unconstitutional as the EO. Judge is 85 years old, I think. Need to look up who appointed him. Curious
Edited to add this piece.
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/judge-in-seattle-blocks-trump-order-on-birthright-citizenship-nationwide/
Kay
@Quinerly:
Good news. He did not repeal the 14th amendment by imperial decree.
I’ll take what I can get. Green shoots of an opposition! I look for a light haze of green, like an early spring field.
tobie
I’m not really looking for a single leader. I consider Obama to have been almost a fluke…a once-in-a-lifetime brilliant and charismatic speaker who was able to galvanize people of many different political stripes. Will someone like that come along again soon? Maybe but I doubt it. This age is different. Social media has fractured us and different constituencies will coalesce around different figures. That’s not necessarily a bad thing but it feels weak when Trump sucks all the oxygen out of the room with his vileness.
KatKapCC
Coulda fooled me.
RevRick
@zhena gogolia: Me likewise. I was supporter #1 in Lehigh County for Hillary’s 2016, the first person contacted by an organizer. We met at a local pizza shop and she picked my brain for other possible supporters to help organize.
And I just added my like to AOC’s Instagram post.
Quinerly
@Kay:
From above link.
“I’ve been on the bench for over four decades, I can’t remember another case where the question presented is as clear as this one is. This is a blatantly unconstitutional order,” Coughenour, an appointee of Ronald Reagan, said from the bench. “There are other times in world history where we look back and people of goodwill can say where were the judges, where were the lawyers?”
And
Coughenour interrupted before Brett Shumate, a Justice Department attorney, could even complete his first sentence.
“In your opinion Is this executive order constitutional?” he asked.
Shumate said “it absolutely is.”
“Frankly, I have difficulty understanding how a member of the Bar could state unequivocally that this is a constitutional order,” Coughenour said. “It just boggles my mind.”
@mistermix.bsky.social
@Quinerly:
St. Ronald Reagan in 1981
https://www.wawd.uscourts.gov/judges/coughenour-bio
RevRick
@KatKapCC: In this country, we had the first modern fascist regime: Jim Crow. And the actual Nazis sent a delegation to study it. And their first reaction was it was too extreme with its one-drop-of-blood rule!
Lobo
I am in AOC Democrat. Is she perfect? No, but who is. I am not worshiping her or buying anything with her face on it. But she is leading and I will keep encouraging her to do the right thing. She is also not overthinking it.
Kay
@Quinerly:
I ask this myself every day. Oh, well. Looks like it’s just a handful of us!
Soprano2
@Kay: I’ve already had to “educate” a friend who thought he had repealed birthright citizenship. This woman is somewhat politically aware. I told her that’s part of the Constitution, and FFOTUS can’t repeal it with a wave of his hand. She told me about him revoking Johnson’s EO on hiring in the government, so she does pay attention, she just isn’t that aware of how government works.
hitchhiker
@Quinerly: The one time I’ve been on a jury was a four-week-long case in Coughenour’s court in Seattle, about 20 years ago.
He’s a straight-up good person: fair and smart and capable. At least he was then. He’s also the guy who oversaw the trial of that dude who tried to bring bombs across the border with British Columbia.
https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/failed-millennium-bomber-sentenced-37-years-prison
TBone
@TBone: this is what I’m talkin’ bout!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BgxEEm813k8
Rascally rabbit! DRIVE THE CAR!
comrade scotts agenda of rage
An addition to that from the previous thread when they do something stoopid/bad:
pajaro
@Quinerly:
I’m delighted to hear that the birthright citizenship order has been blocked, for now. Like the Muslim Ban 8 years ago, the people who wrote the order didn’t make even a small effort to justify it, or explain why the courts should ignore both precedent and the plain language of the 14th Amendment. Hopefully, Roberts, Barrett and maybe even Kav will decide against going full MAGA, so we’ll continue to have a constitutional republic, as flawed as it is.
hitchhiker
I failed your purity test by supporting Hillary in 2016, because it was obvious that Bernie wasn’t going to get the nomination and it seemed important to get all of us enthusiastically on board for her as soon as possible.
I still wonder what would have happened if Bernie’s failure hadn’t pissed off so many bros.
Matt McIrvin
@KatKapCC: there’s descriptive Americanism and prescriptive/aspirational Americanism. Acknowledging the first sucks doesn’t mean throwing out the other. I think of this as the Frederick Douglass formula. He was operating under worse conditions than now.
Leto
@Quinerly:
I mean, we keep getting these hack legal schools (Harvard, Yale) who keep sending these absolutely worthless fucking lawyers out… maybe we can start looking at what’s being taught? Who’s funding all of this? Why we’re allowing this poison to be injected directly into the heart of democracy? Not saying do not have robust discussions of constitutionality, and the law, but there’s a stark difference between that and the bullshit the right has been spewing for 4+ decades now. They’re not even trying to send their best. It’s this slop. Or maybe that is their best. Just slop.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Citizen Alan:
That’s where I’m at with the caveat that I’ll take my cue from what black folks are saying come primary time, just like in 2020. They decided then that the old white guy that was subsequently turned on by so many self-professed “progressives” last year, was *their* best bet at getting a federal government interested in *their* issues, not just those of the donor class and others. If they go that route again, supporting some middle-aged white dude, I’m onboard. If that gets 20 million lazy-shit voters to come out and vote for Dems, I’m onboard. If they rally around some middle-aged black dude, I’m onboard. If they rally around Harris (on the very-off chance she runs again), I’m onboard.
Chief Oshkosh
@Quinerly: I’m glad the judge needled the DOJ attorney.
Kay
@Quinerly:
When I was in law school the Right wing students would argue with me that this is or that was UNCONSTITUTIONAL, PLAIN LANGUAGE!!! l wonder what happened to all those people.
Betty Cracker
@tobie:
You’re right about the fractured media environment making it hard for movements to coalesce, and now that the oligarchs who control the most popular networks and platforms have gone all-in on Trump, it will be even harder. We already know Musk throttles content, and I’ve seen reports that TikTok and Meta have too.
You also make a good point about individual leader’s appeal to different constituencies. Right here on this blog, which is relatively homogeneous compared with the broader Democratic Party, some people love AOC and others never miss an opportunity to snipe about her.
We’ve got a couple of years and change before our fragile coalition of Democrats will have to rally around a single person for the next presidential nomination. In the meantime, lots of Dems will have an opportunity to step up like AOC, Murphy, Prizker, Crockett, Raskin, Warren, etc., have. That breathing room is probably not a bad thing.
Quinerly
@@mistermix.bsky.social:
Yes. It’s in the article I went back and added.
(I’m always curious. My first federal case out of law school in the late 1980’s was before a judge appointed by TRUMAN. Judge Roy Harper. Eastern District of Missouri. He had taken senior status in the 1970’s but still was being assigned a few cases a year. Interesting background on Harper and Truman appointing him. Will not bore you with the full story but it took Truman 3 recess appts to keep him on the bench. )
Quinerly
Murkoski is a no vote on Hegseth. MSNBC reporting
Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony
@tobie: We are too splintered. We need a Justice League of leaders who vow to work together (instead of being at cross purposes) and then push their followers to do the same. Negotiation is fine, but no more circular firing squads. You want to protest? Great! As long as it is against the GOP.
Quinerly
@Kay:
I knew you would appreciate these quotes.
Chris
@Lobo:
I always liked her in general, though not necessarily more than I did the average Democrat, but last summer really pushed me into her corner. She wasn’t literally the only Democrat in Congress who was acting like an adult, but she was definitely the most prominent one, and probably the only one prominent enough to be a household name.
Belafon
@ron: Do you want them to reach people?
Matt McIrvin
@Soprano2: Well, there’s been a lot of assumption that the Supreme Court is in his pocket so that he *can* effectively just change the Consistution, they’ll rule up is down for him.
Which might be true. But it’s not true until we make them DO it. Drive the suit all the way up the court system and get their sycophancy down in ink. And they even might not.
TBone
@John Cole: LOL!!!
Mood
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3YNsZLtzF18
I love how it looks like Art is wearing a big ‘stache
Belafon
@Lobo:
Could we please stop doing this?
Leto
@Kay: they’re in the courts, the administration, the law schools, corporations, the outreach programs to law schools… they’re everywhere.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Quinerly:
Will this be the kinda vote Harry Reed always characterized about Suzie Furrowbrows:
“Always there with the vote I didn’t need”
If nothing else, maybe it’ll send a message to Senate Dems to do the right thing because “It’s Not That Hard”.
I’d mused about Murkowski’s vote on this earlier in the year. She’s no profile in courage but if anybody who caucuses with the bad guys is somewhat protected from their extremism at the ballot box, it’s her.
Starfish (she/her)
@Quinerly: Yay! Thank you.
Belafon
@Matt McIrvin: The other day, the Supreme Court blocked one state’s – I think Montana – Republicans attempt to let them set voting rules without being allowed to be brought before the state supreme court.
Matt McIrvin
Liz Warren has been bringing it. Markey, not quite as consistently, but he voted no on the No Due Process Act.
Quinerly
@comrade scotts agenda of rage:
MSNBC has been hinting all day there are 3 no votes. I assume Collins and Tillis, too. Vance would be the tie breaker if Fetterman hasn’t totally lost his mind and ends up supporting Hegseth.
(Fetterman is on my shit list)
TBone
got us the fuck into this Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy of another fine mess and I for one’ll be gatdamned if I rely solely on any one of ’em to get us out! This is also women’s work!
Kayla Rudbek
@Leto: if I were in charge of the federal judiciary and legal system, every single lawyer who is or was a member of the Federalist Society would be permanently disbarred. Put all of them to work in construction or digging ditches.
Gin & Tonic
@Kosh III:
I forget, how’d the McGovern/Shriver ticket do?
@mistermix.bsky.social
@Quinerly:
I think Fetterman got shocked and awed when Casey lost. Similar to the other dozen or so who supported Laken Riley and signed the letter to Thune begging for a bipartisan approach to immigration. They’re all from swing states (not all states affected by immigration, unless you count Fox News caravan stories scaring the old folks.)
This is the letter, btw:
https://bsky.app/profile/sahilkapur.bsky.social/post/3lgezg4dmzs2v
Matt McIrvin
@TBone: they gotta buy in though. Lead, follow or get out of the way.
sab
@[email protected]: Where are your ///s.
I agree with zhena gogolio: it’d be mcgovern shriver, amd I worked my butt off on that campaign and mcgovern would have been a fine president. Same for buttigieg if only he could be elected.
tobie
@Betty Cracker: @Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony: The music lover in me thinks we should follow the model of baroque polyphony. Many voices singing different but coordinated parts make a mighty chorus. This is probably a lousy metaphor for politics but it works for me. I have a lousy voice but I do like to sing!
Litano
@hitchhiker:
I’m sorry, but this is the wrong question to ask. Something around 90% of Bernie voters went to Hillary in the general. This is a historically GOOD number when it comes to losers in the primary convincing their supporters to vote for the party’s ultimate nominee. (For instance, something like 25% of Hillary voters in ’08 defected to McCain.) This is even more impressive when you consider the fact that Bernie’s campaign brought in a bunch of primary voters who don’t traditionally vote for Democrats to begin with.
Sure, “bros” sitting on their hands in ’16 hurt the Dems in the same sense that Hispanic men defecting for Trump hurt us in ’24– it’s bad that it happened, but it’s not a main dispositive factor. If anything, both of these data points are indicators of a larger problem with party elites and monied interests throwing all their weight behind deeply flawed, unpopular candidates and positions.
Quinerly
@Kayla Rudbek:
Unfortunately, we let the Leonard Leo types get ahead of us by 20 years. Federalist Society founded in 1982. How much do you ever hear about the American Constitution Society? Certainly, wasn’t around when I came through school.
I just looked up the ACA…founded 2001. Russ Feingold is the current president.
Old School
@Quinerly:
Kick the football, Charlie Brown!
Chief Oshkosh
@Kayla Rudbek:
Agree with the sentiment, but then you’d end up with a lot of shallow holes going nowhere (see what I did there?). No way should they be anywhere near a construction site.
Steve LaBonne
@Litano: The REAL problem is that the country is closely divided and the other half of that division is either willing to support Nazis or enthusiastically supports them. We basically have to play a perfect game to win. Humans seldom attain perfection.
Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony
@Litano:
That is utter BS.
sab
@Hildebrand: I am with you on Rev Wright’s sermon.
zhena gogolia
@Quinerly: Good.
zhena gogolia
@Quinerly: Good.
You’re bringing the good news today!
zhena gogolia
@sab: Me too. It was magnificent.
TBone
@Matt McIrvin: whelp, we got half the money and ALL the p***y so I’ll bet we can make a deal hahahahaha
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Litano:
Bingo. So much of that, at least from a policy position perspective, is so baked into the party.
TBone
@Hildebrand: that’s why I made comment #1 on this thread today
sab
@Kay: I was in law school before the Federalist Society existed. I think it is at the root of all this.
catfishncod
@Quinerly: I don’t know if that’s a good sign or not. It will take four defections to reject a nominee. Murky has the advantage that she’s already defeated an attempt to primary her. Turtle is retiring, but do we have two others on the way out or sufficiently safe?
This applies to all of them, not just Hegseth.
The Unmitigated Gaul
@Citizen Alan: “20 million or so voters stayed home because they looked at the worst, most repulsive human being to stand on the public stage in my lifetime and the most accomplished black woman of the day and decided there was no difference so why bother to vote.“
Brilliant.
Renie
OT/If you have an Instragram account, be aware that Zuckerberg has automatically added trump to your likes just as he did in FB. Some people can’t even remove him from their account. Another attempt by a techbro to kiss trump’s ass.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@catfishncod:
Which brings me back to the old Harry Reed quote of “Always there with a vote I didn’t need.”
If those 3 votes would change the outcome, you can be guarandamnteed at least one of them wouldn’t be involved.
Aunt Kathy
Thanks to yesterday’s post about the 48 House Dems who voted yes on the immigration bill, I realized my new Dem rep was one of them. MD 06 had David Trone, who was a pretty reliable lib vote, but he ran for Senate & lost, which gave us April McClain Delaney. Sent her an e-mail today, & politely as I could muster, tore her a new one.
terraformer
Josh Marshall has been on this the past couple of days, and I agree with every word of it
catfishncod
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: Yurtle, Collins, and Tillis are enough. But they have to do it all together or the latter two are twisting in the wind.
TBone
Words of Wisdom rascally mood
https://youtu.be/QMxisKUgbZ8?si=LtsREyOPGK_Shk5H
sab
@Kayla Rudbek: Amy Klobuchar’s husband is a member. He is an anti-capital punishment activist and he wants to keep a close eye on the opposition.
Dorothy A. Winsor
Murkowski is apparently a NO vote on Hesgeth.
Also, a federal judge blocked the birthright citizenship order.
Suzanne
@Betty Cracker:
I was thinking about this today. I was watching a liberal influencer I enjoy celebrating the anniversary of Roe v Wade by sharing about her abortion experience while doing a makeup tutorial.
It’s not only a fractured media environment that we have to contend with. It’s a whole content consumption pattern that is different. Different types of content — politics, news, health and wellness, beauty and fashion, sports, video games, comedy, celebrity gossip, fandom, whatever you’re interested in — are all blended up together. Sometimes from the same sources. I think that makes messaging difficult, but also there’s probably a ton of opportunity for Dems, if we can figure out how to participate to our advantage.
It also makes me think that the team approach might be better moving forward. No one figure is going to be all things to all people. Obama was incredibly gifted in that way and it’s probably not replicable. But we have a lot of talent who appeal to different parts of the electorate.
Kosh III
@Kayla Rudbek: Put all of them to work in construction or digging ditches.
Picking lettuce and other labor intensive crops to replace all the hard working people the Felon will deport.
sentient ai from the future
Both of my senators voted no on the lake Riley act. Called them both today to say attacritter. Makes me proud to be a [STATE]ian.
Steve LaBonne
@Suzanne: Republicans have a much easier job because all they need to do is get people riled up. There are many possibilities for doing that so you can simultaneously produce the same effect on people with diverse priorities.
Kosh III
@Trollhattan:How long was Obama in office before Mitch announced his only jerb was to prevent Obama getting reelected?
Hours
TBone
Money where mouth is*, found on Patton Oswalt’s BlueSky
https://bsky.app/profile/meredithsalenger.bsky.social/post/3lge3pjfe2k2b
Jocelyn Benson GO GIRL!
*Optional as always
Belafon
@Suzanne:
We used to call that the evening news.
Suzanne
@Steve LaBonne: Agree. Their base is also older and there’s probably more of them who consume political content “the traditional way”, i.e. watching Fox and reading fishwrap.
Libs used to have more of the comedy space, tho. I think that was an asset to us.
Kosh III
@Renie:If you have an Instragram account, be aware that Zuckerberg has automatically added trump to your likes just as he did in FB
Not on my FB. Dunno about Instagram as I never use it.
Jeffro
@TBone: you can count on this one – I got yer back ;)
Suzanne
@Belafon: The evening news is incredibly segmented. So’s the newspaper. Here’s the news, here’s the opinion section, here’s the weather, here’s the “style” section, here’s the sports. Different reporters, different sections. Five minutes here, two minutes there.
That’s not what’s happening now. We just debated about Joe Rogan to death on this blog. Rogan will, himself, talk about all these topics at once. Everything bleeds together. The same person giving you fashion advice is also talking about supplements and opining on the issues of the day.
Jeffro
@terraformer: that’s a good piece – thanks!
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@catfishncod:
I hope I’m wrong but I don’t see The Infected Sore on the Scrotum of Politics (McConnell) voting against the nomination. If that happens, it simply means he’s an old man trying to do something at the last minute that might get him into Heaven.
Just saw another, unconfirmed report, that he will vote against the nomination. If it comes down to a 50-50 vote, it’ll end up being nothing but the usual performative crap from the (R) side. Crossing my fingers.
Betty
@Citizen Alan: I am guessing Andy Beshear is the leader for the nomination if the party is looking for a white, male Christian and nice looking popular Governor of a red state.
TBone
@Jeffro: muah!
Quinerly
@sab:
I think so too. I’m Saint Louis University School of Law (SLU is Jesuit) 1982-1985. There wasn’t even a Federalist Society chapter established there when I was there. Honestly, Federalist Society got on my radar with the Clarence Thomas appt in 1991. And, even then FS wasn’t in your face….we all recall that Thomas started out under Sen Danforth (R Mo) late 1970’s. I actually blame Danforth more than anyone for Thomas. Danforth gave us Thomas.
Hildebrand
The other thing that needs to happen is that Democratic ‘influencers’ (which I am defining as anyone with a decent number of followers on any social media platform) need to move from saying, ‘elected Democrats need to DO SOMETHING’, to being the the ones who reach out directly to our elected officials. Use your reach, your clout, your voice – don’t just play pundit, be an activist. Some do this, but not all of them, or even most of them.
Yes, we hoi polloi can continue to reach out to our reps and senators, but these bigger names need to start doing something more than running up the score on their subscriptions. Yes, I want them writing and investigating, but I also want them leveraging what power they have (which is more power than I will ever have).
Geminid
@Quinerly: A funny (peculiar) thing about the Federalist Society: Eugene Meyer, the President and CEO, has been its guiding force since 1984 and hardly anyone outside the Federalist Society knows that. Meyer doesn’t even have a Wikipedia biography* (which seems a little fishy to me).
But the Federalist Society honored Meyer at a dinner during their convention late last December, and their press release describes how he developed a small organization of law students into a “community” of 60,000 students, faculty, lawyers, judges and others “interested in the rule of law.”
Fun Eugene Meyer fact: Meyer earned a B.A. in History from Yale in 1975 and a Masters from the London School of Economics the following year, but he never went to law school. However, Meyer is an International Chess Master and that might be the secret of his success..
* Frank Meyer, Eugene’s father, has a very interesting Wikipedia entry. He was a member of the Communist Party USA in the 1930s but later became a vociferous anti-Communist. Frank Mayer was one of William F. Buckley’s intellectual mentors and held an editorial position on Buckley’s National Review.
Betty Cracker
@Steve LaBonne: There’s no law that says Dems can’t get into the riling up business too and plenty of material that could be used to that end. Lots of low-hanging fruit here that is broadly unpopular, including Trump pardoning violent felons and interrupting lifesaving work at the NIH. When he gives the richest people on earth more tax cuts, hit the bastard with that too!
@Suzanne: Great point about consumption patterns. Kind of related: we’re a streaming household and not close enough to a city to access local news broadcasts. When multiple hurricanes menaced us this summer, the only streaming app that was giving timely weather info on TV was a Fox outfit, which served it up with a heaping pile of far-right propaganda during every commercial break.
So we were looking for weather content and watching wingnut propaganda. I reckon the same shit happens to people who are looking for sports info, etc.
Baud
eclare
@Betty:
Roy Cooper is good too.
tam1MI
And it also the “rigged” argument that handed Trump and the MAGAts a weapon they have used since then with devastating effect.
glory b
@Belafon: I think we need to stop making AOC, who is in a 78% Dem district, the standard for Dem behavior. Those in closer districts might have to take other measures and make other votes.
I am reminded of the Dems that voted for Bill Clinton’s bill, even though they knew that the vote would mean the end of their congressional careers.
Then we wound up with his impeachment to suffer through.
In other words, let’s be practical. Any Dem is better than any Republican, not every one is in what is one of the safest seats in the country, like AOC. Gallego, for example, might know his district better than the rest of us do.
Miss Bianca
@Litano:
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: But of course, we can count on both of *you* to clue us in on who, in your exalted and expert opinions, *wouldn’t* be a “deeply flawed, unpopular candidate or position”, right? You have your finger on the pulse of America! So, not a white guy who’s too old in the wrong way (as opposed to the right way, you know, like Trump or Bernie or Chuck Grassley), or a woman of *any* hue, for starters, right? Cause almost by definition, they are going to be “deeply flawed and unpopular” to a significant portion of the voting population.
Geminid
@glory b: Senator Gallego definitely knows the politics of the border and immigration, and he has also done a lot of work in this area as a legislator. When it comes to immigration policy, Gallego is one of the Senate’s most knowledgeable members. He’s also the child of two immigrants.
glory b
@Litano: So they voted for the billionaires that ran on lowering their own taxes, demonizing immigrants and giving Bibi the ability to do what he needs to?
Uh huh, you are delusional.
tobie
@Hildebrand: On that note BJ’s @Betty Cracker: is an influencer. I don’t know if she wants this distinction but she has it.
I called my despicable Republican Rep today after BC’s post to remind him that NIH funding is a big part of the state’s economy and well being. I found this chart from the NIH quite helpful.
https://report.nih.gov/award/index.cfm?ot=&fy=2023&state=&ic=&fm=&orgid=&distr=&rfa=&om=n&pid=#tab1
I hit fiscal year 2024 and the tab “by location.”
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@glory b:
Not when they knowingly vote for (not even voting present) a bill that allows mere accusations as grounds for deportation that will absolutely be abused. I don’t care if it was going to pass anyway or not. This isn’t the “purity pony” battles of the past, this is different, this is about people’s human rights and opposing unabashed fascism
glory b
@Geminid: Correct, exactly why we should believe he knows what he’s doing and not demand he fit into another mold.
Recognize that what works for AOC won’t work for every district. She’ll probably hold on to that seat until she’s an old crone who discovers that wisdom and experience are valuable after all.
Everyone else, not so much.
The Thin Black Duke
@Miss Bianca: Translation: “Who can we throw under the bus so white heterosexual Christians will vote for us?”
Baud
LAC
@Citizen Alan: So we are going to normalize this racism and put this out and at the same time, wink at black women and go “don’t worry, we got you. Just shhhh…?” So, othering us will get the party to the promised land?
Okay…
KatKapCC
@Renie: I have a few Instagram accounts and none of them are suddenly following. I think what this is is that the generic “POTUS” or “VP” accounts that someone was already following get switched over to the new person.
Steve LaBonne
@Betty Cracker: Oh, I am 110% on board with Josh Marshall in thinking they should do exactly that.
glory b
@LAC: Honestly, I’m a black woman asking you, what’s the alternative?
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Miss Bianca:
I said earlier that ultimately, I take my cue from what the black folks in the party eventually say. I also emphasized that I look at deeply flawed *policy positions* as the detriment at the Party-wide level, not necessarily specific candidates. Many of those positions I strenuously oppose also happen to be the ones pushed by some of the biggest monied interests within (and without) Dem circles.
It’s one reason why during the Dump Biden campaign last summer, I took my cue from what the black folks in the party were saying, stand behind Biden, plus my questioning of the motives of the position of those (overwhelmingly white) that he must go. Once that decision was made, I was a strident Harris supporter, no criticisms, no recriminations.
Anybody with a (D) after their name will be considered “deeply flawed” to at least 40% of this country. That’s not my concern.
Gloria DryGarden
@Geminid: chess. IT makes sense. Moves, counter moves, multiple choices planning several steps ahead. The long game. Every thing about this far right movement says they have been putting this into place step by step for 40-50 years.
so we need this kind of master level strategist.
glory b
@Gloria DryGarden: Yes, give the Republicans this, they are focused and relentless in ways we aren’t. A fractious party working at cross purposes is kind of helpless in the face of it.
They’ve been voting against Roe and diversity since 1978. Never told their fellow party members not to vote, never “Abandoned” a candidate, never deviated from Reagan’s commandment not to speak ill of another Republican candidate
It’s a long game and too many of us (except for black people, but we can’t do it by ourselves) either won’t or don’t know how to play it.
The Thin Black Duke
@glory b: Truth.
sab
@glory b: I agree with most of what you said except “never speak ill of another Republican.” Lately they seem to encourage death threats to RINOs. Not very Reaganesque.
RevRick
@sab: I heard him preach at a UCC General Synod in Cleveland. Awesome
sab
@Aunt Kathy: My Dem was too. I want to ask her what was going on. I was shocked on this one, but I know she is in a shaky district.
sab
@RevRick: Back then I watched a lot of his sermons. Wow.
I was sorry he felt so betrayed by events, but don’t I remember that you felt he had betrayed his congregants ( the Obamas.)
AM in NC
@Hildebrand: Finally the press covers it when a liberal Christian talks about God’s mandate!
Liberal Christians can just repeat the actual words of Jesus Christ over and over again, and it tells on the Cons. But you almost NEVER hear liberal Christianity in the media, even though there are a lot of mainline Christians still. Another way Republicanism is just normalized.
sab
@AM in NC: White shoe lawyer congregation. This is where Sally Quinn worships. Senators send their children to the Cathedral’s schools. Luke Russert, although Catholic, went to St Alban’s. So did Al Gore. Alexandra Petri and Susan Rice went to National Cathedral School for Girls. So did Ted Kennedy’s girls and Spiro Agnew’s daughter. Also LBJ’s girls.
Geminid
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): How would you feel if ten of those Democrats lost their seats over that vote in 2026, and Mike Johnson was elected Speaker by five votes again? I expect some people here would would consider that a price worth paying because they think these are the “wrong” kind of Democrats, but would you? When they couldn’t have blocked the bill anyway?
House Democrats are playing for really high stakes here. It will take two cycles minimum to retake the Senate, but there is an opportunity next year to do what we did in 2018 and elect a Democratic Speaker. We really needed that then, and we’ll need it even more in the next Congress.
cw moss
@Kay: they were idiots then and they’re still idiots!
LAC
@glory b: I don’t know – but I would not bet on black women being that understanding and shoring up the party again and again. We are pragmatic but something broke in many of us this last election.
Lobo
@Belafon: To be honest, I have no clue what the issue is? Please provide more context.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Geminid:
I understand what you’re saying, but why not just vote present then at least? I think things like this contribute to the uniparty/duopoly/both sides are the same stuff and it depresses people from turning out and voting
I also think history will judge them and us harshly for what’s to come
dnfree
@Kay:
I have a relative who is a lawyer and who joined the opposition to Trump basically full-time. Not sure what group he is working with.
Geminid
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Most of the people I see complain about the “uniparty” are bad faith actors. They’ll complain about the uniparty it no matter what.
Ed. And their professions of willingness to come out for a bolder Democratic Party are just so much teasing. Anyway, there are not that many of them ro begin with.
And I don’t think a “Present” vote would have insulated a Representative from blowback. The blowback would be as bad or even worse.
One relevant question: are the 150 or so Democrats who voted against the bill attacking the 46 who voted for it? Criticizing them the way you are? Trying to shame them?
MrPug
@zhena gogolia:
I’m definitely not the first to point this out, but I continue to be amazed that they pretend they aren’t what they are. I thought they were very proud of being fascists. I mean I get it on the level of they think they are owning the libs and it’s a big hahahah “joke” but they are fucking fascists so just proudly own it.
Ksmiami
@Chief Oshkosh: they should be buried in holes. That works for me
MrPug
@Geminid:
Do you think in an election that won’t take place for 2 years that voters who might today be swayed by this “yes” vote will care in 2 years? Unless those same Democratic vote “yes” for every horrible GOP policy, and even if they do, they will be vilified for, well, just being Democrats.
Until and unless the party realizes that voting with Republicans will gain them no political cache the country is doomed to this crouching towards fascism.
It’s been decades now of this and it has rarely worked. How’d the Democrats voting with Bush on the Iraq War and other post 9/11 bills work for the party? In my estimation not well.
Starfish (she/her)
@MrPug: I am not surprised by that. They will try to wash themselves in respectability. “They are always calling us Nazis where we only engage in a little bit of white supremacy. They need to calm down.”
Remember when they were overturning Roe and telling women that no one would ever do that?
People not impacted don’t have to think about any of it too hard or take it too seriously.
Geminid
@MrPug: “…unless they vote for every horrible policy…”
That is not so. Democrats like Sharice Davids, Marcy Kaptur and Emilia Sykes don’t have to vote for unpopular Republican policies like resttrictive abortion laws, tax cuts for the wealthy, cuts to Medicad etc. to win reelection in their tough districts, and they won’t vote for them.
They don’t need to win the votes of conservative Republicans who want these things. They need to win the votes of Independents and Democrats who believe this immigration crackdown is needed.
hitchhiker
@tam1MI: Yes indeed. It’s not hard to find people who still believe that the DNC somehow sabotaged Bernie.
A skip and hop from there to Hillary deserved to lose to the thug because she cheated, and then no distance at all to Democrats cheated again in 2020.
Once you’re in that territory, anything goes.
Bernie Sanders lost because primary voters in key states were not on board. But he was good copy, so here we are.
RevRick
@sab: I don’t know if he had betrayed them. I think there was a lot of pearl clutching about what he said. I think, as in many things, context is crucial. He had been sent to fight in Korea and he returned to Emmett Till.
Of course, being clergy, I’m inclined to cut him slack. Just as I’m inclined to cut a lot of slack to Democratic officials.