Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Not all heroes wear capes.

I would try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

Those who are easily outraged are easily manipulated.

75% of people clapping liked the show!

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

You know it’s bad when the Project 2025 people have to create training videos on “How To Be Normal”.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

Consistently wrong since 2002

Their shamelessness is their super power.

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

The fundamental promise of conservatism all over the world is a return to an idealized past that never existed.

Innocent people do not delay justice.

They were going to turn on one another at some point. It was inevitable.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

Bark louder, little dog.

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

Anne Laurie is a fucking hero in so many ways. ~ Betty Cracker

Finding joy where we can, and muddling through where we can’t.

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

Petty moves from a petty man.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / May Day!

May Day!

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Happy International Workers Day!

That’s one incarnation of a classic — and here’s another, with a lovely story to frame it.

 

So, to channel my inner President Obama talking to Senator Sanders last night, “this is the time and place” in which I wish all my comrades a happy, peaceful, easeful international labor day.  We may all Tikkun Olam again tomorrow.

The thread it is open.

Reader Interactions

86Comments

  1. 1.

    Redshift

    Wow, Billy Bragg’s version gave me chills! I’ve seen him play it, but I’ve never heard the story. (If you get a chance to see him in concert, do; he does a great show.)

  2. 2.

    redshirt

    I’m still chuckling at Obama’s performance last night. Man is he good.

    That “Comrade” crack at Sanders was delish.

  4. 4.

    John Revolta

    Bet all them musicians are in the Union. Damn that Petrillo. Buncha Commies.

  6. 6.

    Hildebrand

    @redshirt: There were a number of burns from last night that will only deepen over time. Especially a few good swipes at an all too compliant Trumpenmedia.

  7. 7.

    Mnemosyne

    @tobie:

    He’s one of those guys who doesn’t get a lot of radio airplay because he doesn’t fit into any particular genre, but he’s been consistently good since the early 90s at least. I think he usually ends up at folk festivals.

  10. 10.

    Anya

    I was going to get Thomas Frank’s “Listen, Liberal” about the Democratic Party selling out working people but I was not impressed with his appearance on Bill Maher’s show. It lacked nuance and any context. He was basically doing his version of “both sides do it”. I am sure Democrats have a lot to answer for but I am not convinced by Thomas Frank’s argument. Many Balloon Juice commentors have made better arguments.

    Happy International Workers Day!

  12. 12.

    tobie

    @Mnemosyne: Spousal Unit’s gotten into folk guitar so I’ll likely be making the rounds of folk music festivals this summer. Will keep an eye out for Bragg.

  13. 13.

    I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet

    Happy MD everyone.

    ObOpenThread – a good post by kindler at Blue Virginia:

    [Judicial Watch] have indeed gone to court in pursuit of the Clintons many, many times, including 18 major lawsuits during Bill Clinton’s administration. These endless lawsuits and FOIA requests are designed to drive the news cycle, and at that game, Judicial Watch is a master.

    Just a tiny sample of the right wing conspiracy theory topics driven by this group over the past three decades include: Benghazi, Filegate, Hillary’s email, IRS investigations, ISIS on the Mexican border, Obama czars, Obama’s trips, Ron Brown, Swift Boat Veterans, Travelgate, Vince Foster, White House visitor logs, Whitewater — and anything having to do with Huma Abedin, the Clinton Foundation, Sidney Blumenthal or anyone else closely related to the Clintons.

    Judicial Watch can indeed claim credit for your opportunity to read all those boring Hillary emails about gefilte fish and such. Speaking of fishing, the group most recently won the right to expand its expeditions by gathering depositions from three top Clinton aides – no better way to keep the 24-hour cable and social media cycles humming with suspicious-sounding content.

    Judicial Watch’s method is to relentlessly pursue information that can in any way be used against its political targets, to aim this information – even if partial, misleading, or flat out wrong – at conservative media outlets from Breitbart to Fox, which generate hype and get Republican office holders talking about them, forcing mainstream media to get into the game or else be accused of cover-ups, “liberal bias”, etc. This dynamic unfortunately leads to some very poor reporting.

    Which has certainly been the case with the Hillary email story. Indeed, the New York Times story that launched all the hoopla about the FBI investigation was, in the paper’s own words, “fraught with inaccuracies.” The story falsely claimed that Hillary was the target of the investigation, when she is not; that it was a criminal inquiry, which it is not; and like many stories on this topic, was unclear about the critical questions of what constitutes classified information.

    It’s important to know where political memes come from if one wants to counter them.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  14. 14.

    Corner Stone

    @Anya: I, personally, am sick to death of people citing T Frank on the “liberal” or Democratic party.
    His treatise on Kansas was fail and he has not gotten better.

  15. 15.

    Villago Delenda Est

    It’s a shame that Americans are not familiar with why the 1st of May is International Workers’ Day. Furthermore, it’s a shame that they take things that people actually fought, bled and died for, such as the 40 hour work week, paid vacations, time and a half for overtime, and workman’s comp, for granted.

  16. 16.

    Shoemangler

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    … the 40 hour work week, paid vacations, time and a half for overtime, and workman’s comp, for granted.

    And unfortunately those rights are slowly disappearing.

  18. 18.

    Germy

    … the 40 hour work week, paid vacations, time and a half for overtime, and workman’s comp, for granted.

    And unfortunately those rights are slowly disappearing.

  19. 19.

    PsiFighter37

    Bernie was on teevee today saying there’s going to be a contested convention. If the fucker doesn’t concede on June 8th, then we’ll know that Bernie doesn’t give two shits about party unity.

  22. 22.

    D58826

    @PsiFighter37:

    Bernie Sanders heavily emphasized his intention to sway superdelegates in order to help him overcome an insurmountable lead in the Democratic primary during a press conference in Washington D.C. on Sunday.
    “Those superdelegates ought to seriously reflect whether they should cast their vote in favor of the vote of the states,” Sanders said of the prized delegates in states where he won majorities in the popular vote against Clinton.

    thedailybeast.com/cheats/2016/05/01/sanders-convention-will-be-contested.html
    Yep he’s at it again. Doesn’t sound like a gracious loser and team player.
    After spending the last year complaining about a corrupt and rigged system he wants to change the rules at the last minute, in his favor of course. Now to be fair maybe on the first ballot he should get the super delegates from the states that he won. According to the article that will net him 77 more delegates which is still no where near enough to catch Hillary. I think his real point is he wants them all to flip. Not sure why THAT is fair. Unless its just the logical outcome that all of those Hillary voters, esp. in the south, don’t really count.

  23. 23.

    Miss Bianca

    @Corner Stone: Frank – I’m going to say this knowing that I will open myself up for shit from certain quarters – kind of reminds me of a leftie David Brooks. In that, what he is saying seems reasonable, and even clever, until you look at it more closely and then discover critiques that poke holes in his outlook and then all of a sudden he just seems smug and glib.

  27. 27.

    Miss Bianca

    Wow, just listened to Billy Bragg. That was cool. Loved the bit about his verse being in the IWW – or “Wobblie” little red songbook.

    I actually was a Wobblie for a period of time in my 20s, when I worked at the University Cellar Bookstore in Ann Arbor, which started as a student-run bookstore, got thrown out of the student union to make way for a Barnes and Noble-supported “University Bookstore”, and was basically, slowly, driven out of business by the big chain. (sound familiar?) Some of our management team went on to work at Borders – the original Borders – back before *they* became a chain. Don’t know if the original Borders is still there. Then, after I moved to Chicago, a friend of mine from school became the field organizer/office manager for the IWW headquarters. I don’t know if any Wobblies are even still around, but being a Union Maid was a great experience while it lasted. It has certainly and forever influenced my thinking about what unions are supposed to be.

  28. 28.

    scav

    Heavens! Allowing individuals with experience to make up their own minds is not to be borne! All individual reasoning must fall to the voting results, especially in those states where the results demonstrate that the procedures also perfectly reflect what the will of the people actually is as known by those in the real know.

  33. 33.

    grumpy realist

    The present-day Russian anthem sounds to me like a mish-mash between The Internationale (which the USSR used as its anthem up to 1940) and Hymn of the USSR (which they used 1940-1991), or am I just imagining things?

    All of them sound better than what we use, which comes from an old drinking song and is impossible to sing by someone with an average voice range….Maybe one reason why so many opera singers end up on football fields at halftime.

  35. 35.

    Emma

    @scav: I hope to Christmas this is irony — because if it isn’t you and your buddy Bernie have a great deal of nerve, He’s trying to change the rules to make superdelegates vote for him instead of for the person they had chosen. He is actually trying to override their reasoned decision!

  37. 37.

    Big Picture Pathologist

    @Corner Stone:

    How is it ‘fail?’ Seems like Kansas has been extremely successful in cutting its own throat through the ballot box…

  39. 39.

    scav

    @Emma: You’re generally safe assuming irony with me. There’s so much in my speech that my blood is wrestling with anemia.

  41. 41.

    Anya

    @Corner Stone: I haven’t read his first book but because everyone talks about it in the most glowing terms, I just assumed it was great. Listening to him on Real Time diminished my perception of him. He sounded simplistic, out of touch, and dare I say, really stupid.

  42. 42.

    Miss Bianca

    @scav: no such thing as irony deficiency with you!

    @NotMax: Yeah, I knew the chain had gone belly-up, but there was some part of me hoping that the flagship store was still around. Evidently not,. Oh, well.

    I remember the application form they made you fill out at the original store back in the 80s. I was feeling pretty smug as one of the mosre literate just-past-teens I knew. And then when I took the quiz on the application I realized that my book learnin’, while quite deep in my area of expertise, was not nearly wide enough to suit Borders. (Schoolkids Records, which was just across the street, imposed a similarly humbling experience on me with regard to my musical tastes and knowledge when I applied *there* a little while later).

    Bet that changed later…

  43. 43.

    Emma

    @scav: oops. I am beginning to lose my sense of humor about this damn primary. And my ability to detect in others with it.

  46. 46.

    scav

    @Emma: No oops required. This is a crowded room with innumerable characters (all babbling away): difficult to keep untangled and with very small name tags. Moreover, I serve mine very dry. Happens all the time.

    And this entire election is rapidly becoming something best approximated by a day of way too much strong alcohol with a side of wormwood and then sudden teleportation into a hall of fun-house mirrors. Built on a foundation of trampolines. During an earthquake. Sometimes irony is Dramamine.

  48. 48.

    Bob In Portland

    @Anya: The book is about the Democratic Party, essentially post-JFK. There’s hardly any talk of Republicans.

    Anya, if you don’t want to understand why many former Democrats are giving up on the current Democratic leadership, then, by all means, don’t read it. Be clueless like the rest of the villagers.

  50. 50.

    Bob In Portland

    @WaterGirl: Do you mean that Hillary will get back at Sanders for not folding? Take away his power in the Senate? If she does it expect a further migration from the corporate Dems.

    I haven’t voted in the primaries yet. Neither has anyone in California. Why is such a rush to cut off people from voting?

  51. 51.

    WaterGirl

    @Bob In Portland: As far as I’m concerned, Bernie can stay in until the last votes are counted in the last primary. What i think is a really bad move is promoting the whole contested convention thing. I had a problem with Hillary in 2008 when she apparently couldn’t count delegates, and I have the same problem with Bernie now.

    I started as anti-Hillary and fairly pro-Bernie, but he lost me weeks ago and all he’s doing is burning respect and good will, and even influence in the party, at this point. I still don’t care for Hillary any more than I did before, but I have concluded that Bernie is not fit to be president. I really think Bernie has lost his way. He seems disconnected from the reality of the situation.

    That’s how Bernie is not helping himself here.

  53. 53.

    scav

    @Bob In Portland: have you checked under the sofa cushion for your neuron? it’s the Bern who’s apparently suggesting certain delegates don’t have the right to make a personal decision while voting but must follow the dictates of a hypothesized numinous mandate. nobody’s coming after your dear little game-changing personal ballot. have loads of fun with your number 2 pencil and the scantron.

  54. 54.

    redshirt

    @WaterGirl: There’s a lot of former Bernie supporters who feel the same. I’m sure Bob will tell you why you’re wrong.

    I was never that strong on Hillary to start, but I have become so because I am impressed by the campaign she’s run. And the one Bernie has run, which has completely soured me on him.

  55. 55.

    WaterGirl

    @D58826: I”m not sure he even knows there was a pitcher of Kool-Aid at this point.

    edit: autocorrect has apparently never heard of Kool-Aid.

  56. 56.

    Linnaeus

    @Miss Bianca:

    Don’t know if the original Borders is still there.

    Nope, they’re all gone – Borders went bankrupt and liquidated in 2011.

  57. 57.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @redshirt: Bingo. Bernie says a lot of the right things about a vision of America I share with him, but frankly, he’s not prepared to deal with the process of working towards that vision. Some of his more, ahem, rabid followers are most certainly not. They share that quality with Paulistas. Which some of them are, unsurprisingly.

  59. 59.

    Applejinx

    @redshirt: I have my moments of really liking Hils.

    twitter.com/katherinemiller/status/726552773525966848

    I think it’s a completely fair criticism to say, ‘oh, sure, give her ANY chance to send the military off to kill somebody and what do you expect? Of course this expresses her value systems, hawk that she is’.

    That said:

    Fuck the White House Correspondents’ Dinner :D

  62. 62.

    Miss Bianca

    @scav:

    have you checked under the sofa cushion for your neuron?

    and this, you see…this…is an example of what we love about you. The iron fist in the velvet glove ain’t innit.

  64. 64.

    Bob In Portland

    @scav: What are you talking about?

    Sanders staying in the race, Sanders (or a supporter) making a case for him as a candidate?

    I thought you guys said after the New York primary that it’s all over. Why are you guys still whining? Myself, I’m looking forward to all the new wars that H. Clinton will bring about, how she’ll make excuses for all the progressive things that she won’t get behind, that kind of thing.

    Will she get equal pay for women? Not through Congress. Will she stop the wars? Of course not. Will she raise the minimum wage. Not to fifteen. What will she accomplish? Does anyone in the Balloon Juice Village have any expectations about what you’ll get with a Clinton presidency?

    The second-most disliked, untrustworthy candidate to ever run for prez. You guys aren’t cheering loud enough.

  66. 66.

    Bob In Portland

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    …but frankly, he’s not prepared to deal with the process of working towards that vision.

    Horseshit. Where do you get the throw weight in this discussion?

  67. 67.

    WaterGirl

    @Bob In Portland:

    Here are 5 of my expectations:

    A Supreme Court that is a hell of a lot better than the one we have now, and that is a hell of a lot better than the one we would have if any republican is elected.

    Fewer disadvantaged people will die.

    The Affordable Care Act will not be overturned; it won’t be like abortion which is technically legal but which they prohibit every way they can.

    The Department of Justice won’t be a joke like it would be under a republican president.

    The VA won’t be privatized.

  68. 68.

    Miss Bianca

    @Bob In Portland: Well, Bob, I’m sort of hoping that she’ll personally escort tiresome leftier-than-thou so and so’s like you to your own WalMart/FEMA re-education camps, where you’ll be lovingly schooled into loving Big Sister, but I know she’s got bigger fish to cook and from everything I’ve heard she’s a much nicer person than I am, so I’m just going to say Obama’s Third Term and you can read into that whatever you would like – I’m in a mellow and expansive mood tonight.

  73. 73.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Bob In Portland: Interview with NY Daily News. Deer caught in the headlights.

    He’s been in Congress for decades. He should be able to articulate his vision of the process just as well as his vision of the goal.

    But then, I’m arguing with a idiot who wants to drink the splooge of oligarch Putin.

  75. 75.

    Elie

    Just got back from my Democratic County Convention (Whatcom County, WA). It was a day long affair that resulted in the selection of delegates for the Congressional and State Conventions. I put my name in and did my one minute speech for why I should be selected as a Hillary delegate. We disbanded before the results were tallied so we’ll see who gets to pay their own way to these… (I would be thrilled).

    It was an interesting event and I was so proud to see 1200 Democratic delegates plus other volunteers and officials, give up this beautiful Sunday for such a wonderfully important, though frequently ragged and disorganized, but ultimately meaningful process. I had my Hillary buttons, stickers and sign… Bernie folks seemed pretty open although there were a group of vocal never Hillaries and the campaign head for Bernie in Whatcom Cty was kinda a loudmouth who just avoided amping up his group to not vote for her. Our Hillary speaker was a nice lady but that’s ok. We’ll get them in the end — The energy of the Bernie folks is impressive but a little scary — like a little cultish — I don’t really get it. Its almost like some kind of prion brain condition — independent of any rational plan or process, there is a belief system that he can make what he talks about happen? Its angry and in your face — not aspirational in the hopey changey way — Hard to describe. Anyway, it was quite an experience. I don’t like caucuses in principle but this was a pretty cool experience overall — even if my candidate was definitely not dominant — this time.

  76. 76.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    It’s a shame that Americans are not familiar with why the 1st of May is International Workers’ Day.

    The reason it’s Labor Day everywhere else is exactly the same as the reason that it isn’t here.

  79. 79.

    Miss Bianca

    @Elie: thanks for the report! Yeah, I was always amazed by the passion and energy of the Sanders supporters compared to the Clinton supporters – but I felt as you did,that there was a cult-y feel to it. They were so sure they had RIGHT on their side, and WRONG was on the other – whereas Clinton people were all sort of mild, “uh, well, here’s why we think you’re wrong about that – actual achievements, etc. etc.” Made me want to get up there and inyerface myself – tho’ in the end probably best I didn’t! So, you are up for state delegate? Hope you get it!

  80. 80.

    Amir Khalid

    @WaterGirl:
    I don’t understand how Bernie can justify trying to make it a contested convention when he keeps falling further and further behind Hillary in popular votes and pledged delegates.Isn’t his argument for superdelegates falling away from the reality at this point?

  82. 82.

    Elie

    @Miss Bianca:

    Thanks much Lady B — I just couldn’t figure it. From one minute we were all Democrats and the next — it was like the mean girl club in HS — “we have/know something you don’t – (and more importantly), you can’t be a member of our club! We have special hand signals and other signs that bind us together and we don’t want you to be part of us — that was the unmistakeable and most disconcerting part — “we don’t want you to be part of us, or us part of you!”. Which in the middle of a party convention — whaaaa???

    I definitely think weird stuff is happening in the electorate on both R and D sides — Right now, outside of rational thinking and sorting — I got nothin’… at least nothing tonight. Have to process this…. Somewhere from Bernie to ? Since he eschews Obama — then the next logical is??? Putin? – Castro? — uhm…. Where are the “leftist” heroes to point to with the right solution? The socialists in Europe are pretty pragmatic and all have their warts. What’s the model and the dream around REAL governance vs slogans?

    Have to add, the anti-Hillaries were about half and half visually male and female — maybe sl more male. The pro- HIllaries were overwhelmingly women, mostly mature or middle aged.

  83. 83.

    Miss Bianca

    @Elie: Yeah, it was very weird – it was very weird for me to see all these people I knew at the state convention and they were *all* Sanders delegates – and feeling like, in the middle of the “hey how are yous!?” – “well, we’d better not get into *politics*!”. And that there was this kind of grudging reaction to any call for party unity and remembering that the real enemy was not so much Republicans, but what Republicans represented – scorn for governance and for helping the less fortunate of society. That at the end of the day that was what we all wanted – to use the power of government to make people’s lives better, not worse.

    Leftist heroes – well, here’s the problem, because I think our President is a real leftist hero, and my Sanders-supporting delegate friends don’t – somehow, he’s “betrayed” them by not being able to pull magical shit out of his ass, all on his own, and somehow they think Sanders will be able to because…??? His Aim is True, or something? Whereas I see PBO as one of the most skillful and inspiring leaders of our age, and while he’s made some mistakes, he’s also able to point to amazing things accomplished in the teeth of pig-headed obstruction. So, they are down for “revolution” and I am down for “continuation.”

    OK, maybe FDR, but then again…it’s like people forget that FDR wasn’t magical, he compromised – compromised a lot – and wasn’t always mindful (to put it mildly) of the rights of minorities. And he had a huge and comfortable majority of his own party in Congress. So…I dunno.

    I hope that Comrade Sanders throws his shoulder to the wheel and helps the party roll to a Democratic Presidency and a Democratic majority in the Senate. But I fear that out of some impulse – purity or petulance – he won’t play and he won’t urge his supporters to play. Hope I’m wrong.

  84. 84.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Miss Bianca: In this country, there is a difference between leftists and what we call liberals. Both would like to end up in similar places, but the methods that each would prefer (or be be willing to use) to get there differ. Leftists are not wedded to the status quo and would be willing to blow institutions up to get their desired result. Liberals are more oriented to working withing the system and tend to believe that existing institutions have value, but need reformation.*

    *Broad generalizations and such.

  85. 85.

    I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet

    @Matt McIrvin: Yeahbut…

    Bernie said at the National Press Club today that if he doesn’t win the nomination that (roughly) “I will do whatever it takes so that Trump does not win the Presidency.” Bernie supporters voting for Jill Stein isn’t going to help Bernie do that…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  86. 86.

    Bitter Scribe

    I can’t even tell what language the Toscanini version is in. Russian?

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