Just left McCain fundraiser in DC. Happy to donate. But question occurred to me –why Senate reelection? Why not an indie run for President?
— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) June 27, 2016
All right, we've had our fun, but the Bill Kristol meme has gone too far. https://t.co/ttNvO7rVWc
— Virginia Dare (@vdare) June 28, 2016
Dude must be aware that his predictions have become a standing joke, right? When even the VDare white supremacists start rolling their eyes, surely Bill ‘Always Rong’ Kristol must realize he’s worn out his patter, right?
You’d think he’d step aside, if only for the sake of the rising generation of Repub japesters…
McConnell wants Trump to become “a more serious and credible candidate” for president. https://t.co/K8LOwIlIXU pic.twitter.com/aWrKUxZBEv
— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) June 29, 2016
And I want to win the lottery, if only I could remember to buy the tickets. My chances, still better!
Apart from mocking the Repubs, what’s on the agenda for the evening?
cmorenc
Kristol hasn’t gotten around to suggesting Alan Keys…yet. But there’s still time for him to do so.
Emma
Hey you could find one on the street. Or a friend give you one for Christmas. Your odds are MUCH better.
rikyrah
If there is a better example of White Privilege than Bill Kristol……
He checks off all the boxes.
Brachiator
Bill’s Kristoll Ball hasn’t been working right for years.
bemused
McConnell, explain how Trump is “getting closer” when just today he pointed at a plane in his rally and said that could be a Mexican plane ready to attack.
JPL
@rikyrah: Abigail Fisher thought she was the most entitled, until the Court set her straight.
Haydnseek
Typically Yertle, typically rethug. “We have no problem with the hideous garbage that slops out of your diseased piehole every fifteen minutes, it just needs to be packaged in discreet, short easy to digest hatenuggets™ suitable for an endless loop on fox noise. It’s always “dress it in a cheapass Walmart T-shirt with a flag and a gun on it, and you’ll be fine.” Fuck these assholes.
JPL
link
Tripod
@Haydnseek:
Southern Cross flag and a gun.
eric
@JPL: that is a BFD ;)
dmsilev
@JPL: Yes, but did Biden get Bernie to commit to a specific date? An endorsement that comes the Ftiday after Thanksgiving wouldn’t be much help.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
Since it’s an open thread, would anybody in the SW OH, SE IN or NKY area (or anywhere Juicers are)be interested in helping place a kitty whose owner expired? It’s an unofficial suicide and probably will remain so since the expense of a PM isn’t justified; all evidence points in that direction.
The siblings aren’t local so the locals are helping with details. My recollection is that she’s a wee black female and at least 7 years old (I think). She was a rescue kitten and I’d like to get her placed because she’s already been through the system once. I have no photos and it’s not clear whether I can get any. We can’t take her because Layla is not cat friendly.
Any advice/assistance would be appreciated.
redshirt
@JPL: At this point I could give a damn about Bernie’s endorsement. Hope he has no role at the convention at all.
Amir Khalid
@JPL:
Yes, but how willingly will he do it?
Haydnseek
@Tripod: I was thinking of the American flag when I wrote the comment, but you’re absolutely right. We don’t see that one much in my city, being 10 miles from downtown Los Angeles with a population these days consisting of Latinos, Asians, and a small smattering of Anglos.
Robert Sneddon
@dmsilev:
January, perhaps. He wouldn’t want to be rushed into it in case she spikes the football, you know.
JPL
@dmsilev: That’s all I know. I assume the conversation started with
Bernie, Why didn’t you release your taxes, or file the FEC report? I know you’re a good guy and it would be a shame, if something happened to sully your reputation.
okay.. I admit that I need NotMax or Baud to complete the rest of the conversation
Baud
@JPL: Has Biden endorsed Hillary yet? Not that I’m worried about him. I simply can’t remember.
hovercraft
Why do they keep trying to get these losers to run, are they saying make this sacrifice and be a two time loser, or do they think RMoney or McCain could actually win ? McCain would still have to answer for Palin and RMoney is RMoney. Just call Keyes and get it over with, hasn’t lost a presidential contest yet, it’s the only thing missing from his resume.
aimai
Just completed a mini installation–an anniversary gift for mr. Aimai in which I took a 19th century glove box, stood it on its end to make a kind of diptych,and filled both sides with a poem from our ketubah and images and objects reflecting a section of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. I’m incredibly proud of it, though I’m a bit of an amateur when it comes to gluing things so it may end up being more fragile than I want. Its so cool I’m going to put it up on my blog after I’ve given it to him. Since I have a stress fracture in my foot I had to do the whole thing standing on one foot, and I”m really wiped out now from hopping all over the house and up three flights of stairs to get one more small thing I’d forgotten I wanted to use. The dining room looks like a crazy hoarder of ephemera exploded there. But I’m really, really, excited to be able to give it to him on our 21st anniversary, or our 20th, or whatever it is.
gbear
Bernie Sanders fundraising email: “We’re going to the convention.”
the Conster, la Citoyenne
What is in that damn FEC financial disclosure? He can’t release it because he’s campaigning. Jeebus, the guy is marginally better than Trump. No wonder his Stans are confused about who the enemy is.
Baud
@JPL:
“You know what would be a big fucking deal, Bernie. If you endorsed Hillary. America needs you, Bernie. I need you. Can I count on you, Senator?”
JPL
@Baud: They campaign together in PA next week, so yes.
Baud
@gbear: That’s OK IMHO. It’s focused on issues.
dmsilev
@Baud: I think so, around the same time as Obama and Warren, but I’m not completely sure.
Mike in NC
Unexpected company tonight. Wife’s high school friend went to a family funeral in Georgia but her car broke down in South Carolina today on the drive back home to Fairfax, VA. Waited several hours for AAA to show up and fix things. Decided to spend the night here and drink wine rather than deal with several more hours on the road. Brought her hyperactive little dog along on the trip, so our cat is in hiding for the duration.
Gravenstone
@bemused: He did what now?
/facepalm
Fair Economist
@hovercraft:
There’s no hope of them winning. The purpose would be to improve “sane Republican” turnout and reduce the chance of the Republicans losing Congress. Just to put things in context, Paul Ryan’s district is only R+3, meaning if this election becomes nationalized, his seat is already as risk with current polling.
Elizabelle
@aimai: sounds wonderful. He will love it.
smith
@hovercraft: McCain will be lucky to win just one state and hang on to his seat, never mind trying to win an electoral college’s worth of them.
bemused
@Gravenstone:
Video at TPM. Idiot people behind him laughed. Yup, sure is hilarious if you have no brain cells.
aimai
@gbear: Motherfucking Bernie Sanders. I am so angry about his trying to push Patty Murray aside from her position on Health Care. If he is a Democrat–which I dispute–he does not have the seniority to be demanding anything of anyone. And Hillary and Schumer would be crazy to permit someone who has refused to be a team player from gaining any special power in the new Senate. The balls on that guy.
Mike in DC
The last good time to do it is the Friday before the Republican convention. The Friday after would be tolerable but not ideal. The Friday after the Democratic convention would make him completely irrelevant (and widely disliked).
redshirt
@Baud: Yes. June 9th.
Brachiator
@JPL:
It’s interesting that some Bernie supporters want him to stay pure, and see endorsing Hillary as “joining” the Establishment.
It would be nice if Bernie would just do the right thing, but he has until the convention to endorse her. And then he has to actively campaign for her, or else his endorsement or promise to vote for her is hollow.
LesGS
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): Did you contact Anne Laurie? Maybe she would put up a pet bleg even if you don’t have a picture.
aimai
@dmsilev: I don’t think anyone can get Bernie to commit to anything. He’s like one of those Christian permanent virgins who is willing to do everything but P in V sex to keep the attention of her boyfriend. He will keep offering an then refusing as long as the voters and the other democrats look like they will pay attention. Only after they walk off and marry Hillary will he reconsider, and by then it will be too late for anyone to care. What a drama llama.
Amir Khalid
@gbear:
That needs an asterisk:
Mike in NC
@aimai: Bernie is not a Democrat. He’s an Independent Socialist who thinks he has lowered himself to affiliate with the Democrats.
dmsilev
@aimai: As far as I can tell, Sanders is very binary in his thinking. Either you agree with him on everything, including his bid for President, or you’re a neoliberal corporate sellout tool of the establishment. And basically nothing in between. I’m very very glad he won’t be President; he’d have been a disaster in the job. Not as bad as Trump, sure, but still pretty bad. An ideological purist trying to head up what is inevitably a broad coalition of allied interests won’t end well. Just ask Britain’s Labour Party, to take one recent example.
LunarG
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): If you reach a state of utter and total desperation, I might be able to help — especially if someone can help with gas/travel and initial vet visit costs. I am in SE Michigan, and the spouse and I have only recently established peace among our three current cats. Four is the maximum for the house, and it’s a long drive, but… Kitties need homes.
Baud
@Brachiator: I’m skeptical he’ll campaign actively. I mostly want the endorsement because I expect some of his more zealous Bros will make a scene at the convention, and I want us to be able to respond with the unambiguous talking point that Bernie supports Hillary for president.
aimai
@Brachiator: When will you get it? Bernie is not going to endorse her, or if he does it will be halfheartedly. And he is not going to campaign for her because that would take work and he would have to humble himself to appear as her warm up act–and he has waaaay too big an ego to do that. Unless he is satisfied that he has forced the Democratic Party to give him everythign he could dream of up to and including Patty Murray’s seat on Health Care, full seniority, and a surprise gift to be named later. He will find a way to head back to Vermont and refuse to go out on the road for her and will consider his job done if he sends a backhanded request to his email list to support “the nominee” without mentioning her by name.
And he won’t give a fig for his “promises” ringing “hollow.” That is such a bourgeouis concept, anyway. When you are the rightest right lefty of all time, for all time, whose concerns are so much bigger and more movementy than a mere election, you don’t concern yourself with petty things like graciousness, party loyalty, or even the demands of the country. You answer to a higher duty. So he is as much a stranger to shame as Trump and he can’t be made to feel guilty about broken promises or rude behavior.
Botsplainer, Neoliberal Corporatist Shill
@JPL:
Sure, he said it to Joe. Once Weaver and Jane grab his ear, all bets are off again.
Somebody needs to take away Grandpa’s car keys and safeguard the last reliable will ahead of the inevitable will contest.
Brachiator
Odd news story on the radio just now about a CDC report on suicide rates by profession. Among the highest: farmers, lumberjacks, fisherman.
Among the lowest: teachers, librarians
dmsilev
@aimai:
If he’s not careful, someone will shear off that hair and knit a sweater out of it.
Gin & Tonic
@aimai: But how do you *really* feel?
Corner Stone
O.M.G.
Mary Matalin just scared the shit out of me. She appeared on my TV and this is awful.
Major Major Major Major
@aimai: Heh. Drama llama.
Corner Stone
Holy shit. I just realized. She now looks like Carville but with head on her/their head.
SiubhanDuinne
@aimai:
:-)
jl
” And I want to win the lottery, if only I could remember to buy the tickets. ”
” And I want to win the lottery, if only I could remember to buy the winning tickets. ”
See, there is the difference between ‘loser’ and ‘winner’ thinking. Clearly, AL is not a Trump supporter, otherwise she would have thought of that winning plan.
D58826
@dmsilev: And in public. hopefully.
But the GOP finally has the goods on the Clinton machine. Bill and AG Loretta Lynch had an unplanned impromptu 30 minute meeting the other night in Phoenix. They obviously were planning the further cover up of Benghazi and the e-mail server. Since the AG’s hubby was there also that kind of shuts down the sex angle, unless maybe they into a threesome. Judicial Watch is demanding an IG investigation And Sen. Cornyn renewed his call for a special prosecutor since Trey Goudy didn’t deliver the goods..
I totally get it why she set up that server. In the 1990’s every right wing lawyer with a pencil; and some first class stamps was filing FIOA requests to see every document with Bill or Hillary’s name on, in addition to every document that may have even been in the same post office with a Clinton document. We are seeing the same thing all over again. Citizens United (yea that group) is demanding another 14000 documents pertaining to Hillary’s time at state. Judicial Watch keeps expanding the number of information requests. I’m beginning to think the most important reason to get a House majority is to shutdown the impeachment requests.
JPL
@Brachiator: My son and I both buy from a local farmer and it’s hard work. He raises turkeys and last fall they were on a lower field when heavy rains, caused flooding. He was out in the field rescuing them. The last few months, he has tried to donate more time to family, and you can tell, he is happier because of it.
For those in the Atlanta area, it’s Carlton Farms and they deliver locally.
bystander
Mary Matalin is on MSNBC With All Due Respect. She evidently decided to get a full spackling and resurfacing after she had Howdy Doody’s cheeks implanted.
hovercraft
@Fair Economist:
God does not love me enough to give me a Ryan defeat, can you imagine the beltway media if he lost. They would wail and be left without a messiah. Rubio already crashed and burned, who would they have left ?
SoupCatcher
And on the same day that the number of ballots still left to be counted in California (368k) drops below the margin between Clinton and Sanders (403k).
Coincidence? I think not!
Mike E
@Corner Stone: Condolences…If the likes of Skeletor can’t keep MM away from the teevee cameras, we have no hope
Brachiator
@aimai:
I’m not that worried about what Bernie may do, I’m just watching how this primary campaign plays out. But the longer Sanders delays, the more politically irrelevant he becomes. If he simply returns to his shell as the lone independent, he will forfeit any gains he has made for his so-called political revolution
But I don’t think he has a huge ego. Like the Labour Party leader Corbyn, Bernie is just stuck on his simple minded version of political integrity. And he has not only lost the primary, he is losing on having much influence on the Democratic Party platform. He is fighting a losing struggle to remain relevant.
The only problem is that his truculence could influence some of his supporters, but even here his impact will be minor.
@Baud:
Actually, I think he will come around. He has nothing to gain by continuing to be coy.
But you still have my vote.
dmsilev
@SoupCatcher: Coincidence? No! VOTER FRAUD!
hovercraft
@smith:
Again like Ryan seeing him lose would be amazing, I could die a happy woman. Knowing that he was banging around an empty house in Arizona muttering about Obama and Clinton. But at least he’d have a steady weekend gig on TV.
dogwood
@aimai:
Patty Murray is an incredibly effective legislator. She is a workhorse. She will never be appreciated by democrats in general because she neither has the ability nor the inclination to be a rock star celebrity pol. The idea that Bernie should replace her is laughable. He’s lazy.
Felonius Monk
@Corner Stone:
She scared you by what she said or how she looked? Please elaborate.
Corner Stone
@bystander: She is wiped out of her gourd.
redshirt
@JPL: I strangely just read a book about a guy who takes over his family farm and converts it to free range animals. He eventually found success selling at farmer’s markets but it took a lot of trial and error and failure before he got it working. “Gaining Ground” by Forrest Pritchard.
I see he has a direct sales website now even though in the book he said he wouldn’t.
Corner Stone
@Felonius Monk: God help me, I think she’s giving us a preview of what Johnny Manziel is going to look like in 15 years.
D58826
@dogwood: Bernie wants the chairmanship/ranking member slot to push HIS agenda, not Hillary’s. Nothing new. Same old wine in a different bottle.
Major Major Major Major
@dmsilev: The SoS hasn’t updated to reflect the fact that Sanders won Berkeley and San Francisco by 410%, though, and the official counts still don’t factor in how much birds like him. It’s anybody’s ballgame!
hovercraft
@dmsilev:
He’s a 74 year old man, someone needs to tell him to grow up. At his age he should know life is about compromise, if he can’t come to grips with the world we live in he should withdraw from society and go live a pure life in the woods. Build a commune, I’m sure he can find enough acolytes to join him and tell him his shit don’t stink.
satby
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): email me, maybe we can find a foster around here if nothing closer comes up.
? Martin
@aimai: I guess he’s all done fixing the VA then. Mission accomplished.
Corner Stone
@dogwood: Not a big fan of Patty Murray. Call me a purity pony unicorn humper if you like, but that god damned budget deal she made with Paul Ryan made me lose about 10 years off my expected life span, I was that angry.
p.a.
I’m only getting desktop version, no ‘mobile’ button at bottom of page. Anyone else?
dogwood
@Brachiator:
I don’t think Bernie campaigning for Hillary is really necessary. I read something the other day about the Clinton campaign planning to use Barack Obama in predominantly white suburbs and on college campuses to fire up the former Bernie voters. We’ll see if that’s how it pans out.
aimai
@Brachiator: I’m not worried about what Bernie may do–because I know what he’s going to do. But it does matter to me because I don’t like to see such churlish, incompetent, destructive, and petty, behavior rewarded by the gods, or by the democrats. I want to see it punished. And Bernie is either too dumb or too stubborn to see that his behavior is being punished by reality. He has squandered all the good will and political power that his surprise showing in the Primary could have earned him and his so called movement. He has disgusted at least two thirds of his own original supporters and he has alienated the very people he needs to work with in the Senate to get anything done in the real world. Of course– he has pleased his die hard/splitter fans by constantly feeding their sense of superiority and their sense of greivance vis a vis the Democratic Party and the universe. And he thinks this makes it possible to create a post election new progressive movement? He just lost that pole position to Elizabeth Warren. He’ll be a niche favorite, dimly remembered, late night tv answer to “who was your first political love?” in a few years.
So fuck him. Because progressivism could have used someone just like Bernie who was a whole lot smarter, a whole lot more thoughtful, and a whole lot less divisive and curmudgeonly and selfish. But it got Bernie instead.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@LesGS: I haven’t yet, because one of her person’s sisters just wrote to tell me she needs to ask the landlord if kitty is still at her person’s apartment. A photo was attached to the email, and my recollection was correct – small DSH in shiny black.
It’s sad, and I hope we can get her a new person. The same landlord kept her in food and water when her person was in the hospital a few years ago. Thanks for the reminder to seek AL’s help if needed.
@LunarG: Oh thanks so much – we’ll see where it stands. That’s a generous offer.
MomSense
@aimai:
Awww, sounds lovely.
I have to drag myself off the deck to fix dinner. It is so nice to just be outside without freezing wind or shovel in hand. Everyday different neighbors stop by. They’ve started bringing nibbles and wine.
JPL
@redshirt: This is the farmer that I buy from, facebook page link You have to love that life. His wife is a pharmacist and he has his masters. The family was close to selling the farm, and he convinced them to try something knew. They did make some extra money because one of the Hunger Game films used their property. At the time, he didn’t know who Jennifer Lawrence was.
Villago Delenda Est
There needs to be an entry in the DSM for monomaniacal delusions of the Kristol kind.
hovercraft
@aimai:
Well said.
aimai
@dogwood: The Hillary Campaign would never, ever, let Bernie out without a minder after the way he has behaved. They really don’t need him. He’s yesterday’s artisanal flavor for epicures and aesthetes. If the same people who voted for him can have Barack Obama–even if they thought five seconds ago that BO was a “neoliberal sellout” they will be lining up to see him and to throw their underpants at him.
raven
Damn, Coastal Carolina wins the College World Series!
SiubhanDuinne
@p.a.: The toggle between “mobile” and “desktop” is incredibly hard to see (text is blue on dark grey), but it’s there for me. Safari, iPad.
Brachiator
@JPL:
Yep, it’s a tough life. A CBS report on the study makes this observation:
This report finding is very troubling:
But all the best reporting notes that these findings are very limited, and based on info from 17 states. Still, the early data is very intriguing.
aimai
@hovercraft: I think there is a reason that women in general, and POC in general, are pissed off with the kid glove treatment that Bernie is getting from (some) guys. We know that our female or non white candidates have to be fucking perfect–they can never look bad, or have a bad day, or make a mistake, or appear ungracious, or look angry, without the whole of the press and every armchair political warrior and keyboard commando wailing and attacking (if in opposition) or wailing and breast beating and screaming “we’re looooooosing! why did you vote for this woman/black guy?????” if they are supposedly on our own side.
So when people say “let Bernie be Bernie” or “its no big deal Hillary will find a way to make it work without Bernie’s endorsement” or “Obama can go out on the campaign trail and fix it” we think—fuck me! Women and Black People, cleaning up after old white guy poop again! Man–that NEVER gets old!
Mnemosyne
@p.a.:
I can see it on my iPhone at the very bottom.
Major Major Major Major
@aimai: OK, we get it, some white man passed you up for a promotion 20 years ago. Sheesh. Bitter much?
…
(reference to GoBlue from yesterday, not being a churl)
Corner Stone
I can’t imagine the level of dumb you have to be to think there’s a problem with WJC and Loretta Lynch having a speak.
aimai
@Major Major Major Major: I think the right line is to whisper, behind your hand “she’s on the rag, you know.”
Gimlet
But the GOP finally has the goods on the Clinton machine. Bill and AG Loretta Lynch had an unplanned impromptu 30 minute meeting the other night in Phoenix. They obviously were planning the further cover up of Benghazi and the e-mail server.
The accepted conservative way to do this, is to go duck hunting together in the bayous.
aimai
@Gimlet: I like to think that HRC is sounding Lynch out as a possible Supreme Court pick. Or maybe VP. A girl can dream.
redshirt
@raven: Who? That has to be a major upset, right?
raven
@redshirt: Charleston had never made the tournament, Arizona is a powerhouse.
Trentrunner
Cracks me up to think of Biden as Obama/Hillary’s Tom Hagen, out at Bernie’s place, asking the Senator to finally endorse.
Bernie initially balks.
Biden gets up to leave, saying, “Mr. Obama is a man who insists on hearing bad news immediately.”
[multiple dissolves; night]
Bernie wakes up with the head of a purity pony in his bed.
[end scene]
Thanks, Biden.
rikyrah
@JPL:
Kristol has been at White Privilege far longer.
p.a.
@SiubhanDuinne: My ‘Request Desktop’ button was checked. Didn’t even know I had a ‘Request Desktop’ button.
dogwood
@aimai:
Actually PBO has a stellar approval rating among the vast majority of Sanders voters. When he hits the circuit, It will be “Bernie who?” to a lot of these people.
rikyrah
@aimai:
Sounds lovely.
Congratulations on the Anniversary ?
aimai
@Trentrunner: Love it! This is actually pretty much my imaginary meeting too. Except I imagined Hillary as Michael Corleone saying “This is my offer…nothing.”
Brachiator
@aimai:
OK, I’ve got you down for this:
We’ll see what happens.
Politics is rough business, and even though you may want to see his bad behavior punished, the only thing that matters in the end is whether he is useful to the Democrats subsequent to a Clinton victory. And if he retains any political credibility, smart money would want to exploit this for the November election and possibly for the mid term elections later on. But I suspect that Sanders is closer to becoming a historical footnote.
Botsplainer, Neoliberal Corporatist Shill
@Trentrunner:
“She made me look ridiculous! A man in my position cannot afford to look ridiculous!!”
aimai
@dogwood: Not according to the die hard dead heads at Kos and on the “salon des refuses” (imagine that I know how to put the right accent there, or just take the cross cultural pun as intended) that spun off when Bernie wasn’t getting enough respect. Obama and Hillary both are two sides of a kind of oligarchic affirmative action plan which puts poc and women up as a smoke screen for capitalism’s evil plans.
Gin & Tonic
@aimai: You’re on fire today.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
As one who abhors and abjures violence, let it be a giant-puppet size papier maché head of HA-HA Goodman
aimai
@Brachiator: I think you can see from my writings that I treat politics as a very rough business indeed–here in MA we like to say its a “blood sport” after all. So, I totally get Bernie and I think I know enough about politics to see why Hillary et al are holding their fire until after the convention. But I’m pretty sure that nobody on capitol hill is as forgiving and mild mannered as Barack Obama was with his enemies and Bernie didn’t make any friends with the crap he’s pulled. He deserves whatever fragging the dems do to him after the election and I, for one, hope he gets some of the attention he’s been wanting–good and hard.
Villago Delenda Est
@Gimlet: They are smoking some rad shit, the GOP. Worse than the brown tabs at Woodstock.
Mnemosyne
@D58826:
Trump was reportedly eavesdropping on his hotel guests but OMFG BILL CLINTON TALKED TO LORETTA LYNCH!1!!!1
aimai
@Gin & Tonic: Why thank you. I took off my stress fracture boot so now I am stranded in my chair can’t do anything but type on the internet. Nice to think its not wasted!
Gimlet
Another skeleton is found with Murphy’s trademark
http://www.tcpalm.com/news/politics/elections/local/us-rep-patrick-murphys-ties-to-eb-5-donors-runs-deep-343f10c3-a8c3-18f4-e053-0100007f95e0-384911551.html
On Sept. 18, 2014, U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy co-sponsored a bill to expand a controversial foreign investor program. That same day, a developer who’s using the program to help fund a project in Miami gave $15,000 to a political committee affiliated with Murphy.
That same project, the highly-anticipated Miami Worldcenter, is being built by Murphy’s family construction company.
Murphy’s connections to developers who rely on the foreign investor program known as EB-5 have been called into question by his U.S. Senate race opponents, and the Democrat has had to do a lot of explaining lately. Seven developers who used EB-5, their family members and employees have given $309,000 since 2012 to Murphy and political committees that support him, a Treasure Coast Newspapers analysis found.
indycat32
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): I live in Indianapolis and can help with transport/funds. I’d offer to take him but I’m not sure how my two cats would react.
Villago Delenda Est
@Corner Stone: Bellatrix Lestrange dares to show up on the teevee?
Omnes Omnibus
@aimai:
They’re beards?
burnspbesq
Credit where credit is due: the jackalope who introduced the anti-trans bathroom bill in the South Carolina Senate got beat in the Republican primary. Gov. Haley and the state Chamber of Commerce made it happen.
http://www.thestate.com/news/politics-government/politics-columns-blogs/the-buzz/article86561867.html
aimai
@Omnes Omnibus: Da Komerad. Did you not read the memo?
? Martin
CA sends 12 gun control bills to the governor for signature. He indicated he’ll veto some, but didn’t indicate which:
Some of these appear to be redundant with the upcoming ballot initiative. Brown is somewhat notorious for being unable to predict what he will and won’t sign. He was previously atty general, so he may strike some down as being vague/unconstitutional, etc. He does that.
I generally dislike patchwork policy making but I’m glad that we’re continuing to move forward.
MomSense
@Corner Stone:
She and her hubby were at the next table one night when I was at a fancy dinner in Cambridge a couple years ago. It was incredibly distracting.
Corner Stone
Ruh roh. Somebody page The Tom Friedman of Balloon Juice ™
Fatal crash of Tesla Model S in Autopilot mode leads to investigation by federal officials
tybee
@raven:
WOOT!
raven
@MomSense: I ran into Carville in the Quarter. I said “yo”, he said “yo”.
Brachiator
@aimai:
Uh, no. I say that Bernie’s actions are not unusual for any hard fought presidential campaign, especially when you look back on the history of the primary campaigns of both parties.
In 2008, I wanted Obama to kick Clinton to the curb for the bullshit that she and her husband had pulled. But he didn’t. I wouldn’t care if Clinton kicked Sanders to the curb, but I suspect that she is too savvy to do that.
But I also note that the clock is ticking on Sander’s effectiveness in even lending Clinton his support. A recent Maddow show report detailed that at this point in the campaign in 2008, more Clinton supporters were swearing that they would never vote for Obama than there are Sanders supporters swearing that they will never vote for Hillary.
Sanders’ sell-by date is determined by the Democratic Convention. He has until then to shit or get off the pot. That’s they way these things always work. The political calculus does not change because Hillary is a woman or because Bernie is a man.
Bernie’s white man stank cannot prevent him from becoming politically irrelevant if he does not come out strongly for Clinton. But she does have to consider what she needs to do to sweep up his supporters.
MomSense
@raven:
I got a wink as he walked by.
raven
@tybee: How bout them Chanticleers!!!
Omnes Omnibus
@aimai: I’ve been busy!
dogwood
@aimai:
This can’t be said enough. Democrats went to the mat defending Bill Clinton during the Lewinsky mess. He still is treated with respect by people around here. You know why? Because the revisionists have decided that everything they didn’t like about the Clinton years was Hillary’s doing. Blame the bitch is sop. You should go back and read some of the JEB threads that were posted before he dropped out. They’d all start out mocking Jeb and W and Poppy, but you’ll find that the real nasty and often vulgar stuff was reserved for Barbara.
? Martin
@Corner Stone: And what’s the problem here? Autonomous car isn’t perfect? Never suggested it would be. Is it more reliable than a human driver – probably, even with Tesla’s premature implementation.
Fatality rate is about one per 80 million miles driven. Musk announced a month ago they had over 100 million miles driven – sounds like they’re still ahead of the game.
aimai
@Brachiator: Jesus christ–how totally,exactly, wrong is this?
What you wanted in 2008 is irrelevant. Clinton showed the entire world how a grown up behaves when she loses a primary. She conceded privately to BO within two days of his clinching the nomination so he didn’t need to “kick her to the curb” and could instead rely on her to keep her word, give a kick ass speech for him while conceding to him,and then she and her husband famously campaigned the heck out of the rest of the election season.
Bernie has refused to do that–his word is not his bond,he is totally unreliable and he’s behaving like an asshole when women and the first African American President have done nothing but bend over backwards to soothe his hurt feelings and give him the illusion that he is still big man on campus even though he lost the campus election.
I don’t understand the need of some guys to keep excusing this, or finding ways to make this ok, or referring back to their own feelings of rage against Hillary Clinton for having fought a hard campaign against BO in 2008. NO ONE is criticizing Bernie for fighting a hard, ugly, campaign (except that he deliberately poisoned the well for his supporters against not just Clinton but the entire Democratic Party). People are criticizing Bernie for being an ass, unable to concede graciously, and for trying to gum up the smooth working of the convention. And that is his stated intent. And a lot of us are fucking sick of it. Not because we are “sore winners” in the parlance of dailyKos but because we want to win this election, its an all hands on deck election, and every time we turn to Bernie and ask him to do the most basic, common, thing that every primary loser has to do we hear these god damned excuses for him which range from “he’s entitled” to “he’s just hurting” to “he has a bigger plan” to “it doesn’t matter after all.” Well–it does matter. And he needs to get his act together. And I hope that if he isn’t hit by a bolt of lightning and martyred he at least ends up getting bed bugs in Philidelphia and that afterwards the Democrats kick him to the curb.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@indycat32: Thanks so much. I’m waiting to see if she’s still at home. If she is, I’ll ask AL to make a bleg for her.
redshirt
@aimai: Damn tootin’!
Villago Delenda Est
@dogwood: Are you referring to “Barbara” as in Mrs. George H.W. Bush? Because she has earned, solely on her own merits (or demerits, if you will) every bit of opprobrium she gets. She is a terrible human being, period.
hovercraft
@aimai:
Amen.
I’m reminded of the Onion article from ’08. We are expected to accept a shit sandwich and like it. Enough with shit already, we’re tired of being team players while everyone else plays us for suckers.
From The Onion
Emma
@aimai: I have stepped away from the Bernie threads as much as I can because my blood pressure ratches up until I’m red in the face. All the excuses why he never has to follow the rules, all the supercilious explanations that usually boil down to “you’re to stupid to understand it,” but most of all, all the bare naked misogyny. All because an old man with fifty-year-old ideas painted them some castles in the clouds.
Old Broad In California
A young Bernie supporter I know had this awful “100 things I’d rather do than vote for Hillary Clinton” post on Facebook yesterday. One of her FB friends then commented something about how Hillary should be in prison. Made me so sad. These are progressive young folks. They are regurgitating Fox News propaganda because they can’t believe their precious Bernie lost.
His dithering on an endorsement is only perpetuating this kind of thing.
philadelphialawyer
“Uh, no. I say that Bernie’s actions are not unusual for any hard fought presidential campaign, especially when you look back on the history of the primary campaigns of both parties. In 2008, I wanted Obama to kick Clinton to the curb for the bullshit that she and her husband had pulled. But he didn’t. I wouldn’t care if Clinton kicked Sanders to the curb, but I suspect that she is too savvy to do that.”
Uh, no. Whatever the “bullshit” you think Clinton pulled back in 2008, it ended a couple of days after the last primary. Then Hillary called Barrack on the phone and conceded. Then she gathered her staff and told them the bad news, in person. Then she gave a press conference making public the concession, the congratulation, and the endorsement.
(As an aside, after that Hillary called for Barrack’s nomination by unanimous acclimation at the Convention, then campaigned her ass off for him, and then served in his Administration.)
Bernie, even though it was quite a bit longer than several days after the last primary, has done none of that. And is still pulling his bullshit.
“Sanders’ sell-by date is determined by the Democratic Convention. He has until then to shit or get off the pot. That’s they way these things always work. The political calculus does not change because Hillary is a woman or because Bernie is a man.”
No again. Bernie, if he was going to do what Hillary did, would have already done the deed. That is how “it works.” At least, that was how everyone (including you, apparently, with your desire that Hillary be kicked to the curb) said it should work last time. Bernie has already missed his sell by date.
And the point, obviously, is that gender SHOULD not make a difference, but apparently does. The woman always has to be the peacemaker, win or lose. Add to that the fact that Sanders expects our first POC President to pitch in with the cleanup, and the optics are not good. White man entitlement…that is, finally, what the bullshit Bernie “revolution” is all about.
aimai
@Old Broad In California: @Emma: @hovercraft: Bingo, Bango, Bongo.
Enhanced Voting Techinques
is it my imagination, or is Bill Kristol resorted to treating the election like fantasy football? I supposed the way Trump is going by November the MSM will adopt this and we will see them going on about “Yes, Hilary is wining, but what she was facing Dwight D Eisenhower?”
philadelphialawyer
@Emma: Partly it is the “Bernie Rules.” But also think it is partly the Hillary Rules. Apparently, even among Democrats, she, either because of twenty five years of right wing slander, or simply because she is a woman, is not entitled to even the bare minimum of respect.
glory b
Bernie is on Chris Hayes show not endorsing, saying the same old same old, “Doing everything I can to defeat Donald Trump,” “First have to strenghten the platform, not there yet.”
He said he hasn’t spoken to Biden in three weeks.
philadelphialawyer
@glory b: Man, how I hate him. I wish someone would take that platform and shove it up his smug, entitled ass, plank by “strong,” “progressive” plank.
catclub
@Brachiator:
Teachers and librarians cannot run up huge debts.
Also, the tools to make it happen.
Villago Delenda Est
@philadelphialawyer: He could have had a legacy. Now he’s in the same category as Ralph Nader.
Emma
@glory b: Jesu, the man has no sense of political preservation.
philadelphialawyer
@Villago Delenda Est: Worse, in a way. As Nader even never pretended to be a Democrat.
catclub
@Mnemosyne: One happened in the 1990’s, one happened yesterday.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
If Bernie does the right thing by anybody, it will be his first time. Thank god he’ll never get near the presidency.
J R in WV
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q):
We’re a little ways away, but surely if no one else closer speaks up… but I imagine Louisville or Lexington will jump in here.
Any front pager can dig out the email… We have 2 cats and two dogs, but there’s plenty of room for one more in an emergency.
aimai
@glory b: prezackly:
Every time the Democrats try to show Bernie how its done–whether its Barbara Boxer, Harry Reid, or Joe Biden Bernie is duty bound, apparently, to slap the hand of comity away and begin gumming away like a toothless beaver at his personal party platform. And I’m sick and tired of having it mansplained (by Democratic men) or berniesplained (by the usual suspects) about how I shouldn’t worry my pretty little head about it because Bernie is either right, or besides the point. I didn’t give up my right to kvetch, criticize, complain or just plain shout “its a shonda fur dem goyim” that this putz of an altekocker doesn’t know how to behave. Its a shonda, I tells ya, and I’m sick of it.
grandpa john
@burnspbesq: MY god, I can’t believe it, we finally got the chief priest of religious obstruction to education , Mike Fair, out of office. People in Greenville finally woke up to his destructive fundamental religion policies effect on our states education system
Omnes Omnibus
@aimai: You lost your English for a moment there.
dogwoo
@Villago Delenda Est:
Yea, that Barbara Bush. You know the one that retired White House residence staff have gone on record praising to the hilt, recounting that the day after the ’92 election was an especially horrible day for.the staff. Hillary Clinton has written about how nervous she was to move into the White House because the staff were so close to the Bushes. But of course, the former staff are mostly POC, so their opinions and experiences could never be as valuable as some white dude’s on the Internet. People on this board can say plenty of negative things, about black politicians and candidates, but they never cross the line. But, as you say, women you don’t like pretty much get what they deserve.
J R in WV
@aimai:
I like your style, the cut of your jib… you don’t hide how you feel about people you distrust~!
Do you have a newsletter I may subscribe to?
;-)
keep up the good work!
redshirt
I hope Bernie gets primaried good and hard.
dww44
@philadelphialawyer: Matt Taibbi was on Chris Hayes and opining about how HRC wasn’t 13 plus points ahead of Trump in polling, given the sort of disastrous campaign that Trump has been running. He was saying that if Trump is only down 5 or so points now, he shouldn’t be counted out and if there are a couple more terrorist attacks and market crashes, that Trump could well win. Taibi seemed to relish that possibility.
Neither he nor Chris attempted to address what really undergirds why Hillary is not way way ahead at this point. It’s precisely because she’s been so maligned and smeared for 25 year that there’s a large segment of voters who cannot and will not believe that most of that smearing is outright lies. Heck, we’ve got a sizeable contingent of Democratic supporters who also buy into the “HRC is evil personified”.
Villago Delenda Est
@dww44: Matt Tiabbi, concern troll, is concerned.
Dear Matt. There must be a fire SOMEWHERE you can find to go die in.
Corner Stone
@dww44:
That’s a good word for the way Taibbi came across. It was a delicious idea to him that HRC being ahead by double digits in some polls meant she was ripe for the taking by Trump.
dogwoo
@aimai:
Hell, Barack Obama held out a big olive branch to Bernie yesterday in Canada. He doesn’t care, because he doesn’t respect anyone. Anyone who can say that he doesn t think Bernie has a big ego is being deliberately obtuse. Bernie Sanders believes he is smarter, more important and definitely more capable than Obama. He treats the President as a nonperson; he can’t even say his name. He treats Hillary even worse. But race and gender have nothing to do with it because reasons.
grandpa john
@aimai: Amen, Preach it loud and clear, Like you , I’ve had enough of excuses for his arrogant self promoting behavior . Bernie only concern is bernie to hell with the rest of us, If people cannot see and recognize by now what a shallow ,vain ,egotistical ,asshole he is, then there is not much hope for reason to take hold.
redshirt
@grandpa john: Your comma game has me upset.
Exurban Mom
@aimai: Yes, times 10000. So sick of all of it. I remain angry and baffled that Trump can say all sorts of odd things without much pushback .. .but if Hillary said anything in the same Zipcode as that level of crazy, she’d be excoriated. Bernie can be a cantankerous grump, and it’s just “Bernie being Bernie.” But if Hillary doesn’t smile enough, well, there goes Shillary again. Ugh.
FlipYrWhig
@Corner Stone: Matt Taibbi is an assclown who finds ever newer ways to assclown it up. I assume that all those Hillary-hating doofuses on Salon are desperately trying to mimic Matt Taibbi and get introductions to the publisher by having someone say “H.A. Brogan Walker Bragman [or whatever, they all run together] is a guy you should meet, he’s gonna be the next Matt Taibbi.”
Ian
@Baud:
True fact: more people actually care what Baud thinks than what Joe Biden thinks. See-1988,2008.
FlipYrWhig
@aimai:
Painfully but gloriously vivid, aimai.
Mike E
@dogwood: @Villago Delenda Est: Ol’ Bar is the nasty one in that tepid bunch
dogwood
@FlipYrWhig:
Donald Trump is good for business. I imagine most journalists, talk jocks and cable clowns are hoping for a Trump presidency
philadelphialawyer
@dww44: Fuck that Taibbi POS too.
Fuck all of ’em.
I have always, like since back in 92, thought Hillary was The Bomb. I had a “Make Hillary Clinton’s Husband the President” button back then. And I thought, and in all honesty still do, that she was the better choice in 2008. But now, there is not even any comparison between her and Sanders, never mind Trump. I was, initially, pleasantly surprised at how well Sanders was doing, given his “socialist” tag and his issue stances. But, my God, what a fucking train wreck he has made of things. Hillary is like eleventy trillion times the better choice than him.
The shit that gets pulled on her, because she is a smart, no non sense, super intelligent, Yale Law School lawyer woman, is just disgusting. Throw on top of that how good she is, as a person, a wife, a mother, a grandmother, a boss, a co worker, a friend and so on, and even entertaining the notion that either Cranky Pants/Half Wit Sanders or Carny Barker/Hitler Trump would make a better Prez than her is, to me, some kind of sick joke.
Chyron HR
Good news, everybody!
Harry ReidPresident ObamaJacob Marley’s GhostHillary ClintonBob Marley’s GhostJoe Biden[DEMOCRATIC LEADER TO BE NAMED LATER] has talked some sense into Bernie! This time for sure!Technocrat
@dww44:
You know the game…if she’s 5 points ahead she should be doing better, if she’s 2 points behind shit has hit the fan. If she was 15 points ahead they’d be bitching that’s she’s “in real danger of becoming overconfident”.
Meanwhile she’s running ads in Nebraska.
dogwood
@philadelphialawyer:
I mostly agree. Don’t think see was the better choice in ’08 though and still believe that. She was still too cautious then. With the financial crisis we faced, I think she might have put healthcare on the back burner. We’ll never know. 2008 seemed like his time; we needed some eloquence and inspiration she was a bit stuck in reciting 10 point plans and talking about experience. This is her time. She is far removed from her husband’s administration and much more clearly viewed by the public as a competent player in her own right.
philadelphialawyer
@Technocrat: Yeah, when she beat Sanders, it was never by enough. He always did better than “expected,” even when she kicked his ass. But if he squeeked out a three point win somewhere, based on ratfucking Republican “independents,” well that was a “humiliating” defeat for her. As late as the run up to the CA primary, the fucking NYT was talking about how “humiliating” it would be for her if she lost, even though it would not have made a god damn bit of difference.
And “questions” will always “remain” about her, even though she it is, by far, the single most investigated person on the planet. And not one single fucking bit of wrongdoing on her part has ever been shown.
Just One More Canuck
@Felonius Monk: yes
philadelphialawyer
@dogwood: Don’t want to relitigate 2008. Everything you say about Barrack’s areas of superiority over her are true. But, to me, the big difference between them WAS experience. And not necessarily that Barrack did not have enough of it, but that the kind he had of it was on the State level, and he did not seem to realize what fucking assholes the Republicans are on the national level. He thought he could co operate with them. He could, and wanted to, but, small problem, they had no intention of co operating with him. He had to figure that out the hard way, for himself, on the job. Whereas Hillary had no illusions about those shit heads even then, and certainly she has none now.
Technocrat
@philadelphialawyer:
No doubt some of it is just the standard horserace reporting. Unfortunately, when your opponent is a fascist demagogue insult comic who makes schoolyard jokes about menstrual cycles and gives important speeches in front of literal walls of garbage…the media has a lot of water to carry.
redshirt
@philadelphialawyer: There’s maybe some smaller truths there, but you’re saying that Barack Obama and his team didn’t understand the Republican party of 2007-2008, not like blog readers? That doesn’t fly.
philadelphialawyer
@redshirt: A big part of Barrack’s pitch in the primaries was that Hillary was fighting the battles of the nineties, if not the sixties, but that he could transcend all that, and bring some level of bipartisan cooperation back to DC. It would have been great if it were true, and he certainly tried in his early years as POTUS, but, again, the DC GOP would have none of it. Whether he and his team really believed it or not, I don’t know. It sure seemed like he did, not just from his words in the primary election fight, but from his actions in his first couple of years as POTUS. Big example: he really seemed to think that at least some Republicans would play ball with him on health care reform.
I don’t think that I knew more than him, but I do think that Hillary knew more in this particular area of knowledge than he did back in 08.
ETA: Maybe his short time in the US Senate and his dealing with then somewhat reasonable McCain and a few other GOP Senators led him to believe that compromise and bargaining and just plain old reasonable shared governance was possible…..
burnspbesq
@Chyron HR:
You forgot to ruffle up your sleeve, so it won’t work.
jharp
“And I want to win the lottery”
Actually no, you don’t want to win the lottery.
I’ve seen it. Happen to a pretty smart guy.
And it is not a good thing.
daves09
@jharp: I’m willing to take my chances.
Anne Laurie
@catclub: Manly (even if they’re women) farmers, fishers & lumberjacks are expected to suck it up and solve their own problems, dammit — even if the ‘solution’ turns out to be eating a gun.
Librarians and teachers are trained to ask other people for help, and their jobs usually mean they’re networked into a web of responsibilities.
You’d be surprised how many people have not committed suicide because they ask themselves the question “Who would miss me?” and realize the answer is “My students, who shouldn’t be required to process such or loss” or “those patrons who come specifically to me because I don’t mind their ‘dumb’ questions / speak their dialect / know I can find them exactly the information they need.”
It can feel a little burdensome, when you can’t even escape because you’ve got too many responsibilities. But since acts of suicide (as opposed to plans) tend to be impulsive, remembering “My classroom takes the state tests next week” can be a literal life-saver. Especially for someone who’s trained to think about other people first…