SCOOP from @scottbix —Sheriff Joe not interested Trent Franks seat. But is “seriously, seriously, seriously” considering Flake’s https://t.co/aVds4YhAmf
— Sam Stein (@samstein) December 8, 2017
Murphy the Trickster God, never a subtle scripter:
… On Thursday, a spot opened [for] him to run for the House of Representatives. Franks, who represents Arizona’s 8th congressional district, announced his intent to resign from his seat following reports that he had approached two female staffers about the possibility of serving as gestational surrogates for him and his wife. The House Ethics Committee has opened an investigation into whether Franks “engaged in conduct that constitutes sexual harassment and/or retaliation for opposing sexual harassment.”
Reached by The Daily Beast while grocery shopping, Arpaio said he had not yet heard of Franks’ impending resignation.
“He is a great man, and a great friend, and it’s a great loss for Arizona and our country,” said Arpaio, after being informed of the news. But Arpaio, a former six-term county sheriff, dismissed the possibility of running to replace Franks, noting that he did not reside in the Arizona 8th congressional district…
“No, I would not consider it, but I am considering running for the Senate, Flake’s seat,” Arpaio told The Daily Beast while buying a half-pound of meat at the deli counter. “I feel like I just gave you a little scoop there.”…
Should Arpaio enter the field, it could very well split the Trump political orbit. Kelli Ward, a former state senator, is already preparing a run. And she has the backing of a pro-Trump Super PAC as well as the Mercer family, which is closely associated with Trump political adviser Steve Bannon.
But Arpaio is undeterred…
Dr. Kelli “Very Concerned About the Chemtrails” Ward and Bekah Mercer, versus “Sheriff” Joe “Convicted Felon” Arpaio and… who’s his sugar daddy, Arizonans?
ETA: Way late, but several commentors pointed out Snopes said it was fake, so I deleted a meme-tweet here.
germy
Yashar Ali has been retweeting some of Blake Farenthold’s old tweets:
germy
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone :)
germy
rikyrah
Exclusive: Email shows effort to give Trump campaign WikiLeaks documents
CNN Digital Expansion DC Manu RajuJeremy Herb
By Manu Raju and Jeremy Herb, CNN
Updated 8:00 AM ET, Fri December 8, 2017
Washington (CNN)Candidate Donald Trump, his son Donald Trump Jr. and others in the Trump Organization received an email in September 2016 offering a decryption key and website address for hacked WikiLeaks documents, according to an email provided to congressional investigators.
The September 4 email was sent during the final stretch of the 2016 presidential race — two months after the hacked emails of the Democratic National Committee were made public and one month before WikiLeaks began leaking the contents of Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta’s hacked emails.
The email came less than three weeks before WikiLeaks itself messaged Trump Jr. and began an exchange of direct messages on Twitter. Trump Jr. told investigators he had no recollection of the September email.
debit
@germy: Interesting. Smells like…ratfucking.
Jeffro
Hey look: Bobo goes full-on Balloon Juice, mostly, and still manages to fuck it up: The GOP Is Rotting
The Balloon-Juice part:
The still-manages-to-fuck-it-up part:
Let’s end on a high note…here’s one more BJ-worthy graf:
Sab
A couple of days ago one of the sidebar ads had someone inquiring about the owners of a lost “cat” they had found in their yard. It was a scruffy and muddy tabby (actually probably a small cougar.) So they soaped it down in a bathtub and put its picture on the Internet?!. I am trying to find this picture. Did any other balloon juicers notice it?
rikyrah
Did we hear from Ohio Mom about how Mr. Ohio Mom was doing?
Jeffro
Hey now, this counts as a bonus Jeffro birthday present: Rs Are Frantically Trying to Find an Alternative to Corey Stewart vs Tim Kaine
You’re abso-fucking-lutely right we’re going to punish anyone with an R next to their name. The party of Putin, pedophiles, and plutocrats deserves nothing less.
Bring it, Corey! Go with that angry shit that gets your base all riled up! I have a feeling Tim Kaine might just have something better to offer Virginians. They sure don’t want a Trumpov clone representing them in the U.S. Senate.
d58826
Not a lawyer but doesn’t this
go a long way to showing that the Trump campaign was conspiring with a foreign entity to receive something of value and a receiver of stolen goods. ?
Bobby Thomson
Careful what you wish for. You
germy
@Jeffro: More from the disillusioned:
Marklar
Franks is a jerk, but let’s not stoop to the level of Fake News with fictitious memes. The quote is false. https://www.snopes.com/media/notnews/frankspoor.asp
germy
@rikyrah:
Last comment I saw from her was that he was fine and she was grateful. A thread from yesterday; I don’t remember which.
different-church-lady
@germy: Which guy was the former comedian again?
Shalimar
@germy: When you have lost Joe Walsh ….. you’re still not getting child support.
germy
@different-church-lady: I don’t think Blake ever retired as a comedian.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Jeffro: I’m getting the distinct impression that today may be the anniversary of your birth; if so, happy b-day.
ETA: Today is also the 37th anniversary of John Lennon’s murder.
different-church-lady
Meanwhile…. MORONS:
NOW WITH MORE LEARNING NOTHING FROM 2016!!!
Amaranthine RBG
@Marklar:
Now hold up here.
Just because he didn’t say it that one time doesn’t mean he didn’t say it some other time.
Requires more investigation.
different-church-lady
@germy: Yet here he is quitting his day job.
rikyrah
@germy:
thanks.
Good to hear.
rikyrah
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 12/7/17
Judge in Mike Flynn case recuses himself
Rachel Maddow reports that the judge in the Mike Flynn case has recused himself, and depending on the reason, Republicans trying to undermine the Trump Russia investigation will likely latch onto this development.
rikyrah
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 12/7/17
Congressional ethics scandals roil both parties
Rachel Maddow reports on a spate of ethics scandals by members of Congress including Al Franken, John Conyers, Blake Farenthold, and Trent Franks, and one member, Devin Nunes, cleared by the ethics committee in what is likely to be bad news for the productivity of Trump Russia investigation.
Amir Khalid
@germy:
When I see that name, I always have to ask: Joe Walsh the cool rock musician and Ringo Star’s biras, or Joe Walsh the asshole Republican?
rikyrah
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 12/7/17
Another Trump official knew of Trump Tower Russian meeting: CNN
Rachel Maddow shares details of a CNN report that new e-mails show that Donald Trump Jr.’s Trump Tower meeting with Russians did have some follow-up that included Trump social media director Dan Scavino.
Roger Moore
@Jeffro:
Bobo is wrong. The GOP isn’t selling its soul to Trump. It sold its soul years ago, and Trump is just the form the Devil has taken when he finally showed up to collect.
germy
rikyrah
HE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 12/7/17
Russian media report confirms cyber attack on US election
Rachel Maddow shares the details of a Russian media report that explains that the reason Russian intelligence cyber experts were arrested for treason a year ago is that they were the sources that helped the U.S. figure out who was responsible for the DNC hack.
germy
@Amir Khalid: Life’s been good to both of them.
rikyrah
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 12/7/17
Glenn Simpson Fusion GPS Senate testimony approved for release
Rachel Maddow reports that the transcript of the testimony of Glenn Simpson, co-founder of Fusion GPS, the company that hired Dossier author Christopher Steele, is approved for public release as long as Chuck Grassley delivers on his promise to publish it.
Patricia Kayden
@Jeffro: Stewart is the perfect Republican candidate for Virginia. I hope the party goes for him and gets a sound shellacking when Kaine cruises to victory. Stewart must have slept through the beat down which Virginians just administered to Republicans.
different-church-lady
@germy: “Experimental Journalism?”
EXPERI-FUCKIN‘-MENTAL JOURNALISIM?!?
Aleta
@rikyrah: Good morning!
Tilda Swintons Bald Cap
@different-church-lady: The payoff will be Senator Michelle Bachmann !
germy
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
If they’d had the amount of Surveillance Video back in1980 that we have today, there’d probably be multiple camera views available online now of Lennon staggering into the Dakota and collapsing. What a horrible end.
rikyrah
Ginni Thomas Presented James O’Keefe With an Award
by Martin Longman December 7, 2017
So, this happened yesterday:
………………………
Fortunately, the Post’s reporters were vigilant and figured out the entire scheme before publishing any false information. But the effort was clearly concocted in an effort to discredit Moore’s accusers and to give substance to the accusation that the mainstream press is biased and untrustworthy. And this was in the service of getting a plausibly-accused child molester elected to the U.S. Senate.
For this, the wife of a Supreme Court Justice gave him an award. And not just any Supreme Court Justice. Clarence Thomas was also plausibly accused of inappropriate sexual behavior, which you may remember from his confirmation hearings
Quinerly
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Remember it well. My college boyfriend showed up unannounced at my dorm room sobbing hysterically with the news. He was an artist and musician. Funny the things we remember so vividly year to year. I always think of Kevin when this day rolls around each year. How are you? Couldn’t wade through yesterday’s threads…but thought about you and did want fire updates and your location.
JMG
@Tilda Swintons Bald Cap: No. There is no evidence to support the contention Democrats will lose the seat without Franken in it. It’s OK to think he was a good Senator, but don’t morph that into thinking he was some kind of invincible electoral juggernaut.
SteveNKY
I like Franken-boated.
and I’m supposed to continue to cut checks to this Dem. party and attend big dollar fundraisers?!?!?
Kay
It doesn’t matter because there’s no way to hold them accountable, but it should be clear to Wikileaks supporters that they were deliberately manipulated and lied to by Wikileaks.
So much for that experiment, huh? They were politically captured and it wasn’t revealed because they are not accountable to anyone and not transparent. Libertarians better put some regs in or they’ll all get duped again.
different-church-lady
@SteveNKY: Purity isn’t cheap.
Matt McIrvin
@Jeffro (quoting Bobo):
Which is also stupid and led to the Great Depression, but never mind that…
different-church-lady
@JMG: Other than all those seats that flip in special elections?
germy
@different-church-lady:
“If we keep reporting Wilmer is winning… he will win!”
For a few weeks I was reading Seth’s threads on russiagate, but lately I’ve been visiting less and less. And I stopped looking at the Palmer Report, too. I want facts, not conjecture.
Scotian
@Jeffro:
Thanks for that. This is the first time in I cannot recall how long where I was able to read a significant amount of Brooks’s writing/opining and completely agree with him, even in the middle part you found less than stellar. Those tax cuts were done bipartisanly and were a direct response to real economic issues happening at the time, and they did rest on significantly debated and discussed economic theory and principles as understood at the time. That they may well have been wrong overall, or that they have been massively revised to suit the modern GOP narrative notwithstanding. The ending and the dating of the start of the rot I disagree with, I think the very beginnings go back to the 70s and the marriage between evangelical voters and the GOP over abortion, followed into the Reagan years and the anti-governing philosophy taking form, and cemented with the Gingrich 1994 Contract For (ON!) America. Aside from that though…got it mostly right for once IMHO.
Most lucid thing I can recall reading from Brooks in a loooooong time, and even better, a remarkable lack of bothsiderism, which is his stock and trade. Again, thanks for that.
rikyrah
Why Is the VA Hiding a PR Goldmine?
VA Secretary David Shulkin is suppressing his own book that highlights the agency’s success.
by Suzanne Gordon December 8, 2017
In January of this year, President Trump surprisingly named Dr. David Shulkin, a rare Obama administration holdover, to be secretary of Veterans Affairs. He ordered Shulkin to improve medical treatment for veterans, which Trump called “horrible, horrible, and unfair” during the Obama years.
On May 31, Shulkin trooped over to the White House to deliver his first “State of VA” address since his promotion to head the agency. Shulkin likened his agency “to a patient in bad, but improving, health…We are still in critical condition and require intensive care.” He pledged to tackle some of the agency’s pressing issues, such as the backlog of 90,000 disability claims, and the persistent problem of veteran suicides, which is estimated at 20 per day. Secretary Shulkin rated the performance of 14 out of 168 veterans hospitals as less than acceptable, and noted that Veteran Health Administration (VHA) infrastructure was “increasingly falling into disrepair.”
Yet, what went unmentioned at Shulkin’s White House briefing—or anywhere else apparently—was the findings of a book, published a month later, by the VA itself. Titled Best Care Everywhere, and co-edited by Shulkin, this 440-page compilation of clinical case studies hails the VHA’s little-publicized role as an incubator for “real change” in treatment methods.
Shulkin dedicates this well-documented book to America’s “men and women in uniform,” and thanks Washington Monthly senior editor Phillip Longman, author of Best Care Anywhere: Why VA Health Care Would Work Better for Everyone—from whose 2012 book he borrowed his title—for showing “us that the VA provides some of the best health care anywhere and who inspired us to disseminate our best practices and pursue the audacious goal of delivering the best care everywhere to our Veterans.”
In his introduction, Shulkin describes the way the VA is “changing veterans’ lives” and notes that “it takes an average of 17 years for new medical evidence to reach patients in clinic or at the bedside”—a problem that all health care systems are grappling with. Yet, according to Shulkin, “VA is leading American health care in fixing it.”
different-church-lady
@germy: The real shocker is to think that Lennon would be 77 today.
Marklar
@Amaranthine RBG:
Quite possibly. But let’s not get caught up in trying to disprove a negative. That’s the wheelhouse of Fox News.
Jeffro
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
AND the Air Florida crash in DC, just down the road a bit…
But thanks for the birthday wishes!
Yarrow
@germy: I didn’t pay that much attention yesterday, but is it correct that Franken didn’t say exactly when he’s going to resign? Just “in the coming weeks”? Maybe more ratfucking will come to light and his resignation could be slowed down.
different-church-lady
@germy:
ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL THE PUNDIT ECONOMY?
MJS
@?BillinGlendaleCA: I remember hearing the news from an unlikely source – Howard Cosell announced it during a broadcast of Monday Night Football.
different-church-lady
@Yarrow: It would be nice to think he meant a Freidman Unit.
Quinerly
@JMG: Thank you for this comment. Much appreciated.
SteveNKY
and BTW The Bill Press Show is no longer listenable and I remain steadfast that I want to punch Bernie Bros.
I live in KY. 95% of my relatives voted Trump. I know why. It ain’t this.
“It is clear that there is an element of Trump supporters who are racists, sexists, homophobes, and there’s nothing I’m going to say that’s going to appeal to them,” he said. “But I think that the vast majority of Trump supporters are people who are in pain, who are struggling economically, who are worried to death that their kids are going to be in even worse shape economically than they are, and they turned to Trump because Trump said things that made sense. He said he was going to take on the establishment, and he was going to provide healthcare to everybody. You know what, it’s pretty much what I said.”
germy
Ted Cruz was nine years old when John Lennon was murdered.
Peale
@Patricia Kayden: ah. But that loss came because they didn’t nominate him, but a fake right wing respectable loon in his place.
different-church-lady
@Amaranthine RBG: How do we know he didn’t say it in one of the many alternate universes?
Jeffro
@Patricia Kayden:
In Stewart’s mind, Gillespie lost because he didn’t go full-on “Blood and Soil” race-baiting wingnut. Then again, that assumes there IS something in Stewart’s mind.
Whatever – thanks for the easy win, Grand Old Psychopaths! Smilin’ Ed Gillespie losing by 9 POINTS is an indication of how toxic the Trump-Moore Republican Party is becoming anywhere but the reddest of red states and districts.
Major Major Major Major
@germy: Abramson sure loves himself some words written by Abramson.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Quinerly: The closest fire is about 10 miles from here, so not a big deal for us. The biggest fire is about 50 miles northwest of the city in the county(Ventura) next door. Y’all gota remember LA is really, really big .
rikyrah
This is some crazy azz shyt!
Republican social conservative latest to resign from Congress
12/08/17 08:00 AM
By Steve Benen
When Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) announced yesterday that he’s stepping down, he became the third member of Congress in the last two months to resign under a cloud of controversy. What we didn’t know was that another resignation would soon follow.
Major Major Major Major
@SteveNKY: You attend big-dollar fundraisers often?
rikyrah
@Quinerly:
Morning to Poco and the tribe :)
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Tilda Swintons Bald Cap:
“Vote Bachmann- You Know For Sure She Won’t Hit on Young Female Interns”.
Duca and Valenti would max out contributions and pat themselves on the back for the purity expressed.
O. Felix Culpa
@different-church-lady:
I love it when you get shouty. :)
I also happen to agree with you.
Quinerly
@germy: Fuck Ted Cruz. I sometimes just like blurting that out.? Hey, B Juicers, if SteveinAtlanta breezes back through, send him back over to Alain’s morning post. He had asked about my location in St. Louis relative to where he will be next week. Left him some info. Would be cool if we could have a little meet up with others in the area. Off to Lowe’s…electrical supplies. Big wiring day for “Salle Roche.”?
Culture of Truth
Reagan was a huckster
danielx
@Jeffro:
The part that Brooks refuses to see is that the current state of the Republican party didn’t begin with Sarah Palin and her ilk any more than it began with Trump. Trump is more or less the logical end of a process that began in 1980.
Jeffro
@Jeffro: Whoops I have my “DC calamities” confused…today’s the anniversary of when that guy took the Washington Monument hostage (said he had a truck full of dynamite). This was back in the days when you could practically drive right up next to the monument, and so he did.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@rikyrah:
I’m guessing that he told them to not mention it to his wife, that he wanted it to be a “surprise”.
Quinerly
@rikyrah: Poco is twisted and turned and looks like a giant cinnamon bun. I kicked him out of bed, forced him outside. He’s back in curled up like he is freezing to death. Poco can be a bit of a drama queen. Have a great day! Winter has arrived in Soulard
Tilda Swintons Bald Cap
@JMG: Do you live in MN? Because the people who at least claim to live there think there is a distinct possibility that the seat could go R.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Tilda Swintons Bald Cap: Hell, Teddy Kennedy’s seat was won by Scott Brown in the special. Anything is possible.
O. Felix Culpa
A school shooting yesterday in New Mexico. “Only” two students plus the shooter dead. Another day ending in “y” in America.
http://www.daily-times.com/story/news/local/aztec/2017/12/07/school-shooting-aztec-high-school/930793001/?utm_source=The+Santa+Fe+Reporter+List&utm_campaign=e6387012d4-Morning_Word_Oct_25%2C+2017&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b77a98714b-e6387012d4-60533837&mc_cid=e6387012d4&mc_eid=d206ccc0af
Tilda Swintons Bald Cap
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Right. Through this whole debacle we’ve seen countless people say no big deal, the Dems have that seat wrapped up. Whistling past the graveyard.
Villago Delenda Est
@Roger Moore: Yup. The GOP has been on the highway to Hell for 50 years now.
different-church-lady
@different-church-lady: OK, this continues to burn me up. Democrats are strategizing on the idea that more than half of the electorate still has a sense of decency and fairness. IT IS NO LONGER TRUE. YOU ARE NOT GOING TO GET YOUR COOKIE.
Just One More Canuck
@germy: so far, at least
GregB
Also too, eff Julian A**ange.
Roger Moore
@danielx:
FTFY.
different-church-lady
@Roger Moore:
Villago Delenda Est
@rikyrah: Because Donald wants to turn the VA over to the merciless predators of the private sector, who will of course put profit before care.
Villago Delenda Est
@GregB: Or, as I call him, Assmunch.
Amir Khalid
@Amaranthine RBG:
One should either dig up that time he did say it, or STFU.
d58826
@O. Felix Culpa: so common that it didn’t even rate a crawl on the cable channels
rikyrah
1. Don’t feed the troll.
2. The pie filter is your friend :)
Mike in DC
@different-church-lady: 1917
Ridnik Chrome
@danielx:
If you really want to dig down to the roots, you could say that it started with Goldwater in 1964.
ETA: I notice that a certain leftier-than-thou troll seems to have disappeared. Did he get banned, or is he off somewhere drinking to success in crime?
Major Major Major Major
@Villago Delenda Est: I just don’t call him at all.
Doug R
@Jeffro:
This makes me think maybe Franken leaving could be a good thing. A great candidate could be found, she’d just have to know how much to let Al speak.
cynthia ackerman
@germy:
So far.
SteveNKY
@Major Major Major Major:
As often as I can afford the minimum entrance fee. there aren’t many D’s left in Northern Kentucky than can write 500, 1000 or 2500 dollar checks for a handshake, “thanks for support me” and a cold buffet.
when I was younger you could fill country clubs or banquet rooms. now all are at a supporters house and no worries about space or parking.
Yoda Dog
@Tilda Swintons Bald Cap:On the other hand, Franken’s reelection was anything but a foregone conclusion.
O. Felix Culpa
@d58826: Yup. And a couple more families get to grieve just in time for the holidays – this year and every year going forward – while the rest of the country goes blithely on.
The Moar You Know
@SteveNKY: It certainly is not that. Every Trump supporter I’ve met is far above average in income. Every single one of them, talk to them long enough, give ’em a little fake sympathy so they start blabbing, and they will talk: it boils down to a black man having been in the White House. End of story and no further explanation needed.
Roger Moore
@Yoda Dog:
Especially with a major scandal in his background. OTOH, he wasn’t up for reelection until 2020, which would give the Democrats time for the scandal to age and to find a replacement candidate if it hadn’t blown over by then. This will require them to find a temporary Senator for now and a candidate for 2018 who will be up for reelection in 2020.
Quinerly
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Hang tough, be safe.
Dave
@Tilda Swintons Bald Cap: True it can absolutely go pear shaped there are no certainties but 2018 is probably not going to be a Republican friendly year.
O. Felix Culpa
@The Moar You Know:
Yup. With only one exception (who happens to be a fundamentalist addlepate), all the rabid Trump supporters I have the misfortune to know are well off – upper middle class to downright wealthy. I’m sick of this economic anxiety bullshit. Racism pure and simple. The end.
Tilda Swintons Bald Cap
@Roger Moore: This.
rikyrah
ICYMI:
Bobby Three Sticks playing five steps ahead
THE BEAT WITH ARI MELBER 12/7/17
Ari Melber breaks story on Mueller’s path around Trump pardon
MSNBC chief legal correspondent Ari Melber reports on how Mueller’s Flynn deal includes a rarely used legal tool to avoid Trump pardon
geg6
@The Moar You Know:
Completely true of my experience, too.
There are some idiots at the lower end of the income scale, but the motivation is still the same. They never, ever, ever talk about any of Dolt 45’s “economic proposals.” It’s all about the blacks and browns. And uppity wimmenz, too.
Yoda Dog
@Roger Moore: I mean, sure, but if we can’t hold that seat in 2018, then we have much bigger problems.
I loved Franken too, but this notion that we’re totally screwed now because he resigned is driving me crazy. There are other great progressives in Minnesota, I’m sure of it.
Jeffro
@The Moar You Know: @O. Felix Culpa: You’re both right and supported by the data. The bald truth is this, sadly: Trumpov won white voters at every income level, most particularly in the upper middle class.
geg6
@Yoda Dog:
It’s not that we’re totally screwed. It’s that we totally screwed one of the best and most dogged administration critics for little to no reason and with no due process whatsoever. I am not interested in becoming the purity pony party that is perfectly happy about eating our own when the country faces an existential internal threat.
But you seem to have no problem with it. Carry on.
O. Felix Culpa
@Yoda Dog: I don’t think we’re totally screwed because of the loss of one man, I think we’re screwed because our leaders don’t seem to have a learning curve vis a vis Republican ratfucking and potential ratfucking. See: Swiftboating, ACORN, Shirley Sherrod, and maybe now Al Franken added to the list. Gives the Republicans carte blanche to continue this shit and us the opportunity to remain a minority party.
Yes, I’m grumpy this morning. Why do you ask?
debit
@JMG: Perhaps you don’t recall that Norm fucking Coleman was elected to that seat prior, and in the wake of Paul Wellstone’s death, when ANY democrat should have been to win it. That seat is not safe, not by any stretch of the imagination.
tobie
@O. Felix Culpa: I’d add to this that we seem incapable of learning how to play hardball at a time when we really need aggressive politics and always find ourselves on the defensive vis-a-vis Republican smear operations. Don’t tell me there’s no dirt to dig up about the current GOP. Don’t tell me we couldn’t find some way to pry those Apprentice tapes loose from someone’s hands. Don’t tell me there’s not some financial shenanigans to be found in Devin Nunes’ history. We’re really afraid to attack anyone. I learned that during the primaries.
prostratedragon
This seems to belong here, given the original post.
Brazilian legislator decides to return full-time to clowning. In this case, that means that he has decided not to run for re-election.
CindyH
@The Moar You Know: Yep – same here – EVERY. SINGLE. ONE. racist at the core and sick of political correctness – not a thing to do with economics.
Yoda Dog
@geg6: So just to be clear here, we’re not believing the women at all? All 9 are definitively ratfucking? Throw out LeeAnne and the Atlantic article. I keep hearing about those two. What about the other 7? Even if they are all lying liars who lie, is it really in our best interest for winning 2018 to drag all this stuff out over the course of the next year? If it hurts our chances in 2018 for him to stay?…then yes, absolutely, I’m more than fine with his resignation.
Это курам на смех
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
I was seven blocks uptown. We heard the news from Howard Cosell on Monday Night Football. Ran out the door and down to the Dakota to join a crowd of people crying in the rain. A week later Yoko asked for a wake in Central Park where we joined many thousands of very unhappy people. It was a blow to all of our highest ’60s ideals.
different-church-lady
@Yoda Dog:
Oh good. I wonder what we’ll force them to resign over.
Victor Matheson
@Matt McIrvin: Exactly right about the Laffer Curve and Say’s Law.
I am an actual economist and Say’s Law is just wrong and we know it has been wrong for about the last 150 years. At least the Laffer Curve is a correct concept. It is just applied incorrectly in most situations.
debit
@Yoda Dog: Not geg6, but I’m having a hard time with all of the accounts, especially the anonymous ones. Also having a really hard time with the Victorian miss who had her waist squeezed. I guess we’ll never know for sure because there was no investigation.
I was one of the first people who expressed dismay and outrage when the first allegation dropped. Time and revealed information has made me reconsider and now I’m pretty sure that she’s ratfucking. But like I said, now we’ll never know for sure. I will never stop being bitter that Franken was denied the investigation he asked for.
germy
@Yoda Dog:
One of those accusers claimed Franken invited her into a bathroom.
Franken said that never happened and I believe him.
r€nato
While he was Sheriff of Maricopa County, like clockwork Arpaio would float the idea of running for US Senate or governor whenever either election was approaching.
Also like clockwork, Arpaio would fundraise off the news but never actually run.
He’s not Sheriff any longer, so who knows if the dynamic turns out differently this time. But, I doubt it.
If he really wanted to move up to a higher office and enjoy a level of vindication, he would run for Franks’ seat. He’d be a shoo-in, it’s a gerrymandered district safe for any reich wing douche.
That he is not considering the seat means either he’s shaking down his marks yet again; his hubris has gotten the best of him; or the party has told him the seat is reserved for someone else.
Yoda Dog
@germy: And the other 6?
I cant believe I’m even having to ask these kinds of rhetorical questions.
@different-church-lady: This contention that we’re sliding down the slippery slope into ratfucking nirvana, while prevalent here at BJ recently, is not persuading me. Ratfucking is always a threat, always was and always will be.
d58826
Fox and Friends is in a tizzy because Lindsey Vonn said that she will represent the USA at the Olympics and not Trump. Seems the Faux folks think that badge they wear is a photo of the President and not the American flag
SFAW
@MJS:
As did most American males born before 1960. MNF used to be fairly popular.
germy
@Yoda Dog:
That’s why I wanted a full and open investigation.
debit
@Yoda Dog:
Then why are you? To what purpose?
SFAW
@Yoda Dog:
TenguPhule addressed this yesterday.
But, yes, let’s accept without question the comments whose waist was “groped” ands who doesn’t even like her husband to put his arm around her in public.
And so on.
SFAW
@debit:
Purity ponies gotta be pure.
Also, from the same commenter, yesterday:
I report, you decide.
Doris
Stop the Tax Bill!!: This comment isn’t on point, but is passing along information from a reliable friend. Seems like a good guide to getting the calls out to stop the tax bill. Would be great if Juicers could hit the phones, especially if they are from the relevant districts:
OK, folks, we need to get to work. We need to flip 11 more GOP representatives to kill this tax bill. It can be done. Here’s a list of House members from States that will be badly hurt by this bill and who represent competitive districts.
Let’s start with NEW YORK. Five New York Republicans voted against the bill. That leaves us with three who could change their minds if the pressure is strong:
Claudia Tenney, 22nd district, New Hartford, (202) 225-3665
Tom Reed, 23rd district, Corning, (202) 225-3161
John Katko, 24th district, Syracuse, (202) 225-3701
Now let’s move to NEW JERSEY. All of New Jersey’s Republicans save one voted against the bill. The one exception: Tom MacArthur, Tom’s River, (202) 225-4765
This is a tough one, but hey, let him know you’re furious.
CALIFORNIA will be devastated by this bill. Even reactionary Dana Rohrbacher voted against it. Here are six GOP House members from California, all residing in swing districts. They are the most likely to change their votes.
Jeff Denham, (202) 225-4540
David Valadao, (202) 225-4695
Steve Knight, (202) 225-1956
Ed Royce, (202) 225-4111
Mimi Walters, (202) 225-5611
Paul Cook, (202) 225-5861
Swing-state PENNSYLVANIA can be swayed, too. In particular, Ryan Costello, who has been vocal about his misgivings about the bill. Let’s deluge him. Here are the GOP members in toss-up districts.
Pat Meehan, (202) 225-2011
Ryan Costello, (202) 225-4315
Brian Fitzpatrick, (202) 225-4276
Charlie Dent, (202) 225-6411
Lloyd Smucker, (202) 225-2411
Here’s something you could say:
“I’m calling to express my great opposition to the tax bill now before Congress. This bill will raise taxes on many middle-class families, add $1.4 trillion to the deficit over 10 years, and eliminate important deductions many Americans depend on while providing a huge tax cut to the wealthy. It will particularly hurt (FILL IN STATE HERE). This bill was rushed through the Senate without any members even reading the bill. Please tell Representative ____ to vote no on this bill.”
PLEASE SHARE. #ActionBeatsAtivan #PhoneIsYourFriend
Yoda Dog
@debit: I guess because I find it hard to believe all 9 are lying. Its not just to disagree, I can assure you. I read your Walter chronicles and have nothing but love for most all the posters I’m disagreeing with here.
I feel like I might be getting tarred and feathered here soon though!
debit
@SFAW: Ah, thank you, that makes things clear. Let me just repeat my comment from 110 again in response to that quote:
My point, BTW, that no one has bothered to refute. COME AT ME BRO.
Yoda Dog
@SFAW: I stand by that comment totally and don’t see at all how it contradicts anything I’ve said today. I’m sorry I didnt lay down and die and proclaim my shame to be a democrat yesterday. Not really though.
All you’ve done is call me names and flame me and put me on blast like this since I’ve dared to disagree here. But sure I’m a “purity pony.” Whatever the fuck that even means anymore around here.
debit
@Yoda Dog: Well, I can be nice to dogs and still be wrong, and/or an utter bitch. Honestly, I’m tired of this whole thing, but I’m also heartbroken and angry and lashing out. Apologies for being cranky and judgey.
germy
@Yoda Dog:
Not at all.
I’m not here to say all the accusers are lying. I’m suspicious of Tweeden. I’m suspicious of the “invited me into the bathroom” accuser. The woman who wrote the Atlantic essay (“He squeezed my waist!”) is an opportunist with some emotional issues. It’s possible the others had valid complaints, though. I was hoping for a thorough investigation.
Yoda Dog
@debit: Apology not needed but accepted nonetheless. I loved Franken too. I really did. The time he made Bill O’Reilly’s head damn near explode is an all-time classic.
Scotian
@Yoda Dog:
While quantity is an important indicator in these things, so is quality, as in the quality of the complaint made, whether there is any corroborating contemporanious supporting/refuting evidence, and so forth. So far when you actually look into these claims they mostly either fall apart or are at the absolute bare minimum for qualifying to even be a part of this discussion. That means this is as mild as you get without being off topic. Somehow though the formulation is either total damnation or forgiveness, as if there can be n middle ground within bad/immoral/evil conduct. In Franken’s case I said literally day one here that I did not see firing level offences here, censuring and penalizing short of that, sure, but the punishment must fit the crime as the expression goes else you destroy the distinctions between things like being forcibly raped versus someone touching your behind in a photo shoot.
I have dealt with this kind of issue most of my life, both as a victim and as someone close to other victims, including my wife. There are patterns one gets used to seeing/smelling/tasting, and so far every Congresscritter accusation target has felt like they fit, and the reactions to their outing also fit. Not Frankens. I’ve made that point over and over again because there is really a strong whiff of real ratfucking going on here, and I also find it disgusting to hold a former lifelong stand up comic in his prior life to being a Senator to the same standards as one should have expected from elected officials like, I don’t know a DA 40 years ago preying on teenagers for “companionship”.
So you need to look at more than numbers, the quality of the complaints also matters. Believing victims means you do not dismiss them out of hand, and you take a fair reasoned view of what they are claiming, and investigate accordingly, assuming neither side is automatically more credible than the other prior to said examination. You DO NOT treat is as gospel, that is just as bad as always dismissing the victim and believing the abuser after all. When you reduce it to a numbers game as you have been doing in this thread that is totally lost. So one is then left with not rule of law, not due process, but the justice of the mob. Even in the service of nobility and right mob justice is still mob justice and not something to be respected let alone admitted and called for IMHO, PERIOD.
Kathleen
@germy: What the fuck is he talking about?
SFAW
@Yoda Dog:
Look: if you insist that — because of “reasons” — we’re going to “roll over” the Rethugs 11 months from now, then you deserve to be lambasted. Don’t like it? Then fix your cranio-rectal insertion. It’s certainly possible that we will “roll over” them, but it’s not as if the Dems are paragons of aggressive campaigning, or taking the battle to the Rethugs. And with Tom Perez piling on, I am less sanguine about him as DNC Chair than I was a couple of months ago.
As far as the “ARE YOU SAYING ALL 9 WOMEN ARE LYING?” bullshit: others smarter than I have already answered that, but you seem to have selective reading skills, or you don’t believe them, or veeblefetzer. But considering a number of the “charges” seem to have been “modified” to be somewhat less problematic (“He grabbed/groped my butt! Well, sort of. Well, maybe it was just my waist.”), then you might consider getting off your high pony and cogitate on the idea that maybe it really WAS a Roger Stone-pushed ratfuck. Since he apparently knew about it at the same time that Tweeden first mentioned it, someone who has heard of Stone might smell a ratfuck.
But, as they say: you be you. I’m sure it will all work out for something something.
germy
@Kathleen: During the primaries Seth kept reporting that Sanders would win the primary and the general. He believed if he kept writing this (with no evidence) it would happen.
It’s somewhat like “The Secret” book that Oprah popularized.
Yoda Dog
@SFAW:
Reasons. Frankens resignation doesn’t change any of this.
I’ll just stop reading right there. Thanks for the mutually respectful and constructive dialogue. I’m going to play with my kids now.
Yoda oot.
Boatboy_srq
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: I still say that Ladybird is Michele’s beard, and that that is the unuttered secret of her success. So I’m highly inclined to question the certainty that interns of any persuasion are safe around her.
TenguPhule
@Yoda Dog:
I assume if we don’t like your principles you have others available.
J R in WV
@SFAW:
I feel bad for that guy… her husband. I can’t imagine being married to a person who doesn’t want you to touch them, ever, in public. No hand holdings, no hugs, no pats on the back. If she diesn’t want him touching her, you know KNOW she isn’t going to be touching him. Never!
Really sad, and probably true of so many couples. Mrs J likes her back scratched, her neck rubbed, her hand held, hugs, even right out in public.
Someone please tell me the super secret legal trick Mr. Mueller III is using to prevent a pardon in Gen (ret) Flynn’s legal case. I’m not going to MSNBC, and I don’t like to watch TV much at all.
debit
@J R in WV: I don’t like being hugged but resign myself to it as I am surrounded by huggers. So I totally understand being uncomfortable with physical contact, but to equate it with groping is simply beyond the pale. I would hope that she gets the help she so desperately needs, but I’m too busy wishing she would die in a fucking fire.
Yoda Dog
@TenguPhule: Wow, that is a truly hurtful, unfair and ugly thing to say. Your constant presence here really is a detriment to this blog.
SFAW
@Yoda Dog:
Yeah, because prognostications a year before an election always work out so well.
Rick Scott was “dead man walking” a year before he won his second term. Hillary Clinton was something like 20-plus points up against generic Rethug, and was the 2007 heavy-favorite to be the nominee in 2008. George H.W. Bush had sky-high popularity in 1991. The Dems were riding high in 2008, having taken back both the House and Senate — with an eventual filibuster-proof Senate (although it took awhile to have that interchangeable cog, Al Franken, to get seated), but then got killed in the midterms. There are myriad other examples of dead-certain, gonna-be-a-lock, abso-fucking-lutley guaranteed results — until they weren’t. And given Perez’s unfortunate decision to pile on Franken, I’m not so sure he’s the one to lead. (Although, in fairness, that’s based partly on my anger about the sandbagging of Franken, and not from assessing whether he has a 50-state strategy.)
And Minnesota-resident commenters, such as Schlemazel (I think it was), who follow this shit closely in their own state, are telling us — which includes you, by the way — that Minnesota is a lot less blue than it used to be, with (I think) the implication that Pawlenty might be able to win an election for that seat. Were Franken still in the seat, he might have been able to weather any storm — depending on what the ethics investigation turned up.
As I’ve said before: it is certainly quite possible that the Dems have a landslide victory in 2018. But telling us that it’s a certainty in December, 2017, reduces, shall we say, your credibility.
I hope you had a good time playing with your kids.
Yoda Dog
@SFAW: I put them down for naps.
I never said landslide victory was a certainty. I never said any of that shit. You decided my credibility was zero the moment I dared to disagree with you and you’ve been lecturing me condescendingly in between ad hominem putdowns ever since.
And for someone who’s job is to write concisely, you suck at it.
Duane
@Jeffro: It’s hilarious that Republicans, very slowly, are finding what people have known for years.
Trump is a con man.
different-church-lady
@SFAW:
As the sports cliche goes, “This is why you play the game.”
different-church-lady
@Yoda Dog: Are you for real?
SFAW
@Yoda Dog:
First of all, it was you who said “We are going to fucking roll them next year and then go from there.” Maybe English has changed drastically, and I missed it, but “fucking roll them” generally means kick someone’s butt.
No, I decided that when you made your less-than-insightful “fucking roll them” comment. The subsequent arguments you made merely confirmed that.
You and “mike in dc” seem to love that phrase, even though neither of you knows how to use it.
The persons for/to whom I write concisely are assumed to have a reasonable level of intelligence. Not rocket surgeons, just people who can understand logical thought progression, etc. When I write for persons not at that level, I have to explain thing a little more, because otherwise they won’t get the point. In your case, I need to explain things even more than that, apparently.
But thanks for your attempt at constructive criticism. It means so much to me that you care enough to do so.
SFAW
@different-church-lady:
As a Jets fan, I am sometimes reminded of Super Bowl III.
Yoda Dog
@SFAW: Its called enthusiasm, man. You purposely insert mathematical certainty into my quote so you can gleefully try to fucking destroy me. I’m not impressed by your sophistry. So I’m a purity pony who somehow also has interchangeable principles according to your cohort, tenguphule? Sure, sure. You two geniuses should think about starting a podcast together.
SFAW
@Yoda Dog:
Nor I your intellectual dishonesty. But if that’s what you need to do to preserve your self-delusion, who am I to argue?
Just don’t expect me to believe that when you clearly write “X” one day, and got into a long argument about it, that the “I was only been dramatic/melodramatic/whatever, and I didn’t really mean X” is an honest response.
And the “purity pony” thing? That was you referring to yourself, in response to someone else, not me. Your inability to keep your whines straight is telling. Oh, right — you were just “enthusiastic.” But then again, if you consider yourself a “purity pony,” far be it from me to argue.
Yoda Dog
@SFAW: You called me a purity pony at #128. Im not the one being intellectually dishonest. At least I stand by what I’ve said despite your best efforts to twist my words.
SFAW
@Yoda Dog:
You’re right, I missed that when I looked the first time.
As for my “eforts to twist” your words: nice try, but your words were pretty clear, no matter how you try to portray them ex post facto.
Yoda Dog
@SFAW: Y@SFAW: yea, cool story bro, go fuck yourself. Hope those words are clear enough for you as well because I think we’ve wasted enough time here already.
SFAW
@Yoda Dog:
Ad hominem! Ad hominem! At least, according to you.
See you later, snowflake. Try to keep your bullshit straight the next time, maybe someone will actually believe you when you try to revise history.
Yoda Dog
@SFAW Im not the one that fucked up, misspoke and had to change my story. That was you, man. Gaslight this all you want, dude, but you just sound like a more and more of a fucking clown the more you keep pressing for the last quip here.