BREAKING: Omarosa tells @KatyTurNBC that Trump "absolutely" knew about the hacked emails before WIkiLeaks released them.
She says Trump knew what was coming out before they were released and that Trump campaign members were instructed to bring them up as much as possible. pic.twitter.com/h63weQCpxS
— Caroline O. (@RVAwonk) August 14, 2018
Question: Would Trump’s “base” — especially those Media Village Idiots who treat Trump as the Clickbait King of All Time — believe a reality-show star when they didn’t believe the Democrats, the FBI, et al?
Answer: QUICK! RELEASE THE MEDIA-BAIT SQUIRRELS!…
Trump, soon: "Disloyal! Sad! Why did I hire traitor sister of dog-killer? Would not grab her by the…" https://t.co/cIupdW2sJe
— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) August 14, 2018
BRING OUT THE SHOW-TRIAL LAWYERS!…
Trump campaign retains Hulk Hogan lawyer Charles Harder for arbitration action against Omarosa Manigault Newman. https://t.co/GpmGvvTLCZ
— CNBC (@CNBC) August 14, 2018
Yeah, you don’t hire Peter Thiel’s defamation lawyer to prove you’re innocent, you hire him to announce you plan on bankrupting your opponent.
Wonder who’s paying Mr. Harder, because he knows as well as the rest of us that Donald Trump doesn’t pay his bills…
Disagree. It will be the introduction of that word into the GOP's political vocabulary. It'll be shrugged off, forgiven, normalized, and then praised as a transgression that shakes up the system. Watch. https://t.co/c1yTHOkJ3H
— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) August 14, 2018
He never said the N-word.
There are no witnesses to him saying it.
There's no tape of him saying it.
You can't prove it's him saying it.
So he said it; old news.
Thank God he said it; about time someone did.
The real racists are the people complaining. And the media. https://t.co/gwshDhBill
— Jonathan V. Last (@JVLast) August 14, 2018
Baud
So that’s why the NYT was so focused on emails.
schrodingers_cat
The media is complicit. Without their assistance, Orange Little Hands would not be sitting in the WH. And I am not talking about Infowars and Fox but prestige media like NYT, NPR and middle of the road MSM channels like CNN.
debbie
Re-posting because it’s still relevant:
I’m sure Trump’s thought a number of times that he made Omarosa who she is. Unfortunately, he hasn’t yet realized that he also made her what he is, a vengeful bully who never forgets even the slightest slight. May they duke it out for eternity.
Hell hath no fury!
rikyrah
PragmaticObotsUnite (@PragObots) Tweeted:
Nah, we need to do Omarosa like God did Moses: Let her see a plate from a distance, but don’t allow her to come to the cookout. https://t.co/nGkZBuc7vr https://twitter.com/PragObots/status/1029467865655783425?s=17
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: Do they have Russian mob connections, I am beginning to wonder.
rikyrah
The most important thing that she has said is that she has talked to Bobby Three Sticks.
NotMax
Class with a capital K.
In what world would anyone think this was appropriate? /rhetorical
Corner Stone
“Chuck Harder”. If that isn’t the name of a new action hero then I do not know what is.
Corner Stone
@rikyrah: Equally important – Mueller either has or will have every tape she made.
Gin & Tonic
@Corner Stone: And by “action” you mean…
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
Serious question and I want a serious answer:
Could a Trump supporter be brainwashed into being a decent person? Does brainwashing even work?
The Midnight Lurker
Does anyone honestly believe that if there is a tape of Trump saying the N-word that it will change a damn thing? Can we please, please, please sideline this shit show and concentrate on derailing Kavanaugh’s nomination. Hey, maybe there’s a tape of Brett using the N-word.
Frankensteinbeck
In doing so, millions of whites who have been desperately trying to pretend Republicans aren’t racist will be pushed over the line they’ve drawn and invested in being the only proof. It will break the mask Reagan used to make whites comfortable with their racism. That mask has been a key source of Republican power.
zhena gogolia
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??:
Raymond Shaw is the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful human being I’ve ever known in my life.
Corner Stone
@Gin & Tonic: Oh, I think you know what I mean.
West of the Rockies
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??:
Brainwashed? I doubt it. I think a small fraction will evolve, grow, overcome their ignorance and bigotry (perhaps 2% of them). A larger percentage will get more vile.
Frankensteinbeck
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??:
Yes. It works incredibly well. However, it relies on techniques most people find counterintuitive and wouldn’t believe are powerful, manipulating the fact that we are not actually the rational creatures we think we are. It also requires extreme levels of control over the victim’s life and inputs. Between the two, it’s almost never practiced, and when it does happen it’s usually by accident, inflicted by a certain type of abuser who prefers charm to violence. It’s how you get Stockholm Syndrome.
A Ghost To Most
@Frankensteinbeck: Yeah, good luck with that. Most of them will Slim Pickens into the ground on Steely Don before they admit they’re wrong.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@zhena gogolia:
I mean could you in reality convince somebody that 2+2=5 if you tortured them enough? Not just admit it to make it stop but truly believe 2+2=5 or that there are four lights instead of five, like what nearly happened to Picard in Chain of Command Part 2?
Brachiator
@schrodingers_cat:
Horsecrap. A core of voters wanted Trump badly, and turned away from any media that did not feed their fantasy. And I am not singling you out here. There are many Juicers who believe that MSNBC or the NY Times could have said “Don’t Voter For Trump,” and voters would say, “OK I won’t.” But that world does not exist and has never existed.
This is not to say that the media did not due their duty, whatever that is. They should have put out more dirt on Trump, or just told the truth about him. It might have made a difference. But after a certain point, people did not care and still do not care.
And more importantly, the GOP decided early on that if Trump was their chosen leader, they would defend him no matter what, or until the Russian money runs out.
The only thing that matters now is to vote out as many Republicans as possible and to try to contain the worst of what Trump may try to do next.
Gin & Tonic
@Frankensteinbeck: Anybody with even the slightest awareness of Trump’s actions against the Central Park 5 – even after they were completely exonerated – who entertained any dreams that Trump wasn’t a stone-cold racist should never be let out of the house without adult supervision. Jesus F. Christ, the dude took out a full-page ad in the fucking New York Times to say “I’m a racist scumbag.”
Brachiator
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??:
Trump supporters ain’t got no brains.
Seriously.
schrodingers_cat
@Brachiator: They did not do due diligence on T. Gave him a platform, including the birther nonsense. Latched on to the nothingburger of EMAILZ like a mountain lizard clings to the rock face. I could go on.
ETA: They behaved like the propaganda arm of the R party. Gave HRC’s opponents favorable press compared to her (both BS of Vt and the R nominee).
A Ghost To Most
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??:
Fox News has been doing for decades.
Frankensteinbeck
@A Ghost To Most:
Most Republicans will embrace this level of open bigotry. It’s what they’ve been yearning for. But don’t underestimate how important it has been for whites to be able to ignore the question of racism. Again, Reagan built his coalition on making that question unaskable. If it breaks, it will cost the GOP voters and inspire whites with their head in the sand to vote Democrat. How much, in this already polarized environment, I don’t know – but the importance of the issue is clear just from how the press has twisted themselves into a pretzel to avoid it for decades.
frosty
AL, let me take this moment to thank you for finding all these tweets so I don’t have to. I really like your posts. I guess I should thank Cole, too, for giving you the space.
Time to leave work, get home, and waste the evening catching up.
Duane
@Frankensteinbeck: that rationalization is already in use regarding Russia. Just shrug your shoulders and say, “So what?” Owning the libs I believe it’s called.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Gin & Tonic:
I used the Central Park Five argument on someone online once to prove that Trump was a racist. They just ignored it like all of my points that were inconvenient for them. When I brought up how suspicious it was that Trump wouldn’t let anyone else besides an interpreter into his meeting with Putin in Helsinki they came back with Hitlery and her emails.
Brachiator
@The Midnight Lurker:
There are a lot of stupid white people, including liberals, who have tied themselves into knots over the N-word.
Trump could have thousands of black and brown people tortured and murdered, and a chunk of fools would huddle in a corner and ask themselves, “Yes, but did he use the N word? And, and, what’s in his heart?” They are incapable of accepting Trump’s rank racism, or don’t know what to do about it.
Fortunately, there are many other people trying to vote Trump and his vile crew out of office as soon as possible, and would impeach him in a heartbeat if they had the votes.
dmsilev
I believe Part I of that statement. Part II, not so much.
schrodingers_cat
@Frankensteinbeck: FWIW, I agree with you.
A Ghost To Most
Since OT: any structural engineers here? I’m thinking of making panels for a trailer of polyiso foam faced on both sides with thin plywood, covered with glass and epoxy. Feasible?
MomSense
@schrodingers_cat:
They spent a fortune on their building and have been strapped for cash since. They keep getting short term infusions of cash and renting out more and more of their building. My suspicion is that we will find out the NYT is up to its pixels in shady deals.
The Midnight Lurker
@Brachiator: I’m going out this weekend to find more of those votes! Hey! Hey! Ho! Ho! The Orange Bigot Has Got To Go! Sorry… that’s for marching, not for canvassing.
NotMax
So much winning.
Defying Trump, Iraq’s PM walks Back Pledge to Boycott Iran, says will avoid Dollar Trade.
A Ghost To Most
@Frankensteinbeck: They would need to be less wilfully ignorant than the sample set that is our
(wife and I) extended families. Perhaps these people exist.
MomSense
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??:
A trump supporter wouldn’t need to be deprogrammed to have a chance at getting through to them. It really hasn’t become a cult.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??:
And just to be clear, I’d never advocate doing this. It’s just frustrating that these people are so vile and unreachable and exist in the numbers that they do.
Gin & Tonic
@A Ghost To Most: How do you attach the plywood to the foam?
You’re aware, I think, of my bona fides on this. I’m not a structural engineer, but you’d really be surprised at how strong glassed 4mm plywood is. But it’s glassed on both surfaces, and I don’t know how you’d do that with foam. Personally, I think you’d be asking for more trouble trying to do a sandwich than just facing it with the desired thickness of foam on the inside.
The Midnight Lurker
But, but, but… George Bush freed those people! Why are they turning on us?! Oh, right… Obama.
gene108
@The Midnight Lurker:
A certain subset of his supporters willl decide, if the President can use the n-word in public, so can I.
That’s about all it will change.
Brachiator
@schrodingers_cat:
Yep. Don’t know that it would have mattered. And there has never been a press that would be as good or effective as you might like. The main question is where do we go from here in getting rid of Trump?
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Gin & Tonic: Yeah, films made in ‘The Valley’.
trnc
@Brachiator: It isn’t so much what they said about Trump. It’s the hrc crap that kept some of our voters away.
Quinerly
Late to the thread. Worth a read. Apologies if already posted.
https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/dog-days-trump-and-his-toxic-twitter-insults-of-omarosa
Frankensteinbeck
@Brachiator:
If there wasn’t a difference to be made, Comey could not have pushed voters the 3% necessary to cost the election. The exact extent of the squishy middle is unknown. It’s much smaller than it used to be, certainly. But in our environment, yes, it could make all the difference.
JMG
@gene108: For people without Secret Service protection, a bad idea. Some will get their lights punched out, many more will be fired, socially ostracized,, etc.
Calouste
@MomSense: The WaPo got a massive cash injection from Bezos. The NYT is in exactly the same business as the WaPo, facing the same business challenges. I have never heard that one or the other was run significantly better or worse financially. Yet the NYT is still running and didn’t get hundreds of millions in public financing. Either they are run way better than the WaPo in a way that is not publicly visible, or they got financing that is not publicly visible.
Gelfling 545
@dmsilev: Truly. If he could be embarrassed, he’d have died of it by now.
TS (the original)
@The Midnight Lurker:
Only way to do this is to convince some republicans to vote against him – and anything that can be used against the president* may help the cause.
trollhattan
@dmsilev:
Embarrassed to be caught is always my go-to.
hueyplong
Trump will be portrayed as yet another victim of raging PC.
His most ardent supporters will merely see his N-bomb dropping as the final proof that he’s really one of them.
Gooble Gobble.
Haroldo
@A Ghost To Most: I would suggest checking out surfboard construction if you’ve not already done so. Also, some folks have looked into similar construction techniques for loud speakers if memory serves. Dunno ’bout trailers, tho’; Lots of forces to contend with, particularly if you are off the beaten track.
Martin
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: More or less, yes. Doesn’t require anything remotely like torture, either.
piratedan
tbh, I think the “lie a day” approach works, because after an endless rendition of HRC is corrupt post Whitewater, Benghazi and Her E-Mailz the general mood was for those people who are not political junkies or even have a nodding relationship with current affairs she was guilty. Had to be, of something… why? because I heard it every damn day. Why would our supposedly impartial news media keep bringing this up every damn day if there wasn’t something to it. It’s not so much naivete, but background noise and if you don’t have the time to keep up, or have someone in your circle keeping the receipts, its easy to fall into that trap. I challenged multiple people to explain, just what she did that was wrong and if it was wrong, why the hell hasn’t anyone ever brought charges. Despite that lack of any demonstrative crime, it fucking worked.
the thing is, the “lie a day” is absolutely accurate, thanks to Mssr. DJT and his merry band of saboteurs because they DO lie, every fucking day about damn near every fucking thing. So keep it out there. let them, all die the death of a thousand cuts, with the number of people that their policies have killed, disenfranchised and bankrupted, its the least we can do for them.
Jay
@A Ghost To Most:
Yup, that’s how they make bulkheads for Ocean Racers,
But the plywood isn’t needed. Epoxy resin wont melt polystyrene foamboard.
The foamboard can be carved and sanded into complex shapes, glued together into large panels, before covering with fiberglass and epoxy.
Where extra strength is needed, carbon fiber cloth can be added for stiffness, where greater strength is needed for penetration or abraison, kevlar cloth.
For surface mounts, hollows can be carved out before fiberglassing and aluminum backer plates installed, that can later be drilled and tapped.
When through fastening, to avoid crushing the panel, the hole should be drilled through to size ( fastener plus sealant), a section of the foamboard should be removed from around the hole, the hole taped on one side, and then flooded with thickened epoxy. When set, the hole is redrilled.
Martin
An indisputable n-bomb won’t do anything to Trump’s supporters. But it would help energize Dems and non-voters.
The Midnight Lurker
@TS (the original): I really think this is a non-starter for republicans. They simply don’t care. Hell, at this point I’m not sure the democrats care. (Shouts out the window) Donald Trump is a Fucking Racist Who uses the N-word!!!. Crickets.
Chetan Murthy
@The Midnight Lurker:
I believe there is trustworthy evidence that voter suppression has caused targeted minority populations to try harder to vote. It seems like learning that he’s a stoke racist would have a similar effect. Again, on Dems and nonvoters, not on stone racist GrOPers (oh but I repeat myself *grin*).
The Midnight Lurker
@Chetan Murthy: Please direct me to the minority voter that doesn’t know Trump is a racist. I want to take a selfie.
L85NJGT
@Calouste:
Every other newspaper and magazine publisher had to give their operations massive haircuts over the last decade.
So yeah….
Wag
@Brachiator:
Hear, hear! Trump voters didn’t get their info from msnbc or from NPR, and still don’t.
TS (the original)
@Quinerly: From your link
The Midnight Lurker
I think it would energize the democratic base a lot more if we were able to stop the republicans from appointing Kavanaugh to the bench.
Schlemazel
@The Midnight Lurker:
HOW?
I am all on board with the idea and I have contacted my elected reps in DC (all Dems who will never vote for his appointment) but therules are written in a way that makes the minority stopping this disaster imposible. impossible. It will require some Republicans to come to their senses and that just will not happen
I have had this conversation several times while working the phones. I always sk people how the Dems can stop it & nobody has an answer other than “Well, the GOP did it to Obama!” No shit, they controlled the Senate the Dems do not
TenguPhule
@JMG:
Sanders won’t be exempt. Oh no she won’t.
Chetan Murthy
@The Midnight Lurker: I was surprised after the Castastrophe of 2016 to learn that some of my very-well-educated “friends” were unaware that he was a fraud and stone racist. They were (admittedly) white, but still they were very well-educated. It was difficult for me to imagine they could be so …. uninformed about the man they voted for. I have no further information about them, and wouldn’t shed a tear if I learned they’d all DIAF. So it goes.
There’s a kid I interact with, whose parents are Latinx. He said something to me about how Trump’s fixing all these problems, stuff like that. I mean …. I was shocked. Really shocked. I can only imagine (here in fricken’ SF) he learned this from his parents, and it’s not my place to gainsay his parents, so I shut that down real quick. But these …. low-information folks exist. I also know a couple of Indian guys who are stone Muslim-haters. Wouldn’t be surprised if they voted for Shitlord. Maybe learning he’s a stone racist would wake them up.
Dan B
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: “Brainwashing” is not a real thing but people can be moved to a different world view. The methods are not rational. They rely upon an understanding of psychology and sociology. You have to get the attention of the “lizard brain” the survival brain, if you wish.
It’s interested in food, shelter, sex, and not much else except deciding who is friend and who is foe. Arguments trigger the foe response even if your argument intends to persuade people to embrace something that will benefit them. It’s part of the reason poor people vote for conservatives whose policies bankrupt them.
FOX beats the fear drum to capture the lizard brain. It’s also why their broadcasters are good looking (sex anyone?).
One method to distract the lizard brain lock is providing food and a safe and welcoming venue. You know, organizing 101. The other is humor. When we laugh the lizard relaxes. Then you can bring people around. But there’s only a moment before the lizard leaps back on alert.
Chip and Dan Heath have some good books. George Lakoff’s ‘Moral Politics’ is also good. David Domke may have some podcasts. He’s head of the Department of Communications at the University of Washington (and a friend).
zhena gogolia
@The Midnight Lurker:
Well, we can’t do that. Next idea.
shelley
So, the WH contends everything Omerosa i s saying is a lie.So how can they sue her if, according to them, shes just making stuff up. Shes not disclosing anything.
TenguPhule
@hueyplong:
Don’t you mean “Goebbel Goebbel”?
Chetan Murthy
@The Midnight Lurker:
Sorry, I missed this. As I wrote, “nonvoters” might also be induced by such knowledge to vote (or try harder to do so). Atrios (I think?) has written about the travails of poor people trying to get registered and vote — all the obstacles in their way, even before we get to voter suppression.
zhena gogolia
@TenguPhule:
Haven’t you seen Freaks?
TenguPhule
@zhena gogolia: Kavanaugh commits suicide by accidentally throwing himself out of the tallest building in DC.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@The Midnight Lurker: Great, now all you need to do is convince Republican Senators to vote no.
TenguPhule
@zhena gogolia:
Which one? There are several films by that name.
Mike in NC
@hueyplong: “He tells it like it is” is their favorite excuse for Trump. Why they love him.
Baud
@The Midnight Lurker: We had an open seat in 2016. Dem voters (the marginal ones anyway) did not respond.
Omnes Omnibus
@hueyplong: @Mike in NC: We should not bother with the ardent supporters. They are lost to us. Squishes, people who thought voting didn’t matter, low info voters, etc.; that’s who we need to see this. That’s who we need to pursue.
TenguPhule
A reminder of what we lost.
zhena gogolia
@TenguPhule:
The one in which the circus “freaks” chant “Gooble gobble, gooble gobble, We accept you, We accept you!” Tod Browning, 1930, one of the scariest movies ever made. I can’t watch it any more.
Schlemazel
Primary day here on the tundra. I just voted & the number of ballots cast so far is nearly as many as I have seen in some general elections. The intensity is there for sure.
I voted for every DFL endorsed candidate (save one) even though I supported a different candidate for gov. There is nothing wrong with any of them. The one deviation I made was for CD5. Ellison filed for the job, then at the very last minute (literally) withdrew and had a woman I have never heard of file while he filed for Att. Gen. The endorsement fell to her because there was not much choice. I voted instead for a former MN leader of the DFL in the House. SHe was the endorsed candidate for Gov 8 years ago but lost to Dayton in the primary. Would have been a very good governor. I am not the least bit happy with Mr. Ellison & his dirty play. Plus he is Co-chair of the DNC who is not supporting the endorsed party choice while he himself did not show any interest in the job until it was too late.
Whoever wins the primary will win the election, this is a safe seat. Unlike that asshole Walz who is most likely giving his Congressional seat to a Republican so he can run against the endorsed candidate for Gov. “I am not a member of an organized political party. I am a Democrat” – Will Rogers
TenguPhule
He told us what he was the first time.
Nothing good will come of this.
Omnes Omnibus
@zhena gogolia: Oblig.
hueyplong
@Omnes Omnibus: Totally agree that his devoted followers are irrecoverable. I was just noting how this will be spun as a positive to them, which it is.
As far as I’m concerned, there is only one “Freaks.”
The Midnight Lurker
Sorry, guys. I just don’t agree. I think we should be pushing back hard on Kavanaugh’s nomination. The republicans are working overtime to shield this guy’s past from the public, so we know he’s dirty. We need to make them fight for it. Make them explain publicly why this turd should be appointed to highest bench in the land. He’s going to making decisions that will affect us well into the future, long after Trump is wearing a crotch-binder in D block.
Maybe, just maybe, if we can bring enough heat, it might make some of republicans up for re-election nervous enough to push it back. If we can get the media to focus one millionth of the attention that they have given these phantom fuckin’ tapes, we might have a shot.
Go ahead. Shoot me.
Dan B
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: Think of “persuasion” not the B word. At this point we need to break through the mental defences. (They’re actually emotional defences but that’s a big cognitive science topic.)
Many conservatives have been persuaded that the world us a dangerous place and liberals arenot only weak but are making the world less safe by… insert compassionate policy here…
Facts and the truth cannot reach or persuade until the fear is short circuited.
Mnemosyne
@BadHorseOC is a wise equine:
TenguPhule
@Dan B:
Sledgehammers could do the job, no questions asked.
JCJ
@Omnes Omnibus:
Good evening Omnes. Any strong feelings for the primary today?
Omnes Omnibus
@The Midnight Lurker: FWIW, on this, I agree with you.
Omnes Omnibus
@JCJ: I am in Madison, so a lot of my Dems were unopposed. I ended up going with Vinehout for Gov. – partly because she is a farmer and not from Madison or Milwaukee.
Omnes Omnibus
@Haroldo: I voted a little after 5 and I had ballot 861. That’s a pretty good turnout for an off year primary.*
*Anecdotal, of course.
MJS
Step 1. Tape is produced of Trump using the n word. Step 2. Trump tweets something along the lines of, “So what, rappers use that word all the time.” Step 3. MSM spends countless hours pointing out that, yes, in fact rappers do use that word, completing yet another chapter in the Book of Both Sides.
Chetan Murthy
@The Midnight Lurker:
Dude, you’re canvassing for Beto in TX! Respect, and no anger, regardless of what you think. But I think you’re being very, very optimistic when you talk about peeling off a few GrOPers. This is the moment when they grasp the SCOTUS for a generation or two. You think Yertle’s gonna let Suzy Q waver? And besides, Shitlord has changed things. He’s forced the GrOPer political class thru the equivalent of a gang initiation. He’s forced them to accept his outrages, and once you’ve done that, it’s hard to go back.
From CT, about Trump and the immigrant family separations:
bemused
@Chetan Murthy:
They chose not to be informed. The same people would spend at least 90% more time researching a future purchase from a toaster to a vehicle or a service than the candidates they vote for. They want the product or service to be good quality for the cost. They try to find the most reliable, qualified people to do home repairs, their taxes, etc. That they won’t do the same diligence when voting for people who could make their lives miserable boggles my mind.
Viva BrisVegas
@hueyplong:
You could almost describe them as deplorable.
Platonailedit
@Brachiator:
What a load of bs. The hand waving away of the fact that the media, with their millions of dollars worth of free coverage of the traitorous thug while knee capping the dems during the election, did not play a major role in the thug’s ‘election’ is normalizing their shitty actions.
Jay
@The Midnight Lurker:
The Democratic Party members in the House and Senate are pushing back hard.
The blogs and the MSM are however, too distracted by the Outrage DeJour to bother reporting on it.
Chetan Murthy
@bemused:
Ehhh … turned out, they were just racists. Not “stone racists”, but racists nonetheless. One of ’em, he said (back during Obama) “we’re libertarians”. That should have been the tell, but hey, I’d known him since 1999, so I cut him slack. And at that point, being a GrOPer wasn’t cause for social ostracism (which it is today). We all learn, and that was a learning moment for me.
The Midnight Lurker
@Chetan Murthy: Sorry. I still don’t agree. If we can get the press to start asking pointed questions. If we can shine a spotlight on the $200G in credit card debt that mysteriously disappeared when got the nomination (and no, I do not believe the baseball story). If we can get a serous discussion started about some of the things he’s written regrading torture, civil rights, etc., then republicans that are in tight elections just might… might drag their feet enough to push the confirmation back.
If nothing else, for once… once, could we not just roll over?
PS – thanks for your respect. I’m blushing. And to answer your question from last night; yes, we usually DO canvass in pairs. But during the summer, we’re spread thin. Now that school has started again, we should see the number of volunteers increase and we can double up again. Please, God.
Jay
@The Midnight Lurker:
The “Press” is to busy following the shiny Outrage of the day to bother practising journalism. You can’t “get them” to do anything else.
tobie
@The Midnight Lurker: @Chetan Murthy: Mitch McConnell also thought he was going to get rid of Obamacare for good and then Collins, Murkowski, and McCain voted no. It’s a long shot to stop Kavanaugh’s appointment but worth it given what his appointment will mean. IIRC, a few weeks ago the polls indicated that a majority of Americans opposed his appointment. I think there was a sense that Trump can’t appoint his judge and jury. I know we’re fighting an uphill battle, but fighting a lifetime appointment on the Supreme Court seems worth it. My two cents.
MomSense
@MomSense:
JFC I don’t know why autocorrect wanted to say the opposite of what I meant. They need to be deprogrammed and it is a cult.
We lit a fire in the fire pit tonight and it is lovely.
Chetan Murthy
@The Midnight Lurker:
I guess I’m a lot more cynical than you about this. I note that even people like Katie Tur were …. treating Shitlord with kid gloves, until literally he started threatening their lives. That’s what it took, for them to wake up, and even still they don’t take things seriously. Also, whatever “investigative” capability the press -had-, is gone. That’s why I gave my $$ to Mother Jones and Propublica (and TPM) last year: b/c shit, they actually -do- dig up the dirt. If Propublica digs up something, sure, maybe things’ll change. Similarly, the Shitlord’s toadies are making sure no non-GrOPer can see Kavanaugh’s paper trail. That ain’t gonna change. And Katy Tur’s not gonna get on the squawk box and bring down thunder on Shitlord for stonewalling. That’s not how they roll anymore.
PST
Is it completely crazy to wonder whether Don and Omarosa might be colluding in a distracting dumb show that makes money for her and moves news focus off the Mueller investigation for him? Fake conflict would suit their pro wrestling/reality TV style. MSNBC might as well be the Omarosa network tonight. Tittillating, sure, but I don’t see any body blows. Nothing she says will matter to “the base,” but it distracts us from genuine threats to our security and freedom.
Emma
What I would like to see us do is stop being so obsessed with what Trump supporters will think or say. They are lost no matter what, because Trump gives them permission to let their vicious true selves out, and they would rather pull out their toenails with pliers than give it up. So we need to go after the non-voters and the middle-of-the-roaders aggressively. And if by a miracle of the blessed St. Francis some Trump supporters change their minds, hosanna in excelsis. But they should not be our main concern in this political fight.
Chetan Murthy
@PST: Trump’s Razor (h/t TPM: “the stupidest explanation is likely the true one”) argues against this. And while with Stone, Manafort, and a few others, that -was- the real story for their exile, in this case, she’s pretty much told Mueller to bring her in for an(other) interview, so I doubt that this is orchestrated by the Shitlord. I mean, the last thing he wants is for his loyal soldiers (and under this theory, that’s what she still is) to be put to the question.
Mandalay
Well even Trump would be proud of this piece of grifting…
– Yesterday the “Friends Of Special Agent Peter Strzok” got their begging bowl out for Peter Strzok on GoFundMe: “All funds raised on this GoFundMe will be put into a trust dedicated to covering Pete’s hefty – and growing – legal costs and his lost income.“.
– The target was $350,000. Not a cause I’d support, but Strzok is as free to beg as anyone else.
– Amazingly, that total was reached today, so the begging bowl goes away, right? Wrong.
– No doubt thrilled with their success, the con artists have just raised the begging bowl target to $500,000.
To be clear, while Strzok was clearly in the wrong and fucked up, the punishment he faced was blown out of all proportion to his “crime” by Republicans, so I have some sympathy. But bumping the target on GoFundMe by $150,000 when the original target is met is just shameful. Fuck him.
efgoldman
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??:
You ask the least relevant, most useless questions.
Yes. Yes. It takes the efforts of several people over months of concentrated work.
Totally impractical.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Chetan Murthy:
Two things:
1) Earl Warren was a reliable Republican Governor from then Republican California.
2) The number of justices is set by statute.
The Midnight Lurker
@PST: I’d buy that for a dollar!
A Ghost To Most
@Jay: Thanks. I’m primarily interested in insulating a trailer shell, but I hadn’t thought of not covering it with wood. Is carbon fiber fabric still super expensive? How about Kevlar?
JMG
@Chetan Murthy: Hindu-Muslim hatred has been a very big thing long before Europeans came to America.
Immanentize
@Chetan Murthy: I was just in Richmond Texas, near Houston, aand the sort of upscale but diverse lake neighborhood I was staying with my in-laws in had 2 to 1 Beto signs in yards. Of course, people who might still pull the lever for Cruz are probably too ashamed to have his sign in the yard.
Immanentize
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Brennan was also a Republican State Judge nominated by Ike.
The Midnight Lurker
@Emma: I honestly believe that there are republican votes to be had. I just can’t believe that they are all morally corrupt. That’s why I canvass those neighborhoods time and again. Hosanna In Excelsis Dio.
Mnemosyne
@The Midnight Lurker:
If Democratic voters gave a shit about the Supreme Court, Hillary would be president and Merrick Garland would be sitting in his rightful seat.
Democrats don’t care about the Supreme Court. Sad but true. They don’t see it as a reason to vote for anyone.
Immanentize
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
And Blackmun, who was so critical to the anti-death penalty movement, was nominated by Reagan and originally dubbed one of the “Minnesota Twins” because he sided so often at first with Chief Justice Burger (also from Minnesota.)
Generally, being on the court makes one more liberal.
Chetan Murthy
@?BillinGlendaleCA: They’re counting on us to restore norms when/if we ever regain power. I’m betting they’re wrong, but they haven’t been, so far, eh? (“Pat Leahy” *spit*). As for Earl Warren … uh …. that was before the Big Sort, no? Hard to draw lessons across such a defining reorganization of political life.
Notwithstanding, I’m not saying Yertle is correct, merely that that’s his -calculation-.
The Midnight Lurker
And it’s DEO, you godless, useless, Satanic, piece of junk SPEL-CHEK!!!
Baud
@Immanentize: Wasn’t true with Scalia.
cain
@JMG:
Indeed… centuries.
efgoldman
@Schlemazel:
If McTurtle wants it to happen, it will. Period, end of story. No way Suzy Q or Murkowski holds it up.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Immanentize:
@Immanentize: Yup, and yup.
Also true.
@Chetan Murthy: “Big sort” was more of an eastern US thing.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: This is also true.
Jay
@A Ghost To Most:
Carbon fiber and kevlar are still pretty expensive, but you don’t need much, because you only use it where you need extra stiffness, (carbon) or abraison/impact protection, ( kevlar),
So in boats, the crash bulkhead is built in the bow with one layer of kevlar and the rest, fiberglass. In an impact, while there is damage, there’s no hole.
When I built my winter fishing rig, I built a foamboard box, glued together to line the bed of the truck, glassed the inside, pulled it out and glassed the outside. A regular truck fiberglass canopy was glued on top, the inside lined with 2 inches of foamboard and glassed. Rear doors to insulate the tailgate and hatch were made as well.
It gave me an R20 dry box to sleep in, and I made and installed a tiny wood stove for the dry heat. A couple handfulls of sticks kept it toasty warm in the worst weather.
I built a tent frame out of electrical conduit, to support a custom tent made out of Sunbrella fabric, insulated with Thinsulate, that attached to the rear of the canopy, giving me another 80sq ft of living room, a place to hang waders, cook food, use the toilet, stow gear.
efgoldman
@The Midnight Lurker:
If ifs and buts wuz candy and nuts…..
Please stay within the bounds of reality.
cain
@Mnemosyne:
Soon they’ll remember why the supreme court is important when society regresses.
The Midnight Lurker
@efgoldman: Yeah, yeah… and my dad used to say, “Shit in one hand and wish in the other and see which one fills up first.” Good advice. Can’t win. Why try? Just quit.
sgrAstar
@Mandalay: not particularly shameful. In my experience people boost their fundraising targets on GoFundMe all the time.
different-church-lady
Well, they believe Trump, and that’s the same thing.
Mandalay
@sgrAstar:
To me that is a red flag that they are milking the punters for all they can get, rather than asking for the amount that they need to cover the costs of their problem.
Immanentize
@Baud:
Sort of was… He was unique. Very good on 6th amendment issues. Very bad on death penalty issues
ETA. I think hard ideologues evolve not at all.
Steeplejack (phone)
@Mandalay:
To be fair, the amount of Strzok’s eventual legal expenses is unknown right now, as is the time line to the end of any legal proceeding (affecting lost income).
And the GoFundMe page says all donations are going into a trust, currently being set up and details of which will be revealed later, for whatever that’s worth.
How much do you think is a satisfactory amount to go into legal battle with the Trump Justice Department?
And, yes, Strzok could do another GoFundMe later, but it probably wouldn’t be as successful coming in year two of some boring, underpublicized trial, when people don’t remember who Strzokk is or why they were pissed off way back in 2018. We will be 20 or 30 big scandals down the road by then.
Lynn Wright
@JMG: This is happening right now. For an in your face racist social media is not your friend. Some of those racists have found out they do not have the same protection as Trumpm