Remember during the 2016 campaign when Trump said he would get rid of the ACA and create an entirely new private insurance-based healthcare system that would result in better coverage for a lot less money? Yeah, that was bullshit.
In office, the only thing Trump has done so far is try to tinker on the margins, hector the then-Republican-controlled Congress to repeal the ACA, and regurgitate vague talking points about letting for-profit companies sell junk policies across state lines.
Well, as David noted in an earlier post, Trump’s DOJ is now lending its weight to an effort to overturn the ACA entirely, which would make everyone’s coverage crappier.
When I saw that notice yesterday, my first thought was that Trump is on a revenge tear now that he thinks he’s been vindicated by the Mueller investigation. He must have satisfaction and get all he feels he is entitled to, including the obliteration of his exponentially more competent and beloved predecessor’s signature achievement, by whatever means necessary.
That’s how miserable sons of bitches like Trump roll. There’s no enjoying the sugar high of an appointee-engineered “vindication,” no matter how many victory laps he and his loathsome spawn and toadies take on Fox News. It just makes him angrier!
Anyhoo, as Trump once noted, “Nobody knew healthcare could be so complicated.” The “nobody” in question was the biggest nobody of them all — Trump himself — and he still has no fucking clue how complicated it is. Like many a know-nothing scion of a parasitic family, Trump arrogantly assumes that he can exceed the accomplishments of people who are his superiors as human beings in every conceivable way.
Well, he’s about to find out. Barring a full-throated endorsement of puppy slaying, Trump couldn’t have wrapped up a bigger cudgel nor tied a prettier bow around it as a gift to the Democratic Party and its 2020 candidates. No matter what the courts do with the ACA challenge, the Trump administration and the Republican Party now own the effort to overturn the ACA and screw every single person with healthcare coverage in the US, including seniors, middle-class families, etc.
The Republicans will be “The Party of Healthcare” alright — the party that fucks Americans out of hard-won healthcare reforms valued by just about everyone who doesn’t make a living huffing Ayn Rand’s farts.
As an angry idiot, Trump doesn’t comprehend the implications of making the party own that mess. Mitch McConnell does, presumably, and before this is over, he’ll almost certainly wish Trump had stuck to periodically kicking McCain’s corpse over the narrow defeat of the ACA repeal in the Senate and left well enough alone.
Mary G
Plus his budget recommended cuts to Medicare and Medicaid. YUUUUUUGE cuts. Idiot. Thanks!
chopper
i guess his phone must have accidentally left off the last word in the tweet, namely “cuts”
Eural Joiner
On the one hand, I agree whole heartedly. On the other hand, I was on the phone with my 84 year old mother last night (life long elementary school teacher, volunteer english teacher to immigrants, charitable and kind person) who was in TEARS about how the Democratic party won’t stop attacking Trump when he’s trying to do so much good. So, yeah. Won’t matter to his base, they’ll just blame Obama. (And I know they are lost to use but it’s been a real heart rendering experience to severe ties with family members after a lifetime)
Old School
Politifact Lie of the Year 2011: ‘Republicans voted to end Medicare’
You expect “Republicans Screw Everyone With Heathcare” to go differently?
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Eural Joiner:
Did ask her what “good” he was trying to do?
Ben Cisco
They’ll go down in the end, but in the meantime…
Alien Radio
Well everytime he gets a win he proceeds to loudly and messily step on his own dick, or maybe more believably slips on his own fresh turd, since It seems unlikely his tiny weird dick is possible for him to step on. This looks to me like exactly the kind of fresh turd he’ll launch himself into.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Old School:
Clocking in for the night shift, eh Comrade?
Brachiator
An angry Trump is a dangerous Trump. He doesn’t just feel “vindicated” by Barr’s interpretative dance of the Mueller Report. He is enraged that anyone dare defy him.
And so Trump is ramping up his attacks on Obamacare, on Iran (via his surrogate, intensified support for Israel) and continuing his efforts to get his Wall. Along the way, he shits on Congress and of course the media, SNL, and Dead John McCain.
Trump will drag McConnell and the Republicans along with him on this ego-driven jihad. And the Republicans will fake reluctance while happily jumping in the car to go on Trump’s political murder spree joy ride.
In short, Trump is going to ramp up and accelerate his attempt to remake government and society according to the Trump brand. He doesn’t give a shit about the political consequences. And the GOP, which long ago wondered whether Trump was sufficiently GOP, has found someone who gets them like no other leader, and they are giddy with the prospect of exercising raw power with no pretense of adherence to norms, values, the Constitution or ethics.
Betty Cracker
@Eural Joiner: I feel your pain — my father and many family members are in the Trump cult. But like you said, they’re lost souls, so it doesn’t matter politically. The Democrats have healthcare policies to run on, from improving the ACA to moving toward single payer. The Republicans have “go back to 2008 and enjoy your crap coverage, benefits caps, uncovered young adult children and preexisting conditions.” That’s it, and that’s a loser, IMO. Though lord knows I’ve underestimated the stupidity of the American people before.
WaterGirl
@Eural Joiner: I’m sorry. I can only imagine that that is frustrating, heartbreaking, and rage inducing. Not a fun ride.
Mike R
@Brachiator: Wow, that is one depressing take on Trump and the republican crime syndicate. My pessimistic side says oh my god, that sounds about right.
WaterGirl
@Betty Cracker:
That is just begging to be a rotating tag line.
Miss Bianca
OK, it may be totally missing the point, but Betty’s piggly graphic over Trump’s face is just making me laugh and laugh and laugh…which I feel like I sorely need. It’s been a hell of a month, ladies and germs, with the accent on the “hell”.
Joe Falco
@Eural Joiner:
I understand completely. I was on the phone during one of my Republican representative’s telephone townhalls (I wanted to chew him out but I never got the chance before the townhall ended. Jody Hice only seems comfortable talking to his constituents when he can act like he’s still a radio talk show host) and nearly every one who got to talk to him was moaning about poor Donald Trump being bullied by them socialist baby-killing godless “demonrats”. These people were definitely the most brainwashed lot I’ve ever heard.
Old School
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: If the media treats this year differently than 2011, I’ll be surprised. What makes you think this year will not be the same?
Ohio Mom
Don’t get me wrong, I am very worried about the future of the ACA, Medicare and Medicaid, but I am even more concerned about this representing a breakdown in how things are supposed to work.
As I understand it, the executive branch is supposed to carry out the laws the legislative branch enacts, not take matters into their own hands and choose what laws they think are worth enforcing.
It’s the dismantling of the federal level of government that kept me up last night.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
I think Trump really does understand, but it’s part of his punishments, like Hilter ordering scorched earth in Germany after he lost the war to punish the Germans of not being worthy of Hitler’s awesomeness.
raven
@Joe Falco: Yea he doesn’t appear in Athens much.
Gravenstone
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: The fuck, kid? He’s saying the “fact finders” covered for Republican lies in the past and will do so again.
Miss Bianca
@Eural Joiner: This volunteer ESL teacher is wanting to know if you asked Mother what good she thought Dear Leader was doing to immigrants. Keeping their children in cages and sexually abusing them is just all part of God’s ineffable plan? Does she know? Does she care?
It’s tough, painful, and probably, ultimately, futile to confront our loved ones with their delusional BS. It’s all I can do to look at my family and neighbors – who are nice to me, and nice to each other, and help each other out – knowing that so many of them are MAGAts. And because I will probably need their help someday, I know I probably won’t confront them openly and loudly about their shitty, misguided politics. Usually. Unless they happen to punch my buttons in person – in which case, Katy bar the door, because I have, I do, and I will.
A Ghost To Most
@WaterGirl: “No one has ever gone broke by underestimating the intelligence of the American public”. Mencken, I believe.
Mai Naem mobile
I don’t think McConnell is running in 2020. I think he got his judges and his tax cut and now wants his reward from his paymasters. Also he’s getting old.
rikyrah
Ari Berman (@AriBerman) Tweeted:
At oral arguments today SCOTUS conservative justices terrified of every vote counting equally. They kept invoking fear of “proportional representation” to justify extreme gerrymandering. If NC/MD maps stand gerrymandering will be even worse in 2021 https://t.co/ffQ7iMP3EZ https://twitter.com/AriBerman/status/1110607528696692741?s=17
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Gravenstone:
I’m just on edge and sick of hearing about these problems without solutions. Everything just feels like it’s about to fall apart. Old School is a nym I’ve never seen before.
MomSense
I love that pig face. It’s a yuuge improvement. Thank you for that, Betty! Wow did I need a chuckle.
eemom
@Mai Naem mobile:
Hope he goes the way of Lee Atwater before his “reward”. I will personally fly to Kentucky to piss on his grave.
Hate, hate, HATE that filthy sack of shit.
Old School
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: I lurk more than I post. While I agree that Democrats do need to try to tell people that Republicans are trying to take away protections, I suspect it will be called an unfair accusation. Watching the media coverage of the Barr Report does not inspire confidence in me.
gene108
I like your optimism, Betty.
I just think Republican candidates, in 2020, will declare they are for the good parts of Obamacare, like they did in 2018. Unless the Robert’s Court strikes the ACA down. Then they will really have a price to pay. Otherwise, they can find a way to bullshit their way through this. And McConnell knows, better than anyone, how to brazenly bullshit his way through anything.
Before any gets on me for being a downer, I just don’t see causes to be optimistic. The only hope is to beat them in 2020, 2022, 2024, etc., in federal, state, local, and municipal elections, right down the town dogcatcher.
lurker dean
it just boggles my mind how the stupidest people in our country are in charge. this speech by mike lee is some of the most batshit crazy you’ll ever read. his solution to climate change is to . . . have more babies. because those babies could grow up and solve climate change. holy shit, he’s an idiot.
https://www.lee.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/speeches?ID=2271BAF4-7F34-4BE8-81C5-B621E9BAF878
“The planet does not need us to “think globally, and act locally” so much as it needs us to think family, and act personally.
The solution to climate change is not this unserious resolution, but the serious business of human flourishing – the solution to so many of our problems, at all times and in all places: fall in love, get married, and have some kids.”
i’m hopeful that this attack on the ACA will deeply hurt the republicans. unfortunately, their constituents (some of whom elected mike lee) are so incredibly stupid that it’s not a sure thing.
Roger Moore
@Eural Joiner:
If you define “his base” as people who will ignore everything he does and blame Obama for all problems, that’s true. But that base is only part of the Republican party, and the Republican party by itself isn’t enough to win Trump the election. He needs to get essentially all of the Republican party and the Republican-leaning independents. If he loses even a fraction of those people, he’s going to be crushed in the election.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@eemom:
Who doesn’t?
gene108
@eemom:
That is going to be a long, long line outside the cemetery, as people line-up from all over the country to take their turns pissing on it.
Brachiator
@Mike R:
People need to clearly see what they are up against if they want to take Trump down.
When Trump stopped using Twitter for a hot second, some speculated that he was worried about the impending Mueller Report. Turns out he was just catching his breath. Soon he was on the attack again.
And look how the GOP has learned not only to anticipate his rages, but how easily they have learned to follow his lead and unleash their own attacks. OTOH, look how muted their defense of the memory of Dead John McCain has been. These are truly Trump Republicans now.
@Mai Naem mobile:
Don’t matter. The GOP will find another McConnell. They understand the playbook now.
None of this says that Trump is unbeatable. He is going to stumble, but he has one clear advantage.
Trump could take her last piece of bread, and she and people like her would wonder why the Democrats were so cruel.
The Democrats are going to have to break through some of this, as they work to restore sanity and democracy.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Roger Moore:
This?
He only narrowly won the EC, let alone the popular vote. This Barr Report bullshit will be forgotten about in a few weeks, while the real Mueller Report is leaked. Trump is incapable of not stepping on banana peels he throws on the floor himself.
Miss Bianca
@Brachiator:
Damn. QFT.
Xavier Onassis
It’s simple. Trump has always only had two policies he cared about: build a wall and undo everything Obama did.
Plato
@Brachiator:
If the totus thug was so influential and powerful, how did the rethugs lose their brute majority in the house? You are overhyping the thug. Let’s not forget he only won on the margins in 2016.
VeniceRiley
@Eural Joiner: Same for my mom, and if someone blew up Fox news, Murdochs, Hannity, Limbaugh, Beck … I would not shed a tear. I want my mother back.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Old School:
The media needs to be ignored. Shout over them if necessary. Directly and aggressively confront them when they try the bullshit like you describe and call them out. That’s what I think should be done
Ceci n est pas mon nym
I suspect the contents of the Mueller report are very, very bad for Trump, despite what the idiot thinks.
Nevertheless, I’m so disgusted and furious at the coverage of the unread report and the Republican messaging about that unread report, that I am unable to read a single news story or commentary about the same. I’m in “unplugged from media” mode.
Also, I gotta do my taxes. Have a lot of paperwork to catch up on.
Eural Joiner
Thanks everyone for the kind words – and, yes, we all know and see the reality but, unfortunately, she is the almost classic Trump supporter. Older, white, in a small town, all of her remaining friends are the same and all ingest FOX news constantly. Any and all counter-evidence or arguments are just liberal lies and discounted immediately. Plus, I am trying to actively avoid any and all political talk since she’s at the age where I need to help her move to an assisted living community and take care of things (from 1200 miles away!) not argue over a reality she’s completely disconnected from. Sadly, most of my family in Texas has gone the same route.
I was thinking the other day – I became politically active/aware around 2000 and the Bush/Gore kerfluffle. In twenty odd years the GOP has not done one thing I can think of that is commendable and, yearly, it aggressively becomes more and more toxic and insane. What a shame.
Kay
Susan Collins says half her state has preexisting conditions.
Maine’s pretty old but so are Ohio, Michigan and Florida :)
Let’s go to the congressional map, shall we? This is better than just Trump.
Betty Cracker
@gene108: Could be, but healthcare was a winner for Dems in 2018. Not necessarily because the plans the Dems came up with were universally beloved by the masses but because at least they had a fucking plan.
The Republicans have been banging their sippy cups on the high-chair tray and crying about Obamacare for 10 years now. And for two of those years, they had complete control of the government and did nothing. Now they’re doing worse than nothing. Maybe it won’t matter, maybe it will. We shall see.
bobbo
I am certain that Trump feels “vindicated” because he, like the rest of us, has not seen (couldn’t possibly understand) the Mueller report. He is relying on and believes the sweet nothings his crony Attorney General whispers in his ear. Since the worms are eating away at his brain, he probably has forgotten how guilty he is.
Baud
I made the mistake of checking in and just learned of the news about efgoldman. Too devasting. RIP.
gene108
@Brachiator:
Nah….Democrats just need to engage the rage…
A lot of people woke about after 2016 and started getting involved. People, who never voted started voting. I don’t think Barr’s memo has assuaged anyone’s rage.
Embrace our anger, hate (of Republicans) will make us strong.
Roger Moore
@Xavier Onassis:
You forgot stealing everything that isn’t nailed down.
Kay
@Ceci n est pas mon nym:
Don’t despair, though. Media flogged The Caravan relentlessly in the midterms and they were only talking to each other. Everyone else was talking about real issues, and voted accordingly. They’re not unbeatable. They lose as often as they win with these narratives. Health care really is important to people. Everyone. I think people (understandably and reasonably) want SECURITY in health care more than anything. Trump and media like health care chaos. Everyone else hates it and is sick of it.
mrmoshpotato
@eemom: Take a number. There’s already a line for that day amongst us Juicers alone.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Kay:
Thanks Kay, even if your words were meant for someone else, they still made feel better all the same. It’s true. The R’s lost last November because issues like healthcare. That can happen again so long as Dems remained angry, determined, and focused
Brachiator
@Plato:
None of this contradicts anything that I have written i the slightest. It doesn’t matter that he only won on the margins in 2016. It only matters that he won. Even with cheating and voter suppression.
Trump doesn’t care about conventional political strategy, and he is pulling the rest of the GOP along in his center of gravity.
He lost the majority in the House, and yet he will never seek a compromise or work with the Democrats. Fortunately, Speaker Pelosi understands this, and this may actually give her an advantage when dealing with Trump.
I repeat. Trump is a heaping mass of resentment. It is what drives him, even more than the narcissism that people ascribe to him. He has surrounded himself with people who understand this and play to his worst instincts, and he has also found a way to make sure that the GOP leadership are in tune with this as well.
This does not make him unbeatable. But don’t look for him to understand when he has made a mistake, or care about people who might lose their insurance coverage as he tries to dismantle Obamacare. And sadly, don’t expect his more devoted supporters to see that they are cutting their own throats by continuing to support him.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Old School:
Also, sorry I jumped the gun on you
SFAW
@Mai Naem mobile:
That is, shall we say … optimistic.
For a lot of people, power is its own reward, or damn close to it. He’s one of those people
Kay
This is what you’re really fighting. But it can be overcome. We know it can because we did it a year ago.
The Presidential candidates are competitors so they’ll want to focus on “my plan” but they shouldn’t. They can have BOTH. They can beat Trump and Republicans on the big issue and still do their Medicare buy-in or whatever. There’s no downside.
WaterGirl
@Baud: I thought of you yesterday, Baud, when we got the news, thinking about what it would be like for you to come back to find you had missed the news. Glad that you aren’t too out of sync but sorry you are now sharing our sadness.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Brachiator:
That is sad both for his supporters and those that are collateral damage. However, I believe that this foible of his will also enable Trump to play right into our hands. He’s a blundering fool who’s only going to make the decision to vote Dem easier for 2/3 of the country, with just enough to peel away at the margins
rikyrah
Kansas Police Release Video of Cop ‘Accidentally’ Shooting Motorist Instead of Tasing Him
Panama Jackson
Yesterday 7:00pm
After almost a year, the Lawrence, Kan., police department finally released video footage of a former officer shooting a motorist after an altercation between the motorist and another officer.
In May 2018, driver Akira S. Lewis was pulled over by Officer Ian McCann in Lawrence for a seatbelt violation. Through the nearly eight-minute video (with very clear audio), Lewis is very upset for being pulled over for that minor violation, claiming to have seen many other white motorists guilty of the same thing, but somehow, he was the one stopped.
The encounter escalates further when Officer McCann informs Lewis that he is going to jail for repeatedly failing to cooperate, at which point the officer calls for backup. Backup Officer Brindley Blood shows up and they both make attempts to get Lewis out of the car to be taken to jail. Things go from chaotic to bedlam as Lewis gets out of the vehicle and he and McCann get into a physical altercation, with Lewis getting the better of McCann, slamming him on the ground. Blood then pulls her gun and shoots Lewis in the back. According to Blood, she thought she was tasing him.
From the AP:
Kay
And so many of the presidential candidates are senators they don’t want to choose anyway. Talk about the Trump health care scam as a senator and then Medicare for All (or whatever) as a prez candidate. Both! Easy.
Elizabelle
I do love Betty Cracker’s pig enhancement of Trump photos.
With apologies to pigs, who did nothing to deserve that.
raven
@WaterGirl: I checked out right before it hit and didn’t know until this morning.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Baud:
How did he die? Wow, I hadn’t even heard. I’ve been away for awhile. That’s so sad. First Schlemazel and now EF. Fuck, I’ll miss him
ruemara
I wish I could feel some level of sorrow at all of your Trump supporting relatives, but I feel like if I can cut off my relatives the minute they say something homophobic or racist, you can let ’em know you don’t need to hear it.
Between the ACA reversal attempt, the unknown way my pending unemployment can impact my citizenship application and expose me to ICE scrutiny, plus the ongoing genocide in plain site happening in PR and completely uncovered VI, my ability to tolerate anyone who could whine about poor Trump is beyond negative levels and somewhere around how warm it is in deep space.
@rikyrah: And she will probably suffer a paid vacation and some bad press before being returned to the streets.
Miss Bianca
@Baud: Yeah, not quite the welcome back you were hoping for, I’m sure… : (
nonetheless, know that I among others am very glad to see you again.
sukabi
Drumpf took Sarah Palin’s “death panels” and said “Hold my addero1 infused beer”.
Bit different to retroactively abort an established program in it’s preteens than it is to dose it with a morning after pill.
sukabi
@bobbo: he hasn’t forgotten how guilty he is, it’s what feeds his endless supply of grievances.
Miss Bianca
@rikyrah: Because who among us hasn’t pulled out our gun instead of our taser, right? It could happen to anyone!
Kay
Sometimes the recklessness just takes my breath away. They think this is a game. My 16 year old has a preexisting condition. What did he ever do to these people that they feel they can just fuck with him to promote their gross careers?
Leave us alone, assholes. Stop attacking tens of millions of people. Go find something productive to do.
Citizen Alan
@Eural Joiner:
If I have any family who support Trump, they are wise enough to not say anything about it around me. And if that changes, I will cut them off without hesitation. It’s bad enough I have to work with a guy who voted Libertarian and is embarrassed by the Republicans, but that doesn’t stop him from doing things like buying me a Trump snowglobe while he was on vacation. Because as we all know, there is nothing left of conservative policies except not paying taxes and pissing off liberals.
WaterGirl
@raven: Gut punch.
Mike J
Gravenstone
@gene108: Just set up a trough urinal and have it all flow to the grave. That way you can basically ring the site with them and let people communally bond while they defile that fucker’s corpse.
bemused
@Ben Cisco:
The thing is how long will “in the meantime” be? That’s what scares the daylights out of me. Even if they all go down sooner than I imagine, what a hell of a mess to clean up.
West of the Rockies
This is tangentially related only, but I ponder just how we got to this insanely divisive point in American history, where one party serves up half-digested pizza and 40% of the country charges in with spoons yelling, “F***, yeah!” and dig in…
Racism, ignorance, greed, misogyny, homophobia, toxic masculinity all play a part.
But I think that 30 years of talk radio hatred and argutainment (starting most obviously with Rush Limbaugh) has made a huge impact as well. Coulter, Hannity, Diamond and Silk, Malkin, Levin, Milo, Lahren, Savage, Pirro, etc., have jumped onto the gritter gravy train. And you will notice from that very partial list, anyone can join regardless of race, gender, sexual persuasion, and age.
They are vile catalysts.
Betty Cracker
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: What we know is at this thread. His daughter (the one he was always bragging on!) visited the comments section and let us know this community meant a lot to her dad. I’ve got a half-written card for EFG here on my desk, and I’m kicking myself for procrastinating. There’s never enough time.
trollhattan
@Mary G:
Taking their cue from a thousand moran soy farmers slammed by tariffs, old Republicans hit by Trump Medicare cuts:
“Well, yes, these cuts do hurt and I’m paying more for less, but he’s doing what he promised to fix healthcare and I think it’s okay to suffer for now so that everybody has a better fix in the future. He’s a businessman, after all and this isn’t politics as usual.”
Coming soon to an NPR near you.
bemused
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
He relishes inflicting punishment and mayhem on everyone around him even when things are going his way. I don’t think he can live a day without making someone, somewhere suffer painfully.
Citizen Alan
@rikyrah:
Ever single self-described liberal who mocked — literally mocked — the idea SCOTUS should play any role in their decision about who to vote for should be flung into a bottomless pit. I don’t think I could possibly be in a room with Bernie, Stein, Sarandon and the rest of those cretins without being moved to uncontrollable violence.
eemom
@ruemara:
Yeah. Believe it or not I hesitated to say something like this because I don’t want to insult anyone’s Mom. But in the abstract, I just don’t buy the argument that anybody who supports trump is in any way, shape or form a “good” person.
I’m sure there were lots of dear old grannies among the neighbors of Dachau, too.
trollhattan
@West of the Rockies:
What you said. Stabbing the Fairness Doctrine in the kidney and liver was a bad move but lifting media consolidation limits was the fatal blow to our public airwaves. Sinclair, Clear Channel (whatever stupid cutsie name they’re using today) et al are misusing our broadcast bandwidth in violation of the public trust and interest.
mrmoshpotato
@Gravenstone: YES! Genius idea! Gonna need to modify some portapotty rows for the women, but I think it can be done.
bemused
@Miss Bianca:
That’s exactly how I feel. I won’t go looking for a fight but they utter one maga meme and all bets are off.
Betty Cracker
@ruemara: I used to have a “no-politics” rule with my Republican relatives, but that went straight out the window on 11/9/2016. Now they get my unvarnished opinion. Oddly enough, now they’re the ones with the “no-politics” rule. It seems they don’t enjoy hearing that they’re dupes of the most obvious conman who ever swindled a sucker.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Betty Cracker:
I know what you mean. I wish I’d been around more and gotten to talk to him a bit more. Still, he knew we cared a great deal about him
Mary G
@ruemara: I am actually happy, and always have been, that my parents moved to California and cut off almost all contact with their families before I was born. Then few visits I’ve had make me certain that they are all rabid Trumpistas.
My non-blood related family, including Juicers, are very dear to me.
bemused
@lurker dean:
I couldn’t get through that whole link. I think he really believes green deal would do away with planes. The stupidest people vote for the stupidest people.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Gravenstone:
Did you see my comment at 25? I apologized to Old School. I jumped to conclusions I shouldn’t have
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Brachiator:
Yes, just look at the farmers, Trump’s screwed them badly and they are all set to wade threw the ruins of their farms vote for him again. I mean anyone even talking flood relief for Nebraska?
But this feels like Judge McRapyCryBaby all over again, Trump’s gets an easy win in a game that was rigged for him and then goes on a rampage because it wasn’t special enough and just screws things up for himself.
khead
@Brachiator:
It’s a bit of a tangent but still related….
White folks are PISSED over Jussie Smollett.
Ben Cisco
@lurker dean:
They got angry that the
smartblack guy was in charge.Betty Cracker
@eemom: I think about that a lot since my father and many aunts, uncles, cousins, etc., are Trumpsters. Some of them are straight-up assholes, so there’s no cognitive dissonance in their joining the Trump cult. Others are people who’ve always been kind and loving toward their relatives, devoted to their pets, solicitous of friends, thoughtful to acquaintances — people whom I’ve seen go out of their way to help strangers, etc. But yeah, like you said, there were lots of darling old grandmas who liked the cut of that Hitler fella’s jib. It pains me to say it, but that’s not an unfair characterization at all.
Gravenstone
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: I did. Thank you. I also shouldn’t have snapped as I did. We’re all on edge these days. Someone described it accurately as horizontal fire. Save our opprobrium for the true enemy – Republicans.
rikyrah
????
Adam Serwer? (@AdamSerwer) Tweeted:
Just so you know if you’re one of those people who shrugs their shoulders every time a police officer kills an unarmed black person, and you’re spending today being big mad about smollett getting off, we see you.
trollhattan
@Ohio Mom:
Sleep tight.
mrmoshpotato
@khead: We are?
bemused
@eemom:
Right! After all, those “kinder” trumpers are messing with my kids and grandkids lives.
germy
@Betty Cracker: There’s nothing new under the sun. I’m currently reading the John Steinbeck book where he drives around with his dog, and there’s a scene where he stops to visit his sisters. Heated, loud arguments over politics. They’re proud Republicans and he’s a Democrat. 1960.
J R in WV
@khead:
“White folks are PISSED over Jussie Smollett.”
Who? Really? Why? I don’t care. Never saw the guy ever. I hope he’s OK, whoever he is. Old white guy who doesn’t care about “famous” performers, any of ’em. Musicians, now that’s different. Kardashians? Who? Why?
patrick II
@lurker dean:
I followed the link and read the Mike Lee speech. I am not sure whether to thank you for the link or hunt you down. That was the dumbest thing I have ever read, and I have read Louie Gomert. It is literally painful to think that halfwit is a member of the U.S. Senate.
AOC had the appropriate response: Ocasio-Cortez mocks Sen. Mike Lee: ‘If this guy can be Senator, you can do anything’
trollhattan
@Kay:
“It will be such a shame when I vote to take away your healthcare, especially after all that energy I publicly put into ‘making up my mind’ beforehand.”
Enhanced Voting Techniques
Hmm here is another way to look at this; Trump is clearly in some kind of panicked rage, attacking anything in sight (thankfully, that wretched excuse for a man doesn’t have a pet) That doesn’t sound like someone who has just been vindicated, that sounds like someone who is (at lest subconsciously) seeing this is just the next stop on the shit train and the walls are closing in on him.
Ruckus
@Ohio Mom:
Republicans have wanted the federal government shrunk to fit in that bathtub for decades, so it’s easier for them to drown it. They see this as their maybe last chance. They are going to attempt to finish the job that Lord Ronnie started. Our job is to bury them under the weight of their own stupidity
trollhattan
@J R in WV:
“Another celebrity gets off. Film at eleven.”
Ever thus.
trollhattan
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
After basically having his phone taken from him for a week until the Mueller thing dropped, I think he’s just working off some pent-up energy. Nothing much new here.
Tenar Arha
@Eural Joiner: I’m sorry about your mother.
An Aunt’s assisted living/monitored nursing home doesn’t put Fox on in the common spaces, I think those are CNN or weather channel or local only. I don’t know if this is something that happens everywhere, maybe it’s just here in Massachusetts that they try to avoid Fox? Anyway, my father’s home hospice nurses also actively recommended against any news at all, but when pressed were willing to admit that Fox was especially agitating to elderly patients. Maybe it’s possible to get her into a nursing home where it’s blocked using the equivalent of the parental controls?
germy
(Travels With Charley, John Steinbeck)
catclub
@A Ghost To Most: I was thinking PT Barnum, but that was the supply end. There’s a sucker born every minute.
and Betty, Huffing Ayn Rands farts is why you get the sweet FPer gig.
mrmoshpotato
@Ruckus:
I like the idea of dropping bathtubs full of Democratic votes on them.
“You want some bathtubs? HERE’RE SOME BATHTUBS!”
catclub
@trollhattan:
The US system of Justice is pretty bad at getting convictions of people who can afford good lawyers.
Ruckus
@bobbo:
It’s possible that you are misunderstanding Trump. He never thought he was guilty in the first place. Anyone with his level of narriscism would never consider himself capable of doing anything wrong. IOW in his mind, guilt is a non entity.
Brachiator
@khead:
Trump has given the high sign that stupid white people can feel aggrieved about anything.
Also, white folks make mistakes and can be forgiven. Like that asshole kid in DC a few weeks back. Blacks, Latinos and Muslims must be punished all the time.
Miss Bianca
@ruemara: I hear you. I actually have cut off contact with my Trumper relatives. Not much I can do about my neighbors right now – except move. Now that O. Felix is the chair for her county Democrats, maybe it’ll be New Mexico after all…
khead
@mrmoshpotato:
@J R in WV:
My apologies for including you. I meant the same dumbass white wingnuts who wouldn’t give a frogs fat ass about a prosecutor who won’t go after a cop in an unjustified shooting but are now very upset about about the prosecutors in Chicago letting Jussie Smollett walk. Sorry if I wasn’t clear. Better?
rikyrah
ReclaimingMyTime (@MonieTalks_1) Tweeted:
So, I’m watching Mayor Pete Buttegieg’s interview on the Breakfast Club.
CTG asks, why does, rhetoric like telling coal miners that coal plants are coming back, work?
Pete says coal miners know that’s not happening either..but saying so show that you care about them. ? https://twitter.com/MonieTalks_1/status/1110558247717666817?s=17
Mai Naem mobile
@Baud: I found the news from your comment. Haven’t been on BJ that much because I’ve had shit going on IRL. I am really really sad. I even cried some. EFG just came across as a nice person. Screw the curmudgeon stuff. Some of that is just age. My shitty month just got shittier with this news.
WaterGirl
@khead:
What are white people pissed about over Jussie Smollett?
rikyrah
Obama cautions freshman House Democrats about the price tag of liberal policies
Source: Washington Post
Former president Barack Obama gently warned a group of freshman House Democrats Monday evening about the costs associated with some liberal ideas popular in their ranks, encouraging members to look at price tags, according to people in the room.
Obama didn’t name specific policies. And to be sure, he encouraged the lawmakers — about half-dozen of whom worked in his own administration — to continue to pursue “bold” ideas as they shaped legislation during their first year in the House.
But some people in the room took his words as a cautionary note about Medicare-for-all and the Green New Deal, two liberal ideas popularized by a few of the more famous House freshmen, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.).
While the more liberal freshmen have garnered much of the attention in Washington, many first-year Democrats hail from swing- or even red districts and have struggled with how to respond to the emboldened far-left.
karensky
@gene108: I feel like you wrote that last paragraph for me. I agree 100%.
WaterGirl
@rikyrah: I loved that. The “You fucking amoral hypocrites” was understood without him having to say a single bad word.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@WaterGirl: The occasion for their pissedoffness is that all charges against him were dropped. The reason for it is unclear.
germy
https://thegrapevine.theroot.com/report-charges-against-jussie-smollett-dropped-record-1833575118
WaterGirl
@J R in WV: I am relatively certain that I could not pick a single Kardashian out of a lineup.
rikyrah
???
#UsMovie broke several records, but no one noticed this one until now.
HISTORY: ‘Us’ had the biggest opening weekend for a film headlined by a Black woman. https://t.co/w4ENSc3Jc7 pic.twitter.com/pL4Bcl5TKa
— Shadow And Act (@shadowandact) March 26, 2019
rikyrah
Uh huh ?
Trump is violating the single most powerful area of congressional oversight: appropriations.
If he can loot the budget to pay for expenditures not approved by Congress, we’re one step closer to authoritarianism. https://t.co/rFq6jvl59e
— The Hoarse Whisperer (@HoarseWisperer) March 26, 2019
WaterGirl
@Dorothy A. Winsor: I was probably unclear. That much I knew — that the charges had been dropped. What I wonder about is why white people would be pissed and how it is we think we know that white people are pissed.
khead
@WaterGirl:
Search “smollett walks”. Look at the results and the twitter threads.
WaterGirl
@germy: wow. I guess only rich WHITE people are supposed to get off. Is that the problem?
terry chay
@Eural Joiner: Politics in the US is not about getting Trump voters to change their VIEWS, it is about if they change their VOTE. Remember a non-vote IS a changed vote in the post-(50+1)/Karl Rove Republican strategy of the 2000’s. (Seen this way, using computer models to gerrymander districts is the same as a changed vote without any change in views).
Your mom losing healthcare and other benefits will eat into their finances and race them to the bottom. Poor people don’t vote, so the outcome is the same as a changed vote whether they change their views or not.
Anecdotally, one of my girlfriend’s two parents changed from a reliable Republican voter to a permanent non-voter in 2016, the other will follow by 2021 (she started skipping midterms). If anything, over the years their political views have actually hardened a lot toward the right wing, but their “vote” has shifted into the Democratic column (and will continue to do so).
This sort of stuff is how Trump and the Republicans lost in a landslide in 2018.
@Brachiator: Agreed! The epistemic closure that has been a hallmark of the Republican Party in this century is their undoing. In any rational world the 2018 election would have shown a rational Republican that the party is headed off an electoral cliff, but they are immune to both data and Occam’s Razor so they will continue to press the accelerator instead, following the California GOP into death.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@rikyrah:
That’s actually insane enough to be these people’s reasoning. After all, Coal been dying since like 50s and yet these people refuse to take steps to save themselves.
Brachiator
This cannot be emphasized enough. Trump showed absolutely no interest in actually reforming health care. Nor did he direct the Republicans to come up with anything reasonable. Nor did Trump show any interest in working with the Democrats in fixing the ACA.
During the election season, Republicans flat out lied about their proposals or ran away from voters and refused to answer their questions.
Stranger still, even though insurance companies adapted to the ACA, and costs did not spiral out of control as conservatives predicted, neither the Trump administration nor the Republican leadership showed any interest in preserving the best parts of ACA. Repeal and replace simply became repeal.
The short game: kill the ACA. The long game: prevent any government funded or sponsored universal health insurance.
Nowhere here does Trump or the Republican leadership give a shit about ordinary human beings. Trump can afford to pay any amount for doctors. Putin will pick up the tab. Republicans in Congress have sweet government health care (oh, the irony). You and I could die like dogs in the street.
A Ghost To Most
To those of you who have found it necessary to cut off your MAGAt relatives, welcome.
My family was well ahead of the fascist curve. I bailed in 2007.
WaterGirl
@khead: All I saw was most mostly a bunch of links saying that the mayor thought it was a whitewash. I’m not seeing much more than that. So maybe it’s just the mayor who is pissed?
khead
@germy:
Yeah, kinda funny. Yesterday folks I know thought Rahm was responsible for every murder in Chicago. Today he’s being cited as a paragon of virtue.
Betty Cracker
@germy: Travels with Charley! I’ve read it. This is different, though, IMO.
germy
@WaterGirl:
Rahm was, is, and always will be simply horrible.
WhatsMyNym
@khead: They didn’t let Jussie Smollett walk. He had to give up the $10,000 paid towards bond, he’s completed 16 hours of community service. The charges were dropped, he was not cleared of the charges no matter what he says.
The FBI is still investigating the threatening letter he reported.
rikyrah
Rob Reiner (@robreiner) Tweeted:
When you are told by our intel agencies that Russia is attacking our election and you encourage it, that’s collusion. When you attack the investigation and lie about it, that’s obstruction. When you ram an AG through that spins an unseen report, that’s a cover up. https://twitter.com/robreiner/status/1110581174529720320?s=17
PaulWartenberg
Part of me is wondering if trump (and the GOP’s) thinking on dumping Obamacare outright is this:
1) Ban Obamacare completely.
2) Force Democrats on the campaign trail to stand up for their Medicare-For-All plan instead of defending Obamacare.
3) Get to accuse Democrats of being TAX AND SPEND SOCIALISTS, force the media to scare most Americans into thinking ZOMG SOCIALISM WILL DOOM US, and win at the 2020 ballot box.
VeniceRiley
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: For the life of me, I cannot understand why Trump does not have a dog. They’ll worship you! It’s what he craves, and he could make Barron walk and feed it. Must be the germophobia.
WaterGirl
@rikyrah:
I just wanted to see that in print again.
I wish John Dingell were here.
Betty Cracker
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: I’m not sure Mayor Pete is correct about the coal miners not knowing coal is coming back. I remember seeing clips of pre- and post-election MAGA rallies with hardhats applauding the Tang tyrant’s lies about opening new plants, rolling back green regs, blah blah blah. Maybe when they’re choking on poisoned water while dying of untreated black lung they’ll figure it out.
In the meantime, if we want to save people in a failing industry, I vote local newspapers. There are a lot more people involved, and the industry is vital to democracy’s health rather than killing the planet’s.
Alien Radio.
@PaulWartenberg: That’s stupid enough to fulfill Trumps Razor.
catclub
@terry chay:
probably true, but California took maybe 20 years, and the whole country will take even longer (thanks small state senators! and the EC!)
so you are looking at almost 2050 – we may be simmering away – in Vermont. Arizona and new mexico?- hotter and drier.
rikyrah
????
Donald Trump tried to funnel $1 billion from the Department of Defense toward his inane border wall.
House Armed Services Committee Chair Adam Smith told him to go kick rocks.
Good. https://t.co/uVG5loFj4p
— The Hoarse Whisperer (@HoarseWisperer) March 26, 2019
Betty Cracker
@VeniceRiley: I read once that his first wife had a dog who hated Trump. That dog was obviously a good judge of character. From his own comments about dogs, it’s clear Trump doesn’t understand them at all: “He got fired like a dog.” “He was sweating like a dog.” “He choked like a dog.” Each of these similes Trump used to insult enemies demonstrates that he has absolutely no idea what dogs even do. I’m so thankful he doesn’t have a dog. He doesn’t deserve one.
germy
@VeniceRiley:
Dogs, cats, eagles. Animals don’t like him.
trollhattan
Sacklers take the first hit.
Wishing them many, many more.
Raven
@germy: In a 61 GMC Truck, Rocinante!
terry chay
@Betty Cracker: One thing you will discover after having abolished the “no politics” and the “live and let live” rule is how many of them whine when someone cuts them out of their life. The reason is they have so very few friends and associates as it is, so they need you far more than you need them. This is true on both the extreme Right and the Left (it’s just that, the latter way outnumbers the former). I honestly wish I had discovered this before 11/2016 caused me to do this sort of housecleaning on my (real and virtual) social networks.
There were these people who I long since lost touch with who were political “libertarian”-but-actually-right-wing-curious when I knew them a decade ago. I stopped with this network (giving talks at software developer conferences) around 2014. When I picked it up again this year, I happened to be in Uber/Lyfts with a totally new generation of developers and heard them mention these people. Because of their politics, they are the butt of jokes now and nobody likes them or invites them to speak at any conferences. Their descent into political darkness has also fell in line with their competence as developers and job prospects. I know the correlation, but for the life of me, I’m not ‘ken to the causation beyond saying that they were always a little bit more stupid, selfish, and hateful than the norm even back when I knew them.
Brachiator
@rikyrah:
I like this.
Following the box office for “Us,” initial projections was that the movie would have at best a $54 million opening weekend. Weekend estimates were an amazing $70 million and the actual numbers were slightly higher, $71 million.
Some of the audience demographics are interesting.
WaterGirl
@rikyrah: I am started watching the Breakfast Club interview with Pete Buttigieg so I could judge for myself. You do realize, right, that Buttigieg wasn’t saying that’s what he does, right?
The question was: “Why does that rhetoric work? I mean, how can you tell coal miners you’re bringing coal plants back? That’s… you gotta know that’s not happening.”
So Buttigieg’s answer is not about WHAT BUTTIGIEG SAYS TO PEOPLE — he’s explaining why he thinks that kind of bullshit works on people.
rikyrah, I’m not saying that you are taking his answer out of context, but that’s a problem with twitter. Someone can takes something out of context and it sounds outrageous, and other people get their dander up based on nothing that really happened, but it goes viral in a flash.
West of the Rockies
@germy:
Well, the ferret atop his head seems quite devoted.
germy
@Raven: It’s in a museum. Wikipedia has a photo.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travels_with_Charley
Miss Bianca
@Brachiator: @rikyrah: OK, I really don’t like horror movies. As in really, REALLY don’t like horror movies. But I have the nagging feeling that I really *ought* to see both “Get Out” and “Us”. Thoughts?
VeniceRiley
@Betty Cracker:
@germy:
There has to be a dog dumb enough to like even him. LOL. I know, harsh to say, bless their hearts.
meanwhile, who wants odds that SCOTUS is about to legalize gerrymandering?
WaterGirl
@rikyrah: I am thrilled to see that response to Trump trying to loot the military for his stupid wall.
Maybe the one possible silver lining to what’s happening with all things Mueller right now is that everybody is going to have to realize that each of us has to do everything possible to stand up to this thug (Trump).
Please please please let this obstruction and dancing in the end zone backfire on the Repubicans and on this administration. And please let it happen quickly.
RAVEN
@germy: Oh yea, I’m all over Steinbeck even though he became a RWNJ late in life. Read “The Other Side of Eden” by his son.
WaterGirl
@Betty Cracker: Trump would kick the shit out of a dog if he had one. A man who would rape his wife in a rage because of a hair procedure gone wrong would surely be kicking the dog, or worse. If he had a goldfish, he would probably try to wring its neck.
terry chay
@catclub: Political systems are non-linear. A larger body of people means the delay is much longer (but a lot of that is already “priced” in because the flip in the US hasn’t occurred yet and a lot more work has been done to sustain the unsustainable — gerrymandering, court packing, etc.), but when it flips, it actually able to tip faster and with more irrevocability, just like a damn breaking or a levy being overtopped.
For instance, if the economy doesn’t crash by election year 2020, then the wait will be longer; if it does before then Republican irrelevance will be massive in that election year (basically everything at the federal and majority of states but the federal court system). How much longer is longer though? We’ve had a decade of economic growth in spite of terrible fundamentals (no wage growth for instance), so “longer” may only be as far as 2022.
The pessimistic thinking is to imagine how much damage can be done between now and 2022. One of the costs of having people so unmoored from reality is they can do a lot of damage because it is much easier to destroy than to create and they really have nothing holding that inclination in check. If anything, that should accelerate also.
@Betty Cracker: The scene where he visits the segregationists taunting the black schoolchildren still haunts me. (It was my summer reading book in the 1980’s.)
Nothing has changed, but every so often we forget and need to be reminded.
Brachiator
@Betty Cracker:
How could anyone with even half a lick of sense not understand this?
This is one of the reasons I love good graphic charts.
Employment in the coal industry has been declining since the 1940s. Hell, JFK made a point of visiting poor ass coal miners during the 1960 election primary. And innovation will guarantee that fewer jobs will be needed in the future.
zhena gogolia
@Betty Cracker:
Don’t forget “I moved on her like a bitch.”
WaterGirl
@trollhattan: Surely $270 million is salt in the ocean to that company?
germy
@RAVEN: According to his son, Steinbeck sat in his camper and “made shit up” for Travels With Charley.
Still an enjoyable book.
Salty Sam
@eemom:
Well, just like in the Weimar Republic, there were “good Germans” who helped bring Hitler to power.
I’m in the same boat on this issue- my 84 yr old mom has gone Full Fox/Totally Trump. I only communicate with her when she has a health issue (more and more recently), and she knows better than to bring up politics. I only feel the slightest sense of regret about that.
And since we are still mourning EFGoldman’s passing, I’ll say this about my mom- she is in that group of people that the only proper response is “FUCK’EM!”
jl
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: Trump is sick in the head and in the heart. Look at his miserable resentful expression the night he won the election. FLOTUS Melania looks horrified, but that makes sense, she didn’t want any of that crap. But deep sickness is the only thing that can explains Trump’s misery in midst of victory. So, mistake to over interpret, or even plain interpret Trump.
Unless of course it is true that Trump planned to lose. That would make his miserable mug on election night rational. And I do get a very grim and black chuckle out of that idea: a swindler so incompetent he can’t even throw his own game correctly.
FlipYrWhig
@VeniceRiley:
IMHO he thinks having a pet is effeminate.
mrmoshpotato
@WaterGirl:
Could his tiny fingers even grasp a goldfish?
Citizen Alan
@VeniceRiley:
I just want to break down and cry every day over the new Golden Age of liberal SCOTUS jurisprudence that Hillary would have given us that got pissed away on Gorsuch and The Rapist just because of a bunch of pampered lily-white cosplay Marxists who mocked the idea that the composition of the Supreme Court should matter in their voting decisions.
FlipYrWhig
@Brachiator: I’m looking forward to Trump’s plan to win in Connecticut by promising to bring back whaling.
debbie
Best photo of Trump I’ve ever seen, Betty!
debbie
@Miss Bianca:
You’re far braver than I!
Betty Cracker
@Brachiator:
You’ve answered your own question.
Brachiator
@Miss Bianca:
I have not seen “Us” yet (had to cancel a weekend outing) and am trying to avoid major spoilers, but I keep hearing that it is not a conventional horror movie. But a couple of people who do not like horror movies said that they were freaked out. But I have to see it, if only because of the praise that I have heard for the performances of the lead actors.
I think that “Get Out” is an Essential Movie. I also think that “Psycho,” for example, is also an Essential Movie. Both movies succeed as thrillers, and also on other levels. And of course, the elephant in the room is that “Get Out” is one of the most intriguing and intelligent films about race ever. And here you can easily point to the ways in which Rod Serling was able to use SF and fantasy to explore political themes in ways that he could never have done in more conventional dramatic genres. A fancy way of saying that “Get Out” is scary, thoughtful and fun. Can’t leave that out. There are moments of plain well done fun.
Ben Cisco
@bemused: Yes it will be.
karen marie
@lurker dean: When the Republican shit hits the fan, they’ll just tell their base that it’s the Democrats’ fault. Given that their base is trained to live in a fact-free environment, they don’t need actual evidence, all Republicans have to do is claim they’re victims. Republicans have run the underpants gnome trick so many times, at this point it’s actually working for them.
Chyron HR
@khead:
Well, tough shit, Cleetus and Darlene. He was EXONERATED. NO COLLUSION.
KSinMA
@Betty Cracker: I agree. My guess is that there are a lot of abused dogs in rescue shelters whose former owners were just like Trump.
Miss Bianca
@jl:
“I was so careful. I picked the wrong play, the wrong director, the wrong cast. WHERE DID I GO RIGHT???”
Ah, thank you, Mel Brooks.
debbie
@WaterGirl:
The charges weren’t dropped because they determined his claim of a hate attack was true; the prosecutor said they wanted to instead focus their resources on gun violence (heard on NPR while driving home).
Betty Cracker
@WaterGirl: I enjoy Twitter — it’s fascinating to watch real-time reactions to events, some people are hilarious, and it’s useful for finding longer-form content. But damn, does it suck every ounce of nuance out of a conversation. I hope to Christ the various circular firing squads lining up on that platform aren’t truly reflective of the Democratic electorate, or we are SO screwed.
karen marie
@Kay: That’s funny. Did they spend an entire afternoon focused on any one of the many unjustified murders of PoC that have occurred in the last year? How about any time since CNN went on air? No?
Cancel your cable. You’re welcome.
Leto
@Miss Bianca: @Brachiator: “Us” is an Essential Movie. It, also, was inspired by an episode of the Twilight Zone. Saw it over the weekend and it was really, really good.
Fleeting Expletive
@VeniceRiley: I’m a cat person completely and know that I don’t really understand dogs, but I think it’s that T can’t stand the thought of a creature he can’t totally shut up, nor entirely control. He’s unfit to care for another living creature though, I’m certain. Bet he kills plants with a glance too.
Miss Bianca
@Brachiator: @Leto: OK, y’all have convinced me. Thanks for the movie reviews! : )
germy
@Fleeting Expletive:
I remember this cat during the campaign:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSRgnE83Z44
Raven
@germy: Yep and yep.
patrick II
@germy:
Snakes like him.
trollhattan
@WaterGirl:
I’m sure ’tis but a fleshwound (like the DeVosses misplacing one of their yachts) and in any case, the Sacklers won’t pay a nickel of it. But hopefully, it opens the door to lots, lots more.
Roger Moore
@PaulWartenberg:
I think KThug had a pretty good take on this. Trump’s obvious corruption has driven away a lot of the party loyalists who would otherwise staff his administration, while his disinterest in policy has allowed crazy ideologues who would otherwise never be allowed near the decision making apparatus to move in and set policy. The net result is that the inmates are now in control of the asylum. The people deciding “Trump’s” policy on Obamacare don’t give a damn about how it affects the next election. They just want to destroy the evil socialist healthcare policy and let the chips fall where they may.
Miss Bianca
@germy: I bet bufo toads would like him!
rikyrah
Where is the lie???
https://twitter.com/Deoliver47/status/1110351751335550977
germy
@patrick II:
@Miss Bianca:
They haven’t read his environmental policies yet.
debbie
Wow, Audie Cornish is calling bullshit on Lamar’s statements about the New Green Deal. Every time he tries to call it “radical,” she reels him in and reminds him that his plan has the same provisions. This is the feistiest I’ve heard from NPR in quite some time.
germy
@rikyrah:
No lie.
Fleeting Expletive
@germy</ Boy howdy, that kitty is me! I'd like to see him face an indifferent, diffident, calm cat. You know he'd poke at her to provoke a response (especially in front of an audience). The tip of the tail slightly quivers. He says Watch This! and she rips his nose open.
What can I say, it's been that kind of a day where my imagination wants to see justicia in extremis. (rusty Latin.)
rikyrah
Thread about the test that they use to admit to NYC select schools.
https://twitter.com/CockyMF/status/1109579711494131712
WaterGirl
@Betty Cracker: Yes. Yes to every point you made.
WaterGirl
@trollhattan: I would prefer a tsunami, but if a river can wash them away over time, I could learn to be okay with that.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@jl:
Indeed.
Ruckus
@Roger Moore:
Everything is better without that ebile government donncha know……
I notice that the people who want this shit are either too young to remember or too wealthy to have been effected by no healthcare 50-60 years ago.
Also they are too fucking stupid to understand.
debbie
@Roger Moore:
How is it possible that Stephen Miller is still there???
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Betty Cracker: My family is from Pittsburgh, and while it’s no Detroit, crushing poverty and dying steel mills so close enough The one’s who staid behind all talk about the Mills opening again, and know they won’t, but the lie lets them pretend they are happy for a few moments.
Ksmiami
@Brachiator: blow@bemused: honestly you have to stop thinking of it as clean up and more of a roll up. After this gop enemy is thoroughly defeated and left in a smoldering pile, the new leadership must pave over the failing institutions that led us to this point and that will entail a complete redo of the executive and the judiciary and the electoral college and Senate. We are not governed rt now, we are being ruled
Roger Moore
@VeniceRiley:
They won’t “legalize” gerrymandering, because gerrymandering is already legal. What they’ll do is to shoot down the hope that they will make it illegal. What I’m really worried about is that they’ve been making noises about how HR1 and state laws handing over redistricting to nonpartisan commissions will end gerrymandering without them lifting a finger, but that those things aren’t before the Court right now. So they’ll talk about how wonderful those things as an excuse to ignore gerrymandering today, but they’ll rule them unconstitutional when they’re given a chance. The only thing that’s going to make the right wing justices on the Supreme Court decide gerrymandering is a bad thing is when the Democrats use it to win a big majority.
Brachiator
@Roger Moore:
The “best” Republicans would be much the same. They opposed Obamacare just as they opposed Social Security and Medicare. Trump’s administration obviously includes incompetents, but the crazy ideologues are just as much opposed to governance as as mainstream Republicans.
Roger Moore
@Brachiator:
I think the mainstream Republicans would at the very least be more circumspect about trying to kill Obamacare. They both want it dead, but they differ in dealing with the fallout. The mainstream Republicans are worried that having their fingerprints on the murder weapon will hurt them in the next election, so they want to kill it in a way that gives them- and the party as a whole- plausible deniability. The ideologues are playing to the extremist base, which means they want to be able to claim credit for slaying the beast. It doesn’t make a difference in their ends, but it means the mainstream is more constrained in their means.
Uncle Cosmo
@WaterGirl: I thought that was Mencken: No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public.
(ETA: JFC, scooped at #22. It’s been that kind of a day, sports fans…)
J R in WV
@A Ghost To Most:
I have few relatives, parents are long gone, one cousin of my generation died around 2009. My brother is a true believer in the Boy Scout Cult, a transplanted Texan, a life member of the NRA.
For many years since our parents memorial and my last trip through TX we have called each other on the other’s birthday.
Last year he didn’t call. Fuck him. I won’t ever contact those racist fascists again, ever.
J R in WV
@Citizen Alan:
I’m sorry to disagree with you, but the same Mitch McConnell bastard who stole one Supreme Court Justice appointment from Barack Obama would have refused to even consider any liberal court nominations from President Clinton.
So you can stop crying now, and work to reject Trump come 2020.