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Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

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

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

The GOP couldn’t organize an orgy in a whorehouse with a fist full of 50s.

I’m pretty sure there’s only one Jack Smith.

Everybody saw this coming.

I conferred with the team and they all agree – still not tired of winning!

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

Joe Lieberman disappointingly reemerged to remind us that he’s still alive.

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

No Justins, No Peace

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

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

How can republicans represent us when they don’t trust women?

Accountability, motherfuckers.

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. let’s win this.

Let’s finish the job.

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Because of wow.

And On The Matter Of Commas

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In yesterday’s diversion on the importance of precision in language (that confusion about Merle Haggard’s brides, etc.), valued commenter Bruce K. in ATH-GR noted that he sometimes asks for care packages of commas from friends in the US.

And On The Matter Of Commas 2

I promised him a post that touches on this, and boy, do I have one.

I’m sure the Jackaltariat is sufficiently small “c” catholic in its interests so that some here have heard of a work that is both justifiably (more than a little) obscure and absolutely awesome as an example of the human carnival. That would be A Pickle for the Knowing Ones, which Masshole (of course) Timothy Dexter published in 1802.

Dexter was a piece of work; in fact his picture is (or should be) in the dictionary next to “lucky beats good every time.” From his Wikipedia entry:

Because he was largely uneducated, his business sense was considered peculiar. He was advised to send bed warmers—used to heat beds in the cold New England winters—for resale in the West Indies, a tropical area. This advice was a deliberate ploy by rivals to bankrupt him. His ship’s captain sold them as ladles to the local molasses industry and made a handsome profit.[5][unreliable source?] Next, Dexter sent wool mittens to the same place, where Asian merchants bought them for export to Siberia.[1]

People jokingly told him to “ship coal to Newcastle”. Fortuitously, he did so during a Newcastle miners’ strike, and his cargo was sold at a premium.[6][7] …

He exported Bibles to the East Indies and stray cats to Caribbean islands and again made a profit; Eastern missionaries were in need of the Bibles and the Caribbean welcomed a solution to rat infestation.[1] He also hoarded whalebones by mistake, but ended up selling them profitably as corset stays.[1]

One key fact to note: luck runs out but Dexter stayed rich, so he clearly wasn’t all bumptious fool. And he was smart enough to follow George Washington’s example and marry a rich widow.  He bought a mansion in Newburyport (still a very nice town), and adorned it with, well…

And On The Matter Of Commas 3

The statues honored, among others, Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Napoleon and…himself. His likeness bore the inscription, “I am the first in the East, the first in the West, and the greatest philosopher in the Western World”.

He wrote only the one book, self-published when he was 50.  I don’t know exactly how to characterize it, but imagine if a love child of the My Pillow guy and Sarah Palin had been born (ignore the arrow of time) in 1748 and on achieving maturity (sic?) and wealth decided the world needed to know exactly what he thought of, well, anything that pissed him off in the moment, from the political life of the nation to his (seemingly very long-suffering) wife.

It is–how to put this gently–a trifle odd.  A passage:

show full post on front page

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Additional Respite: Needs More Penguins

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Because don’t we all need more penguins?

ETA–Also this:

More at the Shedd Aquarium Twitter feed.

Open that thread right up…

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Friday Morning Open Thread: SHINE

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Nia Dennis, on her 21st birthday.

Black neighborhoods in key swing states hold enormous power to reshape politics in November and beyond. But in order to maximize this potential, progressives need to imagine and invest on an unprecedented scale…

What is a “new black voter”? In the 2016 presidential election, an estimated 3.3 million black people in six key swing states were unregistered, or registered but had never voted, or didn’t vote in that year, despite previously doing so. In those six states (Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Florida, North Carolina and Georgia) the number of eligible but nonvoting black people was at least 2.8 times Hillary Clinton’s margin of loss. Five of these states also had Senate elections; Democrats lost all five.

In Pennsylvania, for example, Mrs. Clinton lost by about 44,000 votes, while Katie McGinty, the Democratic Senate candidate, lost by about 87,000 votes. But an estimated 350,000 eligible black people didn’t vote statewide. Combine this with the fact that half of Pennsylvania’s black population lives in Philadelphia, and it becomes clear where there is concentrated, untapped political power. This type of geographic concentration is not unique. Just 14 cities account for over half of the black population in these six crucial states. (There are also large concentrations of black nonvoters in Jacksonville, Tampa and Orlando, Fla.; and in Fayetteville and Winston-Salem, N.C.)

And within these 14 cities, majority-black census blocks (areas usually much smaller than election precincts) account for a vastly disproportionate percentage of the black population. For example, majority-black census blocks account for 80 percent of Milwaukee county’s black population, which itself accounts for 70 percent of Wisconsin’s black population. The upshot is clear: Nonvoting black residents in key places have the potential to swing elections, from the presidency on down, in 2020 and beyond. Republicans have understood these dynamics for years; they long ago decided that they were better off trying to suppress black voters than to compete for their votes….

Research shows that the most effective voter-turnout technique is person-to-person contact from a trusted source like a family member, friend or neighbor; this is far more successful than impersonal paid communication like TV, digital or radio ads. But most nonvoters or infrequent voters don’t get this kind of outreach because campaigns and independent political groups generally ignore people with low “turnout scores.” And since these scores are developed based on voting history, nonvoters become less and less likely to be contacted. Even worse, people who have recently moved or are unregistered may not even show up in campaign databases. This problem is acute in areas with high transience, like urban, majority-black neighborhoods.

But the opportunity lies precisely with these people. To realize this potential, we must shed cynical assumptions about what is and isn’t possible…

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Election Year Open Thread: Stephen Colbert {Hearts} Elizabeth Warren, Too

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(Even after he tried to hoard all the ribs, and she threatened to stab him with a fork.)

Thing is — I’ve said this before — even if she’s not the nominee, Senator Warren already has a job she loves, and that she’s good at. So while I would very much prefer, given the current options, that she be our next president, well…

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The Miracle On Ice Part II: Emergency Backup Goalie and Zamboni Driver Dave Ayres For the Win!

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On 22 February 1980, the US Olympic hockey team beat the Soviet Olympic hockey team in what has been called the miracle on ice. Tonight in Toronto a second miracle on ice occurred. The Carolina Hurricanes starting goalie left the game with an injury. During the second period, the Hurricanes back up goalie also left the game with an injury. The NHL has a system in place for this called the emergency backup goalie (EBUG) – it is not played by Robert Picardo. At every arena, during every NHL game, a local goalie is kept in the arena in case one team’s starting and backup goalies are both forced to leave the game. Usually the emergency backup goalie is a local recreational league player or coach who has played the position for a while and they are prepared to suit up for either team. They usually spend the night in one of the luxury boxes, get to watch the game for free, get free food and drink, and then go home at the end of the night. Every so often one of them has to actually dress and go on the ice. Tonight that emergency backup goalie in Toronto was Dave Ayres who is 42 years old and is the Zamboni driver for the Toronto Maple Leafs. And he had to dress and go on the ice.

This is his story!

Also, a kidney donor!

Other teams in the league tweeted out their support!

And the Canes, with a playoff run on the line, were ecstatic about Dave’s performance!

 

North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper weighed in.

Open thread!

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Guest Post: Adam Schiff, Profile in Courage

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I didn’t have the strength, so commentor Zhena Gogolia generously bricolaged this tribute:

As recounted by Maxwell King in his biography of Mister Rogers (The Good Neighbor: The Life and Work of Fred Rogers, Abrams, 2018), when Rogers was young and saw upsetting things happening in the world, his mother would tell him, “Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.”

We are all too prone to easy cynicism: “The Republican majority in the Senate will never convict and remove Trump, so why should I pay any attention to the impeachment hearings or trial?” Well, I did pay attention, and what I saw was deeply inspiring and hopeful. Rep. Adam Schiff, Rep. Jerrold Nadler, and their Democratic colleagues, as well as the counsel for the Democrats on the House Intelligence and Judiciary Committees, Daniel Goldman and Barry Berke, did not get cynical, they did not give up or phone it in. They went to BATTLE for this country, day after day, and used everything in their arsenal: intelligence, hard work, and most of all, that unfashionable thing, patriotism. Despite the obstruction of the president and his allies, the Democrats proved Trump’s guilt so decisively that even the Republicans had to admit it. They were left with no fig leaf other than, “Yeah, he did it, but he’s giving us tax cuts so it’s okay.” They were left with no defense.

But although it was a team effort, it was Adam Schiff who carried the biggest burden, especially during the trial. He spoke for hours on end, often without looking at notes. (Compare Pam Bondi.)

Every time I tuned in, I expected to see him tired, or hoarse, or fuzzy. It never happened. Here are some highlights:

‘Give America a fair trial. She’s worth it,’ Schiff urges senators

 

 

Jennifer Rubin has summarized:

…Along the way, House managers stripped the bark off phony Republican hawks who could find nothing wrong with extorting an ally in a hot war with Russia; decapitated “constitutional conservatives” who have become defenders of autocracy; and showed off some of their brightest stars, including Democratic Reps. Adam B. Schiff (Calif.), Jason Crow (Colo.), Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.) and Val Demings (Fla.).

History will treat them all well and take note that when truth and constitutional government were on the line they did their jobs in exemplary fashion. That is “winning” by any legitimate measure. And for that we can say, well done.

And I’ll let Jon Zal have the last word:

Rep. Adam Schiff’s Closing Argument

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