Are there any readers here who are lawyers in the Leesburg, VA, area? I have a childhood friend who has been divorced since 2002 and has two boys, ages 11 and 14. She has had custody forever, but her degenerate husband moved to NC and now is waging a custody battle she can not afford. She is a single mom working to just pay for rent and food and her kids, and simply can not afford a competent lawyer at 350 an hour. She’s also a good person. So if you know of anyone who would be willing to help, or if you can help, it would be much appreciated. She just needs help, and while she is willing to pay, she can’t pay exorbitant amounts.
Vikings v. Packers Open Thread
A special treat for you all for the Vikings v. Packers game. Here is my godson, Cole, aka Bug Buggington, all dressed up in the Steelers gear I sent him for Christmas:
The kid spent a week or so here and I never saw him frown, and I have yet to see a picture of this adorable little kid when he wasn’t smiling. He clearly does not take after his godfather.
Go Vikings!
Open Thread: Run, Barney, Run!
Barney Frank has “called the governor” to offer his services as an interim, short-term-only replacement for John Kerry. Dave Weigel explains one reason this is so important:
…[Y]ou have to understand two issues for liberals in the Senate: the knowledge problem and the seniority problem. The “knowledge problem” I’m referring to is the media buzz around deal-makers, and the relative lack of buzz around liberals. The Democrats mostly likely to appear in non-partisan media, to sell their wares on economic bills, are Chuck Schumer (who’s constrained by the fact that he represents so much of the financial industry) and any moderate who says he’s ready to cut back entitlements. That’s why you see Mark Warner quoted everywhere, but you only see Bernie Sanders on MSNBC.
The senior problem is, actually, structurally worse. The chairmen of the committees with the key roles on fiscal/spending issues are Tim Johnson (Banking), Max Baucus (Finance), Tom Harkin (HELP), and Patty Murray (Budget). Johnson, who’s up for re-election in 2014 and whose speech was damaged by a 2007 brain injury (he’s all there, he just uses a scooter and talks slowly), is no one’s idea of a crusading liberal. Neither is Harkin or Murray, for pure PR/media talent reasons. And Baucus is one of the most conservative members of the conference, an estate tax foe who voted for the Bush tax cuts and was (before Bush proposed a version of it in 2005) open to Social Security reform. Reporters and activists love Elizabeth Warren, but she’s in no position to lead on any negotiations right now.
Enter Frank. He’d fulfill the role of a Democratic vote, a negotiator, and a pundit, who’d be in demand for interviews to scour Republicans. If you’re a progressive, and a Senator Frank is a three-month possibility, you’d hate to settle for Sen. Random Guy Who’s Seen As Pretty Inoffensive. Because the other side of that debt debate is going to be highlighted by Paul Ryan, Marco Rubio, and a host of other people who summon cameras into existence whenever they speak.
Early Morning Open Thread
I’m taking my mutts to the beach in a bit. What are y’all up to?
Late Friday Night Open Thread
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I’m busy, the other front-pagers have better things to do on a Friday night, but if the last thread gets much longer people won’t be able to read it on their mobile devices.
So, what’s up out there?
The Dead Horse Beatings Will Continue Until Morale Improves/Open Thread
I know that the general human failure to assess risks appropriately is one of those things we dweebs kvetch about all the time (and certain kinds of insurance purveyors profit from), but what the hell. Might as well blather on about it again.
Here’s a graphic disinterred from Newsweek’s gravefrom way back in 2010.
I’m really posting this as an addendum to Doug J’s take on the lead/crime story. He noted that Americans don’t actually realize how much crime rates have dropped over the last couple of decades; the graphic below widens the net of things Americans (and people in general) have trouble accepting in our inevitable encounters with risk. I’m sure pointing this old story out once again will do as much good to the how-great-it-is-to-be-armed as young Kevin Bacon achieved in this scene. Still, one must but try, so here it is:
Just as a hint to where some posting thoughts are going — I was struck in reading both Kevin Drum’s lead story and looking over the juxtapositions above by the number of times the appropriate response to the data comes from the world of public health. That’s hardly the glamour end of medicine or social policy, but considering the returns we’ve already got from things like clean water and childhood vaccination, public health becomes one way to thin k about essential medicine, social policy — even justice, and economic returns.
The dicey bit, of course, is that if you accept for the moment Drum’s argument that lead in the environment drives all kinds of consequences over decades-long timescales, it becomes brutally obvious that the GOP approach is hopeless. There’s no government-free market solution to the problem. Which means that there is no solution to be had from our current Republican party. Which, I suppose, is why it’s important to repeat what’s been said so often before — the GOP has a fundamentally failed conception of government and society, and hence it’s time as a political force must come to an end. More to come on this theme.
And with that, it’s the cocktail hour,* and — why not?! — time for an open thread.
*Satan’s Whiskers? Really? Did folks drink that and live?¹
¹Which prompts the hideous and blasphemous pun: if Jesus were an organ donor would he have said “surely my liver redeemeth?” OK. I’m sorry. I’ll shut up now.
The Dead Horse Beatings Will Continue Until Morale Improves/Open ThreadPost + Comments (113)
Open Thread: Pointing, Laughing, Fearing for the Future
Dave Weigel (he reads their crap so I don’t have to) has been keeping track of the “maximally humiliating fashion” in which Boehner retained his Speakership:
The tiny rebellion started early in the roll call, when the chair presiding over the House called on Rep. Justin Amash. Every Republican was supposed to vote John Boehner for speaker. But the Michigan sophomore cast a vote for Rep. Raul Labrador, an Idaho sophomore who happened to be sitting stony-faced next to him. The House floor filled with awkward “Oooohs” and the occasional “Who?”
The early part of the alphabet turned out to be trouble. Rep. Paul Broun voted for Allen West—who lost his seat last year—to become speaker. John Bridenstine, a new member from Oklahoma who upset an incumbent in a 2012 primary, voted for Eric Cantor. When Cantor’s turn came, he said “John. Boehner.” with the tone of voice you’d use on a telemarketer who put you on hold for three hours.
But that didn’t stop the dissents. Rep. Louie Gohmert voted for West; Rep. Steve Pearce and Rep. Ted Yoho voted for Cantor; Rep. Tom Massie, elected with help from Ron Paul’s PAC, voted for Amash. Rep. Tim Huelskamp voted for former Republican Study Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, and anti-war Rep. Walter Jones voted for former Comptroller General David Walker, though the name was so unfamiliar that the chair made him repeat it. Reps. Mick Mulvaney and Raul Labrador didn’t bother voting. For a few frantic moments it looked like defections would force a second ballot—something that has not happened for 90 years—but a few stragglers (Michele Bachmann included) showed up late to end the damn thing…
When you’re depending on Michele Bachman as the Vote of Sanity, well… Weigel added, this afternoon, “Just How Incredibly Incompetent Was the Anti-Boehner Coup Attempt?“:
[NR’s] Robert Costa has (as one would expect) the best, ugliest look at the motley group of Republicans who kinda-sorta tried to overthrow John Boehner. The revelation: The conservatives were about as adept at planning a coup as Richard Reid was at setting off shoe bombs. I use the analogy advisedly, because despite his failure, Reid ended up changing our footwear’s relationship with the TSA…Politico‘s story from last night, based on Rep. Tim Huelskamp’s live whip count, revealed that the rebels hadn’t counted votes. “I only heard about it from a reporter,” Rep. Phil Gingrey told Costa. “I’m one of the most conservative guys here, and I find out about this thing 15 minutes before the vote?” said Rep. Trent Franks. Both members are outsiders who can be counted on to oppose the party’s compromises. Neither of them was courted. And as Josh Green points out, neither they nor the coup-planners had an alternative candidate, and they plotted all of this in short notice and in public.
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