A little schadenfreude to enjoy with your morning adult beverage:
… At least a dozen “super PACs” are setting up to back individual Republican candidates for the United States Senate, challenging the strategic and financial dominance that Karl Rove and the group he co-founded, American Crossroads, have enjoyed ever since the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision in 2010 cleared the way for unlimited independent spending.
In wooing donors, the new groups — in states like Texas, Iowa, West Virginia and Louisiana — are exploiting Crossroads’ poor showing in 2012, when $300 million spent by the super PAC and a sister nonprofit group yielded few victories. Some are suggesting that Crossroads’ deep ties to the Republican establishment and recent clashes with conservative activists are a potential liability for Republican incumbents facing Tea Party challengers…
The conflicts echo broader unease within Republican circles, as establishment figures like Mr. Rove seek to reassert their authority and expand the party’s appeal amid a searing internal assault from Tea Party-inspired conservatives.
In an interview, Mr. Law played down the conflict with other, nascent super PACs and said Crossroads was willing to work with other groups where it made sense. But he suggested that many of the new groups could find it difficult to attract donors and raise enough money.
“From our view, we want to work with people we can work with where we have the same standards and goals,” Mr. Law said. “But as an organization, we have exacting standards when it comes to financial controls, fund-raising commissions, media placement fees. And not every group can meet those standards.”
The fragmentation threatens not only the position of Mr. Rove and Crossroads as the dominant Republican players in the world of outside spending, but also the hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of business that has flowed from Crossroads to a small circle of consultants and advertising buyers. In 2012, those consultants — many of them sharing the same floor of an office building in Alexandria, Va. — handled much of the media spending by the two Crossroads groups and Restore Our Future, a super PAC that spent $153 million to bolster Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign…
Much more cruel detail at the link.
Apart from taking pleasure in the misery of people who richly deserve it, what’s on the agenda today?
KG
It’s 2 am on the west coast, I can’t sleep… Fuck insomnia in the ass with a rusty cheese covered chainsaw.
As for the article Anne linked to:
See, that’s your problem right there Republicans, those four words
Mustang Bobby
Up out of force of habit; my circadian rhythm does not yet recognize vacation mode settings and probably will not adjust to them until the night before I have to go back to work.
The article reminds me of the fact that it’s all about money. Rove, like Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell, learned quickly that there are plenty of pigeons to be plucked if you exploit the greed, fear, and paranoia of the yokels, and these new groups want in on it. Screw ideology; they’d come out as flaming Marxists if they could rake in the dough.
Chris
@Mustang Bobby:
Yep.
As much ink is spilled about Nixon and Reagan’s influence on conservatism… I find George Wallace just about as fascinating/nauseating. Went from supporting civil rights, to leading the fight for “segregation now, segregation forever” when he found out that was how you won in the South, to “finding Jesus” and saying he was sorry for everything once that became too unpopular.
It’s hard to distill the essence of the modern conservative leadership into one person better than George Wallace did.
David Koch
check out this chart: the spike in ACA enrollments
amk
talk about open
griftgraft.Raven
If you are reading the times make sure to catch the article about the fuckers fleecing vets and the VA for retirement homes ans such. Good morning from the base of Falwell Mountain!
Betty Cracker
@Raven: You made it!
Schlemizel
Out here on the frozen tundra the weather guy should use the term “Colder than a well diggers ass” or, as I did with my kinds, “Ankle” at the very least (Thank you Rockey and Bullwinkle).
I am trudging off to the salt mines today, no ‘eve’ holidays at my job (nor the Friday after Thanksgiving). But many people take most of the week off so work is very quiet. I have one employee who does not seem to be able to do even the simplest tasks I give him or make a single decision himself. I gave myself a couple of weeks to do remedial work with him but he is not catching on. This is not an entry level job so I have no idea how he got this far. I may be starting out the new year making someone unemployed which I find distasteful but I find I am becoming angry at him for being such a lemon.
Randy P
“The
stockingsdoors were hung by the chimney with care…”I’ve been hanging doors for the last week, converting a room into a guest room in preparation for holiday guests. We have used this room for guests before, but improvised with curtains in the two open archways and decided we would prefer to offer our guests actual privacy with a lock.
Finished the job at 1 am last night. I thought pre-hung doors were going to be a snap, but it turns out to be as much a precision job as hanging a door without the jamb attached, just without that chiseling-out-the-hinges step. I’m not god’s gift to carpentry, I cut myself once (didn’t bleed too long), I know where every hammer ding on the wood is, and there are some funny asymmetries that I can’t explain.
But nevertheless they look damn good, like they’ve always been there. And they work properly and everything.
Raven
@Betty Cracker: we made the right move. I doffed my cap to the Dillard house on the way by. It took a couple of hours extra but we had very little rain. Now we’re headed to the recently passed aunts farm to look at fabric and then back to Blacksburg. The special Xmas dinner at the Hotel Roanoke tomorrow and then we will bolt back for a night in Asheville. Whew!
NotMax
@Raven
Dunno if you saw the interview on Maddow with the mayor of Phoenix about how that city has all but eliminated homelessness among vets.
Raven
@NotMax: ah thanks.
raven
Of course the ad plays fine but the segment won’t on the iPad and chitty Starbuck wifi!
NotMax
@raven
Hm. Try this one.
Betty Cracker
@Raven: Asheville is so much fun now! I know it pretty well; one set of grandparents lived on Black Mountain for many years. It used to be so redneck, but the hippies have taken over. Huge improvement in my book! Hope y’all have a good time!
NotMax
re #14
Darn it, wrong linkie for Maddow, raven. Sorry.
Here ya go.
(MSNBC site upgrade is sometimes strange.)
CarolDuhart2
Work. Full day. I was hoping Obama would give us this day, or at least part of it, off. But apparently when Christmas falls on a Wednesday, no Xmas eve off time. Why? Dunno. Hoping he changes his mind at the last minute or someone in our organization decides to give us another couple of hours just because. And it’s cold……
Raven
@Betty Cracker: our niece lives in West Asheville and we like it over there,lot like Athens!
mai naem
Uh oh the Google has joined the War on Christmas.They’re using Happy Holidays. I’m sure Bill Oreilly and all the other wingnuts are going to sell all their Google stock.
OzarkHillbilly
@Randy P: So now you tell the union carpenter you are hanging doors. Should’a said something sooner. For the future, if you ever decide to inflict such pain on yourself again (or more likely somebody else will look at one and with true Sir Robin inflection say, “That’s easy!”):
#1: Make sure the hinge side is plum, then nail the trim at the top hinge to the wall. (Always start with the top hinge)
#2: Nail the trim at each of the other hinges.
#3: Making sure the margins are even on the other 2 sides, nail top and other side trim.
#4: Put shims tight at each hinge and at the mortise for the lockset and nail (not thru the door stop).
#5: Slide other half of trim on and nail it into place.
#6: Remove one of the short screws in the top hinge and replace with a screw long enuf to get into the framing. Be careful not to over tighten the screw as this will blow everything out of whack if you do
Repeat a few thousand times and you’ll get so you can do it in less than 10 mins. Oh, one more thing, be sure to purchase a good compressor and finish nailer, and some 2 inch finish nails (shouldn’t cost more than $350 or so). Makes the job a snap. ;-)
raven
@OzarkHillbilly: If I could go back 13 years I would have bought a compressor and nail gun. I use screws which are good because I SCREW up!
raven
@OzarkHillbilly: Here’s my new steps. I only did the treads and risers but what the hell!
geg6
Lots to do today. Haven’t been able to drive since Koda scratched my eye, so lots of errands are NOT DONE YET. I hate a last minute scramble. But gotta get some groceries, two more gifts (they will be gift cards) and some gift bags. Then John and I are going to meet one of his ex-students for some drinks. John has not taught since about 1980, so this guy is obviously just about my age, but I can’t take him. He adores John, but the guy is a big disgusting drunk and I can’t stand him. The guy is so stupid that he doesn’t see that I have such a distaste for him. Regardless, I’ll do the good holiday deed of being polite to him today since I do feel badly for him as he just lost his oldest son to a heroin overdose. Hopefully, since we’re meeting him at the watering hole across the street, there will be other friends there for me to talk to so I won’t say something rude to the guy whose kid just died.
Betty Cracker
@raven: Good job!
The mister and I built steps once for a tree house. It was the only time in our entire lives either one of us ever regretted not paying more attention in algebra class.
NotMax
A favorite Xmas cartoon for y’all.
NotMax
@raven
Lookin’ good. Can’t tell if the posts are capped at the bottom and/or resting on a footing.
But it does bring back mixed memories of too many hours spent brushing creosote into porches (including crawling underneath) and such at a summer camp before each season’s opening. and then removing spatters on skin with gasoline. Good times, kind’a sort’a.
raven
@NotMax: Since this is supposed to be temporary they are bolted on footings.
NotMax
Holiday music?
The Kinks
Mustang Bobby
@OzarkHillbilly: Wow, thanks for the flashback to my days when I worked in the window and door business in Michigan and New Mexico. The three words we recited over and over, to homeowners and builders alike: Square. Plumb. Level. If you’ve got that, you’ve got it nailed. Or screwed, as the case may be.
Randy P
@OzarkHillbilly: Due to the nature of the archways I was installing in (and my reluctance to take down anything already existing), I didn’t have the kind with the trim included, and built my own from quarter-round molding. Also, due to a larger gap at the top I had to use a different style molding along the top and had to make them work together. I own one major power tool, a miter saw and I was using it.
I know somebody like you would probably point and laugh, but my audience is my wife and she’s happy. And while there may be some amateurish things, I did hang them right so that the doors actually close and fit the jamb the way they’re supposed to. I’m not good at the precision stuff so I’m really pleased.
But I also keep telling myself, “my Dad did everything with a cross cut saw”. Like me, at night after a full time job. And he got a lot more done than I ever will. So that’s where I go for my main source of feelings of inadequacy.
@Betty Cracker: No algebra needed. Just need to know the technique with the carpenter’s square. I’ve done that and it’s amazing how well it works. Probably a technique that goes back centuries.
geg6
There’s an awesome new Hyperbole and a Half Christmas post up. As always, it is awesome.
OzarkHillbilly
@raven: I don’t believe it. That looks too professionally done. ;-)
Randy P
@geg6
l’m just seeing the one that’s been up for months.
Bought the book for Christmas gifts. And one for myself. I’ve been making it last, only reading it slowly because I know when I’m done, there aren’t going to be any new posts appearing in it.
OzarkHillbilly
@Randy P: I had assumed you did the union thing (read, easy) and framed and dw’d the arches in, but nooooooo, you had to do it the hard way, the interesting way, the inventive way, the way that will make people stop and say, “Wow, that’s really cool.” If the wife is happy, that is all that really matters. I suspect you are being a little over-critical of your own craftsmanship. I always am. A few years ago I put in a new kitchen for the wife and made everything but the plumbing and electrical parts. The wife loves it, “It’s everything I ever wanted in a kitchen.” but every time I look at it I always think, “Boy, if only I had done it this way…..” And I never ridicule somebody else’s work, if it works and they are happy with it, who am I to say, “It could have been better.”? The list of things I have built that “could have been better” is all but endless.
Also, absolutely right about the framing square. I was always very good with mathematics, but a framing square is just a joy to use.
geg6
@Randy P:
I just love, love, love her. And her drawings are the best ever.
geg6
@OzarkHillbilly:
My BIL teaches carpentry and redid the kitchen in his house a year ago for my sister. He made every piece in that kitchen that is made of wood. It’s fantastic and gorgeous and everyone’s dream kitchen. But he’s the same as you and always points out something that none of us can see but that he thinks wasn’t quite right. We always just look at him as if he had three heads and keep ooohing and aaahing over it.
rikyrah
Tom Hiddleston and Benedict Cumberbatch dance off
http://youtu.be/OFiMaqHKzMA
rikyrah
Program Allows Cabbies To Drive Home Your Car
The New York State Federation of Taxi Drivers on Sunday announced a program in which taxi drivers will make sure both you and your car get home safely if you’ve had too many drinks. Under the program, two taxi drivers are dispatched to the passenger’s location after a night of drinking. One of the drivers will drive the passenger’s car home, while the other will follow in a taxi.[….]
The price is double whatever the normal cab fare would be, he said.
“If your cab ride would cost, let’s say, $30, now it’s going to cost you $60. If your cab ride would normally cost you $50, now it’s going to cost you $100,” Mateo said. “But it’s certainly a lot less than a $165 parking ticket that you would get in the city.”
The pilot program, called “Operation Red Nose,” began on Sunday and will run until New Year’s Day. It could continue permanently if the program is successful. Those who wish to participate should call (212) 926-1111 and tell the operator they want to do “Operation Red Nose,” Mateo said.
http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2013/12/22/program-allows-cabbies-to-drive-revelers-home-in-own-cars/
rikyrah
NYPD Officer Pleads Guilty To Wrongful Stop-And-Frisk
Jasper Boyd was on his way to pick up his seven-year-old son from school when New York Police Department Officer Wilson Gonzalez stopped him for walking quickly in and out of a building. When questioned by Gonzalez, Boyd said he had just gone inside to get his umbrella because it was raining.That was enough to prompt Gonzalez to ask Boyd for his identification, saying he wanted to see if there were any outstanding warrants for his arrest.
When Boyd objected, Gonzales began to frisk him, and issued a summons for disorderly conduct, the catch-all that is often used to criminalize uncooperative behavior.[….] Under new stop-and-frisk reforms that enable the city’s Civilian Complaint Review Board to prosecute stop-and-frisk claims, Gonzalez pleaded guilty both to a wrongful stop-and-frisk, and to writing the summons without sufficient legal authority, according to the New York Daily News. The punishment is 15 days without pay.
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/12/23/3102131/nypd-officer-pleads-guilty-wrongful-stop-frisk/
rikyrah
Alan Turing, father of computer science, gets posthumous royal pardon 59 years after his suicide by poisoning.
His crime? Being gay. His punishment? Chemical castration in lieu of imprisonment.
His service to his country? Cracked the German naval Enigma code during WWII.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/world-war-two/10536246/Alan-Turing-granted-Royal-pardon-by-the-Queen.html
rikyrah
Rev. Al featured the story of Mr. and Mrs. Gantt. She is the 95 y.o. widow who accepted the remains of her beloved 63 years after he was MIA in Korea. What a story.
Here is the video :
http://www.msnbc.com/politicsnation/watch/war-widow-finally-gets-her-closure-99005507724
Elizabelle
from Amir Khalid-land:
No kill shelter for homeless dogs in Malaysia. They get special meals and TLC.
NY Times pictorial.
rikyrah
Papers show Koch money behind economic study
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/watch/papers-show-koch-money-behind-economic-study-99094595763
rikyrah
Recent UMass Boston study confirms every bad thing you ever suspected about Voter ID Laws.
States which passed the legislation in 2011 were likely to have:
– Republicans in control of both the state legislature and the governorship
– Strong probabilities of being a swing state in 2012
– Minority turnout which was higher in 2008, with high proportions of African American voters
– Larger numbers of allegations of fraud in 2004, though these had “much smaller substantive impact, relative to partisan and racial factors
http://www.salon.com/2013/12/21/study_confirms_every_bad_thing_you_suspected_about_voter_id_laws_partner/
Elizabelle
@geg6:
I didn’t see a Christmas cartoon. I saw one about the dino costume.
Did I miss it?
http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/
gbear
I’d like to see Carl Rove reduced to sitting on a street corner holding a cup and a sign that says ‘Will sell your mother for food”.
rikyrah
They want into the grift. Saw Rove con folks outta $300 million AND have no results..
AND still getting checks?
Folks are like, shiiiiiittttt, I want some of THAT grift.
The Republic of Stupidity
Hmmm… ‘a searing internal assault’… an apt description of hemorrhoids…
Which in turn would be an apt description of the Tea Party…
Ho… ho… ho…
GHayduke (formerly lojasmo)
@raven: I don’t think the spacing between your rails is up to code.
Cervantes
Confessore’s line 2 ends thus:
Crossroads did OK in 2010 but not in 2012. Here’s Confessore’s next line:
So the “strategic and financial dominance” may have been short-lived.
Another Holocene Human
Wow, I made it 2:40 into that very interesting video until I’d had enough bdsm reindeer play with Santa (so not my thing… at least it wasn’t yiffing). Love the riff on Royals. Thought it’s more white people ripping off black music (and in this video dancing, although I guess the pole dancing could be excluded, the twerking not so much). Royals sounds like The Dixie Cups a capella. Hmmm.
I like the androgyny/transgenderism, which is interesting, because I was hoping it was a Prancing Elite Christmas video when I clicked on it. :DD Now those queens can dance!
Another Holocene Human
@Schlemizel: At least you can cut him loose. Ugh.
Another Holocene Human
@rikyrah: A two or three week suspension (can’t tell which one they mean) will definitely get his attention but I think that asshat ought to be arrested & booked himself! Maybe I’m going too far. But they do all kinds of stuff to people when they arrest them and then the wrong one gets arrested and it’s all boo hoo hoo. Well if it was inhumane and undignified then why did you do it to the first 100,000 people you arrested?
Another Holocene Human
@rikyrah: It’s amazing that any scholarship could come out of that amazingly depressing, isolated overgrown high school/ocean-sprayed FORT they call a state college.
I mean besides marine biology, after all they are on the bay and they have a boat.
But good on them for scooping Northeastern. Northeastern’s trying to go all bullshit upscale and shit anyway. Fuck them.
Mike G
@mai naem:
OMG, Fox News are hypocrites? That’s unpossible. Who will save the children?
Fox News – 10 Holiday Gifts For Kids
http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/12/18/10-healthy-holiday-gifts-for-kids/