Town hall scenes from Colorado, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Maryland tonight, where voters showed up but GOP congressmen were no-shows. pic.twitter.com/qfNRnNASlI
— Matt McDermott (@mattmfm) February 22, 2017
Angry constituent gives Mitch McConnell the what for pic.twitter.com/tyHseJVtqd
— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) February 21, 2017
The (lazy, bothsiderist) NYTimes is forced to notice — “At Town Halls, Doses of Fury and a Bottle of Tums“:
FAIRVIEW, Tenn. — Representative Marsha Blackburn may have expected to draw a friendly crowd by scheduling a town hall-style meeting in a Tennessee community that had voted overwhelmingly for President Trump, but she instead faced a hurricane-strength blast of disapproval on Tuesday.
Ms. Blackburn, an eight-term Republican, was sharply questioned about a wide range of issues that have unsettled Mr. Trump’s first month in office, including health care, the environment, education and the president’s links to Russia.
At many moments, her replies elicited boos or shouts to “tell the truth.”…
Ms. Blackburn, who represents a safe Republican seat west of Nashville, was among the latest wave of Washington lawmakers to face angry constituents in what, inevitably but perhaps prematurely, has been called a progressive echo of the Tea Party anger that boiled over in town halls eight years ago.
During the first weeklong recess of the new Congress, many Republicans have chosen not to hold events at all, wary of protests that might greet them…
Apart from cheering democracy, what’s on the agenda for the day?
.
Crowd asks Rep. Steve Womack (R-AR) to investigate Trump/Russia.
Wait for it… pic.twitter.com/4siV7A0cOR
— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) February 22, 2017
We know where the constituents of CD49 are tonight, but #WhereIsDarrell?
If you see him, please tell him we'd like to talk.#ResistRecess pic.twitter.com/QDnRlXq1C3
— Indivisible SanDiego (@SDIndivisible) February 22, 2017
Crowd erupts at Joni Ernst event in rural Iowa pic.twitter.com/cSd829Q4YC
— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) February 22, 2017
At a town hall in in Colorado, citizens hold up their state IDs to prove to GOP that they are 100% real constituents pic.twitter.com/t2ABatcfJ4
— Kaivan Shroff (@KaivanShroff) February 22, 2017
The women got up in Brat’s grill, and then some, via @jennaportnoy https://t.co/gpyGGbHRZQ
— Jose A. DelReal (@jdelreal) February 22, 2017
Brat says he's baffled by "Where's Dave? narrative" which he blames on "leftist blogs."
— Alexis Levinson (@alexis_levinson) February 22, 2017
Angry constituents confront Chuck Grassley in Iowa: “If it wasn’t for Obamacare, we wouldn’t be able to afford insurance!” pic.twitter.com/vrbhbOiBMM
— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) February 21, 2017
Spotted at Grassley town hall pic.twitter.com/Y6gkDu5yir
— Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) February 21, 2017
This is said to be one of reasons Trump hasn't come to NYC – protests that will surround the tower, moat-like. https://t.co/DqCJBORXQJ
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) February 21, 2017
debbie
Country before Party. That’s something to go with, I think.
billcoop4
Which is why we must make common cause with the Evan McMullins–the sane conservatives (both of them, it seems). And the sane BernieBros, too.
WMC
EriktheRed
Like i said last night, local Dems in my area had a town hall where Rep[. Adam Kinzinger was invited but didn’t show up (surprise!), so they just put an empty suit onstage with a picture of his face on it. We all asked questions and gave “Adam” a piece of our minds and the host would hold the mic up to the stage and ask for his response.
Good times, good times.
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone ???
rikyrah
I love the holding up of the State ID.
Try again, muthaphucka
rikyrah
@EriktheRed:
Hope that you had alerted the local media. They love stories like this.
debbie
@EriktheRed:
They had an empty suit town hall with Pat Tiberi. He claims he’s not hiding because he’s had private meetings in his office with his constituents. Worm.
ETA: We could rebrand the GOP as the Party of Empty Suits.
randy khan
@rikyrah:
Showing the IDs really is a nice touch.
We have to remember that this is largely theater – almost all of these people are going to return to Washington and vote the way they’ve been planning to vote for years – but the point of the theater is to establish that they don’t care what their constituents want, which will affect their chances at re-election. And, heck, if we move a couple of them (particularly in the Senate) to vote the right way, that will be a win, too.
Sab
@debbie: constituents, or donors?
rikyrah
The guy who beat Cantor had a Townhall 60 miles from where over 70% of his voters are, in the most remote part of his district.
Uh huh
Uh huh
Baud
@rikyrah: Good morning.
@billcoop4:
A semantic point, but there are technically no sane BernieBros. There are, however, many sane Bernie supporters.
debbie
@Sab:
Either, probably, but definitely GOPers.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
Here in Misery, Roy Fucking Blunt has been a no-show. With good reason. Missouri politics is a hellhole of racism, arrogance, machine influence, christian fundies and outright crazy people. Blunt should normally thrive in that environment. In an election when Twitler throttled Clinton at the polls, again for the reasons just mentioned, Blunt won by less than 3%. He only won because of Cheetoh Donnie.
But we won’t see him here. Not that we did much before. He effectively lives in DC.
OzarkHillbilly
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: One doesn’t have to be a coward to be a Republican. But it helps.
Hal
Free-dumb!
https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2017/02/21/iowa-bill-would-force-partisan-balance-hiring
aimai
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: Sounds like we need a new “contract with america” to “sweep the corruption out of DC” by electing local democrats to unseat “distant” and “uncaring” republicans.
billcoop4
@Baud:
I live in hope.
WMC
different-church-lady
Live by populist rage, die by populist rage.
Patricia Kayden
@Hal: Disgusting attempt to intimidate Professors because of their political affiliations. Are we living in a dictatorship now?
Obviously. Why would a Republican put forth such a bill otherwise?
Jeffro
LOVE the idea of running against “empty suits”…LOVE the voters holding up their IDs…LOVE it when these folks take the time to alert the local media (heck, the national media too, why not?!?). These jerkoffs deserve to reap the whirlwind, and we can keep it up all the way through 2018 and beyond!
Dem leaders: your voters are taking charge and taking names. You might want to be quite steadfast in your opposition to Trump Tea Party bullshit, from the Gorsuch Stolen Nomination to anything & everything that comes out of the Pruit EPA.
Jeffro
@Hal: So, a party litmus test in order to get a state job, essentially. Sure, that’ll pass muster with the courts.
Jesus, these people…
Eric S.
I love the state ID pick. I love those organized, paid crowds. ?
For me, the countdown continues. Six days until shoulder surgery to re-repair my rotator cuff. The weather continues to be unseasonably hot in Chicago. Looking at maybe 70 today. I think one more drive, this time to and from work, before my shifting arm is out of commission.
Iowa Old Lady
@Hal: Lord help us. This won’t go beyond where it is now, but it shows how emboldened Rs are.
Chat Noir
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: I was at a “where’s Roy?” gathering yesterday outside his Clayton, MO, office. Good noontime crowd that had a respectful tone. There’s more planning going on for future events like this.
Paul in KY
The place where the Senatortise had his meeting, Lawrenceburg, is a deeply red town about 8 miles from the state capital (Frankfort). Makes me feel good to see the reception he got there.
germy
The first clip, the one with Mitch confronted by the angry woman. Coal jobs not coming back, no insurance, sick veterans… the woman is distraught.
And Mitch stands there with a smirk on his face? And at the end of her comment he grins?
If I were faced with someone that upset, I wouldn’t be smirking like that. What the fuck is up with Mitch?
Baud
@germy: He knows they’ll never vote Dem. He can smirk all he wants. He is untouchable.
JMG
@germy: He’s a horrible person who gets off on the suffering of others. That simple.
Kay
It’s worth it just to poke Trump. He has a huge, fragile ego and demands to be liked. Nothing bothers him more than to be seen as unpopular because it’s a rejection and one he thinks is personal. This is different than other Presidents. There were huge protests against Bush and of course Obama had the Tea Party but one never felt they took it personally. Trump takes it personally. I don’t know if you’ve ever been involved in a stalker situation- been stalked, heard about one, but to me there’s a real stalker element in Trump. I’ve seen tens of them in court- some worse than others and there’s this insistent quality – “like me, love me, pay attention to me” – it’s incredibly aggressive at base. It’s not about the person they’re stalking- that person disappears- it’s about the stalker being rejected – they cannot bear that. They genuinely believe is it is “not fair” that the object of their desire rejects them. They are DUE affection and the denial is taking something from them.
Imagine Trump admitting a “shellacking” in a midterm like Obama did. That will never, ever happen. That would be crushing to him so he’d just deny it.
laura
@rikyrah: Good morning back atcha!
rikyrah
@Eric S.:
Good luck with the surgery.
JPL
A poll was released for the Georgia’s 6th Congressional District, and Jon Ossoff is ahead. There’s a good chance that he will win the April 18th election, but won’t receive the 50 percent necessary to prevent a runoff. It’s a 60/40 district and unless Trump continues to endanger us all, I don’t see him winning the runoff.
I hope I’m wrong.
Baud
@JPL: unless Trump continues to endanger us all, I don’t see him winning the runoff.
chris
This morning’s LOL moment. O’Reilly and self-awareness… I just can’t.
rikyrah
@Kay:
The Tea Party was an astro-turfed “movement” paid for by the Koch brothers
Baud
@JPL:
So an excellent chance for a pick-up, then.
ETA: Fixed blockquote problem in prior comment.
chris
Won’t let me edit, sorry about the tag.
Baud
@chris:
Projection is a standard tactic with them.
amk
outside the intertubes, is the lame stream media even showing these protests since most of the clueless seem clued in only to lsm?
Lapassionara
@Chat Noir: there was a similar event at 10 am that I attended. About 50 to 60 people, most with handmade signs similar to women’s March. We learned about the noon rally when we arrived. I wished I had had time to do both. Sorry we did not think to bring an empty suit. Lots of thumbs up from the cars passing by.
PS good morning.
Baud
@amk: I don’t watch a ton of media, but from what I can tell, coverage has been decent.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud:
Maybe the dead girl, live boy might get him.
OzarkHillbilly
@germy: It’s all going according to plan. That’s why he’s smiling.
satby
@rikyrah: Good morning!
@Eric S.: best of luck on the surgery, and enjoy the heck out of that drive today!
Nora
Don’t you just love the New York Times’ “inevitably but perhaps prematurely”? They really can’t bear to consider that this is the real thing.
Baud
@Nora: I caught that too. They are garbage.
satby
The indivisible group here in South Bend is putting up “missing” signs and planning a town hall without their local Tea Party Republican representative Jackie Walorski, who has been AWOL from meeting constituents since November.
Shalimar
@Hal: That sounds like it could backfire on them. If most of the Democrats register as independents but all of the Republicans are too proud of their party to do likewise, you could end up for example with 22 Democrats, 35 Republicans and 43 Independents and that school would not be able to hire any more Republicans.
Betty Cracker
@EriktheRed: There’s a “town hall” with a cardboard likeness of Marco Rubio in Tampa tonight since the real Lil’ Marco is too chickenshit to come face his constituents. I have to miss it, though. Birfday dinner!
Roger Moore
@randy khan:
The “almost” matters, too. If the Democrats can hold together as a caucus, doesn’t take that many Republican defections to derail a lot of their agenda, especially with the Freedumb Caucus voting against some of their stuff because it’s insufficiently crazy.
MomSense
I love these town halls so much. Stay on them!
Baud
@Betty Cracker: Happy birthday, BC!
Betty Cracker
@amk: Yes.
Hal
@Nora: I caught that too. Gotta make sure they’re fair and balanced!
satby
@Shalimar: aside from the fact that voting records are supposed to be private.
Baud
@satby: Party registration is not private.
Lee
I wonder if it is starting to sink in that there are more of us than there are of them?
Roger Moore
@Hal:
So Republicans are demanding affirmative action for conservatives at academic institutions because it’s the only way they can get hired.
Betty Cracker
@Kay: Yep. That’s why he can’t accept that he lost the popular vote and keeps lying about it. If he’s still around in 2018 and the Repubs get pounded at the polls (please FSM make it so!), he’ll blame everyone but himself for that too.
Baud
@Lee: They’ve always known that. Hence, voter suppression and support for “both sides”-ism.
Another Scott
@Betty Cracker: HBD!
We look forward to a picture of your latest wine foil sculpture!
Look out for bob-tailed cougars dragging sharks.
Cheers,
Scott.
Hal
I can’t copy and paste from Twitter, but this take on supposed liberal bias in academia is pretty spot on:
https://twitter.com/paulengelhard/status/831450463937654785
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Roger Moore: Yes
Kay
@rikyrah:
Right, but Obama and Bush were whole people. Adulation is nice but they can and do carry on without it.
Trump can’t. He’s not whole- has missing pieces. That’s why he has to repeat how he won over and over and why he says every critic or opponent is “unfair” and that’s (mostly) why he lies so much.
It’s sometimes shocking to me, how self-centered these sorts of people are. Have you seen that clip of Melania and Trump coming down the stairs of the plane? Wow. It’s like she’s not there.
satby
@Roger Moore: If they thought they could get away with requiring that all hires be members of the Republican party they would.
OzarkHillbilly
@Lee: They have known that for a long time. That’s why they work so hard at voter suppression and gerrymandering.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Betty Cracker: Happy b-day.
liberal
@Roger Moore: yeah. Good luck finding Republican mathematicians, physicists, cell biologists, …
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@rikyrah:
And the Republicans know it, that’s why they are terrified and confused by The Resistance – it has no authoritarian leader so makes no sense to them.
liberal
@Kay: missing pieces my ass. There’s nothing there. Billmon called him a cave of winds.
Eric S.
@Lee: I doubt it. Most people, regardless of party, cannot process large numbers. Add to that the bubble, the self segregation, most people have put themselves in and it is a recipe for not understanding.
Baud
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: Hmmm. I’ll have to rethink my “Baud! 2020!: Authoritarian Leader of the Resistance” slogan.
Roger Moore
@satby:
I know. I just want to make sure we call this by the same kind of insulting title the Republicans use to highlight the hypocrisy.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Shalimar: Once they gank tenure, pay and any protections for the staff they wouldn’t need it since only Constervatard hacks would work for their university system
OzarkHillbilly
@Hal: Nice.
manyakitty
@Betty Cracker: Happy birthday! Enjoy!!!
Aleta
@EriktheRed: That’s wild.
Kay
@liberal:
After years of (informal!) stalker studies there are really two groups of people. There are the people who recognize this behavior as aggressive and offensive- gut level, immediately- and then there are the people who say things like what Trump’s team says “he has a good heart”, “he’s a good guy”. We heard this divide when the “pussy grabber” tape came out. I mean, good Lord. Does unwanted attention get more aggressive and belligerent than “pussy grabber”? It’s like the definition. But to a whole group of people that’s “wanting to be liked” or something.
I feel like his supporters are like him and that’s why they don’t see it.
JPL
@Betty Cracker: Celebrate!
different-church-lady
@Hal: I’m so old I can remember when conservatives thought hiring quotas were bad things.
rumpole
I subscribe to Mike Allen’s newsletter for work. Today’s choice piece of “pass the Prestone” was the White House staff saying that the press ought to be cutting them some slack because Trump is not a politician and is new to government and his staff doesn’t know washington. “He said he could fix it but he and his people really don’t know what they are doing! Give him a break! W[h]inning! Look-over there–a Mexican!”
Remember when Obama and Bush’s staff begged the media to lay off because their bosses didn’t know what they were doing?
Me neither.
Скажите, пожалуйста, где бар?*
*Tell me please, where is a bar?
Denali
@Betty Cracker,
Happy Birthday to you!
NobodySpecial
This is the best way to start your day.
ThresherK
@Betty Cracker: Congrats. Enjoy your day. Photo of cake, if applicable, would not be seen as bragging or gloating to us minions.
raven
@Betty Cracker: Happy birthday yo!
Roger Moore
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
I think you underestimate the number of academics who are desperate for any job. For example, there are plenty of them who would happily register as Republicans regardless of their actual political feelings if they thought it would help them get a job.
rikyrah
@Baud:
I agree. I think because this is happening all across the country, the key is that we’ve gotten local coverage. And, so much local coverage that is perks up to the national coverage. If the MSM could ignore it, they would, as they did the Wisconsin protests against Walker. Only person who covered those consistently were Maddow and Larry O. Rest of the MSM pretended that they didn’t happen, while they fawned over any gathering of the so-called Tea Party. That this is happening all over the country confuses them.
Tripod
Idiots are going to blow up their higher education systems. Trump states are dependent on student imports.
The US U7 population is minority majority.
California has the wealth to pay for multiple state systems. Iowa does not.
rikyrah
What if Conservatives Really Were Pro-Life?
by Nancy LeTourneau
February 22, 2017 8:05 AM
Corinne Segal has an important story about how marriage equality is saving lives.
………………………….
Speaking of substance abuse treatment, that saves lives too.
rikyrah
uh huh
uh huh
DHS Employees Couldn’t Access Their Own Computers Today
by Josh Alvarez
February 21, 2017 7:36 PM
President Trump is expected to sign a new version of his executive order banning refugees and immigration from seven Muslim-majority nations sometime this week. Implementation of the order will largely fall to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), specifically US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). On Trump’s first attempt, DHS was taken completely by surprise and chaos ensued in airports around the country, including reports that some DHS officers defied federal court orders.
But events earlier today show DHS still might not be ready to carry out Trump’s sweeping immigration policies. Reuters reported that DHS employees in the DC-area, including some in USCIS, were sent home today after they were denied entry into their own computers. In a statement, a DHS official confirmed four U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) facilities in the Washington area were affected.
A source familiar with the situation told me that workers in the DC and Philadelphia areas, and possibly other areas in the East Coast, were also denied access to their computers.
This wasn’t the result of a hack. In order to access their network, DHS employees have to enter personal identify verification (PIV) cards as well as credentials. That information is then sent to a domain controller that verifies the data and then grants access to the network. The problem was the domain controller couldn’t be contacted because its certificate had expired, something that “could’ve been easily renewed in a matter of minutes and should have been done weeks ahead of time,” the source said. “It’s a recurring to-do that should not have caught anyone by surprise.” As a result, at least one entire building in a DC-area campus was cleared out today.
schrodingers_cat
@Roger Moore: Ding, ding! Sign me up, comrade.
@Tripod: These people have no understanding of what makes America great. They are destroying the very foundation of what makes this country unique.
Aleta
@Kay: The one at the WH blew me away. He’s bounding up the steps to paw the Obamas while Melania is barely out the car. Then he rushes inside ahead of everyone, so eager to make the guard salute him. Was not the president yet, except in his mind.
rikyrah
This is the curve that Kay talks about so often:
Quick Takes: Some People Can’t Give Up On the Idea of a Trump Pivot
by Nancy LeTourneau
February 21, 2017 7:00 PM
For the writers at NBC’s First Read, the hope of an eventual Trump pivot lives on.
I can answer that question with one word: No. What we are likely experiencing is the depressive side of Trump’s manic/depressive tendencies after he let loose over the weekend. If you can point me to a time in the president’s history when he seized the opportunity to become “no-drama,” I’m all ears.
rikyrah
POLITICS SPECIAL REPORTS | Mon Dec 5, 2016 | 9:39pm EST
Trump advisors aim to privatize oil-rich Indian reservations
Native American reservations cover just 2 percent of the United States, but they may contain about a fifth of the nation’s oil and gas, along with vast coal reserves.
Now, a group of advisors to President-elect Donald Trump on Native American issues wants to free those resources from what they call a suffocating federal bureaucracy that holds title to 56 million acres of tribal lands, two chairmen of the coalition told Reuters in exclusive interviews.
The group proposes to put those lands into private ownership – a politically explosive idea that could upend more than century of policy designed to preserve Indian tribes on U.S.-owned reservations, which are governed by tribal leaders as sovereign nations.
schrodingers_cat
@Aleta: Can’t say I feel sorry for M. She had to know what she was getting into.
bupalos
@OzarkHillbilly: Exactly this.
There are parts of the townhall stuff that are great and work for us. There are parts that are not. Clearly part of the Trump paradigm and probably strategy (such as that exists) is to throw so much out there that the opposition to it is unfocussed and concentrated fire can’t be brought to bear. That happens micro and macro. I know seeing these slugs get screamed at feels good, but when it happens like that (i.e. coal miners need the aca AND what about this veterans mess AND i’ll just shut up because that’s what you make women do) McTurtlefuck and the rest of the Trumpublicans are given an out. They don’t actually have to address the issue. To a less interested 3rd party (I guess I’m assuming this still exists) it also stops looking like a sincere concern for the issues and more like a simple expression of identity in this us-vs.-them game that they’re working.
And please, no flaming that I’m being soft on terror. That woman’s anger is real and I don’t doubt her concern for each issue is very real and there’s a good chance if I had to drive an hour and sit in a crowded loud room and wait forever for my chance to get a half a word in edgewise in the face of this onslaught of total suck and destruction of my country’s principles, I’d lose focus and go for the kitchen sink vent too. I’m talking about political tactics and effectiveness and why I think McTurtlefuck is smiling.
Aleta
@Betty Cracker: Happy birthday. 2/22 is a cool date to have for a birthday.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Kay:
I’m holding out hope for Trump to have his meltdown before the only audience he CAN’T control by having security or crowd goons toss them out.
SOTU, Sunday.
rikyrah
Lips Pursed.
This GOP Media Survey Is More Propaganda Than Poll
Republicans are looking to bolster Trump’s ‘enemy of the people’ declaration.
by Stefan Hankin
February 21, 2017 4:45 PM
Not long after President Donald Trump declared the media the “enemy of the people,” the Republican Party released a “poll” on the Donald J Trump website, entitled the “Mainstream Media Accountability Survey.”
It’s fairly obvious that the results of this effort will be used to bolster the President’s attacks against the press. As propaganda, the results of this survey might work to rally the Trump faithful, but it in no way resembles a serious piece of opinion research. As a professional pollster, I can confidently state that this survey pushes the very definition of what a survey is and violates just about every principle of polling.
For starters, there is the question of who is being surveyed. No poll is valid unless the sample reflects an accurate cross-section of the population (what’s called a “representative sample”). The short version is that the people taking the survey should reflect the entire population you are trying to reach. So if you are conducting a national survey of registered voters, you want to make sure that the gender, age, ethnicity, location and other demographic details of the people you are surveying are proportional to the population at large. If 53 percent of registered voters are female, for example, the same should be true of your sample. On top of this, we also typically use “quotas” to make sure that we speak to the right number of women, registered voters under the age of 30, etc., so that the results are not biased. For example, having too many liberal Democrats in your sample will bias the results. Quotas also ensure that we are not just surveying people who are home and willing to answer their phone at a certain time.
geg6
Beaver County had an empty suit rally for Keith Rothfus:
http://www.timesonline.com/news/governmentandpolitics/crowd-packs-town-hall-on-affordable-care-act-missing-posters/article_de8223fa-f8a9-11e6-a8b8-4fc5a90602a7.html
schrodingers_cat
@rikyrah: MSM bots need to read the draconian DHS memos signed by the sainted General Kelly. Then report back on the so called pivot.
JMG
@rikyrah: Washington journalism cannot escape the “President Faces Life” soap opera they have been using as a theme since Truman’s time. Hacks gotta be hackneyed.
rikyrah
MSNBC LIVE 2/19/17
White House: Stephen Miller is not available
Ari Melber invited Stephen Miller, senior adviser to the president, to come on MSNBC after Miller said he was “prepared to go any show, anywhere, anytime” to talk about voter fraud
rikyrah
ICYMI
Here is the clip of Maxine Waters on Chris Hayes, calling Dolt45’s people SCUMBAGS.
Hayes clutched the pearls, and Maxine was like… I.SAID.WHAT.I.SAID.
LOL
……………………….
ALL IN WITH CHRIS HAYES 2/21/17
Rep. Maxine Waters: Trump advisors with Russia ties are ..
The Democratic congresswoman from California calls the president’s friends and advisors with ties to Russia and oil and gas interests ‘a bunch of scumbags.’
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
Well, crap – jumper on the parking garage next to my damn building again. It’s a strategic spot destined to fuck up the entire downtown grid. I had to skip the office stop and push around to Federal Court.
rikyrah
uh huh
uh huh
Yes, Trump’s Aide Really Did Throw “White Power” Sign
By SemDem
Tuesday Feb 21, 2017 · 8:10 PM PST
2017/02/21 ·
Take a look at the guy in the picture. That’s Steve Miller, senior advisor to Donald Trump. He’s also an avowed racist. Don’t take my word for it—that’s what his friends and family say. He hasn’t been quiet about it at all: he has openly disparaged blacks, Latinos, and Asians throughout his school career, from high school to Duke University, where he palled around with white supremacist leader Richard Spencer. He continued his racist streak when he interned with Jeff Sessions and now spends his days trying to out-bigot the other white supremacist named Steve in Trump’s White House. No wonder David Duke adores him.
Now look at the picture. I used a screen grab for the very same shot of Miller that was used in the headlines for The Guardian, New York Daily, and Washington Post just to name a few. He made headlines that day for defending the Muslim ban by saying Trump’s actions “will not be questioned”!
……………………………….
You might think that’s an odd natural gesture to make. And it is. What Steve is doing is completely intentional:
The right hand, on top, is showing just three fingers: “W”.
His left hand curls to make the “P” formation.
WP. White Power. White nationalists know exactly what that sign means.
According to the Anti-Defamation League, this is a common white supremacist hand sign “particularly” used in California. (Stephen Miller is from Santa Monica.)
Betty Cracker
@rikyrah: Saw that live — it was glorious!
raven
Burning tents at Standing Rock.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Is it the Turtle?
MomSense
@rikyrah:
If ever there were a Nazi who deserved a good punch Captain America style, Miller is it.
Betty Cracker
Thanks for the birthday greetings, y’all. Regarding bobcats — my husband saw a great big one the other day next to a pond. He got a picture, but it’s a Cole-quality phone photo.
geg6
@bupalos:
McTurtlefuck isn’t as smart as he thinks he is. What is happening at these events is that women and men like that woman are being drawn into a movement. Organizing and recruiting is happening among the protesters. It may look futile to you and ol’ Mitch may think he has the upper hand and can condescend, but there is much happening under the surface and this stuff isn’t going to end. He’s going to chased down every time he shows his face. And if he decides to hide in perpetuity, he just looks weak and ineffective. Which undermines his MOU attitude. We want more and more people like that woman to come out and tell their stories and frustrations. It’s working.
hedgehog mobile
@satby: The Indivisible group here is planning something similar for Cory Gardner (R-Invertibrate).
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Sadly, no. I now hear that it is the same one who did it each of the past two Februaries. Attention seekers.
hedgehog mobile
@Betty Cracker: Happy birthday!
satby
@Betty Cracker: Happy Birthday! Today is also the birthday of one of my favorite “sisters” not biologically related. A good day when you all were born!
Jinchi
I’m curious about what happens at these crowded town-halls when the congressman doesn’t show. Do people in the crowd over? It would be great if they got people on stage to state their grievances and concerns, video tape the answers and send the video to the local media.
schrodingers_cat
@Betty Cracker: Happy Birthday BC and do share the bobcat pic. How are the doggies?
Aleta
@rikyrah:
Well, some of them want to seize it by making a slew of recess appointments.
NBC reports on the potential for an unprecedented power grab by painting it as opportunity for a dignified ‘reset.’ It’s unconscionable for NBC to pretend they are informing the public.
Aleta
@raven: Who is burning the tents?
Aleta
@Jinchi: What a great idea. And for those with fear of being harassed, to provide postcards and stamps and mail off a hundred messages. Which could also be shown on video.
Goku
@satby:
Where I live in the great state of Ohio, my County maintains a database where voting records can accessed by anyone. Includes party affiliation and a record of participation in past elections. The nice thing about it is you can request anew absentee ballot from the Board of Elections online.
NickM
Georgia’s 6th Congressional District is having a special election on April 17th to replace Tom Price, who joined the Trump cabinet. Trump only won the district by 1% of the vote, and the Dems may have a shot at a pickup, which would be the first post-11/8 referendum on Trump. Dem Candidate Jon Ossoff has a strong resume and from what I can tell seems to be the leading Democrat in the “jungle primary” race.
https://electjon.com/
randy khan
@Roger Moore:
I agree – if a few of the non-true believers begin to waver, then it could make a big difference, particularly in the Senate. I’m not counting on that, though. I see it as more of a potential bonus.
Aleta
@rikyrah: Trump uses the hand sign that shows he is pro racism (one hand) also. It freezes my blood.
randy khan
@bupalos:
That may be why McConnell is smiling, but it’s not a good look in context, and the optics are important.
The Moar You Know
Darrell Issa no-showed last night. Place was packed with pissed-off constituents. Local paper said he held an “impromptu town hall” earlier in the day. Thank god the local TV, of all people were there to set the record straight.
geg6
@Jinchi:
That is exactly what happened at ours.
Jinchi
@rikyrah:
I’d love to see video leading up to that picture, or even better, other instances of Miller using that gesture. I’ll admit that I never heard of it and certainly wouldn’t have spotted it. It looks too much like he’s just caught in the act of adjusting his suit and tie, which gives him plausible deniability with anyone willing to ignore the words coming out of his mouth.
Paul in KY
@Betty Cracker: Best wishes on your BDay, Betty!
CaseyL
Happy Birthday, Betty!
The town halls are lifting my spirits, but they’ll only make a difference if the pissed off constituents VOTE OUT the representatives who’ve pissed them off. I hope they stay angry at the right targets, and see – finally, really see – how the GOP has conned them, and will continue to con them.
Jojo
@debbie: If they’re having “private meetings,” then our side should show up at their district offices and have private meetings too. We’ve been doing just that at Jim Sensenbrenner’s district office, and we plan on doing it some more.
Tenar Arha (same Tenar, more Nameless Ones)
@Roger Moore: This might explain it to the less involved. Here’s a great Tweetstorm from the past couple weeks going around that, in summar,y says there is no such thing as rational conservative academia anymore because they no longer have arguments, just doctrine.
Starts here:
Debbie1
@rikyrah: Ah, but they voted in 2010 and 2014. I always say protests are fun, they get you on TV, and involve arts & craft signage. But the most powerful protest is with a vote, and that involves no media. Will these people show up for that protest I wonder?
Jojo
@bupalos: At the Sensenbrenner town halls, we have been trying a tactic of being mildly annoying, mostly civil, and persistent. We actually want to hear his answers, so that we can play up his habit of talking 5 miles around every question. Not only does that give us a talking point (“He never answers any questions, slick career politician, talks out of both sides of his mouth”), but the optics have been better for our side. You can be angry without being shouty.
StringOnAStick
Happy birthday Betty! I’m so glad I followed you here from the late and well-mourned Rumproast.
I’ll be going to Indivisible’s townhall with no-show Senator Gardner on Friday in Denver. The description says that questions for the senator have been submitted and will be discussed with or without him, so it will be organized and orderly, and oh yes, the press will be there. I think for that last reason along it is important that as many people show up as possible. Perhaps we BJ folk should try to ID each other? I am also going to a Colorado Consumer Health Initiative event tomorrow, from 8 to 1 at the state capital. We will get training on how to lobby and then actually do some with the state reps.
I had been doing a weekly “here’s what to do this week” email for interested friends, but a woman I met at a protest held by MoveOn is doing such a good job and is so well connected with every group it seems that I just told everyone to please sign up for her emails. Rather than badly reinventing the wheel, she’s already got a great one going so I can spend my time on actions instead of writing emails to friends. The more organized we are, the better.
Seth Owen
@rikyrah: So we won’t steal Iraq’s oil, we are going to steal it from the Indians instead? Well, at least there’s precedent for that.
Ruckus
@debbie:
Better would be
Party of Snakes in Suits.
or
Party of Chickenshits in Suits.
Ruckus
@Eric S.:
Hope your surgery is as successful as mine. OK the surgery and the six months of PT afterwards. That shoulder is now the better one, although under certain movements it makes a rather annoying clicking sound. Still, better is better.
Ruckus
@The Moar You Know:
Does an impromptu town hall/press conference/appearance now mean a time and place when no constituents are available to make their lies and bullshit apparent, and where they will be asked no embarrassing questions?
Jinchi
@Debbie1:
The people marching are going to vote if they are given something to vote for. Remember that the 3 million at the Women’s march was a huge turnout for a protest, but it’s small compared to the 80 million voters in the 2014 midterm election (which had the lowest turnout in decades).
The trick is both motivation, which the left now clearly has, and opportunity, which requires there to be candidates on the ballot in your district. Democrats have been particularly bad about putting candidates on the ballot for offices they “can’t win” and that ends up affecting races up and down the ballot.
ruemara
@rikyrah: Les incompetents, truly.
Happy Birthday, Betty. Have a great day of happy chickens, fine dining, good husbanding and wine, of course.
ruemara
@Jinchi: Voting access. This wasn’t all about being motivated to vote. This was about voter suppression tactics that worked. I’d love to see people talk about that as much as they talk about “give me someone to vote for”. Because it doesn’t matter how motivated you are and if Jesus Chomsky Sanders is on the ballot, when you don’t have the right paperwork and you’re being blocked from voting.
Miss Bianca
@StringOnAStick: Wow, that sounds like fun – I’m almost tempted to drive up to Denver just for that!
SgrAstar
@Aleta:
That one really threw me. He is a cruel, careless man. That video almost made me feel sorry for Melania…but I’ve gotten over that now. :(