Bill Nye is going to march on Washington https://t.co/ogDRWizE3k pic.twitter.com/EUaO4zyz1Y
— Popular Science (@PopSci) April 3, 2017
Bill Nye, star of the megahit “Science Guy” television show of the 90s, announced his public support of the March for Science in a blog post on Thursday. The April 22 march is billed as a call for the world to support and safeguard science in light of recent policy changes disrupting research at the Environmental Protection Agency, National Institutes of Health, NASA, and more. The event will include a teach-in and rally on the National Mall followed by a march through the streets of D.C.
Nye, whose new Netflix series will drop the day before (an air date set long before the march was planned, but presumably also intended to coincide with Earth Day, which is on April 22), will be at the event as a speaker and honorary co-chair. He explained his support for the march in a blog post for The Planetary Society, a science nonprofit of which he is currently the CEO…
What else is on the agenda as we start the new week?
***********
Hearings on Merrick Garland’s SCOTUS seat are due to start again tomorrow…
If you live in CO, DE, IN, CA, MO, MO, NJ, HI, MT, or VA, please ask your senator to #StopGorsuch. Capitol Switchboard: (202) 224-3121 https://t.co/uPVDux0Rxz
— laura olin (@lauraolin) March 31, 2017
Three Senate Democrats (all female) say Neil Gorsuch won't meet with them https://t.co/wNSeReZh9O pic.twitter.com/2dIP6R78QX
— Jennifer Bendery (@jbendery) March 31, 2017
Baud
Wow on that last tweet. I thought they would at least go through the motions.
rikyrah
Good Morning,Everyone???
OzarkHillbilly
I read the other day that McCaskill finally got off on our side of the fence.
Baud
@rikyrah: Good morning.
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly: Yep. She’s a keeper.
Mary G
OK, now I’m steaming. Courtesy of the Senate, indeed. Assholes. Just happens to be three non-white women that Judge Gorsuch can’t even bother to meet. They don’t even pretend they matter. Flagrant. “No Republican war on women” my ass and I don’t usually say that.
Baud
Via Atrios, we will soon have peace in our time
BlueDWarrior
You know it’s something when all the Republican(-leaning) flaks are out there publicly decrying the Democrats evil intentions here. I say fuck the torpedoes at this point; if McConnell wants it that damn bad, make him have to pull the trigger. Because if god-forbid something happens to the actual liberal justices, I will put money on McConnell moving heaven and earth to make sure another far-right 40-something is on that bench.
BlueDWarrior
@Baud: Maybe he can solve the Israel-Palestine conflict on the layover in Tel Aviv?
Baud
@BlueDWarrior: I just hope he still has time after all that to invent cold fusion.
Baud
@BlueDWarrior: It’s fake. A way to put pressure on Dems not to filibuster. Schumer said he thinks they will. I assume he’s not bluffing.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: More like a New Korean War in our time.
“It will be YUUUUUGE! The BESTEST war ever!! We’ll be WINNING SO MUCH you’ll get sick of it!!!!”
The stupid. It hurts. Can somebody please put a sock in it?
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: I think he has to re-invent government and turn lead into gold first. He’s a busy guy.
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly:
“Fine, Donald, you win. Permit for Trump Tower Pyongyang granted.”
PsiFighter37
@Baud: Maybe someone can drop his ass off in the middle of the desert and see if he can make it back. That’d make for great reality TV, which I understand is what our moronic leader cares about.
Kay
Too late, Amber! We’ve gone from “white working class people losing health care” stories to “white working class people losing housing subsidies” stories. We have 3 federally-subsidized apartment complexes here- one is senior citizens only. They can also get FDA mortgages, which are a very good deal.
All those Facebook posts on Obama banning the Pledge of Allegiance in schools and none of them gave a thought to healthcare or housing. I don’t know- is that SOLELY the fault of the Democratic Party or Hillary Clinton? Maybe these people should read up their candidate. Christ. If you can find a federal subsidy program and apply you can spend 10 minutes vetting a candidate. They have the capacity and means to do this- they’re just refusing to do it.
Baud
@Kay:
Yes. /Wilmer
Mary G
@Kay: Preach, Kay!
Kay
@Baud:
They have to pay more attention. I love the couple who are worried about terrorist attacks while their roof is falling in.
It has to drop on their head. That’s all there is to it.
Baud
@Kay: If it were ignorance, that would be one thing. They hate us, and they wouldn’t believe us if we presented them the truth. It’s not like Fox News doesn’t exist in Dem areas. It’s that Dem areas don’t hate us.
debbie
@Mary G:
This should have been brought up at the hearings. He should have been questioned directly why he didn’t meet with them.
MattF
@BlueDWarrior: The Onion is on the story.
SFAW
@Baud:
I am waiting to see one member of this fucking “administration” (including the Usurper Gorsuch) who is NOT an asshole. My Magic 8-Ball says I’m going to be waiting a long, long time.
Well, that’s assuming the Rethugs don’t do anything to impeach/25th Shitgibbon. I think that’s probably a good assumption.
efgoldman
@Baud:
Why? They’re only wimmin, after all, with all that icky plumbing, and the wrong attitude.
They need to look to Mother Dence for correction.
Kay
@Baud:
I agree to a certain extent. It would be different if Trump were some smooth-talking charmer, but he’s nasty and mean-spirited – petty. You have to conclude that they admire that.
SiubhanDuinne
Here’s Part 2 in the LA Times four-part editorial series on Trump. Link.
Kay
@Baud:
I get the overwhelming sense Trump will be turning to ramping up wars now that his domestic agenda is collapsing.
Must be hugely appealing to him- the idea he doesn’t need congressional approval. So far he’s like a flailing lame duck President- it’s all executive orders and executive actions. I’m sure it’s occurred to him by now he has huge discretion on foreign policy. Holy shit. That’s terrifying.
SiubhanDuinne
@efgoldman:
I don’t think it’s any accident, either, that all three of the senators are of color/non-European heritage. Wish this story would get a great deal more coverage than it’s currently receiving.
Baud
@SiubhanDuinne: He’s going to be worse than Alito.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Baud:
I will find myself strangely saddened if I don’t get to watch what would be the awesomest ISIS/ISIL video of all time, because they’re just not that operationally competent.
Would that make me a bad person?
Kay
So, failing on domestic policy the Trumpians turn to foreign policy, where the President has HUGE discretion.
Now it really gets scary.
Baud
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Don’t be silly. You were a bad person long before this.
OzarkHillbilly
@Kay:
I have a buddy who is a social worker for the state helping the disabled navigate the ins and outs of life in Misery. They generally don’t fill out the paper work, they just sign it where he tells them to. I rather suspect most of them have no clue where their aid comes from.
And speaking of disabled Missourians, our wonderful legislature still wants to fund a program for the aged and disabled thru cuts to a tax credit for…. the aged and disabled. If there is a heaven, these fuckers are going straight to hell.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
The resistance is female? But, but……. Scandinavia
Kay
@Baud:
Ugh. He’s such a phony. I’m so sick of the wide-eyed faux innocence of far Right judges. “Who, me?”
We’ll get six months of hagiography and then he’ll start churning out reliable far Right votes and all the bullshit about “moderation” will go out the window like no one said it. They practically sainted John Roberts.
bystander
@OzarkHillbilly: Wag the dog?
I’m actually terrified Trump will launch a nuclear strike on NK to distract from the noose tightening around his neck.
I’m in Pennsylvania right now, and they’re broadcasting ads urging people to call their Senators to tell them “No filibuster”. Who’s paying for these ads?
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Kay: No, they think he’s being direct; he’s not talking to them like one of those politicians. I mean he actually fires people on the TV.
Tony J
Bill Nye heads up the Planetary Society? For reals? Wonder if he’ll turn up at the March in a crisp white suit.
And as ever it’s nice to see the MSM slipping comfortably into the well-oiled role of GOP mouthpiece with regards to the SC nomination. Because – of course – it’s those mean old Democrats who are ‘going nuclear’ by threatening to filibuster Mandarin Manchild’s illegitimate nominee. It’s not like the term actually meant anything else in this context as late as a couple of days ago. Can’t have such a violent and disruptive term applied to anything the Republicans might be planning to do. Hell no.
Meh. Bill should subtract the temperature around the Turtle’s baggy hammock and kick it into orbit. Do a Netflix special on the science of it.
Baud
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: Good.
efgoldman
@Kay:
Wott eez “r-e-a-d”? I do not know theez werd.
Kay
@OzarkHillbilly:
There’s a strange harsh justice to it though, because if my guess is right and Mr. Trump is as much of a war-monger as I suspect he is, at least the effects of Trumpism will be felt by them, at home. Too. In addition.
They’re gonna pay for that fucking wall. Thru the nose.
Baud
@Kay: I don’t care anymore. Our side knew what was at stake and all we did was dick around.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
satby
@rikyrah: Good morning rikyrah ☕?
debbie
@bystander:
I doubt Trump would order a nuclear attack. More likely, he would order a conventional missile which would land very, very close — just to show he could if he wanted. That’s the kind of spineless bully he is.
Baud
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: Holy crap. That’s going to be a hate fest.
rikyrah
@Mary G:
You noticed that too???
rikyrah
@BlueDWarrior:
Make him pull the trigger.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
@Baud: It’s like a 40th reunion of the SLA.
MJS
@SiubhanDuinne: Overall, very well written, except for this:
“At home, Trump now becomes the embodiment of the populist notion (with roots planted at least as deeply in the Left as the Right) that verifiable truth is merely a concept invented by fusty intellectuals, and that popular leaders can provide some equally valid substitute.”
No, “the Left” does not ignore facts to anywhere near the degree that the Right does. Not even close.
Kay
@Baud:
It really was so much like 2000. The exact same response from (many) liberal Democrats after a two term Dem Prez. Bush ran as a moderate though “a reformer who gets results” which is why I think the GOP candidate doesn’t matter to Democrats- they will not unify against a GOP candidate because if anyone would do it, Trump would.
I’ll admit the court kills me. I wanted the supreme court. I can get over the rest but that makes me want to cry. So close!
satby
@Baud: well, not all of us dicked around. 3 million more of us didn’t. But I don’t count the “purer that everyone else” lefties as on our side anymore. Since Nader, they’ve actively colluded with Republicans to sink any real progress because it wasn’t enough. Wilmer’s gang of bros was just the latest incarnation.
But I’m getting almost to not caring either. It’s all I can do not to scream at the Trumpistas IRL that complain now how stupid they are.
rikyrah
@Kay:
Uh huh.
I wish just once, the reporter would say to them…
“Hillary Clinton voters said that this would happen. They believed that this was going to come to fruition. Why didn’t you see it like they saw it?”
Maybe…They will be honest.
They thought that it would happen to THOSE people. Not realizing that they were THOSE people.
randy khan
If you read Tim Kaine’s long piece about why he’s opposing Gorsuch, you won’t be surprised that Gorsuch isn’t meeting with the female senators.
Baud
@satby:
I know. The 90% of our side that fought the good fight are heroes in my book. But we have constant problems with the remaining 10%.
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: They are not on our side.
Iowa Old Lady
Within the last hours. I expect him to start tweeting “Lock her up” at any moment.
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: Putin crony from Vt’s job is to destroy the Democratic party from within.
schrodingers_cat
If the Supreme Court nominee has so much hubris that he won’t meet with sitting senators because they are female and not white, can you imagine how he will treat non white women in his court.
Kay
@rikyrah:
This is horrible but I think the damage of Trump himself can’t be undone. We’re a country who elected a reality tv star President. That’s part of who we are now. The bar is lower. They lower it more everyday, too. The reality tv show’s son in law is running US foreign policy. You can’t undo this stuff- once it descends to “crap” it’s tough to bring it back up.
satby
@Iowa Old Lady: well, my Twitter work is cut out for me today. I’ll be back after I go mock shitgibbon for such pathetic tweets. Yeah, he may not read them, but lots of people do. My own tiny bit of not so guerilla warfare.
Iowa Old Lady
@satby: I replied too, pointing out that HRC got more votes.
Humboldtblue
New Yorker has a good piece on where the water from The Colorado river goes.
Kay
@Iowa Old Lady:
He’s really scared of the Russia stuff. They just hired a lawyer who had made a career out of going after the Clintons to run “civil rights” at the Dept of Ed. Another completely unqualified, low quality hire.
Steeplejack (phone)
@SiubhanDuinne:
Thanks for the link.
satby
@Iowa Old Lady: great minds, that was my first answer! “Still jealous?”
Iowa Old Lady
@Kay: Seeing him in jail wouldn’t fix all the damage he’s doing but it would make me feel better. A woman can hope.
Another Scott
@MattF: He’s got two staplers. That’s the sign of stature. Donnie doesn’t have any!
:-/
Cheers,
Scott.
Iowa Old Lady
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Another Scott: Donnie has a very small desk, it matches his tiny hands.
ArchTeryx
I’m looking to join the March for Science here in Albany, NY. We actually do have a scientific community here – it will be good to step out and get our voices heard, and I may actually network a little bit in the process.
I got to keep my healthcare, but I still have no real, permanent job, and fixing THAT is the only thing that will allow my life to move forward.
schrodingers_cat
@ArchTeryx: I don’t know where you live in the Albany area, but if you haven’t yet tried it you should try the Turkish restaurant, Alibaba in Troy
Tilda Swintons Bald Cap
@Baud: It is interesting how Wilmer has created a problem for our side, but not for the Republicans.
Central Planning
@schrodingers_cat: I’ve eaten at Ali Baba on my trips to Albany from Rochester. It’s delicious.
Hellbastard
This evening in Lubbock, Dan Epstein (D) is announcing his candidacy for the Texas 19th:
Epstein earned his PhD in government from Harvard University and currently teaches political science at Texas Tech University. He is a volunteer with the Lubbock Democratic Party, worked as a staffer on the Bernie Sanders campaign, and taught at Colgate University and the Piedmont Virginia Community College.
http://www.everythinglubbock.com/news/local-news/dan-epstein-to-announce-candidacy-for-us-congress-texas-19th-district-monday/684580889
It’s a pretty red district… in the past five years I’ve lived here I don’t recall seeing a Dem on the ballot at all for that position. BUt I’m going to be there to make sure he knows he has support!
MattF
@Iowa Old Lady: He wants to go back to the good old days.
Lurking Canadian
@schrodingers_cat: I can’t believe he’s refusing to meet with Senators. The asshat can’t even be bothered to pretend to be a moderate balls and strikes type. He must be worse than Bork
satby
@Tilda Swintons Bald Cap:
Problem by design.
Baud
@Tilda Swintons Bald Cap: White privilege doesn’t just preserve itself. It requires contributions from everyone.
schrodingers_cat
@Lurking Canadian: That they are all non white female Democrats is not a coincidence either. It is a signal to the base.
ETA: They may be Senators but in Gorsuch’s eyes they are second class citizens.
schrodingers_cat
@Baud:Has he said anything about T’s Russian problems? Or does he not want to bite the hand that feeds him.
schrodingers_cat
@Central Planning: Their lavash bread and yogurt were out of this world. Also too, the kebabs. You should also try Karavali, its a bit out of the way but worth it.
Baud
@schrodingers_cat: I don’t think he mentioned it in his Boston speech. Too busy attacking liberal elitists.
clay
@Iowa Old Lady: Heh. He thinks Hillary received “answers” to the debate.
He also thinks that a single incident about a single primary debate involving a losing candidate is still relevant to the national conversation. SAD!
germy
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/major-blast-rocks-metro-station-in-st-petersburg/2017/04/03/7ff73ef2-1865-11e7-8003-f55b4c1cfae2_story.html?utm_term=.7083c45eb76a
germy
@clay: drumpf received answers. He had a fox news team prep him. If they ask “this” just say “this” etc. Even though Ailes spent most of the time just telling stories and smoking cigars.
Steeplejack (phone)
@germy:
EuroNews on the MHz channel has some video and live reporting right now.
Corner Stone
@germy: Looks like Putin now has what he needed. How curious.
DissidentFish
A reasonable question for Collins, Capito and Murkowski — who have often parted with the R line on women’s issues — isn’t it time to stand up? You too Joni Ernst.
germy
@Corner Stone: As turmp looks on with envy.
Oldgold
The U.S. government spends billions and billions gathering intelligence and our President relies on Fox and Friends for his information. Just effin unbelievable.
clay
@germy: Ah. He’s projecting. Again.
OzarkHillbilly
@germy: Early #’s: 10 dead, 20 wounded.
Baud
@DissidentFish: No. SATSQ.
BlueDWarrior
@DissidentFish: I doubt Ernst can be moved, she seems like the “Good Republican Wife” type who will toe the party line on votes, just find a way to talk about it slightly differently than a typical 70 yr old Male Republican Senator.
Baud
@Corner Stone: what a coincidence that this happens just after the protests.
MattF
@germy: Trump would be taking notes, but that’s not part of his behavioral repertoire.
BlueDWarrior
@Baud: Clearly the work of dissident terrorists. What Russia needs is another round of terrifying physical crackdowns and surveillance of anyone who goes against PutinCorp.
The beatings will continue until morale improves, indeed.
Kay
If I were a media person every time I wrote “Kushner is senior adviser to the President” I would add “son in law”
“Kushner, Mr. Trump’s son in law and senior adviser to the President….”
Fuck them. Nepotism should come with a burden.
Baud
@BlueDWarrior: I’m more concerned about the US president getting ideas.
Tenar Arha
@Kay:
/bad paraphrase
Somewhere yesterday in a tweetstorm on Twitter someone pointed out that we need these stories, not because these people will ever be convinced, but to convince us that they’re voting their values.
And their values that they’ll vote for are white supremacy & the patriarchy. They’re actually willing to die from those values. The sooner we realize that, the sooner we’ll finally stop trying to convince Trump voters to help us or pretending to ourselves that fighting those systems shouldn’t be one of our priorities.
/end bad paraphrase
(I’d also like it if those newspapers would write about the people being hurt by Trump who didn’t vote for him, because I think we need those stories too. But that tweeter had a good point).
BlueDWarrior
@Baud: Well certain entities on the right have always talked about how well placed ‘incidents’ send people flying into the arms of the right-wing. The thing of it here is that Trump is a nutless wonder that has to be dragged to doing anything, so I doubt he’d be the one specifically to give the order. Now Bannon giving the order with Trump’s ‘blessing’… that I can see.
Baud
@BlueDWarrior: Trump would probably tweet about it in advance.
BlueDWarrior
@Tenar Arha: That is something that I agree with. We need these stories not necessarily to convince anyone of anything (except the mushy middle, maybe), but to act as a signpost to remind us “They are who we thought they were”, to borrow from the late(?) Dennis Green.
OzarkHillbilly
@BlueDWarrior: She’s got a bread bag to cover that.
Kay
@Tenar Arha:
There’s one guy in the piece who voted for Clinton and is mad at the Trump voters. The last Ohio piece I read had several non voters who are probably the people Democrats should be courting rather than Trump voters.
Lower income younger white women here are socially liberal, generally. They could be reached if they’re not voting.
schrodingers_cat
@BlueDWarrior: What these stories about the woes of T voters, say to me is that you are important to the media and the national conversation only if you look a certain way and vote a certain way. These stories make me feel like I and others like me are invisible, we don’t matter. Its like T’s election, a giant fuck you to our very existence in these United States.
BlueDWarrior
@Kay: the nut to crack in that respect is not just how to get them to vote in a particular election, but how to keep them coming out at least per two years for Congress/StateLeg as well. We can get these types to show up for a ‘transcendent’ political figure running for President, but how do we get them to show up for “Generic D running for State House”?
BlueDWarrior
@schrodingers_cat: well because it is. You have a lot of people who are resentful that the public perception of what America is in the media is actually reflecting what the population is (that it is slightly more than half female and 30-35% not-clearly-White).
This is a terrible, but predictable backlash coming from people trying to re-assert the “Generic White Male” being the locus point all culture revolves around, instead of just business and politics.
[Addendum: preferably a suburban/rural generic White Male, they don’t exactly care for urbane white male “hipsters” either…]
schrodingers_cat
@BlueDWarrior: I am critical of prestige media, who have been T’s biggest supporters outside of the R party. I have no use for them and their endless stories about T voters who have cut their own nose to spite their face.
Kay
@BlueDWarrior:
Oh, God, i don’t know. We targeted them once for a school levy. It was my specific job. It worked but it’s incredibly labor intensive. I love the breeziness, I must say. I was still canvassing at 6:30 and they were like “no rush!”
OMFG, just GO. I once had a lady tell me to call her back later for a ride to the polls. I said “no. I’m not calling you back” We have early vote in Ohio! She needs weeks for a 10 minute errand?
I was maid of honor for one of my sisters at her wedding. She did her nails, not kidding, 5 minutes before we were supposed to walk. I was ready to strangle her.
BlueDWarrior
@Kay: Yeah, these are people who some would refer to being “comfortably numb” when it comes to actual politics. I mean yeah they can get mad at a politician doing something asinine/stupid, but actually doing something about it… ehh…
J R in WV
@randy khan:
I’m not surprised that Gorsuch isn’t meeting with women Senators of color, because I know that he’s a cowardly hater, raised up by a family of cowardly haters.
That guy is going to do things (if confirmed) that will make his name go down in the history books as one of the most hateful members of the judiciary since they were burning witches at the stake.
If he had a single shred of honor he would have come to Washington and spent a month pushing for Garrick to be appointed to that seat. But he doesn’t, as we know from his membership in the Republican party for the benefit of the wealthy.
rikyrah
@bystander:
The same dark money that surrounds his entire campaign for the Supreme Court.
wuzzat
I can’t make it to the DC march, but plan to go to the Boston one. Maybe we can have a Balloon Juice contingent!
rikyrah
@satby:
Tell that truth.
rikyrah
@Kay:
I know what you mean. I just call it collecting receipts for the next Democrat. They will never be allowed to live this shyt down. It will be thrown in their face without hesitation.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@OzarkHillbilly:
Good ole Feckless Claire or as Charlie Pierce calls her “I Feel Strongly Both Ways About That.”
What happened is that she got caught on tape talking to wealthy donors and went into her timid-ass “keeping the powder dry” bullshit. The response was swift and wicked. If there’s one thing Misery Dems aren’t tolerating out of her anymore is that kind of shit.
That’s why she came down on our side of the fence.
She’s the poster child for timid pols. And before anybody tells me “but she’s in Misery”, yeah, blah, blah, blah. She has no excuse. If she spent half as much time listening to her constituents and acting on their behalf as she does bashing half of those that got her elected and triangulating for money she wouldn’t be in such a precarious position.
rikyrah
I didn’t get to comment on the Cuban twitter thread post but let me say this..
PHUCK MARK CUBAN.
Once again, White man trying to find excuse as to why another White man shouldn’t be found guilty of the treason and betraying this country.
Once again, going all around trying to find excuses, when all the breadcrumbs lead to one direction.
So tired of this shyt, knowing damn well, if this were anyone other than a White man, there would be NO EXCUSES GIVEN.
rikyrah
@schrodingers_cat:
Uh huh
Uh huh
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@satby:
Our Progressive Betters can always be counted on to do what’s best for the GOP.
rikyrah
@Tenar Arha:
yep.
yep.
yep.
geg6
@bystander:
The Mercers.
geg6
@ArchTeryx:
I think it will probably be pretty damn big here in Pittsburgh, too. Three of the largest industries here are health care, education and technology. You can’t throw a stick here without hitting some sort of scientist or another.
rikyrah
As someone asked on another blog..
WHY is Wilmer’s little summit thingy being held in CHICAGO?
Last time I checked…that’s not the home of those White Working Class folks.
Why isn’t in Kentucky or Rural Ohio where Kay lives?
Uh huh
Uh huh
Lips pursed.
danielx
@Iowa Old Lady:
Well, you must admit it’s effective at obscuring the smell of bong piss.
rikyrah
McConnell dissembles as Supreme Court fight enters the home stretch
04/03/17 08:40 AM—UPDATED 04/03/17 09:17 AM
By Steve Benen
……………..
In other words, either Gorsuch will be confirmed on an up-or-down vote, or Republicans will change the rules and then confirm Gorsuch on an up-or-down vote.
But McConnell didn’t stop there. He came armed with a series of talking points, each of which were based on obvious errors of fact and/or judgment:
1. Reflecting on the Merrick Garland nomination, and his party’s unprecedented blockade, McConnell said, “[T]he tradition had been not to confirm vacancies created in the middle of a presidential year…. We were right in the middle of a presidential election year.” First, Garland was nominated in March, which isn’t the middle of an election year, and second, no such tradition exists in reality.
2. McConnell, pointing to the election results, argued, “The American people decided they wanted Donald Trump to make the nomination, not Hillary Clinton.” In reality, Americans preferred Clinton to Trump by nearly 3 million votes. (Trump won by way of the electoral college, not “the American people.”)
3. McConnell added, “What’s before us now Chuck is not what happened last year.” That’s backwards: there’s a Supreme Court vacancy because of what happened last year. What’s before us now is the direct result of the events in 2016.
4. McConnell insisted, “There’s no rational basis, no principled reason for voting against Neil Gorsuch.” Given that McConnell imposed a year-long blockade on a qualified, compromise nominee in a raw display of maximalist partisanship, the GOP leader long ago forfeited the right to talk about “principles.”
5. Pointing to a rule that doesn’t exist, McConnell concluded, “You don’t fill Supreme Court vacancies in the middle of a presidential election. That’s what Joe Biden said back in 1992.” That’s not even close to what Joe Biden said back in 1992.
And while it’s problematic for the Senate Majority Leader to make untrue claims about a Supreme Court nomination fight, let’s also note how bizarre it is for McConnell to focus so heavily on process. A year ago, the Kentucky Republican imposed an unprecedented Supreme Court blockade, refusing to give a compromise nominee a hearing, a debate, or a vote.
danielx
A badly need palate cleanser for the morning –
Estas Tonne – The Song of the Golden Dragon
rikyrah
When the president’s son-in-law gets too much power
04/03/17 09:22 AM
By Steve Benen
The most powerful man in the White House shouldn’t be the president’s son-in-law, and yet, Jared Kushner’s portfolio is quickly becoming the punch-line to a very strange joke.
Here, for example, was the news last night:
That NBC News report came the same day as the New York Times reported on Kushner’s central role in preparing for the Chinese president’s visit.
rikyrah
Trump’s latest secret plan: dealing with North Korea without China
04/03/17 10:00 AM
By Steve Benen
As a presidential candidate, Donald Trump assured voters he had a secret plan to defeat ISIS, which he’d only share after the election. It turned out to be a rather weak con: once in office, the president asked U.S. military leaders to come with a plan for him, and they came back with a strategy that looks an awful lot like Barack Obama’s plan.
But Trump’s affinity for secret plans hasn’t faded. The Republican president sat down with the Financial Times over the weekend, and the exchange on North Korea seemed especially noteworthy.
rikyrah
Three Democratic Senators Ignore the Threat of a Justice Neil Gorsuch
by D.R. Tucker April 3, 2017 5:00 AM
Don’t they realize that it would be like putting Donald Trump himself on the Supreme Court?
It’s impossible to grasp the logic of Senators Joe Donnelly (D-IN), Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) and Joe Manchin (D-WV), who have signaled that they will vote to confirm unqualified Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch. Kneeling in subservience to Trump and Gorsuch will not spare Donnelly, Heitkamp and Manchin the wrath of Republican voters in the 2018 midterm elections; those voters hate all things Democratic, and will probably not even remember how Donnelly, Heitkamp and Manchin voted on the Gorsuch nomination.
Will other Senate Democrats also vote to confirm Gorsuch? If so, and if Gorsuch makes it to the High Court, how will those Democrats respond when Justice Gorsuch is in the majority on decisions that reaffirm unequal justice under law in this country? What will those Democrats say? “Oops”? “My bad”?
Former Senator and Vice President Joe Biden famously declared that of all the votes he cast in the Senate, the one he most regretted was his vote to confirm the late Justice Antonin Scalia in 1986, “because [Scalia] was so effective” in advancing a right-wing agenda on the Court. It is a guarantee that if Gorsuch makes it to the Court, Donnelly, Heitkamp and Manchin will also be haunted by regret for the remainder of their lives. It’s as though they cannot hear the pleas of those concerned about Gorsuch’s radicalism.
It’s interesting that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell invoked the October 1991 confirmation of Justice Clarence Thomas in his appearance on Fox News Sunday yesterday. Eleven Democratic Senators made the disastrous decision to confirm Thomas back then, and this country has been suffering the consequences ever since.
schrodingers_cat
Someone should ask Heidi why she wants to give the man who won’t even meet with her colleagues a lifetime appointment.
rikyrah
DA PHUQ?
Trump’s trust was secretly revised so he can draw money from his businesses whenever he wants, @ProPublica scoops https://t.co/OH3mXHXPu6
— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) April 3, 2017
OzarkHillbilly
@rikyrah:
We said the same thing after Bush. Speaking of which, I have a new sign going up on the back of my truck:
“Even I miss Bush now.”
Kay
Trump is now Tweeting at the FBI. Would someone tell this clown he is President? The Trump Administration AND Fox are under investigation and Trump is actively interfering.
Can they find an adult to supervise him?
japa21
@Kay: No. SATSQ
randy khan
@J R in WV:
No honor among thieves, as they say.
sukabi
@SiubhanDuinne: just refusing to meet with them should automatically disqualify him from consideration.
zhena gogolia
@Corner Stone:
Interesting timing, just after protests started up again.
Kay
@japa21:
He goes crazy before bad news for him comes out so you can expect some horrid new revelation if Trump and Fox are collaborating in making shit up.
Kay
@japa21:
Isn’t Fox under investigation too? Fraud or something? Something in addition to the gross sexual harassment swamp that is the norm in that place?
japa21
@Kay: I believe the fired attorney from NY was looking into Fox.
japa21
@Kay: Good point. IOW, he gets a heads up about stuff coming out.
ruemara
@BlueDWarrior: Why not? Many are as focused on white male supremacy as their kin on the right. Hence the handwringing over “identity politics” by such white male hipsters nonfuckingstop since 9/9/16.
Lizzy L
Feinstein is on the list of Senators who have not yet announced their opposition to Gorsuch, or stated that they will support the filibuster. The phones were BY, so I emailed her this morning, saying that her constituents expected her to oppose him, and requesting a clear statement.
japa21
@Lizzy L: I just heard she is a no on Gorsuch.
Iowa Old Lady
The exterminator came and set a raccoon trap on our deck. It’s big and aqua colored.
BlueDWarrior
@ruemara: Because they aren’t loyal enough to the cause. Their disdain for squishy moderates who just want to quell all conflict is about a hot as it is for actual liberals.
Doug R
Feinstein is telegraphing maybe no on Gorsuch
West of the Rockies (been a while)
@BlueDWarrior:
For sure! He joined the Cleveland Cavaliers for a game, messed around and got a triple-double. He wandered through Bad Robot Productions and helped that kid JJ Abrahms on his latest movie. Glanced at some pages JK Rowling was struggling with and fixed some plot points. The dude is amazing.
Mnemosyne
@Kay:
Remember when conservatives gasped that Obama shouldn’t be allowed to comment about Trayvon Martin because he was interfering in an ongoing investigation?
Doug R
Check the ABC News twitter page: Feinstein, Leahy and Warner come out against cloture.
West of the Rockies (been a while)
@Another Scott:
Dumb Donnie wants everything to be just one page long. He don’t need no stinking stapler!
Humboldtblue
@Lizzy L:
From 40 minutes ago, Feinstein is a no
waysel
@Doug R: What is cloture and how does it relate to a filibuster?
Humboldtblue
@waysel: Cloture means “to end the debate” which is what the “filibuster” is. Republicans need at least eight Dem Senators to vote for cloture and they only got three. Now McConnell will blow up the filibuster and force an up and down vote in the Senate on Gorsuch and he’ll be the next supreme Court Justice.
ruemara
@BlueDWarrior: Bullshit. They’re loyal enough. They sit around excusing things and acting like we’re supposed to understand and compromise on the humanity of people who aren’t white, male, & straight, but decry anyone who dared to compromise to move the ball forward for those groups. These are their people.
MattF
@Humboldtblue: My understanding is that it takes a Senate vote to change the rules– and there’s a possibility that some R Senators may be opposed.
Tenar Arha
@Tenar Arha: Okay I found Marco Rogers, who I was badly paraphrasing, whose Tweetstorm starts here.
(?? Fascinating. I added patriarchy on my own to my bad paraphrasing).
Humboldtblue
@MattF: I was unaware of that
But there is a catch — Depending on the number of all 100 senators “duly chosen and sworn” who are actually “present and voting”, an amendment (change) to U.S. Senate Rule XXII can be difficult. Paragraph 2 of said rule states that “to amend the Senate rules…the necessary affirmative vote shall be two-thirds of the Senators present and voting.” This means 67 senators if all 100 senators are “present and voting”, but only 34 senators if under Rule VI, the minimum quorum of 51 senators, i.e., “a majority of the Senators duly chosen and sworn” is “present and voting.”[15
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@MattF: there were rumors last week that MM didn’t have 50 votes to break the filibuster, but I haven’t seen that in a few days. I could imagine him letting a couple do a Collins-style phony principled stand, but I’d be really surprised if there were three votes to, essentially, block Gorusch
Julie
@Kay: How does that even *work*? I’m picturing wet nail polish and a really expensive white dress. ?