NEW: President Obama will make his first real public appearance in Chicago on Monday, and to a familiar audience: young community organizers
— Gregory Korte (@gregorykorte) April 21, 2017
Former President Barack Obama will speak to young people at the University of Chicago on Monday, returning to the city for what will be his first public event since leaving the White House.
Obama and young leaders will hold a conversation on civic engagement and discuss community organizing at the university’s Logan Center for the Arts, his office announced Friday.
Hundreds of people are expected to attend, chosen from area universities that were given tickets for distribution, said Kevin Lewis, a spokesman for the former president. About six young people will appear on stage with him for the 11 a.m. discussion, he said.
The event will be a homecoming for Obama on multiple levels. He formerly taught constitutional law at the U. of C., and his family has a home nearby in the Kenwood neighborhood. He gave his farewell address in January in the city that launched his political career. And the discussion with students lets the former president, who came to Chicago to work as a young community organizer, fulfill one of the commitments he set out for his post-presidential years: to engage and work with the country’s next generation of leaders, Lewis said…
No tickets remain for distribution to the general public, but the event will be televised. Former first lady Michelle Obama is not expected to accompany her husband on the trip, Lewis said.
The participants on stage with Obama are expected to range from high school to college to recent university graduates. According to Lewis, they have all been chosen and are from the Chicago area, but their names were not released Friday…
Obama has been writing his memoirs amid a succession of celebrity-filled vacations intended to allow him and the former first lady to decompress. Reports have had him as far away as Tetiaroa, a French Polynesian island once owned by Marlon Brando.
Now, the timing of the Chicago event suggests an increasing public profile for the former leader. On May 7, he will be in Boston to receive the John Fitzgerald Kennedy Profile in Courage award. It’s being called the centennial award because Kennedy was born 100 years ago.
What else is on the agenda, as we wrap up the week?
DCrefugee
Cue Agent Orange’s Twitter storm in 3-2-1…
Baud
This should be fun.
schrodingers_cat
We are in for some epic whine tonight.
Steve in the ATL
My daughter is on a flight to Chicago right now. Maybe she’ll run into Barry this weekend, even though I told her that avoiding White Sox fans is a good general policy.
Adam L Silverman
But Matt Stoller says he was the worst person to ever live!
Before anyone starts, Blake is making fun of Stoller, not endorsing his views.
Miss Bianca
@Adam L Silverman: So who the fuck is this whiner Matt Stoller, anyway? And what’s his claim to fame besides a hair-style that makes him look like Art Garfunkel’s less-talented younger brother?
LurkerNoLonger
Trump to receive the Razzie Award.
Peale
I actually now am looking forward to the pending systematic collapse of the country. Only because Matt Stoller will have to live in the detritus much longer than I will.
chris
Oh shit, oh dear.
Secretary Kushner and Secretary Trump? Seems legit.
Suzanne
@chris: Fake news. Still funny.
Hal
@Adam L Silverman: How does Obama taking an extended vacation post presidency invalidate what he did while President? Stoller seems to be judging Obama retroactively based on what he’s done since January 20th.
Baud
@chris:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Qtgm5g5Gyo
Baud
@Hal:
Stoller seems to be a parody whose sole purpose for existing is to be a target of mocking.
Yarrow
I guess Sarah Palin was too busy at the White House to scare them away.
Mezz
Oh SNAP!
The Man will be in town on the 7th you say?? May have to swing some arms and figure out if I can get some professorial privilege to the event.
Anybody know if there are any public particulars? (I’m just being lazy, it was a long week of fascism in the classroom. Fun as hell but depressing.)
Adam L Silverman
@Miss Bianca: Here’s his bio:
https://www.newamerica.org/our-people/matt-stoller/
And:
http://mattstoller.com/
Adam L Silverman
@Hal: You got me.
ruemara
@Adam L Silverman: Dammit, Silverman, you ruined my Stoller joke.
@Adam L Silverman: Sheesh. Naked Capitalism? A focus on financial power and the Democratic Party? Pretend liberals are the worst.
Felanius Kootea
@Hal: There always seem to be different standards set for this particular ex-president from people on the left and right. Interesting. Perhaps we should have let McCain handle the ’08 crash and enjoyed the first term of President Palin from our luxurious boxes under bridges.
schrodingers_cat
@Peale: Ignorance is bliss, I have no idea who this Stoller person is.
ruemara
@Felanius Kootea: We should only elect n egros if they swear to do what precious liberaltarian thinkbots in guilded cages desire. That’s the lesson we should all learn.
Adam L Silverman
@ruemara:
Baud
@Adam L Silverman:
I confident his work won’t be the least bit polemical.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Adam L Silverman: Adam, speak snark here.
Yarrow
This seems like pretty big news:
piratedan
gotta admire the chutzpah of blaming Obama for taking a vacation post his presidenting duties while his successor is busy burning down the building with all of us in it. Takes a special kind of stupid methinks.
El Caganer
@Adam L Silverman: The resume seems to be somewhat at odds with the unhinged nature of his tweets. Kind of like he wandered off into the lefty wilderness and never came back.
gene108
@Hal:
What I want to know is who is taking care of their high school kid, while they are on vacation?
They are staying in DC ’cause they do not want to hurt their daughters education. She still has a couple of years of high school left.
I guess it is better to have your own life as a parent, as they are currently retired pensioners, with a lucrative home business of writing memoirs. I mean they could be monitoring their kid 24/7. They have the time, if they wanted to.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Miss Bianca: I thought it looked like a younger Wilmer hair style.
ETA: To continue the trivia from the last thread…In the Rutles, “All You Need is Cash” there’s a brief scene where a future US Senator appears. Also there’s a reporter who’s Liverpool accent sounds really familiar.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Hal: Same way as HRC giving speeches after she left the State Department.
efgoldman
@LurkerNoLonger:
If only
jacy
@gene108:
You ever have any teenagers? I’m on my fourth one. I’m lucky I know what he looks like, and I work from home.
Adam L Silverman
@?BillinGlendaleCA: The snark was not recognized everywhere, so I figured I’d try to drive the point home.
Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (Formerly Mumphrey, et al.)
Josh Marshall has a piece about how Princess Manbaby and his toadies have been lying for two years about the scourge of crime stalking the country. At first they told these lies so he could scare voters into voting for him. Now they tell them to get them to fall in line behind him now that he’s in office. There’s a word for people who try to scare people into changing the way they behave. We know that word. It’s terrorism. These people are terrorists. The people running the U.S. are terrorists.
Adam L Silverman
@El Caganer: More like hyperprivileged.
Adam L Silverman
@gene108: Most likely the surviving grandmother who lives with them. And a Secret Service detail.
StringOnAStick
Que the whining from winguttia about Obama getting another award, and so grossly undeserved as usual. That stuff makes them insane(r).
Seriously, my wingnut father forwarded an email obviously currently making the rounds on the crazy uncle grid about how Obama got a Nobel Peace Prize early in his presidency when it should have gone to a woman who smuggled Jewish babies and children out of the Warsaw ghetto. A quick Snopes check says that she may (no way to know since they don’t release that information) have been up for a Nobel in 2007 but Al Gore won for his climate change work, and she died in 2008 (the Committee no longer gives Nobels to people who are no longer alive). So, presto chango, the evil winner was transformed from Gore to Obama, and people who don’t really like Jewish people all that much (except as armagedon bait) got a chance to look like they care about the Holocaust. His next email forward was pictures of people claimed to be Syrian refugees paired with photos of the same person obviously now in ISIS garb. No way to tell the veracity of that email but given that 100% of what he forwards is BS, I’m sure this one is too. I decided this week to just delete all his forwards since they are all crap.
efgoldman
@Hal:
Stoller is an asshole. A first class asshole, one of those people who is unaccountably employed in punditry.
I give him negative credence. That’s worse than no credence.
He’s just another Fournier clone.
Fuckem.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Adam L Silverman:
Burn him, he’s not pure.
rikyrah
@chris:
THAT can’t be real ???
chris
@Suzanne: @Baud: My first thought was, “Ew, I’ve seen this movie before.”
rikyrah
@gene108:
I bet Grandma
chris
@rikyrah: It isn’t. But it could be…
debbie
@Adam L Silverman:
Don’t leave out this crucial bit:
So now we know he’s a tool who worked for a tool. Great, we’re saved.
Corner Stone
@Adam L Silverman: All snark aside, this excerpt seems to make a de minimis attack against criticisms of Obama’s presidency and legacy. And where we are now. I find that to be more than a little bullshit. IMO.
trollhattan
@Yarrow: Hell, there’s a passel of Palins back at the casa and i can gah-run-tee yew they were chuckin’ beer cans at those Russkie airplanes from the front porch. For ‘murika.
Remember when Sarah ™ mattered? Me neither. Ted
BundyNugent? Nope? That other guy? Still not sure who he is.efgoldman
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Waste of good firewood
rikyrah
United CEO will NOT become Chairman of the Board.
BWA HA HA HA HA HA HA ???
trollhattan
@Adam L Silverman:
Big picture guy, this Stoller feller. Or not. Has it occurred to him that certain billyunaires and other people of power and influence are courting Obama to gain his input and ideas on how to 1. Limit the damage Trump can do and 2. Get him the hell out of there as soon as earthly possible? If there’s one thing we know about Obama he doesn’t need them, never has, never will.
Take a powder, Matt.
Tarragon
Update from the other day. My wife is home from a 5day stay in the hospital for a crippling migraine.
She has a medicine regime that gives some but not a lot of relief. They did a lot less testing than I’m comfortable with and never gave her any real answers.
Next week is already filled with appointments include a migraine friendly neurology practice. We’ll see what we get.
Miss Bianca
@Adam L Silverman:
Ah, so this tweet is satire, then?
danielx
@DCrefugee:
My very thought, or close to it: accusations of Obama fomenting treason in 3…2…1…
trollhattan
I’d completely missed this. H/T Wonkette.
These bastards had better worry about Ms. Yates bringing the heat. Chins over the plate, boys.
hovercraft
@StringOnAStick:
List of honors and awards received by Barack Obama
Awards[edit]
2005: Obama received NAACP Image Award – Chairman’s Award upon his election to the U.S. Senate
2006: Best Spoken Word Album Grammy Awards for abridged audiobook version of Dreams from My Father
2007: He received the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work, Nonfiction for Dreams from My Father.
2008: Best Spoken Word Album Grammy Awards for abridged audiobook version of The Audacity of Hope
2008: Harold Washington Award[7] from the Congressional Black Caucus as well as the 2008 Phoenix Award from the CBC Foundation, Inc.[8]
2008: His concession speech after the New Hampshire primary was set to music by independent artists as the music video “Yes We Can”, which was viewed 10 million times on YouTube in its first month[9] and received a Daytime Emmy Award.[10]
2009: Nobel Peace Prize
2011: Transparency Award jointly offered by OMB Watch, the National Security Archive, the Project on Government Oversight, the Reporters’ Committee for Freedom of the Press and OpenTheGovernment.org.[11][12]
2013: NME Award for Hero of the Year
2013: Freedom of the City of Cape Town (jointly with Michelle Obama). The freedom scroll was accepted on their behalf by Acting U.S. Ambassador, Virginia Palmer.[13][14]
2013: Israeli President’s Medal of Distinction[15]
2014: “Ambassador of Humanity” Award from the USC Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History and Education[16]
2017: Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service.[17]
and counting………
The page “List of honors and awards donald trump” does not exist. You can ask for it to be created, but consider checking the search results below to see whether the topic is already covered.
Corner Stone
@trollhattan: C’mon man. That’s a garbage take and you know it.
danielx
@Adam L Silverman:
Did I miss “Villager in good standing” in there somewhere?
Adam L Silverman
@Tarragon: We’ll keep good thoughts.
Baud
@Tarragon: Best of luck. Sounds awful.
Adam L Silverman
@trollhattan: That isn’t the issue. Apparently they are planning to continue to try to run the “Susan Rice illegally accessed information about Trump campaign personnel and leaked it to the media in an attempt by President Obama to tarnish the President’s campaign and reputation”. That is going to be their approach. Yates will eat them for breakfast, but they are going to do it anyway. Because those are the marching orders.
Corner Stone
@danielx: No, you did not.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
@Adam L Silverman: This bio is incomplete.
Stoller is a trust fund baby who worked for millionaire kooks Alan Grayson and Wilmer.
before that, he used to run a defunct blog “openleft” where he would periodically declare the end of Obama’s candidacy throughout 2007 — hysterical, childish pronouncements, which we would all laugh at on this blog.
Sad!
debbie
@Tarragon:
I hope your wife finds answers soon. I’ve only had a couple migraines, but they are beasts.
Adam L Silverman
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: Hence my comment #35:
germy
satby
@Tarragon: I hope the relief continues and improves, and that you get a helpful plan of treatment next week after all those appointments. And I hope you both can get some rest.
germy
Turgidson
@Hal:
Stoller has been anti-Obama since 2007, because Obama did not come groveling to the netroots for support early in the primary campaign, and was able to build the most impressive presidential campaign ever without ever needing them for anything. He was looking for reasons to be disappointed with Obama before Obama even won in Iowa.
MomSense
@Tarragon:
Hoping for some relief and answers for your wife. I had to go to the ER once for a migraine and fortunately whatever they gave me worked because I would have welcomed death. I’m so sorry she is suffering and hope the neurology pracrice can help.
Steve in the ATL
@Felanius Kootea:
Since I’m white, I would have both a curtain rod and a sparrow in this scenario, right?
Elizabelle
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:
Great. And then kept failing upward. Look at Stoller’s bio. There’s the mirror image of wingnut welfare there; it’s not far off a young Heritage Foundation “fellow” who colonizes news broadcasts and gets plugged into all kinds of neogravy train slots.
Patricia Kayden
@StringOnAStick: Why don’t you challenge your father? I always wonder why people let their wingnut relatives spew nonsense at them and say nothing. But I guess I have no wingnut relatives so I’m a little judgey. It’s a blessing to live in a mostly blue state and not run into coocoo wingnuts at all.
satby
@germy: ohpleaseohpleaseohpleasecanwegetanindictment!
Chyron HR
Look, it’s very simple.
The 63 million people who voted for Trump had nothing to do with Trump getting elected.
The 100 million people who didn’t care if Trump got elected had nothing to do with Trump getting elected.
OBAMA AND HILLARY ELECTED TRUMP. PERIOD.
Elizabelle
But why are we talking about Stoller.
Good to hear of President Obama returning to public life. Have missed him, and a bit surprised he was able to go quiet and stay out of the limelight so intensely.
Steve in the ATL
@Tarragon:
Hopefully Lortab. That’s the only thing that gets my wife out of bed on bad migraine days.
Patricia Kayden
@Tarragon: ((Tarragon)). Wow. That sounds scary. Hope they figure out what’s wrong soon for your wife’s sake.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Yeah, Stoller’s no Villager or Fournier, Jr. He’s been trolling Obama from the Professional Left forever. I think he was at MyDD prior to OpenLeft, wasn’t he?
ETA:
Ah, so he’s the white, trust-fund millennial version of Cornel West, without the academic credentials?
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
@Adam L Silverman: it’s ashamed that the site is no longer available. it was the source of endless mockery, circa 2007.
one of his many “obama will never win” screeds was based on his anger that Obama had never returning any of his phone calls. Someone here determined his blog only had a meager 2,000 visitors a day and aptly pointed out, why would a national candidate waste time on a virtually non-existent blog.
Patricia Kayden
@Chyron HR: Thanks Obama!
SiubhanDuinne
@Tarragon:
I have been sending your wife healing thoughts. I do hope she gets some relief soon. Please give her our best wishes, and do please keep us posted.
germy
Adam L Silverman
@germy: Now, like everything else, we wait for confirmation.
Patricia Kayden
@Elizabelle: Never heard of Stoller before today. Thank God for small mercies.
Elizabelle
@Patricia Kayden: I agree. We would not let Gramps stand in the midst of our living room and whack off to porn before our eyes. We would have something to say about that.
Bearing false witness against others, and living in a fantasy world, is not something you can leave alone.
Steve in the ATL
@Patricia Kayden:
Oh come on–you can’t be that naive about family relationships. There’s often a fragile peace that allows adult children to have a relationship with their parents after a bunch of fucked up shit during childhood. My dad was see eye ay and there were many things we simply could not discuss if we ever wanted to speak again.
germy
@satby:
http://www.palmerreport.com/politics/report-former-staffer-confirms-jason-chaffetz-is-under-fbi-investigation/2375/
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@germy: I think (probably hope) that his pissing on John Ossof while endorsing an obnoxiously anti-choice Dem in NE was the last straw for some people.
And I assume the Bat(shit) signal has gone up?
Baud
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: What is it with the white progressive male ego? At least on the right, they can point to some electoral success to justify their attitude.
Patricia Kayden
@germy: LOL!! I’ll believe that when Sarandon calls him out and repents of her pink pony fairyism.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: he’s a pitiful little self hating brat, projecting his parental issues on authority figures.
he also feels jilted and scorned cuz Obama never paid the nobody any attention.
Adam L Silverman
@germy: Now, like everything else, we wait for confirmation.
Mnemosyne
@Adam L Silverman:
So a Berniebro, then.
Good to know.
germy
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: @Baud:
(John Lennon)
trollhattan
@Elizabelle:
Yeah, I feel similarly if only because his is a reassuring presence. “Hey, look, and adult!”
He doubtless felt an obligation to step aside and not interfere as Dubya did for him–the one thing I credit that guy for. (Although it may have been Bar threatening his noggin with her thimble that made George bow completely out. Experts disagree on this point.)
Patricia Kayden
@Steve in the ATL: My parents and I disagree about several issues — one being gay marriage. I state my opinion and let them know that I don’t share their anti-gay stance. No way would I let them spew nonsense about gays without saying anything back to them. But my parents aren’t wingnuts — just conservative on some social issues because of their religious beliefs. I just don’t believe in letting people say bigoted nonsense in my presence without saying something. I don’t want them to think I share their beliefs.
ET
We are f**ked (as if I needed a reminder). My best friend forwarded me a tweet from Mikel Jollett saying that since we don’t have an Assistant Secretary of State for Europe the prez is sending his daughter
Mnemosyne
@Patricia Kayden:
There’s a difference between a wingnut uncle or cousin and your father.
My mom is kind of a wingnut. I tell her not to say that stuff in front of me, but she’s my mom. Would you cut your mother out of your life over politics?
germy
@Patricia Kayden:
I saw the clip of Susan on the Colbert show, when he asks about the election. She admitted she really didn’t feel like talking about it, but proceeded to anyway, and the whole thing got uncomfortable.
Corner Stone
@germy: We need to excise that fucker out of the D spotlight. He is doing nothing but giving the media an excuse to talk more and more about the D’s in Disarray meme. He is damaging the D party every single day.
danielx
@germy:
God doesn’t love me that much.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
@Baud: I always felt their frustration was based on their impotence and unfulfilled delusions.
Here’s a guy who was born rich and went to harvard and elite prep academys and he’s stuck running a blog nobody reads, while his brother is a successful film director. It’s no wonder why he’s nutz.
Felonius Monk
@efgoldman:
I salute you, sir. Your eloquence, when commenting on assholes, knows no bounds. ;-)
germy
@Corner Stone: The funny thing is, he seems so thrilled with all the attention. All the network shows keep calling!
In his mind, he’s convinced it’s because the strength of his ideas are finally convincing them. He doesn’t understand the real reason he’s in demand with the villagers: they love to hear him talk shit about the dems.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@germy: no question he’s drunk on the adulation and attention, like somebody else I could think of…
Felonius Monk
@germy: Perhaps Jason was taking Russian money to keep investigating HRC prior to the election?
germy
@Adam L Silverman:
It’s almost better if this stuff drags out, closer to the ’18 elections.
Also, I don’t want anything rushed. We saw what happens when people rush (TRyanCare, TravelBan, etc.)
Steve in the ATL
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Meanwhile, I’m drunk on pinot noir, but hopeful that people are seeing the truth of the guy you’re referencing
Iowa Old Lady
@germy: I just read an article about Trump’s Narcissistic Personality Disorder in Rolling Stone. The article said the one factor missing if this is NPD is that the disorder impairs the person’s ability to lead their life, and Trump seemed to be doing ok. One doctor speculated that Trump’s wealth protected him from the impairment his NPD would otherwise have caused.
The most depressing part was that Trump is unlikely ever to realize what a fool he is. His NPD won’t let him.
Iowa Old Lady
@satby: My exact reaction.
Corner Stone
Oh, for fuck’s fucking sake. Fuck you, Tweety. You ignorant son of a bitch.
Adam L Silverman
@germy: Correct. Hamstrung and hobbled. Let’s see how badly they screw up the Continuing Resolution to fund the government next week.
Turgidson
@Corner Stone:
What did he say now? That Trump has a “sunny nobility” about him?
Mike J
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Neoliberal shill Bernie Sanders has now endorsed Ossof.
TenguPhule
@Adam L Silverman:
I’m gonna go with “Complete and Utter Failure and a Dog’s Breakfast” for $500, Alex.
billcoop4
@Mnemosyne:
Yes
TenguPhule
@Corner Stone:
You may have to be a little more specific then that, Corner. That covers rather a lot about Tweety Bird.
TenguPhule
@Mnemosyne:
Depends on how batshit insane we’re talking about.
Immanentize
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: this is so
On point.
If people her don’t recognize who Matt Stoller is, then they were probably not in the lofty blogosphere (DKos, FDL) in the mid to late naught-ies.
Millard Filmore
@germy:
That’s all very well, but under investigation for what? This is like George Carlin’s bit “This partial score just in: Pittsburgh … 7”
ETA: germy got it.
TenguPhule
@LurkerNoLonger: He needs to win a Darwin Award. And yes, I know he’s already spawned too often to qualify.
Adam L Silverman
@TenguPhule: Depends. What is leaking from Capitol Hill is that the GOP and Democratic negotiators are making progress, but that the White House’s demands could, and if acted on, likely would tank the CR. So it is going to come down to whether the President and OMB Director Mulvaney decide to either a) insist that funding for the wall and other issues such as defunding parts of the ACA be in the CR legislation or b) veto a CR that emerges from Republican and Democratic negotiations to keep the government funded because it doesn’t have the funding for the wall and the other things the President and his team do and don’t want in it. I have no idea how to handicap it, but I think a shutdown is real outcome.
Groucho48
So, Tweety is discussing the Coulter thing at Berkeley. First, a video of Coulter spewing out a bunch of propaganda about the situation, completely unchallenged. Then, an American Enterprise guy, another right winger and Margaret Crowley, who went on to give Trump a “Gentleman’s C” for his first 100 days, all ganged up to criticize Berkeley and the students for being against free speech. Tsk. Tsk. Sad that mighty Berkeley, home of the Free Speech Movement has fallen so far., they all agreed. No one even casually mentioned that free speech does not mean giving a prestigious public platform for a troll to spew hate speech. Or, the students actually have a first amendment right to protest her being given that platform.
Haven’t watched Tweety in a while. Time to restart that streak.
TenguPhule
@schrodingers_cat:
Is someone going to cut the cheese?
Hitless
It’s ironic that Stoller blames a single man for the citizens of the republic electing Trump, when that single man continually argued that responsibility and power for change in the republic lies with the citizens.
efgoldman
@Felonius Monk:
It’s more than the assholes deserve.
Fuckem
TenguPhule
@Adam L Silverman:
I’m betting between the Freedumb Caucus actively throwing grenades into the whole notion of actually funding the government, Trump’s insistence on the wall, funding for his own Stormtroopers or else nothing, and Pelosi not being a complete idiot, its going to at best be a continuing resolution to kick the ball into October which Trump will promptly veto. Or else a fat filled Trumpburger that dies for lack of votes in the House because only a minority of the actual Republicans vote for it.
Adam L Silverman
@Millard Filmore: I tracked the tweets back. The “under investigation” includes financial crimes regarding his campaign (I think this is meant to be a quid pro quo bribe type of thing to keep him from investigating the President), somehow engineering the loss of life at Benghazi because (and it has been long and well documented) he voted to cut the State Department’s security funding, something else that isn’t exactly clear having to do with Russia, and, perhaps, having a mistress – though I doubt the FBI cares about the mistress.
Again, now we wait for confirmation.
TenguPhule
@Yarrow: The secretary will be most displeased. And should probably not drink any tea he’s not made himself.
Adam L Silverman
@TenguPhule: It is only ever going to be a continuing resolution. The House hasn’t even bothered to compile a budget proposal, outside of the bullet pointed Better Way thingamabob the Speaker has put forward, and my understanding is that the various appropriations committees haven’t got anything concrete because they have no budget blueprint to work from because the GOP leadership said they weren’t going to dictate to the appropriations committees. Apparently they have pre-passed the buck.
TenguPhule
@Adam L Silverman:
Minor across state borders for the purpose of sexual conduct. That would definitely get their attention.
Turgidson
@Adam L Silverman:
You’d think that a government shutdown, caused because the party in charge of both houses of Congress and the Executive can’t agree with itself about anything (except that Hillary did Benghazi with her emails) would be sufficient proof that said political party probably shouldn’t be trusted with power.
But I imagine any polling hit they take over that will be buried by some shiny object within weeks.
TenguPhule
@Adam L Silverman: In which case I expect Trump to issue his first veto threat. And there is no way there’s enough votes to override it.
TenguPhule
@Turgidson:
Republicans are the party that runs on the platform that government doesn’t work, gets elected and proves it.
Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (Formerly Mumphrey, et al.)
@Elizabelle: When are we going to do another get together? It’s been forever. The last one I made it to was the Republican debate in the summer of 2015.
Baud
@TenguPhule: I usually guess that Trump will act cowardly, so I say he will back down.
Turgidson
@TenguPhule:
Indeed. But they’ve really turned it up to eleventy billion with this cast of chuckleheads, frauds, assholes, and morons.
Immanentize
@Adam L Silverman: Why not a Russian mistress whose father bribed Chavetz to defund the State Department security so Trump could meet with Putin uninvestigated?
germy
@Adam L Silverman:
https://twitter.com/JackDRunyan/status/855272251884617733
TenguPhule
@Baud: Sadly, I’ve noted he tends to double down on the stupid when backed into a corner. Remember, “Obama spied on me!”
He’s gonna veto. Its the stupidest, most damaging course of action he could take. So obviously he’s gonna do it.
efgoldman
@Adam L Silverman:
Unless s/he’s Russian
Or Chinese
Or Bulgarian
Anya
@Mike J: I wonder if the backlash was too much to handle. His comment was ridiculous and he got the push back he deserved.
efgoldman
@Adam L Silverman:
I’m trying to remember the last time there was an actual budget bill. 2011??.
Baud
@TenguPhule: Stupid statement is different in kind from taking an action that people will notice.
lollipopguild
@TenguPhule: Me! Me! Me! Pick Me!
TenguPhule
@Baud: What reasonably sane action has Trump done in the last 91 days that makes you think that he’s capable of realizing that people would notice before he vetoes it?
Steeplejack
@Corner Stone:
Matthews has been bugging me more and more this week. Multiple occasions where I have been surprised that if he had just done some minimal reading he would already know what he was asking a dumb question about.
I’m somewhat behind on the DVR, but after that discussion of Ann Coulter I’m going over to Midsomer Murders on PBS. A rerun. Sad. On multiple levels.
Maybe Rachel’s show will be better tonight.
debbie
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:
He sounds like a GG wannabe.
Thru the Looking Glass...
@Miss Bianca:
Art Garfunkel’s less-talented younger brother?
Uhhhh… more like an early 70’s porn star…
Baud
@TenguPhule: He hasn’t ordered HHS to blow up Obamacare yet.
Thru the Looking Glass...
@efgoldman: Not sure, but I think I did see the kitchen sink go flying by in there…
Roger Moore
@germy:
The thing I see is:
This ties into something I’ve been wondering about Devin Nunes. He got the job of Intelligence Committee chair by doing a better job of fund raising that the other committee members, but where did the money come from? It’s obviously pure speculation that the money came from Russia, but it sure would be a neat way for the Russians to simultaneously get him in their debt and put him in a position to do things for them. It’s certainly a string I’d be pulling on if I were investigating the whole Russian influence business.
Spanky
@lollipopguild: Too late. Done and done.
And we’re working on a Rioja over here.
germy
@Roger Moore: Good points. And it’s a long string. Lots of unraveling to do.
efgoldman
@Baud:
Out loud in public.
Spanky
@Roger Moore: Does God love us that much? And enough to cause that to bring the whole house of cards down?
TenguPhule
@Baud: Yet. Just having to stick that qualifier on there is the whole problem. He’s stupid enough that it can’t be ruled out.
TenguPhule
@Spanky:
Sadly, No. There are no smiles in Smallville, mighty Fitzmas has struck out.
Baud
@efgoldman: He did threaten it in public. He backed down.
@TenguPhule: Right. Nothing is ever impossible with him.
TenguPhule
@Baud:
And you believed him?
ETA: He also said he was done with Healthcare and moving on to Tax Reform.
Baud
@TenguPhule: Has Obamacare exploded?
schrodingers_cat
@TenguPhule: He reminds me of students who haven’t studied and are full of shit, usually they end up dropping the class after the first prelim. We should be so lucky.
efgoldman
@Baud:
We’ve been so concentrated on all the empty desks at Defense and State, that nobody’s looked at HHS. Is Price the Liar doing it all himself? Because unraveling the ACA administratively is not as simple as “make it so.” Nowhere near. It’s a lot more complicated than losing a carrier battle group. And any misstep, and the maladministration is in court defending the indefensible. Again.
Thru the Looking Glass...
@TenguPhule:
So does that mean he plans on fucking up Tax Reform too?
Baud
@efgoldman: I don’t know. They just issued a major rule so someone is working.
TenguPhule
@Baud: Given the size of the healthcare system and Trump’s complete dedication to hiding everything he possibly can from outside scrutiny, we may not find out until its too late. Or alternatively, he’s trying but the lack of actual people to carry out his orders is hampering him. We are missing a good chunk of the axles and gears in government right now.
TenguPhule
@Thru the Looking Glass…:
Since tax reform already starts out with the basic premise of fucking up under Republicans, I’m sure he’ll give it his best shot to take it up to 11.
ETA: Last I checked, speculation on the Washington Post on the supposedly new tax cuts coming is that its Bush II x100, 10 year cuts that blow up Medicare, Social Security & the general fund. The only disagreement is between Republicans who think this is their best shot against Republicans who want a figurative fig leaf of program cuts to instead make it permanent.
Thru the Looking Glass...
@Adam L Silverman:
And of course, the shutdown will be the fault of Obama’s Deep State, just part of the ongoing assault undermining the Trump Presidency…
Baud
@TenguPhule: A tangent to my point. He threatened it and didn’t follow through. Could he do something later? Sure. But all indications are he is a coward and can’t stomach the blowback.
efgoldman
@TenguPhule:
Nope. There are lots of laws and rules requiring public notice, publication, action by other bodies (often, congress), little shit like that. He and his merry band will try, I’m sure, but there are battalions of lawyers just waiting….
TenguPhule
@Baud:
Or that he’s lazy and doesn’t actually bother to put in the effort when it involves more then minimum effort. But vetoes are literally one of the easiest things he can do. He got blowback on his Muslim ban too. He doubled down. He got blow back on accusing Obama, he doubled down there too. He’s gotten blowback on The ACA and he’s coming back again on it.
He’s a coward. But he’s a STUPID coward. And that’s what makes him so dangerous.
Adam L Silverman
@germy: I’ve got the quote and seen the clip. The Director for Regional Security testified, under oath, that the funding cut had nothing to do with the decision on how to allocate security for the Benghazi site. Moreover, Ambassador Stevens was cautioned by the Regional Security Officer not to go until they could staff up a proper Personal Security Detail for him. He overrode the concerns on his own authority and went anyway.
Cutting the security budget for State and then being blase about it and then beating President Obama and Secretary Clinton and a bunch of others up about what happened, when this type of thing does happen on a rare, but somewhat regular, basis is a dick move. But Chaffetz is no more responsible for what happened at Benghazi than President Obama or Secretary Clinton. He’s responsible for being a smarmy, self righteous, self important prick.
Baud
@TenguPhule: The veto is easy. The repercussions are not.
Anyway, you think he’ll follow through, and I don’t. He is unpredictable, so we’ll see which way he goes.
TenguPhule
@efgoldman:
Which he is systematically destroying. The problem is that almost all those assume good faith compliance by the executive branch. What people don’t know about (because staffers are given gag orders) they can’t fight against. Hell, Democrats in Congress are having problems getting responses on anything in government since Trump took over. And the Republicans don’t care.
Bex
@Steve in the ATL: Did you ever read “Jesus, My Father, the CIA and Me” by Ian Morgan Cron?
ET
Tim Kaine trolled Sessions and Trump. We’ll Don sir, we’ll done.
Thru the Looking Glass...
@TenguPhule:
Game, set, match…
And hasn’t this been the goal all along?
I’m waiting for them to trigger a massive government shutdown and declare the Fed bankrupt… then Donald the Professional Bankrupter will go to work, ‘bargaining down’ the country’s creditors which would be us in large part (seeing as nearly half of the national debt is owed to retirees, present & future)… so once he’s done getting everyone to settle for a dime on the dollar, yes, no more social security or Medicare…
These assholes need to be crushed like cockroaches before they fuck this country up beyond recognition…
efgoldman
@TenguPhule:
First, Granny Starver actually has to write a bill. No guarantee he can.
Then he’s got to persuade enough of his caucus, ALL of whom are running for re-election next year, that getting 75% of the country rioting in the streets over social security, medicare, etc in an election year is to their advantage.
Then the senate has to pass it. If it’s not a reconciliation bill (and it won’t be) it will be filibustered. Republiklown senators up for re-election won’t want it on their backs, either.
Yup. Sounds scary as hell. Political reality is something different.
Roger Moore
@TenguPhule:
They’re also a potential source of political theater, which he clearly loves. I can easily imagine him vetoing something just so he can have a veto ceremony where he lists his reasons for rejecting it.
TenguPhule
@Baud:
When, in his entire life, has Trump ever cared about repercussions of his actions before he does them?
Adam L Silverman
@efgoldman: I think 2009 was the last one, but don’t quote me. The real problem is that almost 3/4 of all the members of the GOP House Caucus were elected in 2010 or later. So none of them have ever done anything, and have no experience of or with or how to utilize regular order. The most they know how to do is crisis budget, posture, pontificate, investigate, and repeal the ACA 49 times. You are looking at a GOP House Caucus, in another election or two, that will be almost 100% elected beginning in 2010. There will be absolutely no GOP institutional knowledge on how to actually legislate.
Baud
@TenguPhule: No, those laws are still on the books.
Baud
@TenguPhule: Now this is just an Abbot and Costello routine. We’ll see what happens next week.
TenguPhule
@efgoldman: They’re already priming the pump with “Tax cuts pay for themselves”. It plays to their base, which means votes at home. It will get the Freedumb Caucus support because it hurts government funding. They can change the rules in the Senate (again) to simple majority votes on legislation.
Don’t consider it outside the realm of possibility simply because it seems insane at first glance. They’re completely nuts.
Roger Moore
@Adam L Silverman:
Which will match the level of GOP interest in legislating.
Gvg
@TenguPhule:
No they are the party that makes it not work.
efgoldman
@TenguPhule:
And where does it stand? Oh yeah, not in effect.
And where’s that gotten? There’s no new bill.
And who believes a word of it, except his stupid voters, who, if he said the moon was made of dog shit, would believe him.
He can do some real damage; but his own stupidity and incompetence, along with the fact that his party has forgotten how to govern, and can’t agree among themselves, will keep him from destroying things.
This is no evil genius. He ain’t Lex Luthor (although I’m sure he wants to be) or Hitler.
You are going along the same track with this bullshit as you do with your civil war fantasies.
TenguPhule
@Baud:
And mean nothing if not enforced. Its already happening. No Democrat in Congress is getting ANY reports from any Dept under Trump without going through a serious fight for it. And they are legally entitled to it.
Imagine what its going to take to get outside parties to see anything. The lawsuits have already been filed, but for now, there is no sunshine, only absolute darkness.
David Anderson
@efgoldman: HHS is actually getting staffed. Some good conservative wonky types at Tier 3 jobs who I know can count to twenty one fully clothed
TenguPhule
@efgoldman:
You’re missing the point, again.
Its not that its effective (its not), its that he does it anyway. He doesn’t CARE about the consequences of his actions because he doesn’t think about them before he does ANYTHING.
Which is why I’m saying he’s gonna veto any continuing resolution of funding.
Read what I’m saying instead of what you think I’ve said.
Baud
@TenguPhule: I have no idea what you’re talking about now. But it’s true that it’ll be up to private parties to enforce the law if HHS does anything to change the rules.
David Anderson
@Immanentize: fuck that I remember him from BOPNews… That was a strange crowd who went to find their own drummers
efgoldman
@TenguPhule:
If Yertle McTurtle wanted to do that, he would have. He needs the filibuster so the Dems can save him (and get blamed) from the worst excesses of the house. He didn’t realize that the house is now incapable of writing and passing any legislation more complicated than naming a post office or bridge, and maybe not even that.
schrodingers_cat
@David Anderson: I have a question for you, why was O care set up so that each state had its own exchange why not a National/Federal exchange instead, won’t that have been much better?
TenguPhule
@Baud:
Normally routine reports from various government departments are no longer being provided to Democratic members of Congress. A couple of stories have come up about this issue already, with reports that those working the departments have been ordered NOT to provide information to any inquires coming from a Democrat.
TenguPhule
@efgoldman:
He doesn’t need to pull that trigger any sooner then he has to. Just like he didn’t kill the SC fillibuster until he had to. He needs an actual fillibuster to be enacted to provide him with the excuse to kill it.
Baud
@TenguPhule: Gotcha. Those aren’t the laws I’m talking about. Those reports probably aren’t legally required but we’re provided because of Congress’s oversight responsibility.
TenguPhule
On a lighter note, what is the current Baud 2020 slogan?
Baud: When you’re in the hole America, Stop digging!
Another Scott
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: The Internet Archive has snapshots. E.g. from February 2008:
Sounds kinda typical outsider-y-progressive-y for the time to me – lots of people chased after Darcy (she was kinda the Wilmer of the time, it seems). But I haven’t kept up with him at all, and I never did more than glance at OpenLeft at the time.
YMMV.
Cheers,
Scott.
Jake the antisoshul soshulist
@trollhattan:
Kid Rock=Vanilla Ice with a redneck schtick. I saw an interview with him where he bragged about “hiring” interns to promote his act when he started out. The interviewer was quite impressed by that business acumen.
efgoldman
@Another Scott:
Why did you bury us in all those wasted pixels?
StringOnAStick
@Tarragon: The neurology practice can be super helpful if there’s a migraine specialist, at least it was for me. I’m someone who had them from puberty to menopause; now I get a rare visual aura event but no headache afterwards so time often changes this stuff.
For me the big trigger was excess sugar or other simple carbs, and coffee. Food causes are certainly worth investigation. I hope your wife finds a solution as soon as possible.
TenguPhule
@efgoldman: He wanted to spread the misery.
TenguPhule
@David Anderson: They have four sets of hands?
Alain the site fixer
@StringOnAStick: weather is a big trigger for me, the falling barometric pressure, to be precise.
StringOnAStick
@hovercraft: The first part of my comment was snark; I think Obama has deserved every award he’s gotten, including the Nobel. The fact that he got as Nobel drives wingnuts insane, hence my story in the other part of my comment about wingnuts still sending out emails with “alternative facts” bitching about it.
Every time Obama gets an award, I get yet another one of these crazy old wingnut uncle email forwards from my dad; that this upcoming award will be one of the first public appearances by Obama means another deluge of wingnuts butthurt is coming. I pray Obama has security just as good as he had as POTUS since the crazies are feeling emboldened lately.
(((CassandraLeo)))
@efgoldman:
True. Lex Luthor, at least, divested himself of his holdings when he was elected president. The shitgibbon is literally less ethical than a comic book villain.
@TenguPhule: I don’t think they’re foolish enough to do this, because it would mean McConnell would get blamed for legislation he doesn’t want to pass, but can’t stop fifty of his senators from voting for. The Republicans in general may be foolish and have lack a realistic perception of what actions would piss off their constituencies, but McConnell at least seems to grasp that there are certain boundaries that would harm his position as
HouseSenate Majority Leader, and maintaining that position (and increasing its power where possible) appears to be the only actual conviction he has.In other words, I actually sort of trust that McConnell’s borderline sociopathic self-interest may actually be of benefit to the rest of us here, because he’s insightful enough to recognise that if the GOP blows up the country completely, he’ll no longer be Majority Leader. He’s an evil piece of shit, but in this case, I think he may actually act as a check on the rest of the party, because he at least appears to be perceptive enough to recognise that he can’t overreach and still maintain power.
I suspect there may be a few other Senators left in the GOP who still possess enough insight to recognise some of this, as well.
I don’t think the passage of time will change any of these factors, either. As others have pointed out, the GOP House literally doesn’t understand how the process of legislation works or how to write it. The Senate doesn’t want pressure to pass every shit sandwich of a bill the House sends its way, and keeping the filibuster ensures that they won’t have to.
Adam: Thanks for your analysis of Chaffetz. Was waiting for that; figured you were probably busy with real life when it broke. If you’re still around, any comment on the Assange warrant from yesterday?
danielx
@TenguPhule:
Is this even a question?
efgoldman
@(((CassandraLeo))):
Thanks. I get tired of arguing with him – it wears me down.
amk
How a thread about the kenyan became about a mydd literally loony left moron? Thanks, Adam.
(((CassandraLeo)))
No problem. Thanks for pointing out the typo; I’ve fixed it. Tired and it’s finals week.
efgoldman
@danielx:
He ate chocolate cake. That’s always sane.
TenguPhule
@(((CassandraLeo))):
I hope you realize that’s an awfully thin thread to be hanging onto.
danielx
@(((CassandraLeo))):
I have to question whether there are any Republicans who even recognize the concept of overreach, at least until they get their clocks cleaned in an election or three. Granted that members of the Senate have at least some dim grasp of it, since they do not benefit from gerrymandered districts.
Although it does seem to be clear that McConnell (for one) has no clear convictions or goals other than maintaining and maximizing his own power.
danielx
@efgoldman:
Okay, but so does any two year old, so not setting a very high bar.
(((CassandraLeo)))
@TenguPhule: It is an extremely thin thread, yes. If McConnell gets replaced with someone so far in thrall to the right-wing puke funnel that they can’t recognise the possibility of their actions backfiring against them, then the whole country is very likely completely fucked. The fact that McConnell still recognises the political realities of our existing system may be the very reason it hasn’t been completely blown up yet. Ryan is too much of an ideologue to understand them, and the shitgibbon is too much of a Dunning-Kruger poster child to even be capable of being educated to see them (the guy literally bragged that he knew more about Daesh than our generals, after all).
Another Scott
@efgoldman: Nostalgia isn’t what it used to be.
;-)
Cheers,
Scott.
liberal
@StringOnAStick: come on. The Nobel was ridiculous.
(((CassandraLeo)))
@liberal: Have some perspective. Henry Kissinger’s Nobel was ridiculous. Obama’s was merely… a bit odd. I suspect he mostly got it for “not being Bush and not running on a belligerent foreign policy platform”, but there have been far worse recipients over the years.
jc
God, I would love to see Obama troll the shit out of Trump about those mysterious Top Secret tax returns that he’s too terrified to show us. America wants to know what you’re hiding, Mr. President.
Omnes Omnibus
@liberal: Saving the world from McCain/Palin was enough.
David Anderson
@schrodingers_cat: Ben Nelson wanted the states to have their own exchanges.
Another Scott
@(((CassandraLeo))): It was a bit early, but the citation pointed out legitimate reasons for him to get it:
FWIW.
Cheers,
Scott.
Mnemosyne
@schrodingers_cat:
IIRC, every country does it similarly. Canada’s is broken up by provinces. The NHS is actually 4 NHS’s: England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
It wouldn’t have been as much as a problem if that asshole John Roberts hadn’t decided that the Medicaid expansion had to be optional.
amk
@liberal: One doesn’t have to be “in office” to win a Nobel, dumbass.
StringOnAStick
@Mnemosyne: Well, my parents cut me out of their lives over politics many times so that’s why I don’t engage, plus the history of violence with him specifically.
They didn’t speak to me for 2 years after Obama’s reelection since that was obviously my fault. Authoritarians that also happen to be your parents is how you learn to walk on eggshells as a kid, and as soon as you stand up for yourself it gets ugly. Toss chronic alcohol abuse into the mix and it gets even worse, so no, I don’t confront my dad over his political crap – I’ve already spent plenty on therapy and I’m enjoying life now so why open up something that will never get better?
efgoldman
@David Anderson:
Does any health insurer write in all 50 states?
Lizzy L
@Mnemosyne:
@schrodingers_cat:
When Canada introduced its healthcare system, it did it province by province, not nationwide. That’s why going state-by-state to pass a single payer system in this country is not as insane as it sounds, especially when one of the principal states seriously working on it is California.
amk
Thanks, social media.
Miss Bianca
@germy: oohh…how reliable is the Palmer Report?
Asking for a friend, Hillary, who’s looking forward to sipping a martini and having a big, fat, juicy laugh with her schadenfreude…
rikyrah
@Roger Moore:
Nunes’ business partners ARE RUSSIANS WITH CLOSE TIES TO PUTIN
Mnemosyne
@StringOnAStick:
Honestly, you have way better reasons to cut them out of your life than politics. Politics is more like the rotting cherry on top of the shit sundae there. That was what my point was supposed to be — politics alone usually isn’t enough.
Fortunately for my family, my mom has her, um, quirks, but is not abusive, so I can just say, “Ma, can we not talk about this?” and get by.
Adam L Silverman
@Roger Moore: True.
Ruckus
@piratedan:
To be special would imply that he was one of a kind, or one of a few. Unless you were using it in a derogatory manner and you wouldn’t do that would you?
No, Matt is just an ordinary kind of stupid. One so ordinary that it’s very prevalent these days.
Steve in the ATL
@Bex:
No…checking Amazon now….
Sab
@Thru the Looking Glass…: Re Tax “Reform” all Trump’s plans focus on undoing everything that St Ronnie’s tax reform did, except for lowering the high end rates. Weird. Reagan had an undergrad economic degree, and was old enough to be pre-Keynsian. He probably agreed that Hoover was right on economic because he was out-of-date. Trump’s guys are planning to do tax reform without any underlying economic rationale. Just making stuff up to suit their own tax preferences.
Adam L Silverman
@David Anderson: 22 if they’re women…
(no need to be sexist)
Ruckus
@Tarragon:
Good luck. Migraines can be a pretty damn nasty.
efgoldman
@danielx:
Enough of them got a’skeert by the town meetings to bag ACA repeal. They didn’t do it out of the love in their hearts.
Adam L Silverman
@amk: You’re welcome. I think.
StringOnAStick
@Alain the site fixer: That’s what makes migraines so tricky, the triggers vary so much. I’ve known people who get one from strong perfume, aged cheese, the sulfites often found in salad bar offerings, you name it. Barometric pressure changes makes sense too; if I was on the edge of one then a drive up into the mountains would really get me. Menopause has its own issues, but curing my migraines was a gift!
Ruckus
@Mike J:
After laying out a nice big turd, he endorses. What a pal.
El Caganer
@efgoldman: I dunno…I usually blow out the candles, not fire off Tomahawk mlssiles, but YMMV.
Ruckus
@StringOnAStick:
@Alain the site fixer:
Some of the problem with knowing that one thing is a trigger is that a trigger can be be multiple things, in certain combinations. Cheese and crackers for example, while each separately may be OK, together is a problem. Or red wine is a trigger but white isn’t. Or the amount of a trigger substance. And then there is weather or flying, in which barometric pressure changes. And sometimes it’s how fast it changes not just the difference. And of course there are hormonal triggers. And then we go on to triggers can change, both being added and removed.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Mnemosyne:
My brother in law almost had to do that. She was going so batty my sister couldn’t take it any more. It wasn’t even she’s conservative, her husband is a conservative and we can talk politics with him, it’s she was off in loony land somewere.
Mnemosyne
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
If it was a sudden change, I would start to worry about early signs of dementia.
Though I still have to laugh at the commenter here who got tired of her elderly mother or grandmother’s Fox-fueled rants and removed Fox News from the cable channel lineup. She told her mom/grandma that the cable company had dropped Fox, and mom/grandma was like, “Oh, okay.” And became a lot less stressed and angry almost immediately.
Thru the Looking Glass...
@Sab:
Yup… I’m guessing they won’t get away w/ what they’d like to but that won’t stop them from trying… if they had their way, there’d be: no minimum wage, overtime, PTO, or paid holidays PERIOD, no labor unions, no environmental protections, no child labor laws, no national lands, no public education or a hell a lot less of it, and no abortions under ANY circumstances, amongst other things…
They’re currently getting closer and closer to the point where they can call a Constitutional convention and if they manage that, some of those ‘changes’ could end up in the Constitution… we DO NOT want that…
Chet Murthy
@ruemara: I used to read and respect NC. The problem seems to be, they don’t understand that here can be a stratification in evil-ness of billionaires. There’s that theory of Mancur Olson’s about static vs roving bandits. NC seems to believe all bandits are interchangeable. So sure, the Rs are basically burn-it-all-down and skedaddle, but the Dems are all extract-a-pound-of-flesh-while-the-patient-still-gets-to-live. Not a dime’s worth of difference!
Not that I’m excusing the Dems’ favorite oligarchs. But there’s still a difference.
ISTR when C- Augustus took over, many wags noted that it was a loss in influence for the “new economy” and a gain for the “old” (== old-style industry, fossil fuels, etc). I’m not politically sophisticated enough to ascribe the right names to these various forces. But sheesh, you’d think that people like Stoller *would* be thus sophisticated.
Chet Murthy
@El Caganer:
*cough* Uh, no. Seems right at par.
Chet Murthy
@Patricia Kayden: Uh …. I’m a guy, so maybe I shouldn’t step in, but still …. gonna do it. I have a number of siblings, all sisters. All woke. Yaknow, recently I understood how much of a sexist I was thru my entire adult life, including up to … 5yr ago. All that time, I thought I was a liberated guy, all feminist and all that. So recently, I mention to a sis that the things Dampnut sez make me cringe as a guy. She said something, I don’t recall what, but basically, it was “really? it only took this?”
I guess what I’m trying to say is: at least for my sisters, I’m sure they heard me say things over the years that made them cringe. Made. Them. Cringe. And they neither read me out of the family, nor blasted me to smithereens. Can I blame them for that? Not really.
P.S. I just -pray- that they’re not thinking that about things I say to them -now-. But who knows. Who knows.
P.P.S. Shorter: “uh, family is -so- complicated.”
jonas
@Adam L Silverman:
They would care about the mistress only if, say, he’s been using campaign funds to pay said mistress — or someone who knows about her — hush money or something. Think Dennis Hastert: he wasn’t sent up for molesting boys. He was sent up for lying about the purpose of large withdrawals he was making to pay hush money to boys he had molested.
Cain
@hovercraft: wasn’t he also indicted as an honorary member of a native indian tribe?