On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
Germany's Brandenburg Gate in 1939 vs. 2017.
Happy Hanukkah! pic.twitter.com/hxMuL2zU0b
— (((Yair Rosenberg))) (@Yair_Rosenberg) December 12, 2017
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What’s on the agenda, as we start an unexpectedly bright day?
***********
From the Washington Post:
Doug Jones’s odds-defying victory in Alabama — handing Democrats a vanishingly rare Senate win in the Deep South — scrambles President Trump’s legislative agenda for the coming year, threatens to heighten Republican infighting and sounds an alarm for the GOP’s prospects in November’s midterm elections.
Any dent in the two-seat advantage Republicans hold in the Senate would carry major governing consequences, but the loss of what had been considered one of the party’s safest seats carries a special sting for the GOP.
One consequence is Democrats’ much more plausible path to the Senate majority next year. The 2018 map was widely seen to favor Republicans, with 10 Democrats seeking reelection in states President Trump won last year and only two Republican seats clearly at risk…
Some Republicans view the Alabama seat once held by Attorney General Jeff Sessions as the first casualty in an internecine GOP battle that has pitted establishment Republicans personified by McConnell against populist insurgents led by former White House strategist Stephen K. Bannon.
“It should be a hurricane siren for every Republican,” said Josh Holmes, a former top aide to McConnell. “This is what the death of a party looks like, and without an immediate course correction and rejection of the Steve Bannon view of the world, you can lose races in states like Alabama.”…
Barring a new effort at bipartisan dealmaking that has been largely absent so far under the Trump administration, the GOP appears on track to head into the November midterms with only one major accomplishment to tout: a tax-cut bill that has polled poorly and delivers most of its direct benefit to corporations and the wealthy…
Father, who says he's a local peanut farmer in Wicksburg, outside Roy Moore rally talks about losing his gay daughter at age of 23 to suicide. "I was anti-gay myself. I said bad things to my daughter, which I regret." pic.twitter.com/J0oOU0EJI2
— Vaughn Hillyard (@VaughnHillyard) December 11, 2017
Just talked with Nathan Mathis, the father in this video. He says tonight: “Hopefully people in politics will stop using gay folk to bash them. The voters need to make them stop…People in Alabama are good people–very good people." https://t.co/LpxoVu2mnY
— Vaughn Hillyard (@VaughnHillyard) December 13, 2017
Mr Mathis, nothing will ever take away all your pain. But I hope tonight makes it hurt a little less.
— Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) December 13, 2017
TS
Morning Ho & 3 white guys/2 white women – discussing why Moore lost
No mention of who voted for Jones
Edit: Ah – it was the young voters in the college towns
satby
@TS: the line from Shakespeare has to be updated to: the first thing we do, let’s kill all the media pundits.
Chet
I’m excited about this win. And I don’t buy the argument that a Moore win would be better because it would give Dems a chance to run against him nationally in 2018. They still have Trump to run against, and his endorsement of Moore. And Jones will be a good, Democratic senator.
For my own part, classes are winding down and we’re getting ready for finals. Lots of panicked students and last-minute regrading.
Chet
@TS: Argh. So they’re not talking about the racial breakdown? That was a stark graphic being passed around last night.
Cermet
First, what a tragic occurrence for that father; so very glad he can share his pain and warn others, words matter.
So, when does Jones have to defend the seat? Certainly, his odds for re-winning it are very remote. Still, a nice pick up for now. Does demonstrate that the crazy factor does hurt the thugs.
Derelict
@Chet: THIS. Every Deocrat has to hang Roy Moore and Donald Trump around the neck of every Republican. Donald Trump, the most corrupt president in history and a proud serial sexual assaulter and sexual predator, is the GOP’s president and standard bearer–and he loudly endorsed a child molester and embezzler for United States Senate. THIS is what the GOP is, and every vote for a Republican is a vote endorsing child molestation, sexual assault, and stealing from the public.
rikyrah
Good Morning,Everyone ???
rikyrah
@Cermet:
2020 is when the election is again.
mike in dc
@Cermet: 2020. He’ll be rewarded with a Cabinet pick if he loses.
ThresherK
@satby: I thought that the WS line was a stab at the people whose idea that killing all the lawyers was actually constructive.
Cermet
@rikyrah: Yes, it is – finally! One sexual predator down, and one big orange fart cloud to go
@rikyrah: Also, thanks for the info
OzarkHillbilly
Damn. Just Damn. Is nothing sacred anymore? Ala-fucking-bama used to be one of the 2 places one could be absolutely certain of for sure fire shoot yourself in the face stupidity. Next thing you know they’ll elect a DEM governor of Mississippi.
OzarkHillbilly
@ThresherK: Well, it’s a start anyway. ;-)
Betty Cracker
Every single reporter who has ransacked flyover country to interview Trump voters this year should take their asses down to Alabama and interview black voters who turned out in droves to put Jones over the top.
raven
@TS: That’s fucking bullshit, go back under your rock.
Betty Cracker
Twitler’s already making self-serving excuses on Twitter this morning, which can only mean this loss stings badly.
Immanentize
And a good morning it is! We still can hang Roy Moore around the neck of every Republican who didn’t specifically call for him to step down. It is the whole of the GOP that is the party of molesters. That is how this works. Did they stop talking about Hillary after she lost? Damn, Trump posted about her yesterday!
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Betty Cracker: Twitler should keep in mind that excuses only satisfy the giver.
bystander
One MSNBC reporter was discussing the great turnout among African-Americans. Heidi P. waxes about the purity and beauty of Millenials, but I don’t know what empirical data she has except there are more of them by virtue of time.
Schlemazel
@Cermet:
2020, the same year Franken’s seat will be up for grabs
gene108
@Betty Cracker:
Pish-posh, when have the views of non-conservative whites been a reason to do anything in this country?
I mean, if blacks, liberals, etc wanted to be taken seriously by the media, they would become white conservative Christians.
NotMax
@BillinGlendaleCA
A little something for you dropped into in the Early Morning thread.
Schlemazel
@ThresherK:
The conspiritors are planning for how they can solidify their coup. Killing the lawyers is not a good thing but the quote is taken out of context
?BillinGlendaleCA
@NotMax: I saw it and just replied. Actually the Zoo is less than a mile from here, though there’s a freeway(I-5) and the mighty LA River between there and here.
TS
@raven:
No idea how to answer this one – other folks understood who said what – why not READ before you abuse the messenger
bystander
@Immanentize:
And the ones who changed their minds like the odious Mitch McConnell.
“Deck the halls/With Roy Moore’s undies/Falalalala Lalalala”
TS
@Chet:
They may have after I tuned out – but I didn’t hear it – I left when they were comparing the Alabama loss to Scott Brown’s senate win
OzarkHillbilly
@Immanentize: Well, KIllary IS the greatest monster to ever trod the earth since Godzilla.
debbie
As a few people have posted on FB, what a lovely present for First Night! Good Yontov to us all!
p.a.
Good morning. If the Rethugs manage to pass some version of the tax giveaway, might establishment Rethugs (spellchecker capitalizes that for me!) try to oust tRump (25th Amend or whatev) as an obvious electoral anchor? Would love to see the well dressed fascists vs the MAGA-hat beat up pickup fascists in open warfare.
NotMax
Pillow talk chez Moore.
“I told you to contact Christine O’Donnell and have her cast a spell, but no-o-o-….”
Kay
@gene108:
I hope they interview religious AA voters in Alabama and we can really delve into why their version of Christianity seems to have higher standards than the white people version. They somehow manage to square “being religious” with “not voting for child molesters”.
And he is a child molester. This victim narrative could easily be in a charging document. There are people serving long prison sentences for stuff like this:
14 years old.
debbie
@Betty Cracker:
He knows no loyalty. It must be getting very crowded underneath that bus.
d58826
Victory is sweet but it was a near run thing. It is still depressing the number of Americans, esp. white Americans, willing to vote for an accused pedophile and to continue to support a serial groper.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@OzarkHillbilly: This is untrue, KILLary is much worse than Godzilla.
Matt McIrvin
@TS: Scott Brown’s Senate win was the Bizarro World version of this. Low turnout, super-white turnout, and the biggest jerk won in a super blue state.
NorthLeft12
Mr. Jones, or should I say Senator Jones, has an opportunity to show Alabama what a good Senator looks like. Over the next two years he may dispel some of the negative stereotype that liberals and Dems have in Alabama enough that re-election is a possibility. And yes, I know that the stereotype is primarily constructed of GOP propaganda.
At least he should be able to energize the Dem base enough that the election should be competitive. This is a chance, nothing more, nothing less.
JR
Fezzik, you did something right.
rikyrah
Mr Mathis made me cry ??
rikyrah
Turnout matters. Turnout made the margin outside of a recount, which they were prepared to steal.
Kay
There was a white (self identified) conservative Alabama journalist on cable last night who said that Jones’ not waffling on abortion rights lost the race for him. She said this with so much smug certainty that I turned it off. I wonder if she’ll ever be asked about that. So much of political journalism is limited to what white people think. Once you see it you can’t unsee it- you think “well, that;s true for white voters”. Mentally add “white” to “religious voters” in the same way you can add “white” to “working class voters” in political commentary and it’s more accurate.
Jeffro
@Chet:
I keep mulling over the fact that 52% of college-educated white women voted for the pedophile who wants to take away their right to vote. (62% of college-educated white men too)
Then I realize, even higher %s of non-college-educated whites voted for the pedophile…and THEN I realize, no level of education (or lack thereof) excuses voting for a pedophile who got himself kicked off of the Alabama Supreme Court TWICE for not following the law.
Fucking get with the program, my fellow white people. Fucking. Get. With It.
MattF
@NotMax: Every time someone refers to Mrs. Moore, I think of the video of her wearing the crucifix earings. So weird.
OzarkHillbilly
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Naaawwwww. Godzilla destroyed Tokyo (or was that the US Army Air Corps?) Killary just destroyed the Republican party.
satby
It’s happy news to wake up to, I was abstaining from all news last night, including here because I didn’t have the energy to deal if Moore win.
Other happy news, my foster cat found starving in a filthy, disgusting home abandoned by hoarders is being adopted by a lovely family! Though his place in our rescue has already been filled by a 3 kitten litter thrown out of a moving car, one of them sustained terrible hip and leg fractures. I will never understand how some people can be so vile.
debbie
And Assange has waded in with these winners:
The second tweet includes a badly executed Photoshopped picture of Obama pinning an award on the murderer. You’d think Russia had better artists.
OzarkHillbilly
@satby:
notsobrightbart and gatewaytohellpundit can be educational.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
Yunno who gets some hope out of this race? McCaskill here in Misery. She’s the last Dem to run for a statewide, federal office against someone who was considered an outlier in the modern GOP (I didn’t consider him an outlier, he just opened his mouth and said “inside words”, but I digress). If Moore had won, that would tell her next year the Misery GOP could nominate another Akin and she’d be toast.
Of course this might also show the Goopers here that they’d better nominate somebody who doesn’t use “inside words” in the hopes of ousting her.
Kay
“Educated” is a bad marker on character and ethics. My God, look at the list of high profile sexual harassers. Do they lack formal education? Degrees? High standardized test scores? Of course not. They’re “educated” out the wazoo. They’re educated sleasebags. What they lack they can’t remedy with a credential. I don’t think we should conflate “educated” with “decent human being” as much as we do- there isn’t a shred of evidence that it’s in any way true.
Worse, level of education is often correlated with income so by making this connection between “decent person” and “educated person” we end up correlating “higher income” with “good” and that’s how we ended up in this mess to begin with. Break that up.
bemused
@NorthLeft12:
Sen Cory Gardner said Moore was unfit to serve but Jones should vote with Senate GOP.
We should be encouraged by Jones win and the previous amazing wins by Dems in local Virginia races. I am and hoping the trend back to decency and sanity will be even stronger by 2018 elections. A long hard slog to get our democracy back but I have to believe it will happen.
hueyplong
Though posted several times last night, this should be said at least once in each and every thread today:
The KKKeebler Elf’s seat will now be occupied by a guy who famously, successfully prosecuted Klansmen.
Suck it, Sessions. Arc of History, you small fecal pile.
Thanks to the Black Belt. Thanks to the larger cities. Thanks to the college towns. Thanks for your perseverance, to all who have cast votes in lost statewide Alabama elections so many times. Resistance might not be futile after all.
bemused
@Betty Cracker:
This!
rikyrah
@satby:
You are good people, satby ?
Immanentize
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Ah, the Ultimate Showown of Ultimate Destiny!
Kay
Bannon does this. Bannon thinks he’s a better person because he went to Harvard. He thinks Scarborough is a worse person because he went to the University of Alabama. Trump does it too. He brags about where he went to school, as if that’s some measure of overall worth.
They’re all terrible people. They’d still be terrible people with either a high school diploma or a graduate degree. Credentials measure certain specific things and NONE of those things necessarily equal “good person”.
satby
@rikyrah: it is a good morning! ?
@Kay: we should dispute the whole notion of “good people making bad choices” entirely. You are not a good person if you reflexively vote for the party whose policies and goals are intended to hurt people other than you.
JMG
Remember, it was as much low turnout for Moore as high turnout for Jones that swung the election. Don’t take the exit polls as gospel on how white Alabamians feel because they don’t measure stay-at-homes. Were those people just unable to hack Moore, demoralized by Trump or what? It’s a question the press ought to answer but seldom does, the “why didn’t you vote?” story.
satby
@OzarkHillbilly: oh, I see them IRL all the time. I just don’t understand that level of damage.
Amir Khalid
@satby:
It appears autocorrect has played some kind of trick on you.
schlemazel
MPR just made a HUGE announcement!!! Gov. Dayton is going to appoint his Lt. Gov, Tina Smith, to fill Franken’s seat. They seemed breathlessly surprised which is odd given this is exactly what he said he would a week or two ago.
The rumor is now she has changed her mind & will run again next fall. That bodes better than her original seat warmer only policy for the Dems to keep the seat. To me the issue is she is a blank slate even though I am involved in state politics. We don’t need a second empty suit from MN in the Senate even though that would be better than any Republican
satby
@rikyrah: oh, so many other people are much nicer ?, but thanks!
bemused
@Cermet:
It makes me sick thinking of all the suffering endured by Mr Mathis and other broken families that might not have happened if they weren’t in thrall to phony religious cults.
debbie
Because of the weather, I’ll be working from home and will be listening to hear if Glenn Beck cries tears of RWNJ misery.
OzarkHillbilly
Hubris, thy is a Republican: They are certain sure they know what god wants, that they are his true servants in a war against godless hedonism even as they do everything the bible excoriates, and when they are rewarded for their behavior with an electoral loss, they are certain that what the voters are telling them, they don’t really mean.
I am not going to disabuse them of these notions.
Peale
@Kay: yep. We do this thing where we put our heads in the sand when it comes to the existence of racism amongst educated people. It doesn’t really exist, you see. It couldn’t possibly exist. It’s supposed to be a marker of being uneducated. So someone like the Mercer or Koch, who fund all of these racist groups, are supposed to only be doing so because they want to rile up the white masses to elect people who’ll give them a tax cut. They are only instrumentally racist. Because we for some reason can’t imagine that educated, wealthy people can’t be stone-cold racists.
satby
@JMG: I agree! In a very high profile election, with stark choices and high stakes, turnout was considered amazing at roughly 39%. That’s not amazing, that’s appalling in a democracy that needs to get back to functionality. This time it helped us, but: Why are so many citizens disinclined to vote?
satby
@Amir Khalid: fixed it. Yes, my Kindle hates me.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Kay:
I no longer use the phrase “voting against their interests” for people of Appalachia, the Rust Belt and the South. They’re voting their interests – trading off better living standards in order to be shitty to “others”.
Skepticat
@ThresherK: Glad you mentioned that, as I was wondering about my muddy memory. I think I’d learned it was supposed to mean that if you killed the lawyers, it would disrupt society and you’d have a clear field because the lawyers wouldn’t be there to protect people and justice.
MattF
@OzarkHillbilly: I guess Gardner assumes that godless Democrats are in it for the grift. ‘Policy’ is for loozers.
satby
@debbie: he’s not even pretending any more.
SFAW
@satby:
I’m considering translating part of that into Latin, making it my nym/nom.
[Waves at Villago.]
satby
@schlemazel: a blank slate vs a strong progressive voice. Oh well, at least we have our virtue to comfort us.
Cheryl Rofer
This is a really good thread. The Republican Party is broken, for many reasons. When you’re broken, you make bad decisions. I’ll post the first few tweets, and you can check out the rest. The important point is that Republican operatives made bad decisions all the way down the line. Bad political decisions, even if you exclude morality. Which you can’t really do, because it’s a factor in voters’ reactions.
JPL
@rikyrah: Hopefully he realizes that he helped get out the vote for Jones.
satby
@SFAW: yeah, I think some people just missed the point of the comment (which wasn’t at all about Shakespeare’s meaning of the line).
OzarkHillbilly
I know everyone wants to make this all about the pedophile who was running for the US Senate seat being unacceptable to the voters of Alabama but I do wonder. I wonder if maybe, just maybe, it was really about DEM voters being totally and completely pissed off about the direction of a GOP without a halter or muzzle and now not letting anything stop them from voting, and in the wake of these tax votes GOP voters are coming to the realization that the GOP really does hate them and while they still can’t bring themselves to vote for a DEM, they can no longer bring themselves to vote for a GOP either.
It’s a thought anyway.
Ken
@debbie: In the old days, one of the poll workers would have slapped Assange across the face and challenged him to a duel for impugning his honesty.
Cheryl Rofer
@OzarkHillbilly: 22,000 write-in votes say there is something to your theory.
satby
O.T. But, did anyone who ordered something have trouble using the special Balloon Juice coupon codes? Message me at the shop if you did.
NotMax
@satby
(whispers furtively) Feed it some chocolate.
;)
debbie
@Cheryl Rofer:
More likely, they were never the geniuses they believed they were. How could they be expected to make good decisions?
satby
@OzarkHillbilly: @Cheryl Rofer: I wouldn’t doubt that either.
OzarkHillbilly
@Peale:
I always say, does it make difference?
MattF
@Cheryl Rofer: Also, pretty much every actor in the mix had to change course sometime between the deciding what to do and the election. So, at each decision point and finally, there was only a ‘use a chain saw’ option that didn’t work.
debbie
@Cheryl Rofer:
Even better — I just realized all those tweets were the day before the election!
MattF
@OzarkHillbilly: Also, I just wonder what, exactly, people mean when they say they’re not racist. My current hypothesis is that they’re saying they don’t routinely use the N-word.
debbie
Ha! From David Wright @ CNN:
zhena gogolia
I went to bed resigned to a Moore win and a pedophile in the Senate. How great to wake up to Jones’s victory! Yay!
zhena gogolia
@OzarkHillbilly:
hahahaha
Tell that to Merrick Garland
satby
Holy shit: USA Today editorial
Edited to include: ” A president who’d all but call a senator a whore is unfit to clean toilets in Obama’s presidential library or to shine George W. Bush’s shoes: Our view”
debbie
More from Burns:
Of course they will!
LurkerNoLonger
@debbie: Fuck that albino troll. His comeuppance will be oh so satisfying.
germy
@Jeffro:
I watched a bit of the CBS Morning No Charlie Rose Show, and Norah O’Donnell said it was women who were responsible for Jones’ win.
There’s always a big disconnect between what I read online and what I see on network news.
debbie
@satby:
What a great lede!!!!!
debbie
@Jeffro:
Really? You can’t hold off on your gloom for even a moment?
ETA: Edited for prepositional misuse.
NorthLeft12
The voting breakdowns that I have seen indicate that the racist, homophobic, and bigoted child molester received solid majorities from white voters. Men, women, educated or not. The African Americans of Alabama voted overwhelmingly for Mr. Jones. I saw 98% of black women and 93% of black men voted for Mr. Jones.
And they did this while persevering through state organized efforts to discourage and prevent them from voting.
If anyone needs a lesson in courage, faith, and trust in democracy they should be asking the African Americans of Alabama. I won’t hold my breath waiting for the mainstream media to bite.
NotMax
FYI, Alabama governor Ivey (R) is up for election* in 2018. Currently 6 additional Rs also announced as running for gov as well. Ought to be a knock down, drag out primary.
*Not re-election as she became governor this past April when Bentley resigned.
OzarkHillbilly
Supportive of my musings above:
Jeffro
@OzarkHillbilly: I just saw that and I still haven’t stopped laughing. YES, to truly represent Alabama, Jones should…vote as if he were from the other party. Oh my…
Waldo
That God and pony show couldn’t have ended better! So long cosplay cowboy. Hello rodeo clown.
Jeffro
@debbie: What gloom? I’m psyched for the future – this is very encouraging!
Fester Addams
@MattF:
My impression is that they mean “my prejudicial ideals about those people are correct and justified by their inherent inferiority and habitual misbehavior.”
Jeffro
@satby:
Intriguing, isn’t it? That some foreign wackaloon who had nothing…oh no, absolutely nothing, no interest, no dog in the fight…to do with last year’s election feels the need to weigh in on an off-year senatorial election?
OzarkHillbilly
@Jeffro: Yep, because only THEY know what Alabama voters truly want.
Chyron HR
When will J.D. Vance come out with his next bestseller, “Pedophile Elegy”?
Jeffro
@satby: Did the editorial come with a pic of an atomic bomb explosion? Because that is just what it is.
Jeffro
@germy:
That’s aggravating. It was NON-white women who made the difference here. Jesus, anything but the obvious, eh mainstream news? Next thing, we’ll be hearing about a special strain of ‘economic anxiety’ specific to Alabama…
schlemazel
@MattF:
They don’t use the n word around people of color, they admit that there are some good ones, they have never whipped or lynched a black person, they know a black person at work & have even spoken to them on occasion.
There may be others but I think that about covers it
Immanentize
@Fester Addams:. I think you are right. Not racist to many means they are just reporting their (imagined) experiences. In other words, they really really want to say, “I just am calling a spade a spade.”. Friggin crackers (sorry, Betty).
Amir Khalid
@Peale:
When an act has predictable racist consequences, like supporting racist politicians does, as far as I’m concerned that proves the actor is racist. Hard to see how being a willing instrument of racists is different from being racist oneself.
bemused
@debbie:
They believe they can get their way, always, by any amoral, illegal, corrupt means they can get away with.
Two year old dictators.
hugely
@Jeffro: Im here Jeffro, just maybe so pale you dont notice :)
gvg
@Kay: Education is a marker of certain things that often impact elections. The poor who don’t have any college often vote in ways that are against their economic self interests, by tribe, and this is hard to understand if you are “educated”. So puzzled college onlookers have learned to check that in polling. the self interests AND the tribe are not in conflict for minorities which is why they routinely vote “smart”. since their votes are not WTF puzzling, they don’t get analyzed as much.
Education (college) exposes people to other peoples point of view and tends to liberalize them. this means they are a bit more tolerant than however they grew up so don’t expect Alabama college educated to be the same as California college educated. Also that is a measure of average. There are still some real bad people who are college educated and some that are better than average.
Educated also means that they have been taught to be wiser about SOME types of fraud or false stories.
Since the current um moral dilemma of society for several decades has revolved around racism, and education has been specifically useful at building tolerism its possible we do sometimes conflate education with morality but I don’t think they are the same.
Also I wonder how we get at misogyny? Its been disturbing to me to see so many women voting against their interests as I perceive them even if they are educated. I guess I need to remember that colleges and schools didn’t used to be anti racist. It happened over time.
SRW1
@debbie:
Warning: Parody account! Says so right under the photo of Assange.
ET
Well now USAToday tell us how you really feel:
Take that!
MattF
@ET: Interesting to see USA Today jump into the deep end. And interesting to see what prompted it.
Steve in the ATL
@satby: @satby: remember that “first, we kill all the lawyers” was instructions on how to overthrow a government, not a guide to happier living.
ETA: late to the party. I see that my noble profession has already been defended.
debbie
@SRW1:
Bastards!
satby
@Amir Khalid: that’s what I meant above at #56, but you’ve said it better.
debbie
@Jeffro:
I apologize for misreading your post.
satby
@Steve in the ATL: gah! I used the quote as a vehicle to talk about the useless misinforming media pundits, not lawyers!
? Baud would have got it.
Steve in the ATL
@gvg:
Most of that that I see is driven by the evangelical church—women are expected to defer to men at all times.
Immanentize
I have some significant Alabama experiences (lived in Montgomery, deposed Klan members, drank beer at Hank Wiliams’ grave on his birthday, ate at Jake’s Fish Camp, etc.) And feel some love and kinship with the state. But I am still amazed by the results! Amazed and a little shell- shocked but in a good way.
hueyplong
@ET: Pretty sure USA Today isn’t exactly The Daily Worker.
OzarkHillbilly
@satby: Don’t worry, disparaging lawyers never goes out of style. Even lawyers do it.
Immanentize
@ET: And USA Today is pretty much delivered to every hotel guest in America.
Immanentize
@OzarkHillbilly: That’s because we know enough to know when lawyer bashin is warranted. Answer — more than rarely less than always.
OzarkHillbilly
@Steve in the ATL: Not just Evangelicals.
ETA not enuf coffee.
satby
@Immanentize: and during the week most of them are traveling for business. This is another sign of the Republican schism. Happy ? dance ?
Jeffro
@debbie: Oh no worries here – I completely get the interpretation! I’m actually pretty optimistic (so much so that I sometimes get knocked for that, lol)
Immanentize
@satby: I like the Happy Dance!
Steve in the ATL
@MattF:
Their black maid is “almost like part of the family”
Steve in the ATL
@OzarkHillbilly:
I’m pretty awesome but fuck that Omnes guy!
gene108
@NorthLeft12:
Alabama (and Mississippi) have large African-American populations. What thwarts Democrats is something like 90% of whit epeople vote Republican.
Depress or peel off white voters, so the Republicans get say 75% or less of the white vote and Democrats have a shot in those states.
Alabama and Mississippi are much more likely to send a Democrat to D.C. than states like Utah, Wyoming or Idaho.
If younger white voters in AL and MS are more likely to vote for Democrats, those states could start to be competitive.
OzarkHillbilly
@Steve in the ATL: All my lawyer friends say exactly the same!
Captain C
@debbie: Someone should tweet back wondering why Assange keeps supporting pedos and rapists.
Jeff
@Cermet: 2020
bluefoot
@Kay: I wish I could take this comment out to dinner and buy it a nice bottle of wine. I’ve known many well-educated people who were harassers or were bigoted. Just like people who are shocked wealthy suburbs can be racist, people who think educated people are less likely to be harassers need to pay attention to what’s going on around them.
germy
@Captain C: Out of curiosity I checked greenwald’s twitter account.
Not a whisper about the Alabama election. He really doesn’t care.
Jack the Second
@MattF: … in front of black people.
Amir Khalid
@satby:
I don’t follow The Donald on Twitter. But I expect to hear of some colourful responses.from him.
Amir Khalid
@Kay:
Donald Trump brags about inheriting good genes from his uncle John, the scientist. Is this typical Donaldian illogic, or is there something in the Trump family history that we should know about?
Steve in the ATL
@Amir Khalid: on an unrelated note*, real men can tune their guitars by ear
*no pun intended
Amir Khalid
@Steve in the ATL:
Sadly, my ears cannot grip a tuning peg.
jonas
@Betty Cracker: Tomorrow’s NYT headline: “How do white evangelicals feel about their defeat?”
schrodingers_cat
@Betty Cracker: They won’t because unless you vote R you are invisible to them.
LanceThruster
Re: Alabama win.
Tokyokie
@Amir Khalid: I think there is crucial distinction. Some people are racist because they’re ignorant, but they will, of course, support racist policies. On the other hand, some people will support policies that will have racist results because they are not among those who will be negatively affected and because it’s politically expedient to do so. The former are merely stupid, but the latter are corrupt and evil.
the_antibob
@rikyrah: Yes. One of the saddest clips I’ve ever seen… I had to watch Roy Moore riding that horse like a Big Wheel tricycle again, just so I could get back to work.
Amir Khalid
@Tokyokie:
Is there an important distinction between the ignorant racist and the knowing racist with an agenda? If one of the former willingly goes along with the latter, and so many of them do, there’s no difference in consequences; so I don’t see how an ignorant dupe of racists with an agenda is less bad than the people duping him.
Jeffro
@jonas:
Just once, could they ask, “How do religious black folks feel about their WIN?”
ruemara
@debbie: What the fuck?! Horrible, racist crap. Fuck anyone who still respects Assange.
@OzarkHillbilly: Black folks can do both.
Folks, the Mercers and the Kochs are classist, facists but most of all, hardcore racists with billions. It’s not hard to accept that.
I feel for Mr. Mathis. It hurts to lose a child, much less to lose one to suicide and know that you aided and abetted by not accepting that she was gay. I’m glad he found his voice and his penance.
Annie
@MattF:
They haven’t personally lynched anybody.
The Lodger
@OzarkHillbilly: I suspect Senator Doug Jones will vote according to the wishes of the people who elected him. Hell, the Republicans in Congress aren’t even doing that anymore. (Just take a look at the level of constituent support for the tax bill.)
monobrand
That’s hopeful.