Mitch McConnell’s most famous felony — Grand Theft, Supreme Court Seat — sure is paying off, and the nasty old senatortoise’s social media team openly gloated about it by posting the photo below in response to a spate of crappy SCOTUS rulings that came out today.
5-4 rulings featuring Gorsuch in the majority are piling up.
Trump travel ban✔️
Voter roll purges✔️
CA pregnancy law❌
Gerrymandering✔️
Arbitration✔️ https://t.co/PeoPQnI1sD— Steven Dennis (@StevenTDennis) June 26, 2018
If McConnell were a Democrat, ten thousand earnest wankers would scold him for motivating turnout in the opposing party and violating the sacred rules of comity and decorum. But he’s a Republican, so he gets called a genius for subverting the U.S. Constitution, and his wife gets a plum grift perch in the Trump Cabinet of Corrupticons.
Some folks on Twitter are calling this the Sarandon Court. Fair enough.
Open thread.
* H/T to Rick Overton on Twitter.
kindness
I don’t really have a desire or need to smack around Bernie Bros any more. That is unless they start up their bullshit again.
We are quickly reaching a point where someone is going to shoot someone important. That is Trump’s endgame. That is what Trump needs to try to do exactly what Hitler did.
Yarrow
I’m curious about Gorsuch’s background. What illegal and immoral things has he been involved in? Has he visited Russia? Have Russians visited him? How about China? Is he in the Koch-sphere or Mercer-sphere? Who owns him?
TriassicSands
Repeated from previous thread —
— Betty
Not only will “our” government not help us, it is actively working against us. With the full support of five, corrupt, and thoroughly agenda-driven members of the SCOTUS, the government is doing everything it can to subvert democracy and turn this country into a one-party theocratic banana republic.
Led by religious zealots Gorsuch and Alito and lunatic Clarence Thomas, the Court is dismantling the separation of Church and State. Their racial and religious bigotry are now driving the Court’s social issue decisions. A woman’s right to control her body, never adequate, is now fully at risk. As soon as Kennedy retires, Roe v. Wade should be overturned and back alley abortions will be the only choice for moderate to low income women. The rich, including those who have supported anti-choice candidates, will simply find care elsewhere — a minor annoyance.
If stupid and ignorant voters who should be voting Democratic continue to fail as responsible citizens, they will bear full responsibility for the destruction of our country. Our responsibility is to do everything we can to get every American who should be voting for Democrats to not only vote, but also to get their friends and relatives to vote. Ignorance and apathy are our biggest enemies right up there with the Republican Party, Trump, and the five right wing SCOTUS justices. The problem is we can’t do anything about the fascists until we get our side to vote.
JPL
@Yarrow: He’s his mother’s son.
JPL
Why wouldn’t the ruling against the California law requiring information on safe abortion, open the door to other service providers.
Chyron HR
Well, to be fair, he clearly didn’t.
Ohio Mom
I recognized all but “CA pregnancy law” so I had to do some googling. Apparently, California had a law that so-called crisis pregnancy centers had to post signs announcing that birth control, prenatal care, abortion and other women’s health services are available at little or no cost.
The Supreme Court just freed them from that onerous responsibility.
What is it that commentator Scott sometimes says — we have to fight them everyday.
JPL
https://twitter.com/jbarro/status/1011613330786717697
ruemara
Obligatory fuck Susan Sarandon.
@kindness: They’ve been on their bullshit for a while.
germy
@Yarrow:
Whenever LawyersGuns&Money blog does a supreme court thread, they post a photo from his young republican college days. Grinning and holding “Up From Liberalism” (that fine book by that upstanding conservative gentleman).
Tilda Swintons Bald Cap
@JPL: Ha, ha, No.
Mnemosyne
So I guess today is my day to be seethingly angry at all of the assholes who decided that their personal fee-fees about Hillary Clinton were more important than the fucking Supreme Court.
I will never forgive them. Never.
SenyorDave
Has anyone asked Jill Stein about this? I’m sure she could tell us how Hillary as POTUS would have been far worse than “el fuckin moron” (this is what my 88 year old mother calls Trump – it literally was the first time I had ever heard her use the f word).
Yarrow
@germy: I’m aware of that. I’m more curious about the stuff that didn’t get reported. Just like our feckless media decided the Russian influence in our elections was a non-story, I have no confidence they would have looked into who Gorsuch is beholden to.
delk
From one of trump’s gloat tweets:
However, we do not need to properly vet those coming into your administration.
Patricia Kayden
A dark day for America when religious bigotry is sanctioned by the courts. Today, the targets of discrimination are Muslims. Who knows who it will be tomorrow.
Steeplejack
To be clear about the tweets at the top, Steven Dennis is a Bloomberg reporter retweeting the McConnell picture. At first glance I wondered why McConnell’s social media team would be so careless as to use the word “gerrymandering.”
germy
@Steeplejack: Yes, or “voter roll purges”
Ceci n est pas mon nym
OK, with that I just reached bad news saturation. I love this place, but I’m going into a Deplorables Blackout for the rest of the day. See you jackals on the other side.
SiubhanDuinne
@Yarrow:
Well, the Mercers give a fuckton of money to the Federalist Society and the Heritage Foundation, which short-listed Gorsuch and a few other names — but so too did “reclusive billionaire” Philip F. Anschutz (Google link to a March 2017 NYT article):
The Ancient Randonneur
Justice Sotomayor is not happy.
Bruce K
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: I get where you’re coming from. I’m starting to have visions of Administration officials, traffic lights down Pennsylvania Avenue, and piano-wire nooses, which is probably a sign I need to step away for a while.
The Ancient Randonneur
@The Ancient Randonneur: hhhhhmmmmmmmm most my comment disappeared.
Brickley Paiste
Yep, those Supreme Court seats can really be important, can’t they?
Seems that Democrats/liberals/non-crazy people should do everything possible to ensure that there are as many people like them on the court for as long as possible.
germy
@The Ancient Randonneur: My comments disappear, then I reload the page and they reappear.
PPCLI
@Tilda Swintons Bald Cap:
@JPL:
I expect that there will be lawsuits making exactly that case from red-state physicians. I look forward to finding out what bullshit rationale the Court majority uses to distinguish the CA case from those forced-speech cases. Perhaps it will be “No, these two things are completely different. Requiring non-medical “Crisis Pregnancy Centers” to give their visitors true medical information that the Centers make efforts to conceal is absolutely unacceptable. In the [Insert red state here] law, physicians are forced to convey demonstrably false claims to their patients, and that’s 100% OK.
Mnemosyne
@JPL:
The various lawyers who comment on LGM are wondering if that ruling puts ALL consumer warnings at risk, not just the “crisis pregnancy center” ones. After all, if people purporting to provide medical services are not required to alert people that they don’t actually provide medical services, then why should drug companies have to put warnings on their labels? It’s all about buyer beware, y’all.
Ugh. I may have to do as Ceci just said and take a break for a few days. This shit is really getting to me.
efgoldman
Looks as if nyms are sticking so far today
We’ll see
Steve in the STL
@germy: did you take the brown acid?
Steve in the STL
@Mnemosyne: think how this feels to lawyers! The law is now simply extreme right wing political preferences.
Chyron HR
@Brickley Paiste:
When you spent the entirety of 2016 demanding “Bernie or Bust”, what exactly did you think “bust” would entail?
Neldob
Why does it seem like everyone just rolled over when M McC stymied Obama’s time to nominate? And now they are packing other courts. What to do when letter writing, voting and sending money doesn’t seem like enough?
Mnemosyne
@Brickley Paiste:
Poor baby, there hasn’t been a high-casualty mass shooting for you in weeks! You must be so sexually frustrated right now since you depend on those for your wanking material.
There there. I’m sure that 10 or more people will be shot to death any day now, and then you’ll be happy again.
Tenar Arha
Today I somehow cannot stop thinking of the verdict scene in Judgement at Nuremberg. We’re still at the stage where judges who should know better are rationalizing their cruelty. My fervent hope is that someday these same judges will be held to account. https://youtu.be/N3BwK51YFgQ
M4
@Mnemosyne: maybe it’ll at least get rid of California’s stupid everything-causes-cancer law.
PPCLI
@PPCLI: The site wouldn’t let me save this revision to the original comment:
ETA: Ah, I see the Court beat me to it. Forcing physicians to give demonstrably false information is all about “informed consent” and so is OK, apparently.
schrodingers_cat
@Mnemosyne: Me too. It is affecting me physically. I convinced my husband not to take up an academic position at one of India’s premier national labs back when Obama was President. Now I am wondering if that was a smart move.
Brooklyn Dodger
@SenyorDave: el fuckin moron – that’s beautiful, that’s something my dad would have said if we were fortunate to still have him around.
hrumpole
IF it turns out that there was Russian collusion with the Trump campaign (cough), and if it turns out that McConnell and leadership was part of that collusion, then why is Gorsuch’s impeachment off the table? If those things are true, then he’s a cyanide berry from an arsenic bush.
opiejeanne
@Mnemosyne: I’ve been at a slow-boil most of the past 18 months and now I need to find some distraction because of these rulings.
About a month ago we had a conversation with a fast food employee, a woman in her 60s, who overheard our conversation about politics and came over to talk to us. She said she didn’t vote because it didn’t make any difference, there was no point in voting. We both explained why voting was important and she said, “Well, I can see you’re very passionate about the subject.” This is a woman with no retirement (she’s not management) no health insurance and very little money and she can’t connect the dots between voting and her own well-being, not even after we explained some of it to her.
She added that she had heard that Hillary was “bad” so she hadn’t thought it would matter if she didn’t vote. We explained that no, Hillary was NOT bad and she seemed to get that Trump is very bad without prompting. She doesn’t like him at all. She said she liked Bill Clinton when he was president, and she liked Obama, but she didn’t really pay attention to politics.
We can never go back there to eat because I will fucking lose my shit if she talks to us.
LAO
The only thing that would make me feel better today is a new round of Mueller Indictments. That’s how fucked up today is, I’m actually rooting for indictments. I fucking hate Trump and all his godforsaken enablers.
Mnemosyne
@Chyron HR:
He thought that “bust” meant that Hillary would be publicly humiliated and white men would be in charge again.
The Bernie or Busters got exactly what they wanted, plus they get to keep their little hit of self-righteousness by claiming that none of this would have happened if we had listened to them.
The fact that none of this would be happening if they had listened to us is immaterial and too ridiculous to even contemplate.
M4
@schrodingers_cat: this is one of the reasons I’ve been around a lot less lately (which I’m sure everybody appreciates ?)
LAO
@hrumpole: The fantasy of Impeaching Gorsuch (I initially typed Gorsuck, which I might use in the future) is just that “a fantasy.” There is no mechanism for impeaching a Supreme Court Justice because of “collusion.” It’s not going to happen.
Steve in the STL
@schrodingers_cat: well, this was an article on qz.com this morning:
schrodingers_cat
@hrumpole: It is not off the table. Ds should campaign on it.
MomSense
Every so often when events pile up, I step back and consider what the Republican end goals might be.
For decades we have had to put up with soooo much drama over the basics of a modern society. The tantrums they have had about basic health care, prevention of elderly poverty, minimum wage, basic food and consumer safety, etc are just pathetic.
And now this descent into fascism. Are the Republicans just going along with it because they value the power and elected offices more? Are they all in on fascism? What do they think will happen to our economy and way of life if we become the pariah state? Do they have a plan or are they just stumbling in to this without any thought to the future consequences?
opiejeanne
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: I’m going to go work on the old shed. It’s starting to turn into a clever little building that will be just right for art projects, although I will have to bring some things into the house for the winter each year but that’s a minor problem.
My youngest says that her husband can sleep in there on Christmas Eve because he’s so allergic to our cats.
Mnemosyne
@schrodingers_cat:
India has its right-wing problem, too, as I know you know all too well.
Ugh. I’m getting zero writing done right now, including blogging. Maybe we should start with a cheery movie for our first co-blogging effort? ? Or at least something with an optimistic ending.
D58826
@JPL: Ah no. it only works one way
schrodingers_cat
@Steve in the STL: Please, I don’t need lectures about India. I fully well know what it is to be a woman in India.
rikyrah
BREAKING:
Judge Wood REJECTS the Trump Organization’s request for an extension on the Cohen privilege until July 11, agrees with the government’s compromise of July 5.
Background here: https://t.co/8KmyT1onl9 pic.twitter.com/uKuAxynt8r
— Adam Klasfeld (@KlasfeldReports) June 26, 2018
D58826
Only for non-fundies.
germy
@Steve in the STL: What keeps me optimistic is knowing Mueller and his team are busy at work. No tweeting, no leaking, just doing their work. And that more indictments are coming.
opiejeanne
@Mnemosyne: Who was Brickley Paiste in his previous incarnation?
Dorothy Winsor
I don’t know how many comments this thread has, but I can see 15. I’m driven to ranting on facebook and especially twitter.
LAO
@Dorothy Winsor: I’m having issues too. I have to keep refreshing the page.
Mnemosyne
@MomSense:
They think they will be protected from all consequences. That’s why they’re squealing about being embarrassed in public — they’re not supposed to feel any of the pain from these policies!
Fuckem. If I spot any of them in public (low odds here in CA), I’m getting in their fucking faces.
VeniceRiley
We are in serious danger from this court. The only political upside to this is it does a Prop182 effect for Muslims who used to gravitate to the R party.
The only way to fix all this damage is to vote, win a filibuster-proof majority, and immediately expand and pack the courts with as many liberal judges as possible.
Steeplejack
@Yarrow:
Gorsuch is a member (like John Roberts*, Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas and the late Antonin Scalia, surprise, surprise) of the Federalist Society, a hard-right group of conservative and libertarian attorneys that the Washington Post has called the “de facto gatekeeper for right-of-center lawyers aspiring to government jobs and federal judgeships under Republican presidents.” That alone should make one suspicious of him.
The Federalist Society (not to be confused with the website) is only slightly less secretive than the Stonecutters, and a Mueller-type investigation would probably reveal a lot of interesting stuff. Their funding is particularly opaque. Never gonna happen, though, I don’t think.
—————
* Roberts’s membership has been the topic of some dispute. Covered in the Wikipedia article:
That’s some lawyerly precision right there. You gotta wonder about a group that is so slippery about something as simple as its membership.
zhena gogolia
@Tenar Arha:
Thank you, that is powerful.
Mnemosyne
@opiejeanne:
He was ARGB. I can’t type out his full former nym because he was banhammered and mentioning it will make this comment vanish into the ether.
opiejeanne
@hrumpole: Your nym! Are you She Who Must Be Obeyed?
Kay
Agreed. Of course, conservatives will just lie about it so it may not matter. In the revised version they’ll be on the right side.
I don’t know how to get Democrats and liberals to care about courts and judges. They’re idiots about this issue. They did the same fucking thing in 2000. It was a replay of the same short-sighted stupidity.
I try not to think about it. It’s SUCH a big loss, and for what? So they could register their disapproval? Duly noted, assholes. Fat lot of good it did you, or any of us.
ruemara
@MomSense: They are all in with fascism because dominionism works well for them on the top & the idiots at the middle & bottom are tribal and willingly foolish.
germy
@Steeplejack: Didn’t someone from the federalist society recently say Mueller’s investigation is unconstitutional?
Duane
Used to be, we could count on the SC to save us from the crazy. Now, we can count on the Court to sidle up to it and lick it in the ear.( h/t Jim Wright)
chris
@MomSense: 14 words
MomSense
@Mnemosyne:
Same here. At this point I don’t think any of them should be able to go anywhere without hearing from someone about how they are enabling evil.
mad citizen
Just popping in to say fuck these people and double fuck the Federalist Society and anyone who is now, or has ever been, a member.
opiejeanne
@Mnemosyne: Ugh. I can’t remember what those initials stand for.
His new nym is a reference to a character in the movie, “Bob Roberts”. Brickley was played by Gore Vidal and was the Democrat in the story.
Kay
It’s true at the state level too. Ohio doesn’t put a partisan identifier on the ballot for judges and Democrats and liberals just don’t care about judges. They won’t do the slightest bit of research. They often “undervote”, Democrats. They leave races blank. They’ll vote the top of the ticket and nothing else. In my county it’s wildly skewed- most of the “undervotes” are Democrats. Republicans industriously vote the whole ballot- Democrats put a faint check mark somewhere near the top and then wander away.
I mean, Jesus Christ. Put SOME effort into this. You’re there anyway. Vote the whole ballot.
Mnemosyne
@chris:
14 words didn’t work out too great for the last bunch of assholes who promised a “thousand-year Reich.”
They keep getting their asses kicked, and they keep going. It’s a fucking horror movie.
Steeplejack
@Steve in the STL:
I’d like to hear the resident lawyers weigh in on the Federalist Society. They seem really dodgy, from what I have read, but I don’t know whether I’m just jealous because they seem to be so successful in their dodginess.
Calouste
I don’t think McConnell blocking Obama’s Supreme Court appointment mattered that much in the end. The GOP would have just added two “justices” to get a 6-5 majority. It would have been slightly harder, but not that much.
rikyrah
@Mnemosyne:
NEVER.
Teddys Person
@Kay: Right up there with Dred Scot and Plessy. But today’s RWAs are flattered by the comparison.
Tokyokie
@schrodingers_cat: My assumption has long been any jurist so fervently championed by neofascists and who would accept a Supreme Court nomination under the circumstances by which it occurred must have a personal history that includes impeachable offenses. Good people don’t work like Gorsuch does, evil ones do.
cwmoss
@Mnemosyne: Mnem, you are golden! +1 or whatever.
germy
Contrary Whataboutism:
The replies are penetrating.
D58826
There has been a lot of comment about the Russians meddling in the 2016 elections and how to prevent it from happening again in 2020. The way things are going I’m not sure there will be any election for them to meddle in!
Mnemosyne
@opiejeanne:
It’s a slur against Ruth Bader Ginsberg. He’s so concerned about the Supreme Court that he thinks Ginsberg should have given McConnell a chance to get 2 Federalist Society assholes on the court.
Mai naem mobile
@Yarrow: he’s in Philip Anschluss’s sphere. Another scum mining billionaire . His mom was Anne Gorsuch Reagans EPA head. She died of cancer . Is it uncivil ot me to hope it was related to a cancer causing agent she didn’t want to regulate?
schrodingers_cat
@M4: We miss you. I have been commenting a lot less too. Because I am mad and cranky.
@Mnemosyne: India’s RWNJs are just as bad if not worse. There are 2 differences. They don’t have quite the lock on everything that Rs do right now. Just like Rs they have been losing a lot of byelections. Modi gets a lot more push back from the senior leaders of his own party than T gets here.
And yes to your proposal. Let me find one with a cheery ending.
chris
@Mnemosyne: Yeah. I go back and forth between white homeland and theocracy, in the end it appears this crew are going for both. And why not when they’re so close?
I was pleased to see a number of RESIST bumper stickers in southern Maine last week but it’s going to take a lot more than stickers. Take your country back! Fuck their feelings!
sukabi
@Ohio Mom: it sounds like a great opportunity for the state (or some organization) to set up a list of facilities that provide actual abortion services, or conversely a list of providers who do not, and are not medically licensed…in service of the public good.
rikyrah
Elections have consequences
rikyrah
Remember for the rest of your lives what Mitch McConnell did.
— Neera Tanden ? (@neeratanden) June 26, 2018
rikyrah
As you read of the Supreme Court upholding Trump’s racist travel ban, please remember the Republicans STOLE a Supreme Court seat in 2016 and in fact—but for that POLITICAL CRIME—this would’ve been a 5-4 vote going the other way and upholding rather than abridging American values. pic.twitter.com/DYetlu7JhE
— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) June 26, 2018
MisterForkbeard
@LAO: You can impeach a Supreme Court justice for… what, exactly? It’s the same process as impeaching the president, isn’t it?
Basically, you need the House to approve by simple majority and the Senate to approve by 2/3rds. The only standard for a Supreme Court judge is “good Behavior.” Does anyone know what that actually means? From the legal theory I’m seeing, it’s basically whatever you can convince the public it means, because it’s an incredibly open standard.
rikyrah
Because Mitch McConnell stole SCOTUS seat from President Obama court has upheld:
Muslim Ban
Voter purging
Racial gerrymandering
All would’ve been reversed if Merrick Garland on court
— Ari Berman (@AriBerman) June 26, 2018
TriassicSands
@Yarrow:
Begin with who his mother was. That should tell you a lot. (Anne Gorsuch Burford)
schrodingers_cat
@Steve in the STL: I am sorry, I was unnecessarily rude to you.
Nicole
FIL visiting us in NYC for the week, and after he’s had a few drinks he wants to argue politics. And it’s depressing as fuck (note: arguing politics doesn’t get me angry; my lawyer-heavy family looooooooved arguing politics so for me it’s family bonding time), because I see in real time how resistant the Right are to actual facts (studies have been done on this). He brought up Nikolas Cruz and how blame for the Parkland shooting should be put on the PROMISE program, founded by Obama. Problem is, it wasn’t a federal program, it was a local one, and Cruz was directed to the program exactly once, in 2013 (he didn’t show). I googled all this and showed it to him, sourced to a local Miami paper, CNN and Fox. And he refused to believe me.
He says he’s non-partisan because he gets his news from Drudge. Sigh.
The Truffle
@germy:
Maybe Glenn’s right, but he hasn’t been very helpful.
I am so eager to vote Democrats–real Dems, not appeasers–in to fix all this. At least if they retake the senate, they can stop the court-packing. Meanwhile, I’m not checking Mitch’s twitter. Someone suggested we could retake Congress, retake the presidency, and impeach Gorsuch (hey, why not? They go low, we keep ’em down). Or add more justices. Whatever works.
November can’t come soon enough. In the meantime, i will be honest–I have considered working on campaigns as a volunteer, but I also think it would just postpone the inevitable. I don’t think national healing or reconciliation is in the cards. I could see red and blue America splitting apart. The fact is that we don’t like each other. And the right-wing establishment makes no secret of its loathing for people outside their bubble. Ditto their followers.
I’m an generation X-er, and in my life, I’ve never felt any sense of national unity, never felt any sort of coming together, and never felt that this was really a country where everyone could have opportunity and expect equal treatment and access. During the time I’ve been on this earth, I can think of only one moment that really made me proud to be American–the election of Obama. Otherwise? If I were a millennial, I would be looking to emigrate.
Long story short–I just don’t believe “we’re all in this together.” I could see some sort of national “divorce” happening, and I wonder if it may be for the best. I really have come to believe that red and blue America are better off without each other.
Mnemosyne
@schrodingers_cat:
Our county library seems to have a pretty good collection of Indian films available on DVD — that’s where I got “Rang de Basanti.”
germy
@Mai naem mobile:
Is it even more uncivil to hope it’s something genetic he will inherit?
Patricia Kayden
@The Ancient Randonneur: The conservative majority considered comments made by a Civil Rights Commissioner against the baker in the Masterpiece case but considered Trump’s many anti-Muslim comments irrelevant while upholding the travel ban. Sotomayor pointed out the inconsistency in her minority opinion.
This SCOTUS will do anything (including ignoring its own precedent) to uphold Trump’s policies. The conservative majority is partisan to the core.
schrodingers_cat
@Mnemosyne: That movie does not have a happy ending. Do you want to do an old movie or a recent one? Older movies may not have subtitles though.
Brachiator
@MomSense:
Yes.
I was listening to a UK talk radio show in which callers were discussing BREXIT. One caller insisted that Britain would magically triumph, ignoring all the warning signs to the contrary. Another declared that he would rather see the country crumble than accept more “foreigners.” A new disgusting added spin are those who are now anti-monarchy because they insist that Prince Harry’s wife Meghan Markle is “unworthy.”
I think that there are equally foolish people here among Republicans, who think that Trump will save them despite his manifest incompetence, or who would rather see the country burn to the ground rather than have to truly accept equality and diversity.
TenguPhule
Yes. SATSQ.
germy
Is there some sort of gentleman’s agreement in the media not to pursue the story of why mcturtle ended his military service?
If this were a liberal Democrat, I’m sure we’d be treated to a ton of troubling exposés.
TenguPhule
@Brachiator:
Those aren’t fools. Those are nihilist extremists.
Mnemosyne
@Nicole:
You should try my patented method for arguing with wingnuts that is backed by science: ask him “why”? If he brings up a particular story, have him explain it to you, and ask him questions. Make him find the supporting evidence — don’t do it yourself.
Even if he doesn’t argue himself out of it, he’ll get frustrated and shut up when he can’t find supporting evidence for what he “knows.”
I feel your pain — I had to listen to my father with a JD explain why Mussolini was really a Communist and fascism was therefore a leftist movement. ?? Courtesy of Fox “News” of course.
TenguPhule
@germy:
Yes. They don’t ask and he doesn’t tell them.
The Moar You Know
Not really. Had Hillary been granted the victory she won fair and square, that seat would still be open. McConnell has figured, correctly, that he can do as he pleases. He’d have held any Supreme seats open for a GOP president as long as he had to.
Calouste
@The Truffle: ” At least if they retake the senate, they can stop the court-packing”
There’s 8 weeks between the election and the swearing in of new Senators. If the GOP loses their majority, they will work 24 hours a day to fill every single open seat on the federal bench in those 8 weeks.
Patricia Kayden
@Nicole: Drudge is not non-partisan so your FIL is full of b.s. President Obama did everything he could to move this country to pass gun reform legislation. Blaming him for any shooting tragedy is idiotic to say the least. And how the hell would the PROMISE program be remotely tied into the Parkland tragedy? Trump supporters are so dumb that it makes you wonder how they remember to breathe.
TenguPhule
Trump’s death right now would be a disaster. Mitch McConnell’’s death would be salvation.
germy
@TenguPhule: Interesting. There were so many “think pieces” in the ’90s about the Clintons’ marriage.
They are so silent on the mcturtle marriage, and what that says about Ms. Mcturtle’s “ambition”.
James E Powell
@Kay:
In both 2000 and 2016 the supreme court was the most important issue in the presidential campaign. Not the most talked about – heaven forbid! – but the one that had the most long-term impact. I agree with you that it is almost impossible to get Ds and D leaners to care. In my anecdotal experience talking with people – door to door, campaign events and the like – the Ds and D leaners condense to the supreme court issue to two things: abortion and protecting rights for minorities, mostly African Americans, but also women, Latinos, and LGBTQ.
With all due respect to people who get in my face when I criticize the Democratic Party, these are issues that the Democrats are very reluctant to put in front. They believe that the educated suburban whites who they’ve been chasing since 1980 find these issues off-putting. I think they are right about this. The Republicans certainly agree because when they bring up the supreme court, those are the two issues they use to whip up their base.
Mnemosyne
@schrodingers_cat:
Maybe a more recent one since I’ll definitely need subtitles? Though older films that are on DVD usually have had subtitles added (at least the ones that the library purchases).
Chyron HR
@The Moar You Know:
1) A deadlocked court is at least harmless.
2) Clinton winning probably would have flipped the Senate.
Mike in DC
I am jonesing for some conspiracy indictments in the Mueller probe. Stone and Parscale would make lovely appetizers.
germy
@Mike in DC:
TenguPhule
@TriassicSands:
Fuck that. Planned Parenthood should remain open, offer abortions and defy their legal bullshit. The rule of law would mean nothing at that point anyway. Anything goes.
Nicole
@Mnemosyne: Oh, I did that last night. He got mad because he accused me of not listening and making him repeat himself. ;)
He then went off about the Democratic Party’s “worship” of Saul Alinsky (whose name he did not remember; it took some questioning before I figured out who he was talking about). I read him a few of Alinsky’s precepts, and he agreed with all of them. Again, doesn’t make me mad, but does depress me, because this is what we’re fighting against.
M4
@The Truffle:
Does only ever visiting like six cities count?
ruemara
@Nicole: Then tell him you’re not arguing with him because he doesn’t want facts that go against his beliefs. There’s no point to arguing because he’s acting on faith, not fact.
@The Truffle: How could Glenn be right? We wouldn’t have had a Trump to make a travel ban. And it’s not just millennials looking to emigrate.
TenguPhule
@Chyron HR:
No, its not.
Citizens United stays on the books as long as the court is deadlocked.
Ruckus
@MomSense:
Conservatives only look backwards.
I can come up with a number of snarky reasons, but the facts are that conservative thought is that they knew best using the way back machine. Of course we know that their way back machine has serious vision and memory issues. It tells them lies and bullshit. But they accept it as gospel, because any one stupid enough to accept that bullshit that the world was better eons ago has to believe in magic beans and potions.
Mnemosyne
@schrodingers_cat:
Also, if you’re looking for some light reading, we could do a mini book club with one of Sonali Dev’s novels — she does both romance and women’s fiction.
And G just started reading a popular young adult novel called “When Dimple Met Rishi,” by Sandhya Menon.
TriassicSands
@Mnemosyne:
It would be nice if that worked, but alas, many RWNJs are just too stupid and ignorant. Recently, a nurse at a VA clinic started whining about losing her Second Amendment rights and the country being “overrun by immigrants.” I asked her to tell me what the Second Amendment actually says. She couldn’t, but she went on to explain that there are “amendments to the Second Amendment.” OK.
Chris Johnson
@kindness: You know people are now mad at Bernie because he wouldn’t come out in favor of abolishing ICE.
That’s a thing. He’s dead to a lot of people for whom he’s now not radical enough.
Those of us who were into the message not the man, are pretty much fine with that. Find a younger person who’s to the left of Bernie. He was already too old in 2016.
Nicole
@Patricia Kayden: Oh, yeah, I know. It’s a look at how powerful propaganda is, and how susceptible people are to it. And, of course, the ones most convinced they are immune to propaganda are those most easily swayed. Companion to the “only stupid people think they’re smart” rule.
In my “maybe there’s hope for the future, if there is a future,” my 7-year-old son scored a perfect 5 out of 5 on a quiz intended for adults about distinguishing factual statements from opinion statements. According to the site, he scored higher than 73% of the other test takers. Most of whom, I guess, weren’t seven. It gives me hope for the future because if 73% really couldn’t select all 5 factual statements correctly, the present is thoroughly borked.
Mandalay
@germy:
Well that obscure resource Wikipedia states:
Is there more to it than that?
TenguPhule
@VeniceRiley:
Gonna have to purge every Trump and Bush II appointee in the courts. Every single one. By hook or by crook they all gotta get out because they aren’t interested in actually dispensing justice. And at this point its better to assume the guilt of all of them then waste time trying to find the few good apples.
Nicole
@ruemara: I told him I will not start a political argument, but if he brings it up, he has to be prepared for me to engage. I think he is unaccustomed to women going toe-to-toe with him in political arguments. It’s somewhat of a theme in my life- men getting mad at me for engaging in political discussions, rather than letting an erroneous statement stand. I’m proud of this particular theme.
On the bright side, I think he did believe me when I said that no, California was not going to start fining residents for taking a shower and doing laundry the same day. He did seem to accept what I found online about that. Likewise that Obama was not disbarred; he gave up his active law license when he decided to run for President. Baby steps.
Nicole
@Mandalay: There have been a lot of rumors about his discharge over the decades. No one has ever seen his discharge papers, from what I gather. Maybe they could become the new Obama’s birth certificate.
rikyrah
@Patricia Kayden:
Uh huh
Uh huh
TenguPhule
@Patricia Kayden:
Every non-republican.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
Which Chief Justice is the better man – John Roberts or Roger Taney?
I say Taney. In his opinion, he actually believed in his position.
Raven Onthill
This is my post on the subject, reposted from my own blog.
Taney Court II
Well, they did it. Despite anti-Islamic rhetoric from the Trump administration, in the case of Trump v. Hawaii, the Roberts Court held that the Administration’s travel ban is not discriminatory and therefore continues in effect. Three weeks before, the same Court and same justices held that statements critical of religion by a state board invalidated a decision in the discrimination case of Masterpiece Cakeshop, Ltd. v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission.
Not at all coincidentally, all three of the Court’s women dissented.
There is no law any more, only the whim of the Court’s conservatives.
There will be more analysis forthcoming but, in addition to the specific awfulness of this decision, it is deferential to dictatorial power on the part of the Executive, which, at a time of enormous abuse of such power, is idiotic.
In the coming decades we will probably see the Court rule in favor of various racist, sexist, and classist policies. We will see attempts to re-implement the system of racial segregation at the state level. I do not believe the fight is lost. People will fight, and fight hard. In many states they will win. But we will likely enter a period of internal terrorism; a second Civil War.
Thank you Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Alito, Gorsuch, Kennedy, and Thomas. Thank you Democratic Senators who didn’t fight the nominations of Alito and Gorsuch when it mattered.
Goodbye to the United States for at least a generation.
Link to original post, includes Scotusblog links: http://adviceunasked.blogspot.com/2018/06/taney-court-ii.html
TenguPhule
@Steve in the STL:
Look on the bright side, as soon as they destroy unions they can outsource your job to a computer program!
Tilda Swintons Bald Cap
I got nothin’. We’re in a very bad place.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@germy:
The word I hear is that he was discharged for the gay.
I know for a near certainty that he had a well known appetite for chicken all the way into the early 80s.
Wayne Marks
Max Von Sydow (sp?) from Hannah and Her Sisters
Mnemosyne
@TriassicSands:
It works to get conservative family members to STFU without getting into a raging argument at the dinner table. Whether or not it works with total strangers on the Internet is debatable.
TenguPhule
I’m so old I remember when it would be considered a crime to use government powers to threaten a private business.
germy
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: A liberal democrat never would have been given a pass by the village over this.
There would have been story after story. He would have been hounded from public service.
TenguPhule
@Tilda Swintons Bald Cap:
Plan A is vote em out in November.
I strongly suggest start considering Plans B, C, D & E. Just in case.
Dorothy Winsor
@LAO: Refreshing the page doesn’t help. I’m on a desktop and I think Alain has that on his to do list, so I’m willing to wait a bit. I have faith.
Mnemosyne
@Raven Onthill:
You forgot to thank the voters who couldn’t be arsed to vote for Hillary Clinton when it mattered. If only half of the Stein voters in Michigan had voted for Clinton instead, she would be president now.
Jeffro
@hrumpole:
Trumpov & Co’s illegal aid from/conspiracy against the United States with a hostile foreign power should indeed mean the removal of the entire administration, followed by the swearing-in of Hillary Clinton. In a just world, it would also follow that all judges appointed by DJT are removed from office.
Unfortunately, even this starry-eyed dreamer does not see that happening. Oddly enough, it would seem that we’d need a Democratic president in office in order to replace a retiring/dead conservative SCOTUS judge, so that when we make the case that DJT won in (illegal) concert with a hostile foreign power and should be removed, there is at least a 5-4 majority to rule we’re correct. And if we already have a Dem president…removing Trumpov has already happened.
Let’s just go beat the crud out of them this November, and again in 2020. Mueller can and will lock up plenty of these cretins, but we’ve got to deliver the majorities and Dem president no matter what.
Spanky
As (hopefully) something of a distraction from the Trumpisphere, did anyone post about this?
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Wayne Marks:
If Jesus Christ were alive today, Deadbeat Donnie would call him a loser.
germy
@Mnemosyne:
Strangers on the internet reply by copy/pasting paragraphs from drudge and breitbart articles. Sometimes they even try to pass off the paragraphs as their own creations.
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@LAO: Bullshit. SC Judges can be impeached for practically anything. As long as you have the numbers and are ruthless enough to ram the motion through, a SC justice can be thrown off the court. I would think a justice appointed by a traitor would good reason enough.
Mandalay
@Yarrow:
Gorsuch is squeaky clean, and has an impeccable resume. He is handsome, and has a charming wife. He wanted to be on the Supreme Court since he was a toddler, and he flosses three times a day without fail.
I suppose a few troublemakers still might want to stir things up over him getting Scalia killed, but that’s all in the past now and they should let it go.
JPL
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: You finally convinced me to never stuff my turkey at Thanksgiving.
Thanks Mitch!
Mnemosyne
@Spanky:
Yikes! That happened to me last year, so I know how scary it is to be suddenly unable to breathe.
Fortunately, my lunch partner was able to successfully Heimlich me without breaking a rib.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Jeffro:
…with baseball bats (j/k)? As a purist, this should always be done with wood, not aluminum…
zhena gogolia
Part of what depresses me (aside from BJ not working) is that I get flooded with panicky demands for contributions from Pelosi, ACLU, OFA, etc., etc., etc. Don’t they know they’re just rubbing it in?
Mike in DC
@TenguPhule: Plans B through D also involve voting. Plan E involves massive civil disobedience. Violent resistance is pretty far down the alphabet.
TriassicSands
@Mnemosyne:
I’m lucky, I’m not in contact with any such family members. You have my sympathy and I hope your method continues to work until they STFU because they are in the minority. Or maybe I should phrase that differently. Until they have lost the power to ruin other people’s lives and the country in which they live.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@JPL:
That’s got to be awkward for your dinner guests.
Mary G
I refuse to give into depression or fatalism. That’s what they want from us. Keep yelling. His approval rating is going down over these children. This is way too important to quit. Mental health days are important, but I refuse to be defeated even if full fascism flowers. A backlash to the backlash is coming.
Jeffro
@Kay:
Kay, if you’ll tighten that up just a bit, it’ll fit on a bumper sticker, one I’d gladly pay to have printed up and distributed!
“DEMS: As Long As You’re Voting, VOTE (D) THE WHOLE WAY DOWN!”
“DEMS, LEAVE NO (D) BEHIND – Vote The Full Ballot, Every Time!”
rikyrah
@Raven Onthill:
thanks for this
Steeplejack
@Mandalay:
There have been persistent rumors of homosexual shenanigans. A sample story (HuffPost, 2008): “What Is Mitch McConnell Hiding?”
germy
@Mnemosyne: Fun facts:
(wikipedia)
Jeffro
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: YES.
With apologies to Negan and Bruce Wayne, I am the original Bat Man when it comes to this maladministration. Wood is traditional, but aluminum lasts forever ;)
James E Powell
@germy:
We saw this in 2000 when Bush’s missing TANG records and questions about whether he ever showed up were shrugged off by the entire press/media. Compare that with the treatment they gave John Kerry in 2004.
rikyrah
@TenguPhule:
Where is the Chamber of Commerce?
Kathleen
@MomSense: They want to destroy America period. They have wanted that for a long time. They remind me of rabid jackals satisfying bloodlust. They are evil. We have to be very creative and mindful with our resisyance. African Americans have lived in existential terror since 1623 as have Native Americans. It’s just new to white people. I should add Taylor Branch’s trilogy to my reading list to gain wisdom.
MisterForkbeard
@The Moar You Know: If Hillary had won, we’d probably have a Democratic Senate too.
The same factors that depressed her votes depressed votes for Democatic Senators as well.
TenguPhule
@Steve in the STL:
Donald Trump: Hold my milkshake.
Joshua
@Patricia Kayden:
Not sure what the point is to have the USSC anymore. Republican appointed judges see it one way, while the Democratic judges see it a different way. Not much different than Congress. It doesn’t seem to have much to with the law anymore. Case in the point is the Republican judges hypocrisy with the baker compared to Trump’s anti-muslim comments.
The Truffle
@ruemara: I know people who will say, “This is my home. I’m not leaving.” Generally people with established lives. If I were a college grad? I’d be pulling up sticks and leaving.
TenguPhule
@rikyrah:
MIA.
TenguPhule
@Joshua:
Do you want pasta or tire rims with anthrax?
Steve in the STL
@germy: yeah, we’re all counting on Mueller, but what if our new SCOTUS overturns the convictions? Or throws out the charges for some made up reason?
@schrodingers_cat: no apology necessary. These are trying times for decent human beings. And I would never presume to lecture anyone on being a woman in India…or anywhere! Just pointed out that it was in the news this very day.
@Steeplejack: much like the College Republicans were the biggest d-bags you went to college with, the Federalist Society members were the biggest d-bags in law school. And law school d-bags are at least an order of magnitude greater in douchiness than college d-bags. Now it’s turned into more of a right wing brainwashing operation. Indoctrinate young nazis in your radical worldview, then set them loose into the legal profession, and when the stars are aligned just right they become judges, and appellate judges, and, at least three times recently, Supreme Court justices. A chill wind blows.
Jeffro
@Mary G:
Amen! Keep it up and be happy warriors!!
You just KNOW the Mango Menace is going to keep stepping on his own wang (and probably in the next 20 minutes)
I can actually see the IC getting him on audio whenever this Putin meeting comes about…”So, uh, Vladimir…Mr. Putin…it looks like I’m in a tough spot if the Democrats win the majority this November…you think your boys can help me out like they did last time?”
(cue police siren sound effect)
See? Didn’t that just make everyone’s day? =)
Platonailedit
Every institution that is supposed to protect people and democracy is corrupt and crumbling. And the voters, who should care the most, just out of self preservation, didn’t and this is the end result.
EG
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: I like saviors who don’t get crucified.
JPL
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: I wonder if Mitch says pass the turkey?
There might be a biological reason why he prefers chicken though.
TenguPhule
@Mike in DC:
Sheltering victims and refugees from the Empire? Evacuation? Intelligence assistance for the Canadian invasion?
The Truffle
@ruemara: Most people I know have established lives and believe this is their home. If I were a new college grad, I most likely would not stay.
cintibud
@Calouste:
I think that’s what the next Democratic president and Senate should do
TenguPhule
@Steve in the STL:
Rule of law becomes a thing of the past. Anything goes.
Steve in the STL
@? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?:
Good enough reason for you and me, but not for 2/3 of the Senate, which is the only thing that counts.
Steeplejack
@Dorothy Winsor:
Have you tried the “No, seriously, really reload the page” command?
By which I mean most browsers have a command to bypass the cache to refresh not only the current page but possibly outdated or corrupted files. Handy in a fluid environment where Alain may be changing stuff on the fly in the back room.
In Firefox (Windows) it’s Ctrl-F5. Easily Googled for other browsers/environments. Slightly old but probably still useful article here.
rikyrah
@Mary G:
Amen.
ruemara
@The Truffle: I’m a college grad. I got nothing holding me here except lack of money.
Mandalay
@Nicole:
I can’t stop reading that sentence.
Mike in DC
@TenguPhule:
Well, elections are a viable option until clearly proven otherwise (outright tigging, e.g.). In the event that the processes of democracy break down, I’d expect cities to be the nexus of massive resistance. Also, I’m pretty sure that civil unrest is not great for the sale of consumer goods.
Steeplejack
@Spanky:
As with so much else, I think, Manchin was doing it wrong.
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@Steve in the STL:
Hence why I said as long as we have the numbers to do so. At this point, tactics such as blackmail and intimidation are starting to become very appealing as things become more desperate.
Nicole
@Mandalay: Heh. Something else for me to be proud of today.
The Truffle
@ruemara: I’m tired of hearing, “We’re all in this together.” I’ve seldom seen evidence of that in the US during my lifetime.
@cintibud:
I agree that yes, they should do that. Fair is fair. Any left wing counterparts to Federalist douchebags?
raven
@Steve in the STL: There is a local lawyer couple, very big in the Federalist Society, who are all over the cultural and music scene. I have asked my brother if it is possible to be good people and part of that outfit and his flatly says “fuck no”!
Mnemosyne
@Mary G:
Yesterday I ordered a pink kitty umbrella to use as a parasol at Saturday’s protest. Because it’s going to be too hot to wear my pink protest hat. ?
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@Steve in the STL:
They made their decision, now let them enforce it!
Steve in the STL
@The Truffle:
lol
@ruemara:
exactly
MisterForkbeard
@Joshua: The problem here is that you’re both-sidesing it. Republicans judges act for the good of the party. Democratic judges act based on the law. So the problem isn’t that “the supreme court just represents their party, like the House and Senate”. It’s “Republicans on the Court aren’t acting as judges, they’re acting as congressmen.”
It’s the same problem when people complain about “Congress” removing regulations or taking away health care. That’s technically true in a very unhelpful sense. Republicans are taking away health care and are using Congress to do it, while Democrats are stopping them.
It’s very important to note just who is doing the wrong thing, instead of an all-encompassing institution that removes responsibility from the guilty parties.
Steeplejack
@Steve in the STL:
Thanks. Sort of what I vaguely intuited.
Mandalay
@Steeplejack:
I find it more plausible that McConnell doesn’t want to talk about his military life because he was draft dodging.
That said, it would be highly irresponsible not to speculate that McConnell also enjoys the company of young men whenever his wife is out of town.
Mnemosyne
@The Truffle:
We are all in this together. The fact that conservatives keep acting like they can do whatever they want without consequences is what makes them dangerous.
We’re floating in a boat in shark-infested waters and conservatives keep drilling holes in the bottom because they assume that only their enemies will get eaten by the sharks ? . The fact that they’re making that stupid assumption doesn’t mean that they’re not in the boat with the rest of us.
Ella in New Mexico
I’m back on the road to day, traveling to bumfuck-boondocks Northern NM to do my rural clinical hours for my FNP. I refuse to do anything else but take in this God-damn beautiful state I live in and listen to my Indie Folk channel on Pandora for the rest of the day.
Plus, reading this list of overturned Supreme Court decisions throughout our history did give me hope
germy
@Steeplejack:
Yes, it sounds like he was flopping her around like a ragdoll. I thought the Maneuver was supposed to be more… precise?
rikyrah
@Mnemosyne:
Pink Kitty Umbrella?
LOL
Steve in the STL
@cintibud: @cintibud: FDR tried court-packing and failed, and he had a much, much friendlier congress than any D president is likely to these days.
That said, hell yes we should do this!
germy
trump’s rally was held in a high school gym.
A high school gym.
They make a lot of noise, but their numbers aren’t great.
Mnemosyne
@rikyrah:
It has ears and everything. ?
Steve in the STL
@raven: Athens is not a good town for Federalist Society types!
MisterForkbeard
@Steve in the STL:
This is Glenn’s entire shtick. He’s narrowly correct while completely missing the point. Like, maybe Garland would have voted differently, but probably not. And we wouldn’t even be IN this mess if we didn’t have Trump as president to begin with. But Glenn takes the first part and sticks to it, trying to say that this one fact obviates literally everything else that actually makes it irrelevant, and then he calls out people who rightly criticize him as establishment bootlickers.
He does the same thing with Russian collusion constantly, noting that it’s really scary how the FBI is getting so much information on private citizens. Which is true generally, except that the private citizens involved are explicitly trying to break the law and are committing suspicious acts that the FBI is explicitly allowed to investigate. Therefore, taking a very narrow point that reasonable people can agree with (the FBI shouldn’t have unfettered power) and completely misapplying it to the situation at hand (the FBI isn’t abusing any kind of investigative power).
Weirdly, it’s almost always in service of Trump or republicans! Go figure.
Steeplejack
@germy:
Yeah, I’ve read that you can actually perform it on yourself. That shouldn’t require lifting yourself off your feet. ?
raven
@Steve in the STL: It’s weird, they have a big party every year and everyone who is everyone is there. One is with Wimberly, Lawson, Steckel, Schneider & Stine P.C.over your way. They also have a trans child.
raven
Vet sets himself on fire at the Georgia State Capitol.
Citizen Alan
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
If shitgibbon were you ever asked his true feelings about Jesus Christ, I suspect he would mock Jesus for just standing around and letting himself be crucified rather than using his Godly superpowers to slay all the Romans and the Pharisees. “I prefer Messiahs who don’t get crucified.”
Raven Onthill
@MisterForkbeard: I’m pretty sure that Greenwald is a Russian asset. The best information warfare assets are those that are genuinely credible in some areas, while toeing the line in others, and that is exactly what Greenwald seems to be doing.
raven
TenguPhule
@Mnemosyne:
Didn’t work out so well for their victims, either.
TriassicSands
@raven:
They’re calling the Georgia State Capitol a “crime scene.” But the Republicans control both houses of the legislature and the governor’s office, so of course it’s a crime scene.
TenguPhule
@? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?:
Dude, that quote only works when the Imperial Stormtroopers aren’t cooperating with the judges.
TenguPhule
@Mnemosyne:
The obvious solution is to bash them over the head and throw them overboard. //
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
For those who may be puzzled about the current set of declines, stalls and momentary upticks in the stock market, I direct each of you to reflect upon the massive earnings that were occurring throughout the listed companies during the Obama years, and the refusal to increase wages or to broaden hiring or infrastructure spending.
Now, as the market fundamentals are collapsing apace, values are actually staying firm while yields are dramatically dropping.
This is what a propped up market looks like. The bubble holds for a while as all those dollars which could have been used for good purpose keeps it kind of inflated, like a pool float that you have to keep shoving air into every few minutes. The dollars are finding their way home not to improve anyone’s life, but to keep the suckers at bay for a bit longer.
Mnemosyne
@TenguPhule:
War and genocide rarely work out well for anyone.
Mnemosyne
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
I guess I’d better return my broker’s calls, then.
Captain C
@Mnemosyne:
“You knew I wasn’t going to do the right thing! It’s all your fault I didn’t, and also for not knuckling under and bending a knee! I have no agency!” /s
SiubhanDuinne
Too bad this thread is so nearly dead, as this is an extraordinary piece of writing and deserves to be front-paged:
https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/fintan-o-toole-trial-runs-for-fascism-are-in-full-flow-1.3543375?mode=amp
I’ll try to put up a cleaner link later when we have a fresh open thread. But read it!
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
So you’re saying Wall Street and listed companies are intentionally pumping money into the stock market to keep it from collapsing? Was this going to happen absent the trade war anyway?
BlueGirlFromWyo
@The Truffle: I’m a Gen-X’er too and I
hear all of this. The only difference is I don’t think it will be a good divorce so I will fight to put it off as long as I can.
Ohio Mom
@Nicole: Your story reminds me of an interchange Ohio Dad had with one of his coworkers before the election.
The local newspaper endorsed Hillary, pointing out that this was the first time in 109 years they hadn’t endorsed the Republican candidate.
The coworker raged on about the libtard press, insisting the paper was lying. Ohio Dad googled the paper’s McCain and Romney endorsements, Coworker continued to insist the paper was lying.
These people are so defended against cognitive dissonance, they literally cannot believe they own eyes. It takes a lot of ego strength to have an open mind and a lot of people are emotional 90 pound weaklings.
The Truffle
@Mnemosyne: I guess what I mean is that I don’t see any sense of shared national values or pride among Americans. Basically, Americans dislike each other and have no use for each other’s values.
JGabriel
Betty Cracker @ Top:
Maybe, but I suspect that attributes more influence to Sarandon than she actually possesses.
I think we should call it the Putin Court.
Ohio Mom
@Nicole: I think it was second grade when my kid had a LArts unit on fact and opinion. To this day, when he does not like something I am saying, he dismisses it with, “That’s your opinion.” Little rascal.
TriassicSands
@JGabriel:
Putin court? I agree. However, the Putin/Comey Court has a ring to my ears.
Calouste
@JGabriel: The fascism enabling John Roberts court.
PJ
@The Truffle: Americans have always disliked each other, that’s why there was a constant move westward, and, in the 20th Century, movement to the suburbs where everyone could get a lawn big enough that they their neighbor wouldn’t be so up in their business (didn’t really work for Rand Paul and his neighbor, but that’s the idea, anyway).
Whatever you think about this moment, and the divisions in this country, it’s nothing like the divisions this country faced in the 19th century leading up to and including the Civil War. It’s always been an imperfect union, but people of goodwill can make things better. Republicans are a minority party, and their support is getting smaller every day, which is why it gets more vocal, and why they have to emphasize voter suppression and fake news more and more.
Mnemosyne
@The Truffle:
Again, I gotta disagree with you. Several hundred thousand of us are going to gather this weekend to support our shared values of keeping families together and welcoming refugees.
We don’t have the support of the MSM or Republicans, but fuckem. They’re not even a majority.
TenguPhule
@PJ:
Not this time. There is no good will on one side. And it isn’t ours.
Steve in the STL
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: *disclaimer: this is not financial advice and no fiduciary relationship exists between us
Steve in the STL
@Ohio Mom: has he seen “the big Lebowski”?
The Truffle
@Mnemosyne: I respect your optimism. I confess I don’t share it. LIke I said, I’ve considered volunteering for campaigns, but I wonder if I have the heart for it.
TenguPhule
@Steve in the STL:
**No longer required as the SC 5 have ruled that fiduciary duty does not apply to anyone at any time.
PJ
@TenguPhule: There wasn’t any goodwill on the other side on the slavery issue either, and the right side prevailed. (Not saying I’m looking forward to an actual war.) The divisions in this country have been exacerbated and created by the right wing noise machine for the last 40 years, but Republicans are a dwindling minority, and while the internet facilitates the easy spread of right wing horseshit, more Republicans die every year than are born, or immigrate here (which is another reason why they want to stop immigration.)
Ohio Mom
Ah yes, the Heimlich Family, they are locals. There is some controversy about whether the manuever was actually invented by Henry, or if he “borrowed” it and just had great PR skills. (Are the Arthur Murray’s Dance schools still around? I have a vague memory that were some scammy aspects to them.)
His oldest son was a Republican County’s Commissioner years ago, then he got out of politics. He just had an op ed in the Cincinnati Enquirer, begging everyone to vote for Democrats. A little hopeful sign.
TenguPhule
@PJ:
There are still tens of millions of them. And they’re all fucking nuts.
Ohio Mom
@Mnemosyne: Cute umbrella. I’m wearing my American flag baseball cap. I usually only break it out for July 4th festivities but I think it important that our side do our own flag-waving. At the least, it will confuse any counter-protesters.
Plus, as you said, too hot for a knit cap.
Mnemosyne
@The Truffle:
It’s less optimism and more knowing that I’ve picked the right side. If we go down, I will at least feel like I went down swinging and didn’t knuckle under to the assholes.
Mnemosyne
@The Truffle:
Also, action is the ONLY thing that will make you feel less helpless. Sitting around at home feeling helpless will only make you feel worse.
If you volunteer, you will feel better. Guaranteed.
jl
After hearing an analysis of Robert’s decision, with quotes of his bad faith and asinine arguments, I decided he is as bad as the rest of the conservatives.
The conservative majority of the court is corrupt and needs to be neutralized.
I understand what I think is needed probably will never happen, but congress can strip the court of appellate power (IANAL so I don’t know if would help in this case), and impeach them. A constitutional amendment for limited terms would be a good idea too.
As I said,in comments a few days ago, at this rate they will be deciding cases on 1 + 1 = 0 logic soon.
It is dangerous that a malicious incompetent like Trump can do pretty much as he pleases by sprinkling executive orders with what the conservatives on the court have decided are magic words, like ‘national security’.
Nicole
@Ohio Mom: That is equal parts hilarious and depressing. Maybe he thought the paper went back in its Internet archives to change its endorsements as a means of covering its libtard tracks?
FIL brought up another right-wing thing- something about some mysterious building in NYC being a front for NSA spying. Only sources were the Intercept and Russia Today. I think we were able to persuade him that Greenwald is a Russian tool. At least, as a baby boomer, he still has a natural inclination towards viewing Russians as the bad guys.
Mnemosyne
@Ohio Mom:
I’ll probably end up back in my “Nasty Lady Liberty” t-shirt, unless I decide to stick with the cat theme and go with “Nevertheless, She Purrsisted” with a line drawing of Elizabeth Warren as a cat. We’ll see how I feel on Saturday morning.
Ruckus
@Brachiator:
They are extremely fearful that if they get graded on their merits rather than the color of their skin, they will fall massively. Which would be expected, given their history.
Ohio Mom
@Steve in the STL: I’d suspect not because he’s a proud philistine. But it doesn’t matter what he’s seen or not seen, nothing gets through.
He’s been talking about retiring and moving to Las Vegas. I keep telling Ohio Dad to volunteer us to help him pack.
PaulWartenberg
Fuck civility.
Fuck every person on the Left who had a chance to vote for Hillary but didn’t.
Fuck every person who helped Russia hack our elections.
Fuck Mitch McConnell to the deepest pit of Hell for his treason.
Fuck trump for every sin against humanity he’s ever committed and never answered for.
Fuck every trump voter who backed him out of spite, and racism, and greed.
I’m in a bit of a mood right now.
PaulWartenberg
@PPCLI:
the thing that gets me boiling is that they’re forcing doctors to violate their Hippocratic Oaths to help their patients and do no harm. That’s what happens when you give out false information. Doesn’t that ethical standard mean ANYTHING to the courts? It’s like giving lawyers a license to misinform their clients on legal matters that end up costing those clients their livelihoods and even their lives.
TenguPhule
@jl:
What took you so long?
I had him pegged at nomination as a shitstain. He just weasels more often to give himself a thin veneer of civility.
TenguPhule
@PaulWartenberg:
The GOP believe that you must be lied to by a doctor about medical procedures because it informs the patient about a medical decision. Whereas, Christian cult lies about pregnancy are merely opinions protected by free speech and do not involve a specific medical condition.
/I wish I was making this up.
Brachiator
@PaulWartenberg:
No. Not at all. Not to conservatives. They hypocritically violate all of their supposed principles when it comes to abortion.
Limited government and no interference in the liberty of others? Oh, hell no, it’s the fetus uber alles. And so, conservatives will allow laws that compel doctors to lie if it will “protect” the unborn. And everything up to (and sometimes including) kidnapping and restraint of the mother is permissible. So if phony clinics provide lies that delay or make another choice possible or easy, then hey, it’s all good.
Sometimes, they try to delude themselves by insisting that women are weak vessels, who would naturally protect the unborn if they were in their right minds.
And of course, even though conservatives pretend to be hard-headed realists, they will permit, encourage, and legislate the dissemination of lies that any reasonable doctor knows is untrue, again, in order to interfere with a woman’s right to choose. So, lies about the effectiveness of condoms, lies about breast cancer and abortion. Here, perversely, conservative fanatics encourage lies that increase the chance that a woman might get pregnant. So these people are not simply anti-abortion. They have a fetish for encouraging pregnancy, even outside of wedlock.
And the bottom line, as noted, these dopes have no problem with interfering in the doctor/patient relationship and in preventing a woman from getting the best possible medical advice when it is often critically important.
opiejeanne
@Mnemosyne: Oh, THAT guy. He can just fuck right off.
The Truffle
@Mnemosyne: I will perhaps volunteer locally. But campaigns? I dunno.
I guess I feel that “we’re all in this together” has been weaponized to make us lefty types feel guilty. And honestly? As a blue state city dweller, I’m pretty sick of being slammed as in-American while my taxes go to support red states.
J R in WV
@SenyorDave:
Too cool, your mom is too cool!! But my mom, on her death bed, told me she had stopped voting Republican after being an R all her life. Because of the abortion issue. In the distant past, late ’30s or early ’40s, I believe a cousin or dear friend must have died from a botched abortion, and once mom saw that Roe V Wade was in any danger, she stopped voting R cold.
Then she said, “Don’t tell your Dad!” so I didn’t. But I knew, and was proud of her for actually negating Dad’s votes those many years. She died in 1997 from Pall Malls and COPD. Was a wonderful person, as I’m sure your mom is also!
J R in WV
@LAO:
I’m not a constitutional lawyer, but I disagree. If you have the votes in the House of Representatives to Impeach, and the votes in the Senate to Convict, that boy is out of there. Frankly, Clarance Thomas is guilty of lying/perjury in his Senate confirmation hearings, and of concealing conflicts of interest in cases he was hearing on the Supreme Court bench, and could be impeached for those reasons.
Gorsuck (I like that!) could be impeached for being nominated by a conspirator/traitor and confirmed by other conspirators, all of whom should be tried and hung for working for a hostile foreign power, Russia, just because the hostile foreign power is now run by fellow fascists and kleptocrats rather than self-identified socialist authoritarians. EVIL walking among us on two legs.
I’m not upset by posts here, the actual news out of our seat of government is pretty depressing, but I still have hope that Mueller’s indictments will help turn the elections next November into a huge Blue Wave.
Anyone else notice the newest NBC poll that shows many hotly contested Senate seats leaning strongly Democratic in FL, Ohio and Arizona? Now that’s NOT depressing!!!
Karen
@hrumpole: Did Gorsuch say impeachment is off the table?
Ruckus
@PaulWartenberg:
Looks like a proper mood for a dumbshit45 maladministration day.
Looks absolutely normal to me.
J R in WV
@germy:
Oh, yes! Please!!! What a good thought!
And as small as it sounds, I’m glad Charles Krauthammer died of cancer, hoping it was slow and painful and embarrassing for him at the end. CNAs cleaning him and feeding him kosher slime. He was an evil and despicable person!
J R in WV
@TenguPhule:
I can’t believe that – well, yes I can believe that Atrios is forgetting all the right wing violence in the 1960s and ’70s.
JFK was shot, no one knows really who did it, but it was right wing violence. MLK was shot, surely no one believes that was left wing violence? Bobby Kennedy was shot dead after winning the California primary for president – more left wing violence? Nope – right wing for sure. CIA? FBI? one of the other three letter agencies? Probably.
Kent State students were shot by the government. Jackson State students were shot by the government. At the Democratic National Convention in 1968 the police rioted and beat peaceful demonstrators into the pavement. All this was right wing violence, and I didn’t have to research it. I remember it like it was yesterday.
There was far more right wing violence in America then and now than left wing violence. Always was, always is.
J R in WV
@Mandalay:
Regarding Turtle’s military service:
Yes there is. His DD-214 – the formal discharge papers which every departing service member is given on their last moment in the service – is missing and has never been seen. The VA doesn’t have a copy, the military doesn’t have a copy. If McConnell has a copy he isn’t showing it to anyone. There is something very hinkey about McConnell’s military service.