.
Last week was pretty stupid, but I'm sure this week will be normal and good.
— Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) January 7, 2019
I have a feeling that last Friday’s toxic news dump was deferred for today. But then, I’m a devout Cynic; Churchy LaFemme’s despairing Friday the Thirteenth falls on a ***day this month! has resonated with me since I first heard it, sometime before I entered kindergarten. (Hearing me repeat it, on the relevant day every month, confused the heck out of my kindergarten teacher even after she spoke to my father.)
To return to our usual start-of-a-new-day attempt to stay positive, it’s genuinely good news that voters in Iowa are taking their electoral responsibilities with due seriousness this time. Per the Washington Post:
… The Iowa caucuses remain 13 months away, but a pent-up demand for change in the White House is tangible among Democrats eager for the 2020 campaign to start in earnest. The throngs of voters bombarding events in Iowa are testament to something fearful for Republicans: The huge tide of Democratic voters who powered the party’s 2018 gains have not lost interest as attention turns to the 2020 presidential race…
Iowans cited a slew of reasons for their eagerness to begin the lengthy nomination process to settle on a leader to go up against President Trump. There were the tax cuts that one voter called “a waste of time and money”; the trade war with China depressing demand for exports and hurting farmers; the hostility toward immigrants, a labor pool heavily used on Iowa farms; the rolling back of environmental regulations that impact Iowa’s rivers; a foreign policy approach changing the country’s status in the world; and the general chaos and lack of civility in the White House…
Helping to channel some of this Democratic enthusiasm are organizations like Siouxland Progressive Women, one of thousands of groups that have cropped up on the left since the 2016 election.
“We’re so ready,” said Susan Leonard, 64, a co-founder of the group. Her 200-member organization campaigned for J.D. Scholten, the Democrat who unsuccessfully challenged Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa). Now they’re turning to 2020.
“We’ve got invitations out to several presidential candidates already,” Leonard said. “It’s a big group, and we want to hear their ideas.”
There are plenty of candidates and potential candidates coming to Iowa to meet with Democratic activists. A day after Warren departs Sunday, Julián Castro, the former Housing and Urban Development secretary and San Antonio mayor, is planning stops in Cedar Rapids and Iowa City. Delaney, who was the first Democrat in the race, will open campaign offices here when he returns to Iowa for events Friday and Saturday…
Even if my inner Eeyore suspects some of this enthusiasm is a parochial defense against California’s new relevance under an early Super Tuesday schedule, any attitude more positive than Here we are now — entertain us should surely be encouraged, yes?
rikyrah
Good Morning,Everyone ???
OzarkHillbilly
In light of this latest scientific evidence, I fully expect to hear crickets from the trump admin.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
Speaking of Warren, this picture has to hurt you know who (photo)
satby
@rikyrah: Good morning ?!
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: wow, more people than at his inauguration.
Bruuuuce
Also speaking of Warren, the best laugh of the weekend was the headline at CNN: “Democrat’s Candidacy is DOA” (for a video of SE Cupp speaking about Warren). The actual video, though, is foolishness and pessimism of the worst order.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
I tried to watch “Vice” and I had to stop after 25 minutes cuz Cheney is so disgusting.
Amir Khalid
@Bruuuuce:
SE Cupp is surely no one’s idea of an objective point of view on any Democrat. I wonder why she was picked to opinionate.
PaulWartenberg
@OzarkHillbilly:
HOLY SH-T THEY’VE WEAPONIZED CRICKETS
OzarkHillbilly
@satby: Yes but trump always has a black man behind him at his rallies.
Viva BrisVegas
@Amir Khalid:
Because the default at CNN is always to defer to a Republican opinion. Even if that opinion is given by an idiot.
The reason Trump went after CNN was because he expected from their previous behaviour that they would bend to his will.
OzarkHillbilly
@PaulWartenberg: We’re in trouble now.
Darrin Ziliak
Fuck Iowa and fuck New Hampshire.
I’ve never understood why the rest of the nation puts up with those states when it comes to Presidential nominations.
If you could find 2 states less representative of the nation as a whole, I’d be surprised.
Bruuuuce
@Amir Khalid: Because in many ways CNN still wants to be Faux Noise Lite. The attacks from HisWannabeHighness have stiffened their backbone somewhat, but they still have too many wingnuts and quislings on staff, being Very Serious.
debbi
@satby:
And her wide-legged stance seems far more effective!
debbie
@satby:
And her wide-legged stance seems far more effective!
debbie
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:
That was a great line. Even my local, relatively conservative, news carried tape of that.
trnc
@Viva BrisVegas:
Redundant.
I work with republicans who are generally smart but seem to have this blind spot with politics. I’ve started using the term “professional republicans” in my diatribes so as not to offend the mighty purveyors of political incorrectness. See, I haz irony.
Baud
@rikyrah: Good morning.
Immanentize
@Darrin Ziliak:
Vermont and Wyoming?
Immanentize
Good morning, All!
Classes start again today (Intersession). But I have a hot new case I’m working on in Florida…. Has anyone noticed the US Supreme Court is currently a very bad place to end up if you want justice? So one of our strategies is avoid them if possible….
Immanentize
@satby: @David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:
Satby, I thought David meant Bernie! But works for both….
tokyokie
@Darrin Ziliak:
Maine and Alaska? OK, Alaska might be a stretch.
Kay
The conditions that must be met before the pullout are the same conditions that have always been in place.
Trump’s announcement on Syria was complete bullshit. The people who (still) work for him can’t say it, but we all can admit Trump was obviously lying, right?
I hope there’s as much discussion about Trump’s obvious lie about withdrawing from Syria as there was about the phony “announcement”.
CarolDuhart2
Alaska has natives, so not quite as non-diverse. I think one reason it has been Iowa and New Hampshire: small and cheap for a beginning candidacy for one, and the other: back when the decision was made, easier to get to by train. NH a short ride from New York, and Iowa was the hub for just about anywhere.
Immanentize
Harvard’s Larry Lessig seems to think we are on the edge of a Constitutional crisis.
Go Larry!
satby
@Immanentize: I never think of Wilmer, he’s such a non-entity to me, but you’re probably correct.
Baud
@satby:
I’d like to think of him less, but he’s the only thing dampening my optimism for 2020.
Immanentize
@Kay: It should be worrisome to all that an underling is undermining the President of the United States’ direct orders. And also that John Bolton is seeming somewhat rational is upsetting. It is all too confusing
SFAW
I’ve been using that line since I was fairly young, but I did not recall whence it came. Walt Kelly should have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for Comics and Political Commentary. [No, not just because of that line.]
Ken
@Immanentize: Was it a direct order, or something he blurted out at a rally or in a tweet? And is it a direct order if he doesn’t remember it three days later?
Immanentize
@satby: I wish I had your ability to leave him out of the picture, but like @Baud:, I’m a worrier.
I do think BS may just decide it all looks like too much work for too few groupies and decide not to do it this time.
SFAW
NH, IA, VT, and WY not representative of America? How so? They’re populated by REAL Americans, not … um … urban dwellers.
Kay
The President omitted about the part about the strategy being exactly the same as it was before he made the statement.
We could get into why he told this particular lie at this particular time but I’m not sure it matters anymore. The better question is why they continue to believe what he says. He now has a long, long list of foreign policy exaggerations, phony “successes” that turn out to be assertions of claimed achievements that didn’t actually happen, and outright lies- it is much more likely what he says is a lie than the truth.
danielx
@Immanentize:
It’s worrisome, but given the amount of material I’ve read about how his subordinates have frustrated some of his impulses, not surprising.
Now John Bolton seeming somewhat rational, that worries me.
Immanentize
@Ken:
It was a formal statement that I understand was followed by orders. It is why, reputedly, Mattis quit. So it was way more than a blurt.
Wall Street Journal said it was an “order.”
SFAW
@Immanentize:
Fortunately, SCOTUS will do the right and proper thing.
Where “right and proper” == whatever helps Shitgibbon or the Kochs/Mercers/oligarchs-in-general. Or the NRA. Or Russia.
montanareddog
@Immanentize: I think the constitutional crisis originates, once again, with Yertle; by refusing to allow a Senate vote on any House-passed bill which he decides the President will not sign. In other words, he is one man blocking Congress from acting as a co-equal branch.
Immanentize
@SFAW: Real Americans — with guns!
Kay
@Immanentize:
He’s not undermining anything. It was a lie. Trump made it up. He made it up because he needed an “announcement” at that particular moment and now he no longer needs the announcement.
Immanentize
@montanareddog:
Co-sign. Lessig said as much on the TV machine last night.
Baud
@Immanentize:
Lindsey Graham met with Trump a few days ago about Syria and came away from it happy, so it’s been clear for a while that they were going to walk back the withdrawal.
Kay
@Immanentize:
Reputedly. Or, Mattis thought it was a good time to jump off this trainwreck and he used Trump’s statement as an excuse.
This is a complete and utter walkback. They’re cleaning up after Trump’s statement, which was a lie.
Immanentize
@Kay: I actually do not think this one was a lie. I think it was a quid pro quo for getting Erdogan to go silent on the Kashoggi murder. If I am right, I wonder if Bolton’s restatement of the order will fire up Turkey. Or in emoji: ? up ?
Baud
@Immanentize:
Emoji has more gravitas than anything Trump says.
Immanentize
@Baud: @Kay:
I dislike them all so very much:
Trump
Bolton
Pompeo
We are in the hands of some of the most dishonest and dangerous men ever put in power together.
Kay
@Baud:
Obama would have gotten much more scrutiny if he had promised to withdraw. There would have been immediate skepticism – “Ill believe it when I see it”, which is justified! The President “promising” to withdraw troops is almost a cliche in US politics.
But Trump – the person who lies constantly- said it and for some reason he was considered credible. It’s mystifying. It’s like they’re still holding out hope that there’s an actual “Trump Doctrine”, like he means ANY of this shit he says. They WANT this ti be true- that he’s an “anti-interventionist” or has some coherent, recognizable “foreign policy approach” but it’s NOT true, so they keep jamming these random events into a frame, but only the events that fit the narrative.
They’re still covering him like a normal president, because they don’t know what else to do. They’re incapable of adjusting to this.
Baud
@Immanentize:
Hoocoodanode?
rikyrah
@Bruuuuce:
Uh huh
Uh huh ? ?
rikyrah
You don’t negotiate with terrorists ?
https://twitter.com/costareports/status/1082141071377879040
satby
@Baud: @Immanentize: BS man is already coping poorly with the barely increased scrutiny he’s gotten for the sexual harassment and it’s only going to get worse for him. He’s had a lot of former followers peel away, disillusioned by his sore loser behavior during 2016. And the kids who were his core have mostly moved on, especially considering his stances on gun control and women’s issues. So I have higher hopes than before that he won’t be a spoiler this cycle. Especially if releasing full tax returns is required to run on a Democratic party ticket.
Baud
@Kay:
I think in this case they wanted him to do something unorthodox because it feeds into their creed that both parties are bad and only a strong white male outsider who tells it like it is can fix things.
Baud
@satby: I don’t disagree. But the chance is non-zero that he will ratfuck us again. I still give it a 10% chance he runs as an independent so he can have a shot at participating in the general election debates.
Immanentize
@Baud: I don’t think he has the organization or the money to run independent, unless he does it as a Green? They already have ballot places in most states…. Perot worked for years to accomplish an independent ballot place
satby
@Baud: undoubtedly his ego thinks he could run as an independent, but if I recall correctly, an independent has to meet a minimum threshold of voter share to be included in the debates. EVERYONE, even his cult, is sick to death of Drumpf; and unfortunately for BS his act is too close to the know-nothing in chief’s routine. When you speak in front of a crowd today reminding them of the chaos bringer isn’t a winning look.
rikyrah
@Kay:
Tell it, Kay
rikyrah
@Baud:
Lay waste to him ?
Baud
@Immanentize: There are a lot of barriers to an independent run. Which is why I only give it a 1 in 10 odds.
For the record, I also worry about faithless electors. I’ll be very relieved once inauguration day 2021 is over.
rikyrah
@Kay:
The curve for Unqualified White Men is REAL ?? ?
Mai Naem mobile
@satby: I think Bernies 15 minutes are almost up. Also, I can’t believe the Dems are worried about running against Trumpov. Cardboard cutout Dennis Kucinich would win against Trumpov.
I would like to see Jerry Brown on the ticket. I know he’s an old white male but he is smart as a tack and he’s from California. I think he ie one of the most articulate people on climate change.
RedDirtGirl
@Immanentize: Or Joe Biden!
NotMax
(tentatively sniffs air, identifies aroma)
First full Infrastructure Week of a new year.
Major Major Major Major
Our what now?
Ladyraxterinok
@CarolDuhart2: IIRC IA ‘first in the nation’s caucuses started in 72.
We moved to IA in late68. Heard lots of wild tales about how in 68 people had to ferret out the location of dem precinct caucuses; in some places people said they went into the .location through a house window.
In IA election folklore, 68 was the last yr of ‘smoke filled rooms’– they were ended by a new breed of (mostly young) energized activists
Enhanced Voting Techniques
Wait, did Cortez just reverse man-splain on Dumd Donny JR? lol
Major Major Major Major
@Immanentize:
Every article about him I see interviews Jeff Weaver as this rabid Bernie or Bust fanatic, so he’s either reflective of Bernie’s enthusiasm or he’s that enthusiastic to get the gravy train running again.
Patricia Kayden
Love all the Conservative snowflakes moaning about Bale thanking Satan for inspiring his portrayal of Dick Cheney.
https://twitter.com/RawStory/status/1082144800428695553
Personally, I think Satan should sue Bale for slander but that’s just me.
NotMax
@Mai Naem mobile
If he’s not ready to retire, head of EPA would be a suitable final act for Brown. Too much mileage on him and too much Governor Moonbeam baggage to run for president – and he knows it.
OzarkHillbilly
@satby: Don’t run
Immanentize
@rikyrah:
I like the way you think
Kay
@Baud:
Agreed, except I think it’s bigger than Trump. Trump taps into things- he doesn’t create anything.
Obama announcing a withdrawal from Syria would have inspired 50 world-weary opinions about “Friedman Units” and demands for a timeline. Trump says it and they’re all ready to announce a new world order. Also- they JUST DID this. They did the same with Trump’s announcements on North Korea. That was bullshit too.
The default at this point should be “he’s lying” but for some reason it isn’t. That to me indicates some yearning or hope that he gives them some direction. some frame in which to analyze. They can’t or won’t adjust to the random and meaningless nature of this- it’s dumb and petty and dishonest and self-serving, but they have to make it MORE.
MattF
FWIW, it was obvious that Bolton would be against US withdrawal from Syria. He’s the ‘why don’t we invade Iran’ guy, after all. It’s a lot less obvious exactly who was in favor of withdrawal and why. I imagine, in any case, that ex-SecDef Mattis has no regrets about managing an escape from the WH. The bonus is that Trump is, once more proven to be a liar.
Major Major Major Major
@MattF: Mattis’s resignation letter was not written overnight though. Syria was perhaps the straw that broke the camel, but his departure was not unplanned.
satby
@OzarkHillbilly: I shared that article on FB yesterday. Even the hometown folks are sick of his act. And it’s funny how they call out how little he’s done for the state.
77… Too fucking old, and I’m an old.
Leto
@Major Major Major Major:
Parasites need the host fat and healthy. Apparently he hasn’t identified a new
suckerhost to move on to.Kay
@MattF:
Okay, but X president hires Bolton. X president then announces pullout. Since those two actions don’t fit together, the rational response to Trump’s announcement should be “it’s bullshit”.
With any other president it would have been, but inexplicably they continue to give the liar the benefit of the doubt, well past the point they would give any other president the benefit of the doubt.
I don’t object that they’re “normalizing” Trump- I don’t think they are- I think they give him much more credit than they would any other president. I would be thrilled with “normalizing”. I can’t even get that.
These people he hires? They’re a direct contradiction to what he says.
Immanentize
@RedDirtGirl: Ha!! Absolutely!
NotMax
@Major Major Major Major
Broke the camel’s back.
Although, come to think of it, Break the Camel would a be great name for a video game.
;)
satby
@Leto: hard to keep them
down on the farmback at the comic book store when they’ve had a taste of the big money.Edited to add: always good to see you, how’s it going?
Major Major Major Major
@NotMax: I’m on my phone, didn’t want to type the apostrophe, and enjoyed the phrase.
OzarkHillbilly
@satby: If all politics are local, he’s DOA.
Baud
@satby:
@OzarkHillbilly:
If he doesn’t win New Hampshire, I think that’s the end for him. If he does, it’s going to be a long primary.
MomSense
Sorry trump farmers but you got played by Putin’s Agent Orange. Russia has announced it will replace the US supply of soy beans and poultry to China.
Dorothy A. Winsor
Like a fool, I went and read Trump’s morning tweets.
I can’t go back there. Reading in this through-the-looking-glass world does turn me into a crazed lunatic who wonders if truth exists any more.
NotMax
@Major Major Major Major
How’s the apartment working out? Cat back in the city?
satby
@OzarkHillbilly: and like the narcissist Wilmer is, the fact that people are starting to push back oh so gently on his bullshit may cause him to decide we’re unworthy of him.
I could totally see him doing that because he prefers to be the lonely noble truthteller sticking to his “principles”. He’s found ways to monetize his shtick and failing at a run would threaten the gravy train.
Baud
@satby:
I think he decided that a long time ago.
MattF
@Kay: It occurs to me that the principal positive reaction to US withdrawal from Syria came from the Russians. That’s a huge and looming WTF about Trump’s behavior. Trump gets his orders from the grapevine or maybe from that red phone on his desk. I guess.
Leto
@satby: not too bad. Start of another week, so start of another round of having to sort stuff out with the insurance company (Blue Cross Blue Shield). Made a good bit of headway last week so looking to build on that. I have an appointment with my ortho doc on Wednesday, so my physical
terroristtherapist will be wracking me pretty good before then. I’m gaining a bit more flexibility in both knees, so hopefully the ortho doc will be somewhat pleased.satby
@Baud: before he ever ran for any political office.
MattF
@Dorothy A. Winsor: It’s the ‘six impossible things before breakfast’ exercise.
satby
@Leto: Good to hear you’re getting better, and keeping all digits crossed that the insurance stuff straightens out to your benefit.
Tenar Arha
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: You have more fortitude than me. I looked at all my choices of what I hadn’t seen yet or twice on New Year’s Eve, & decided I wasn’t ever going to be able to watch Vice in the theaters, & probably not on DVD for a long time, if ever.
The other day I idly wondered if my parents had that reaction to the movie Dick which was released a quarter century after Watergate, but they’re not available to ask anymore. Then again, I don’t think they ever felt they were living in the present through the long slow rolling disastrous aftermath of the bad choices made by Nixon. Huh…I’ve thought about this more than I realized.
ETA typo
NotMax
@Dorothy A. Winsor
Fewer total new jobs in Dolt 45’s first two years than in the same period for Obama. And in the latter’s case, the economy was still shedding jobs during the beginning of his term.
OzarkHillbilly
@satby:
A number of my friends were surprised that the leftier than left person I am was against BS almost from the start of his campaign. Even after I explained that a President needs a party behind them to get anything done, (example #1: trump) that Bernie has never been a DEM and in all likelihood never would be, some still didn’t get it. That was the moment they realized I was just another sellout to the DEM machine.
Leto
@MomSense: I know they announced it, but do they have the capacity to fill that order? Also is that enough to finally convince them to stop supporting Trumpov? Combine that with them not receiving their welfare checks due to the shutdown… I guess we’ll see.
satby
Off to take my two oldest geezers to the vet for check ups (one cat, one dog). They’re doing fine for elderly pets, but Rosie the dog needs her seizure medication adjusted. And Wookie needs a serious geezer shave.
Wish me and the vet techs luck on that!
patrick II
@Kay:
I think Trump believed what he said at the time. It is something he has wanted since at least his campaign, but his advisors had been holding him back. He has felt more emboldened to act on his own recently, and Erdogan’s threats over the phone made the coward to authoritarian leaders see an opportunity for ” bold leadership” and getting unfettered from the dumb people around him who didn’t understand the world as his own stable genius did. His more establishment (Bolton,really?) have slow walked him back and have framed it as a continuation of conditions that have always been true. But Trump meant what he said but had no idea of the broader consequences for Israel and Iran have which have meekened him to not publicly disagree with Bolton and Pompeo’s lead.
Immanentize
@NotMax:
Oh video killed the plastic star?
What about the famous Last Straw Game from the late 60’s?
OzarkHillbilly
@Leto:
Who cares? I say we use a video of Putin announcing this in ads plastered all over Iowa, MO, IL, IN, KS, NE, SD, ND, ad nauseum, just to remind farmers exactly who trump is working for.
NotMax
@Tenar Arha
Living through RMN was quite enough, then you very much. As was living through Cheney.
Would rather sit through repeated showings of Freddie Krueger vs. Transformers than subject myself to either flick.
satby
@OzarkHillbilly: the numbers of Americans who don’t understand how our government is supposed to work, how laws get passed, and how their own representatives vote is breathtaking to me. It’s almost like there’s been a 30 year disinformation campaign about that too.
MomSense
@Leto:
I don’t know if they can fulfill the orders but it does show directly how decisions trump makes always seem to benefit Putin. Even the stupid pipeline is using Russian made pipe. And I’m sure if he gets his steel wall it will also use Russian steel.
It seems to me that trump is behaving like an agent of Russia and people are having a hard time accepting it. Maybe this will break through.
Major Major Major Major
@NotMax: we don’t move in for a few weeks yet.
satby
@OzarkHillbilly:
I love the way you think!
Immanentize
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
I had a friend in Florida, a great criminal defense attorney, who famously said, “Trial!? Who wants to go to trial?! That’s where they might find out the TRUTH!”
Tenar Arha
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Yep. I avoid him as much as possible. (LOL I try not to even give him the statistics of selecting or searching for his tweets, so if I must see the full sentence, I search under @UnfollowTrump).
Immanentize
@satby: We need School House Rock for the adults. I do feel like there was simply more generalized understanding of government on the past…. In the 60’s people generally wanted the government to work for them. Now, not so much
Major Major Major Major
@Tenar Arha: Dick was at least fun. From what I’ve read Vice is almost insultingly bad.
OzarkHillbilly
@Immanentize:
I wonder what happened? Oh yeah…
-Saint Ronaldus of Raygun
NotMax
@Immanentize
The 60s were replete with releases of children’s games that were fun for all of 10 minutes.
Even the densest of rugrats quickly learned to be skeptical if the ad enthusiastically shouted “By Marx!”
Probably relegated to the dump when Mom moved from the large house was a board game (based on the electoral college, hazy memory says it was named Inauguration) released as a prototype by a friend’s father’s factory during that time to demonstrate the process of laminating a playing board, a technique which never did gain footing.
;)
MomSense
@OzarkHillbilly:
And my Xer generation loved his schtick. I still can’t believe people fell for his act.
Elizabelle
Happy First Monday morning of 2019, peeps.
Leto
@satby: Because we’re speaking about insurance, Mark Zuckerberg is bringing his “disruptive Silicon Valley” practices to healthcare.
A $20,243 bike crash: Zuckerberg hospital’s aggressive tactics leave patients with big bills
I spent a year writing about ER bills. Zuckerberg San Francisco General has the most surprising billing practices I’ve seen.
I saw the bill for my own ER visit and I can’t even imagine having to pay that. I can’t remember the ambulance ride in, but apparently I was pretty cordial, making some jokes and talking with the medics. Was I lucid enough to know if the hospital I was going to was “in network”? JFC SMFH.
NotMax
Not something I follow, but is it true (from what little have heard in passing) that Facebook has now made it verboten to discuss sex?
rp
But Greenwald promised that Trump was sincere about withdrawing from Syria and military adventurism.
Kay
@rp:
If any other pol had announced they were pulling out of anywhere, Greenwald would have treated it skeptically.
But with Trump it fits with what Greenwald already believes- hopes- so he didn’t. They buy Trump’s bullshit. They buy his whole basic narrative. They treat each lie, each broken promise, as if it’s the exception- as if it’s contrary to what Trump “really” believes.
No other national politician gets this treatment. Just Trump.
NotMax
@Major Major Major Major
BTW, finances eased up enough in the new year to finally spring for a really, really good gaming computer. Still using the old workhorse PC for everything else.
Late to the party but liking Mass Effect 2. And enjoying the hell out of Life Is Strange 2.
Tenar Arha
@Major Major Major Major: Yeah. All the reviews made Vice sound simultaneously too real, and too soon, though a lot said “amazing performances.” Dick was much more of a romp that leaned into the fable until it became absurdity & actually funny.
Maybe I’m reaching here, but the better example might be All the President’s Men. Which I think never would have worked at all if it hadn’t starred Redford & Hoffman & Holbrook etc. I think that might be the problem with films like this in general. Actors who are this good, they end up humanizing & even unintentionally heroizing their characters. & pet peeve of mine: It also flattens out the history into something comprehensible, but too small & mythical. And then it’s become something that historians spend large amounts of time reminding people “that’s not really what happened.”
schrodingers_cat
@Kay: The only conclusion left to draw is that they love his bigotry and are willing to give him a pass every fucking time. They love that he is an out and proud bigot unlike the other weaselly Rs, who at least pay lip service to ideals like equality.
ETA: FWIW there were at least two posts on Balloon Juice that day applauding T’s decision to withdraw from Syria, one from JGC himself. I wonder why that was because I don’t think its bigotry that’s a motivating factor in that case.
Kay
@rp:
I think the effort to cloak Trump’s actions in some coherent world-view has to do with the cost. They have to find an upside to Trump, to justify all the racism and mean-spirited nastiness, and shitty policy.
But there isn’t always an upside. Sometimes you just get screwed. We get the racism and nasty meanness and casual cruelty AND the crap hard Right conservative policy with Trump. It’s ALL downside.
rp
@Kay: In a weird way, I almost feel like you’re giving Greenwald (and clones like Tracey) too much credit. My guess is that they’re either getting paid by the GOP or Russia to spout this nonsense, or they’re so invested in owning the libs that they’re following a “lefty” version of cleek’s law. (or both)
O. Felix Culpa
@Immanentize: We need School House Rock for the adults.
rikyrah
@Baud:
The number of Caucus states has gone down.
Even with New Hampshire, he is going to run into a brick wall
schrodingers_cat
@Kay: Our own Adam L Silverman did it too when he wrote that entire post about immigration. Calling asylum and DACA bleeding wounds or something to that effect. They are bleeding wounds because Orange has made them so. It is a manufactured crisis. In some cases I think one has to take what Orange does seriously because he has the power to manufacture crises. But we need to make it clear that things have reached a crisis situation because the so called President is trying to manufacture those crises by making an existing bad situation worse, on purpose.
J R in WV
@tokyokie:
Mississippi and Louisana? North and South Dakota? Alabama and South Carolina? ;-)
Elizabelle
@Tenar Arha:
Yep. That’s exactly what I was worried about with Vice. Have not seen the movie yet; maybe I should, but I worry what some viewers might take away from the film.
Major Major Major Major
@NotMax:
Many sites (FB included) are banning anything that could possibly be viewed as sexual solicitation, and being very overzealous about it, thanks to new laws that make platforms liable for content posted by their users if it pertains to sex work, under the umbrella of allegedly “stopping sex trafficking.”
Gay men can no longer mention being a top/bottom for example.
catclub
@Kay:
Actually to justify getting all the judges and tax cuts. They ignore the racism.
J R in WV
@schrodingers_cat:
Because some people are antiwar, and want us out of foreign wars no matter how that happens. Cole probably lost some buddies in the first gulf war, he certainly lost more in the fake Iraq war.
We’re still over there for some reason, trying to fix what Cheney broke, and some things can’t be fixed.
I think we should rescue 3 million refugees first, and bring them with us when we leave, but that we should leave asap given that need. And screw the Israelis until they stop stealing 400 year old family-owned olive groves.
catclub
@J R in WV:
Don’t leave out WV and Kentucky as another non-rep pair. Louisiana has a Democratic Governor. Alabama has a Democratic Senator.
schrodingers_cat
@J R in WV: The issue is not being pro or anti war, the issue is trusting Orange. That he cannot be trusted should be crystal clear by now.
rikyrah
@J R in WV:
Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama and South Carolina have large Black populations.
North and South Dakota – large Native populations.(compared to the rest of the Nation)
SueMcC
@Leto: So I had a bicycle accident recently–concussion, broke my arm, some road rash. Imagine my dismay as I started to get the bills, only to find that the doctors/services where there is no choice–the ER doc, the EMS services, the anesthesiologist for surgery on my arm–were not in network for anybody! And they all balance bill, even though my insurance paid them as though they were in network. This leads to really bizarre outcomes, such as paying the anesthesiologist more than the surgeon who fixed my arm. It’s a very cynical business strategy, essentially highway robbery.
Leto
@SueMcC: My motorcycle accident experience says the same thing.
Quaker in a Basement
Me too, also, but a little later in life. Yawp!