Speaking of setting fires, I for one am ready for Stacey-mentum:
Georgia Democrat Stacey Abrams said Thursday that she wants to make a decision this month about running for a U.S. Senate seat from her home state and thinks she could hold off on making a decision about running for president until this fall…
“My first responsibility is to decide whether a Senate run is right for me,” Abrams said during an appearance Thursday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” adding that she is trying to determine if the Senate is “the right job that I need to hold.”
Abrams is being heavily courted by Senate Democratic leaders to challenge Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.) next year.
If she forgoes the Senate race, Abrams said she thinks she could wait until September to enter the race for the White House…
I doubt she actually will wait that long, but it’s gotta be fun watching the Repubs who stole her last election running in circles worrying how hard she’ll make them work (how much money she’ll force them to spend) this time!
If there is room for Tim Ryan, who is best known for challenging Nancy Pelosi’s speakership and getting schooled, there is room for the most accomplished and charismatic politician of her generation https://t.co/Ruf3UbzH9r
— laura olin (@lauraolin) April 8, 2019
eclare
I hope she runs for Senate, we desperately need the majority.
OzarkHillbilly
Senate, please.
Baud
Hell, there’s room for a virtual candidate from a top 10,000 blog who plans to half-ass it through the primary in hopes that the real candidates will shiv each other on the debate stage.
(((CassandraLeo)))
@eclare: @OzarkHillbilly: Concurred. Much as she’d be an amazing president, we really need as many Senate seats as we can get, and she’s easily the best chance we’ve got of picking up GA.
…also, there really wasn’t room in the race for Tim Ryan. There is no conceivable question an average voter has to which the answer is “Tim Ryan”.
(((CassandraLeo)))
I have some Thoughts that I wrote up concerning the recent firing of KKKirstjen Nielsen and the part public shaming played in its occurrence. I wish to clarify two things before proceeding further: In using “public shaming”, I am employing a relatively idosyncratic definition of the term, but I can’t think of a better phrase to describe what I am discussing. The term “public shaming” is usually used to refer to an act that occurs online. I am not using it in that sense. John Oliver recently aired what I consider the definitive treatment of this issue, featuring an interview with Monica Lewinsky, who has no small amount of firsthand experience with it. Instead, I am referring to an act that literally occurs in public, to a person’s face. There was no small amount of controversy when protesters drove KKKirstjen Nielsen out of a Mexican restaurant where she had the audacity to show up while she was defending the administration’s policy of kids in cages.
The second disclaimer shouldn’t be necessary, since I am referring to her as KKKirstjen Nielsen throughout this post, but it is not my intention to give her any sort of praise at any point in this post. However, in comparison to the administration* officials who remain, not to mention the president* himself, she is going to come across as a lesser evil. I can’t avoid this, because the greater evil is so unaccountably evil that a woman who once defended the policy of putting children in cages now comes across looking better for, by all appearances, being fired for no longer being willing to keep putting children in cages. The bar is so far below ground that a person whose moral standards are six miles subterranean still comes out above it.
What I intend to discuss is the role public shaming seems to have played in KKKirstjen Nielsen’s firing. At the time, some people attacked the act of confronting her as being ~uncivil~. Even then, I regarded these attacks as morally indefensible. When children are being locked up in cages, complaining about ~civility~ because people are telling the architects of that policy to their face that their position is morally loathsome is implicitly siding with the architects of that policy. If we are concerned with civility, it is far more uncivil to separate children from their families and lock them in cages than it is to tell the people responsible for that policy that they are moral monsters.
We’re unlikely ever to know exactly why KKKirstjen Nielsen is no longer the Secretary of Homeland Security, because everyone associated with this administration* lies so habitually that it’s difficult to be certain that anything we’re hearing is true. However, the initial reporting suggests that Individual-1 fired Nielsen because she was no longer willing to put children in cages.
If this is accurate (again, a big if, but there’s a lot of circumstantial evidence suggesting it’s at least broadly true), this leads us to the question of why. Given how casually she lied to Congress in order to defend the policy in the past, it doesn’t seem as though she herself had a sudden attack of conscience over the matter. It seems implausible that she should have suddenly and independently developed one. So what is the explanation for her actions?
I don’t know if we’ll ever definitively know that this is the case, but my interpretation is that the public shaming worked. She remembered exactly what her experience was the last time the policy was in the news, and she had plausible reason to believe that her experience would be exactly the same this time around. And that is probably correct. I have no doubt that, should she have stayed with the administration*, protesters would have confronted her consistently just as they did the last time the story was in the news.
All the people who attacked this tactic are cordially invited to fuck off. You were wrong, and your stance was and is morally indefensible. The people responsible for this policy deserve not a moment of peace anytime they make public appearances, and if there is any justice left in this world, they will not receive one.
JR
Here’s a thought about presidential candidates, since the Democrats have 50 of them: Run! Go for it!
But let’s establish a condition: If you run and participate in debates/town halls or any other public event identifying you as a (D) candidate for the presidency, you are obligated to campaign publicly for whoever wins the nomination.
OzarkHillbilly
@(((CassandraLeo))): Well, that and the contempt of court charges. ;-)
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone ???
Baud
@rikyrah: Good morning.
NotMax
Blech morning, fellow jackals.
Plato
@(((CassandraLeo))):
One word. Avoid Jail. Ok, that’s two.
These evil mofos cannot be shamed.
OzarkHillbilly
Help! I’ve fallen into a Bronkshole and I can’t get out!
OzarkHillbilly
@NotMax: I’ve got a funeral to go to this morn. Blech.
prob50
@(((CassandraLeo))): Maybe she decided there was no longer any upside for her in shilling for someone who was about to dump her sick ass to the side of the road at (or before) the next rest stop.
Elizabelle
@Baud: Good morning and welcome back.
My condolences on being without a dog at present. I hope there is a lucky one (or two) in your near future.
NotMax
@OzarkHillbilly
Mornings are bad enough on their own without adding in mourning.
Betty Cracker
@(((CassandraLeo))): Michelle Goldberg at the NYT has a column up today arguing that Nielsen should be made a permanent pariah as a lesson to other Trump employees who would invoke the “just following orders” defense. Goldberg stops short of endorsing protests at restaurants, but she does provide a link to a petition:
Link to petition.
prob50
Oh, and Stacey should go for the Senate – we need a strong candidate to take that Senate seat a lot more than we need another entry in the already over-crowded Presidential Sweepstakes.
NotMax
Closed caption funnies. Encountered the other day:
Diner: What does the lamb come with?
Flustered waiter: Carrots, broccoli, new potatoes … and juice. I mean jus.
Captioning:
What does the lamb come with?
Carrots, broccoli, new potatoes … and juice. I mean jew.
Damien
@(((CassandraLeo))):
I think the one I’d have would be “Who was that douchecanoe that got his ass handed back to him with a 2-year parking validation by the most impressive woman in Washington right…..ever.”
(((CassandraLeo)))
@Plato: It’s not really so much about shame per se. It’s about making them terrified to show their faces in public if they accept jobs with this evil administration*, or if they play a significant part in enacting its evil agenda.
We already know that fear was a motivator in keeping KKKirstjen Nielsen at the administration*; evidently she was afraid she would be unemployable outside the administration*, and I certainly hope her fears were correct. However, she also appears to have been unwilling to defend another round of family separations because she remembered how unpleasant protesters made the first round for her, which ultimately led to her firing.
I would count that as a massive victory. Obviously, the administration* will find other apparatchiks to take her place, but we’ll make their lives miserable, too. And “Dump administration* immigration policies too extreme for woman who defended forced family separations” is not a good look for them.
NotMax
@(((CassandraLeo)))
Have taken to calling it a badministration.
Baud
@Elizabelle: Good morning, ‘belle. It’s nice to see you again too. Are you still voyaging in Europe?
Immanentize
Hello All,
Baud, I am sorry about your pup, but I too am glad you’re back.
And speaking of pups, any word on Bodhi’s recovery from the fight from raven?
(((CassandraLeo)))
@NotMax: Pretty good portmanteau. Charlie Pierce and I independently started using the asterisk to denote the administration*’s lack of legitimacy. I’m sure he, like me, got the idea from the metaphorical asterisk in the baseball record books regarding Maris’ home run record. (People below a certain age, or who never obsessed over baseball statistics, might not remember this. It wasn’t a literal asterisk, actually, but because Maris was represented separately in the record books, everyone called it an asterisk, and it’s how the ruling is remembered in popular culture.)
Immanentize
@(((CassandraLeo))):
Nielsen is a monster — but semi-competent.* The next monster will be more monsterous but less competent.
*I know Kay thinks she was incompetent, but I think she managed to create a lot of pain which, after all, was the primary goal.
Immanentize
@OzarkHillbilly:
That’s been happening a lot to you lately. Truly sorry.
Jay
@(((CassandraLeo))):
KKKirsten, or Ilsa, She Wolf of the Nazis, as I prefer to call her,
was fine with building the Concentration Camps, the Rape Camps, stealing children and forcing them into slavery, forced birtherism,
She drew the line at setting up and running Gas Chambers and Crematorieum,
Not exactly Nobel Prize Material.
FSM willing, she will get a fair trial.
(((CassandraLeo)))
@OzarkHillbilly: My condolences.
I also don’t know what dog-related woe Baud is suffering, but my condolences over that as well.
@Jay: Should be Ilsja, Shje-Woljf of the Nazjis to be fully consistent with her name (which is inexplicably spelt Kirstjen if we’re omitting the rhetorical flourish she deserves), but yeah, I pretty much agree.
debbie
@(((CassandraLeo))):
She’s done and gone. It’s more important to focus on what’s coming next. If conservative immigration activist Mark Kirkorian has his way (and he has more input on policy than all of us combined), tent cities and forced returns are on the horizon. I doubt Trump will let go of forced separations since he’s such a visual monster.
Catch Krikorian’s interview this morning on NPR if you’re in the mood for a chilling experience.
OzarkHillbilly
@Immanentize: Meh. I just bear witness. These things ebb and flow. At my age, it is no longer a surprise.
Jay
@(((CassandraLeo))):
It’s a refernce to this exploitation film,
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilsa,_She_Wolf_of_the_SS
Y’all need a serious enema in the form of trials, reeducation camps and a Truth snd Reckoncilliation Committee,
And s hell of a lot more cat/puppy vids force fed to the Wingnuts,
Kinda a Clockwork Orange sitch,
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wogwwCLZ78M&list=PLLoPYaJqlcK6L9DvO4o7_D38JwtBeMvY6&index=4
Elizabelle
@Baud: Yup. Gonna stay the full ninety days (allotted with a tourist visa).
Thursday will be at an event in Courtroom 600 from the Nuremberg trials. Look forward to that. Saw a bit of the city this past weekend. Amazing how well some of these badly bombed cities have been rebuilt. (Nuremberg took heavy damage, particularly on January 2, 1945, when Allied bombing destroyed a lot of the city and killed 6,000 inhabitants.)
The medieval art within the cathedrals was in pretty good shape. It was moved to underground storage in 1939.
Very meaningful to be over here when rightwing nationalism is rearing its ugly head again, in country after country. (Of course, the FTF NY Times has helpfully rebranded it “populism”.) Call it by its name.
(((CassandraLeo)))
@debbie: Yeah, I don’t see as much point in making Nielsen’s every hour a waking misery as I do in tormenting her successor(s). I mean, sure, anyone who sees her in public should shun her and never let her forget that she defended putting babies in cages, but people should make her successors’ lives even more miserable, literally following them around in public in groups, making sure they never get a moment of peace.
@Jay: Aware of the film. I was just making a joke based on her idiosyncratic name spelling.
A truth and reconciliation committee at the very minimum would be a great idea. Trials are also desperately necessary. And the wingnuts have been afraid of forced re-education camps long enough that it would be poetic justice if they actually happened. Given the nature of Faux News, 1/3 of the nation needs deprogramming from a cult.
Jay
@Elizabelle:
Yup, no need to parse Nazis. just lump em.
debbie
@Elizabelle:
Yes, please.
I envy you being in all that history.
debbie
@(((CassandraLeo))):
She and her successors are just tools of Trump-Miller. They’re distractions. Every bit of energy should go against the real policymakers.
Jay
@(((CassandraLeo))):
Kill Faux, some of that may require actual killing,
Prop their eyelids open with splintery broken used tooth picks,
Make them watch 978 hours of The Dodo, “Odd Couples”, on repeat, followed by an exam,
That’s stage 1 of 946.
(((CassandraLeo)))
@debbie: I can see an argument for this.
On the other hand, Miller is a True Believer. It’s unlikely anything short of criminal prosecution, conviction, and imprisonment will deter him. And even then, maybe not. But the apparatchiks they put in place may decide enough is enough, get sick of being shamed publicly every time they go grocery shopping, and quit.
That’s the hope, anyway. Anyway, we can walk and chew gum at the same time. We can make more than one administration* apparatchik’s life a waking hell.
Jay
@(((CassandraLeo))):
http://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2019/03/the-plot-against-america-3
http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/677/rebecca_solnit_on_hope_in_dark_times
MomSense
@(((CassandraLeo))):
Yes, I think public shaming does work and lyjng NAZI bitch Nielsen is certainly deserving of all the derision she receives.
rikyrah
For a laugh ??
https://twitter.com/HTXTAJ/status/1113538862582784003
Betty Cracker
@(((CassandraLeo))): I’m Team Walk & Chew Gum too. One way a country becomes so debased that creatures like Trump and Miller are able to seize power is through a breakdown of norms and values. Dog-whistles are tolerated, so they get louder. Crackpots gain the imprimatur of respectability by association with respected institutions. After a while, it seems normal.
It’s millions of small choices that create norms. I take responsibility for my part as a person who used to have a “no politics” rule as a way to keep peace with wingnut family members. The lack of pushback emboldened them — not just from me but from everyone in their lives who was horrified by their views but chose peace over conflict.
There must be consequences for people who associate themselves with this monstrous, corrupt, anti-democratic administration and its horrible policies. Professional and social consequences. You can’t appeal to their decency, so their self interests must be on the line.
rikyrah
????
https://twitter.com/Kelciium/status/1114755901083140096
zhena gogolia
@(((CassandraLeo))):
Yes!
I was thinking (vaguely) the same thing last night, but you’ve formulated it beautifully. I would add the grilling she got from some fierce women House Representatives lately, in particular Barragan.
OzarkHillbilly
Privileged
-Kyle Korver
rikyrah
Awe??
https://twitter.com/Kokomothegreat/status/1115253006294036481
Kay
I think Trump hates her and pushed her out because he blames her that his immigration policy and practices aren’t popular. Immigration hasn’t been a winning political issue for him. The child jailing was a political disaster, “the caravans” flopped in the midterms and his wall push was a huge, embarrassing public defeat. He hasn’t persuaded anyone outside the GOP base. He blames other people when he fails and he failed politically on this. I’ll be interested to see how many GOP members of Congress run on it- my bet is not many.
You can’t go wrong with Trump betting on “shallow and petty”. He cares A LOT about popularity contests- it’s all he really cares about. That he isn’t popular doesn’t mean he doesn’t care about it. It just means he failed at it.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
He’s either nutz or a liar. There’s no way Cocaine Mitch will give him 60 votes for anything, let alone trillions in spending.
Even “New York” magazine, which is very supportive of Wilmer, was stunned by this comment and said “This is not sound logic.”
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
More 1st quarter fundraising reports:
• Amy Klobuchar: $5.2 million
• Cory Booker: $5 million
I think this is pretty good. If they sustain this, they’ll have more then enough to make a strong play.
Immanentize
@rikyrah:
That’s what Lil Bit needs!
Kay
He hates DeVos for the same reason and in the same way. He blames her for the political damage he suffers on things like proposing to cut Special Olympics. He thinks he isn’t popular because he’s surrounded by people who are incompetent politically. The constant replacements are flailing, but not on policy. On politics. He sees these people as bad salespeople. They’re the reason he can’t sell this shit.
MomSense
On the interesting and good news front, anyone here following the story of the song On the Old Town Road? The super condensed version is that a young, black recording artist created a country song with hip hop flavor that went to number one on the billboard charts including the country music chart. Then all of a sudden the country music chart said that his song wasn’t country enough and took it off the chart. At that point Billy Ray Cyrus publicly told LiL Nas X that when Cyrus was kicked off the charts Waylon Jennings told him he was now officially a member of the outlaw club and then Cyrus welcomed Nas x to the outlaw club.
You can imagine the push back but there’s was also a lot of positive feedback. So Billy Ray Cyrus went into the studio with Lil Nas X and they remixed Old Town Road with Cyrus adding some verse, vocals, and guitar. Now Cyrus is taking on the haters and the song is back at number one. Turns out Billy Ray is a good guy.
old town road
OzarkHillbilly
@rikyrah: Thanx for that.
Another Scott
@Jay: ‘morning all.
Speaking of a Clockwork Orange – Jimmy Stewart is stuck in a nightmare Kubrick movie (4:02). [ETA – some brief nudity.]
Hehe.
Cheers,
Scott.
rikyrah
In yesterday’s example of Meghan McCain has no home training,
Joy Behar supplied the look that launched 1000 Twitter memes. Kevonstage has his own interpretation .???
https://youtu.be/UrcAs-bvQeg
Baud
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: I remember when the failure to ditch the filibuster in 2009 was proof that Dems sold us out.
OzarkHillbilly
@Kay: trump never fails. People fail trump.
rikyrah
@rikyrah:
Part 2??
https://twitter.com/HTXTAJ/status/1113600120107479041
Baud
@Kay: Compared to Trump, they are bad salespeople.
Kay
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:
538 is doing “issue priority” for the candidates based on their mentions of issues in social media. I was surprised (and pleased) to see Klobuchar mentions voting rights more than any other one issue- followed by (predictably) infrastructure.
I’m just thrilled that voting rights is now utterly mainstreamed in the D party. Center.
rikyrah
@Kay:
Yeah, because children in cages is so popular ???
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
CNN Town Hall Week
Gillibrand – Ttonight at 10PM Eastern
Jay Inslee – Tomorrow at 10PM Eastern
Julián Castro – Thursday at 10PM Eastern
On Sunday a double feature:
Marianne Williamson at 7PM Eastern
Andrew Yang at 8PM Eastern
Kay
@Baud:
Have they been successful at persuading people that immigrants are a huge threat? They’ve been flogging it for 3 years, full bore, all hands on deck. Shouldn’t it be more popular? That’s his “frustration”, not the specifics of immigration, which he doesn’t understand and doesn’t care about. He doesn’t know why he hasn’t succeeded in making people hate immigrants more.
rikyrah
@MomSense:
I am glad that folks are remembering that Billy Ray Cyrus was NOT welcomed when he broke through with Achy Braky Heart. The Country Establishment did NOT put out the welcome mat for him.
I did follow the story, when it came to the forefront last week. Went and listened to the original song-sounded like country to me.?
OzarkHillbilly
@rikyrah: That look said, “Your mother really should have slapped you silly back when you were just a mouthy 16 yr old.”
Baud
@Kay:
Trump has maxxed out his support on immigration. Now it’s just about giving his base ever increasing hits of cruelty to keep them hooked. But that doesn’t change the fact that he’s better at selling what he’s selling than his underlings are.
rikyrah
@Kay:
Doesn’t help when every terrorist action has.been a domestic terrorist one done by White Men. And, that the facts aren’t on his side. Drugs come through the ports. Terrorists come here by plane.??
He is also mad that he couldn’t shut the border with Mexico, because it would upset the economy. Someone actually got thru to him about that.
rikyrah
Uh huh ?
BIE (black identity extremist) (@contrapopulist) Tweeted:
If you’re just now in 2019 realizing that Bernie Sanders has deep antipathy towards “foreigners” you deserve no credit for realizing what the middle aged “shitlib” wine moms and Black voting rights activists immediately saw in 2015. https://twitter.com/contrapopulist/status/1115413090731012096?s=17
Dorothy A. Winsor
@OzarkHillbilly: @MomSense: Both these stories made me happy. Turns out not everyone is an asshole.
Eural Joiner
@MomSense:
Also – my Nine Inch Nails sub-reddit is having a fit since the banjo “hook” is apparently sampled from “34 Ghost IV” from the collection Reznor put out a few years back :)
rikyrah
THREAD
45…get your hands off Puerto Rico’s Medicaid (@Kamalaallday) Tweeted:
I just watched a white Bernie supporter, hiding behind a black avi, try to isolate a black Woman from AAVE bc she knew she couldn’t keep up. She tried to shame her for using “black vernacular” to appear black. She knew she’d get exposed when it became obvious she couldn’t https://twitter.com/Kamalaallday/status/1115563997250633730?s=17
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: trump is only selling it to the people at his rallies. His underlings have to try and sell it to everybody else, including the courts.
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly: Agreed. He delegates the hard work to others (like firing people). But he has been successful in keeping his base entralled.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: Faint praise. The corner dealer is really good at selling heroin to the addicts.
tobie
Morning, Jackals. Sounds like there’s been a lot of tough dog news all around. Wishing all those worried about their pets peace and strength. Today will be better than yesterday…which is not promising a lot since yesterday truly sucked but it’s better than nothing.
MomSense
@rikyrah:
Billy Ray shared his reaction to the original song. He said growing up there was an Old Town Road in his hometown where he used to run and ride his bike and feel free. So when he heard the song he felt a real connection. Now there are videos of people dancing to the song. It’s really fun watching the positive reactions.
@Eural Joiner:
And the banjo has an interesting history, too. Talk about a mash up.
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly: Sure, but Trump has achieved an economy of scale that is fairly unique.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
It was a nice week of Beto Mania
Several events had to be relocated to accommodate larger than expected crowds.
First week of spring, after a long, hard winter. The caucus isn’t for another 10 months. And yet they wanted to spend the first warm days of the year watching Dem rallies – in mass.
RAM
Don’t know if an Abrams run for the Senate is right for her, but it’s certainly right for the country. We need her in the Senate. That’s my feeling about Elizabeth Warren, too.
OzarkHillbilly
@tobie:
The flip side of that coin is that things can always get worse. ;-)
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: 2 words: Fox News.
tobie
@OzarkHillbilly: No, no, no…please don’t say that. I need a happy thought going in to this day. Normally I’d be pleased to see the return of spring but this year allergies are making that a tad tough.
MomSense
Some more good news. #YachtCocaineProstitutes is trending about Devine Nunes and one of the twitteratti invented The Branch Bernidians about the online Bernie assholes. That’s one I really wish I had thought of first.
OzarkHillbilly
@tobie: Heh. Being the voice of doom and gloom is a dirty job but somebody’s gotta do it.
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly: Sadly, not just Fox.
rikyrah
Fernand R. Amandi (@AmandiOnAir) Tweeted:
He’s dismantling the US government before our very eyes.
We today have no:
Defense Secretary
DHS Secretary
Interior Secretary
UN Ambassador
WH Chief of Staff
DEA Administrator
Secret Service Director
Call it what it is = A COUP.
https://t.co/xxnkbW7HSa https://twitter.com/AmandiOnAir/status/1115324901529980929?s=17
tobie
@OzarkHillbilly: Well, curmudgeon, you made me chuckle with that. Thanks. Its off to the salt mines now.
rikyrah
Robert Reich (@RBReich) Tweeted:
I can’t remember this ever happening before. Republicans in Congress are encouraging pharmaceutical companies not to cooperate with an investigation into drug prices.
Once again, they’re siding with Big Pharma at the expense of the American people.
https://t.co/ZE1psCT8G6 https://twitter.com/RBReich/status/1115391706688417794?s=17
MomSense
@rikyrah:
He’s consolidating power and we should all be concerned. I know people think Malcolm Nance was catastrophizing yesterday about a dictatorship but he’s not wrong. Just because trump is also a moronic clown, doesn’t mean he isn’t following the dictator playbook.
Soprano2
I’m so sad and angry today. Last night we found out the head cook at our pub died sometime between Saturday night and yesterday. He had been sick last week, and went home early on Saturday because he was ill. Our manager, who is just devastated by this since they were friends from way back, said he was having trouble breathing but wouldn’t go to the doctor. He was supposed to work yesterday, but didn’t call in, and she couldn’t get him to answer his phone or her texts. She went to his house but he wouldn’t come to the door even though his dogs were barking like crazy! She finally got the police to do a “well person” check on him last night, and that was when they found him. (One of our bartenders and her friend are taking the dogs until we can figure out what to do with them. I might have just gotten the new dog we’ve been talking about getting all winter.) Damn Missouri and its refusal to expand Medicaid! Damn this stupid “system” we have where people who are sick but can’t afford health insurance are afraid to go to the doctor because they know they can’t afford to pay for it! It’s such a tragedy – he was in his 40’s, and probably shouldn’t have died!!!! We won’t know for awhile what actually happened, but as far as we know he didn’t have any chronic health problems. I’m just so mad about the whole thing, it was so unnecessary! Shoot, I would have paid for him to go to the doctor!! Fuck…….
MomSense
@Soprano2:
I’m so sorry. It is so fucking cruel and stupid not to expand Medicaid. Maybe we need to start referring to these people as victims and martyrs.
Also for the greedy assholes opposed to Medicaid expansion, do you really want people who are ill and untreated preparing and serving your food?
Kay
@Baud:
Right. His base. But you see that he’s failed politically (expanding it past his base) in the Democrats response. As much as we might like to think they’re wholly driven by ethical beliefs and policy, they are political actors, and THEY don’t think they need to move towards Trump on demonizing immigrants. They basically ignored “the caravans” even though all of the Trump Administration and all of media were flogging it. They stuck to health care, and (at the state level) infrastructure.
I want Trump to be analyzed like any other politician. I think the effort (mostly led by the NYTimes) to make him “exceptional” has given him a lower bar to clear.
His signature political issue at this point is driving fear and hatred of immigrants. How broadly successful has he been at that goal?
Chyron HR
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:
Is it not written in Galations 2:24, “And He told the tortoise to look out the window, and lo a multitude was assembled and thus was the tortoise given in to great fear?”
zhena gogolia
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:
If Beto can damage Sanders, great.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: Yep, after I hit ‘post’ i thought, Rush Limbaugh, Sinclair news, etc etc ad nauseum.
zhena gogolia
@Soprano2:
This is why we have to vote for any Democrat (note I said Democrat).
People are dying.
Kay
@Baud:
Because that’s the recognized measure, right? You get the other side to move your way, not because they’re weak people who fold or because they secretly are Republicans but because your position is popular. It will win for them. They think they have to.
Democrats moved Right on taxes during Reagan because it was popular. Trump’s tax law isn’t popular, so they are free to attack it.
Kay
@Soprano2:
From where I sit the expansion of Medicaid has been transformational for people. It changed their lives. It’s Obama’s real health care legacy and anyone would be proud of it. One of the things that I find annoying about the Left in the Democratic Party is how they dismiss Medicaid. Let’s be honest- it’s elitist. They think it’s less valuable because it’s a poor people program.
OzarkHillbilly
@MomSense: This is trump becoming more and more isolated. The ‘power’ you refer to has always resided in the hands of the president, but a president can’t do it by himself. trump needs people to carry out his orders. The SS trump is a sinking ship and the rats are fleeing faster and faster leaving behind the leaking holes they used to plug.
In the short term one can expect an increase in chaos and the attendant pain. In the long term…. Your guess is as good as mine.
OzarkHillbilly
@Soprano2: Sorry to hear this.
WaterGirl
@Betty Cracker: I love that petition. So well done, with each person’s name and photo.
I hope it expands from “don’t put them in your boardroom” to “don’t put them in your think tank” and “don’t hire them for anything”.
Kay
@OzarkHillbilly:
Remember after the election? The media fluffing about how he wasn’t really a Republican and we could expect some liberal positions, some alliances with Democrats? That was the sales pitch.
Has that happened? He’s standard far Right on economics, Mike Pence defines his positions on “social issues” and he’s added a huge dollop of overt, out n proud racism. Democrats haven’t moved toward him an inch. They don’t see any gains in doing it.
WaterGirl
@Immanentize: Since raven hasn’t chimed in yet, I can share what I know. Last I heard, there was a puncture in his leg from the fight but the vet said there was no long-term damage.
WaterGirl
@MomSense: I knew only about a tenth of that story. That’s good news.
OzarkHillbilly
@Kay: To a certain extent I agree that he really isn’t a “Republican”, but only in the sense of he’s an empty policy vessel. Anything that feeds his ego is what he wants. I think it was Waldman who said he has surrounded himself with every grifter and policy crank on the right who saw an opportunity to push their worst and most hateful ideas into the world. It helps that at his core trump is a hateful person too, but if it wasn’t for the Steven Millers in the admin the SS trump would be doing circles in the middle of the Atlantic. trump’s policy on anything is “Be tough.” The people around him are telling him that separating families is “being tough”. That slapping tarriffs on imports is “being tough.” That leaving the JCPOA is “being tough.” That demonizing reporters is “being tough.”
And his fans are lapping it up because Obama was such a wimp, what with his apology tours and bowing and scrapings.
The 27% have a very different idea of what it means to be “tough.”
OzarkHillbilly
And now I gotta go. Play nice y’all.
Immanentize
@MomSense:
I played old town road yesterday for my class.
rikyrah
@Soprano2:
So sorry for your loss.
Dorothy A. Winsor
Forgive the self-promotion, but Amazon has been dropping the price of the ppb Wind Reader every day for a week or so. My editor says she’s not doing anything to cause it. Anyway, it’s usually $14.99 and today it’s $10.79. I’m tempted to buy some myself and resell them at the local author fairs when the price goes back up. Maybe you want it as a gift for someone or something?
rikyrah
@Kay:
You have been on this point for awhile.
I agree and disagree with you.
It’s not a poor people program.
In terms of % of dollars, the highest percentage goes for nursing home care of the elderly of the middle class.
Another large group are the disabled.
But, the GOP has been very good at making the poster children for it, Shaniqua, with her 3 children by 3 Baby Daddies,and Rosa Maria, with her 4 anchor babies.
Medicaid expansion HAS been life altering…and, I’m very interested in the Medicaid-for-all buy in in New Mexico.
WaterGirl
@rikyrah: You make a good point. Like so many other things, though, perception can matter more than reality, and Medicare is totally seen as being a program for poor people.
Immanentize
@OzarkHillbilly:
I agree with you. To actually have a take over, Trump would need people in those positions to actually get the thousands of employees to do things. Consolidation into Trump’s inner circle, IMO makes long term authoritarian power less likely.
Betty Cracker
@Soprano2: Damn, that sucks. Condolences to you and all of his friends.
It’s a tragedy, and I know something similar happens every damn day — probably multiple times per day — because of our fucked-up healthcare system, or rather system to gain access to healthcare. It’s a scandal that we’ve allowed it to go on for so long.
Gin & Tonic
@WaterGirl: “Seen” but not “is.” Medicaid, even more than Medicare, is the program that allows the elderly to die with some sort of dignity intact while not bankrupting (either mentally or financially) their families.
rikyrah
Dayum
ITV News (@itvnews) Tweeted:
Theresa May arrives in Berlin for Brexit talks with German leader Angela Merkel – but no one is there to greet her https://t.co/JLjVtSSMrW https://t.co/1jKcsiOa1h https://twitter.com/itvnews/status/1115575691272171520?s=17
WaterGirl
@Gin & Tonic: I absolutely agree with you. But Kay is right.
They think it’s less valuable because Medicaid is SEEN as a poor people program.
moonbat
@Betty Cracker: You nailed that right down to the ground. I am sick of the “How can we persuade the die hard Trump voter?” meme. We can’t. But we can show them the error of their ways by shaming, condemning and prosecuting when the circumstances call for it. Trying to persuade them — as if stone cold racism is merely a lightly held opinion instead of a social psychosis — just legitimizes them. Call them out. Let them know that this is NOT acceptable.
rikyrah
Sam Stein (@samstein) Tweeted:
Barr confirms that Mueller didn’t review his four page summary of the report. Though an offer was made and declined. https://twitter.com/samstein/status/1115613831873609730?s=17
rikyrah
Heidi Przybyla (@HeidiNBC) Tweeted:
A generation of aging whites is literally trying to block the young immigrants needed to pay their Medicare & Social Security.
“An aging population and declining birthrates among the native-born population are creating underpopulated cities and towns, vacant housing.” https://t.co/r8X02SyPAv https://twitter.com/HeidiNBC/status/1115602327631609856?s=17
germy
So Barr testifies today. I wonder if we’ll learn anything from his testimony.
Matt McIrvin
@Soprano2: This is slow mass murder.
Matt McIrvin
@rikyrah: Watch, they’ll blame abortion.
Just One More Canuck
@Kay: They can wax the shitpile all they want, but they’re still going to be selling shit
schrodingers_cat
The person among the Dem Presidential hopefuls closest to the WH on immigration is BS. He has always been pretty anti-immigrant. Check his voting record if you don’t believe me.
germy
@schrodingers_cat:
And his own recent words.
germy
bemused
@Immanentize:
Incompetent, know-it-all disruptors in the workplace can really screw things up in the joint as most of us have experienced.
schrodingers_cat
@Kay: More people are pro immigration now than they were before the current occupant of the WH assumed office.
@germy: I missed those. I have been sick since the weekend.
danielx
OT but worth noting: don’t develop a sudden allergy to vinyl gloves. You won’t like it.
rikyrah
Answer to that is yes….
Along with her investigating all questionable police shootings….
The police department that has caused this city to spend over SIX HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS OVER THE PAST FIVE YEARS to settle police misconduct lawsuits isn’t used to being questioned, let alone charged.??
theGrio.com (@theGrio) Tweeted:
Much vitriol has been sent Kim Foxx’s way since her office dropped all the criminal charges against Jussie Smollett.
She wonders if her race has something to do with the intensity of such bashing.
https://t.co/I5YMAZNSuo https://twitter.com/theGrio/status/1115615571708710912?s=17
rikyrah
Jacob Soboroff (@jacobsoboroff) Tweeted:
Trump believes rebooting family separation will deter migration, despite the fact the first time he separated families it didn’t deter migration.
It did, however, lead to families making more dangerous remote crossings — which resulted in the deaths of two young children. https://t.co/UETsYZGS9d https://twitter.com/jacobsoboroff/status/1115325005829529600?s=17
rikyrah
@germy:
Not a thing
bemused
@rikyrah:
Meghan is the poster child for wealthy white privilege. Snotty little republican.
germy
link to barr’s testimony:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydh291jMeBo
rikyrah
Ya think??
Christian Vanderbrouk (@UrbanAchievr) Tweeted:
seems Mueller didn’t want to let the AG create impression that he in some way “approved” the letter https://t.co/aqYYQwHjnX https://twitter.com/UrbanAchievr/status/1115614212863201280?s=17
Spanky
@rikyrah: Well hell, if we knew in advance, we could have gotten Elizabelle there to give her a right proper greeting.
germy
Barr is being asked about the separation of children from their families.
“I’m not familiar with those discussions…”
rikyrah
Bodak Red ? ? (@AFarray) Tweeted:
Seems to me, Harris made an unpopular but courageous decision. Back to the hatchet job drawing board, @CNN. https://t.co/kg187QDKYd https://twitter.com/AFarray/status/1115458202580258817?s=17
japa21
@rikyrah: Actually, I think
Mueller wanted to see how Barr handled it. Now he knows Barr is part of the obstruction.
germy
@japa21:
What’s next? What does he do?
plato
The worst ‘legacy’ of the totus thug will be in judiciary,especially at SC, where extremists have been put in place to do serious damages to women, POC and other religious minorities for a long time to come.
Citizen Alan
@(((CassandraLeo))):
As I’ve said before, “civility” is the idea everyone should be respectful of the views of conservatives and refrain from doing anything to offend or upset them. It is a public virtue to be praised and encouraged. The idea that conservatives should be respectful of the views of anyone else and refrain from doing anything to offend or upset non-conservatives is “political correctness,” which is a horrible sin that should be condemned at every opportunity.
I’m trying to keep an open mind about all our candidates. (Well, most of them — Wilmer, Tulsi, and Tim Ryan can go fuck right off.) But I have to confess that I am now wary of Beto and Mayor Pete and everyone else who expects me to make nice and be respectful to people who would call me “baby-killer” to my face. The number one thing I am looking for in a Dem nominee is someone who finally understands who the enemy is and will act accordingly.
plato
And the house dems are not pushing back?
trollhattan
@debbie:
Just listened to it. Can he say anything that’s not a lie? And [caution, rhetorical question ahead] can they please challenge him on his list o’ historical “facts” buttressing everything he’s claiming is “obvious”?
Don’t book these fuckers if you don’t have the nerve to challenge them and pair with contra interviews. Also, too, Krikorian–what kind of name is that? Doesn’t sound American to me.
Brachiator
@rikyrah:
Trump views this as a win either way.
There is no coherence to Trump’s immigration policy. He simplistically believes in being “tough” and in wanting to punish and to hurt immigrants. Especially because they cannot fight back.
WaterGirl
@germy: That he’s an unprincipled
dickprick, a total sellout to his profession, and a toady to the president?WaterGirl
@danielx: oh, ugh, gloves cover every surface, and between your fingers, I am imagining a nightmare. so sorry!
Brachiator
@debbie:
I have not had a chance to hear this yet. Thanks for the tip.
@(((CassandraLeo))):
During my morning commute, I listened to the episode of the NYT podcast, the Daily, which suggested that Nielsen was tired of getting yelled at by Trump at cabinet meetings and was fired because she was not tough enough on immigrants. The podcast tried to present Nielsen as slow walking Trump’s child separation policy. I was not convinced of this last part.
In moving on to the next replacement, Trump wants someone who knows enough about DHS policy and procedures to get around laws and rules in order to inflict the maximum amount of harm to immigrants. Trump wants someone who will never oppose him and who will happily and speedily do his bidding, even if it might be illegal, and definitely despite the fact that it would be cruel and immoral.
schrodingers_cat
@debbie: Mark Krikorian heads one of the anti-immigrant Tanton think tanks which wants to return to the 1920s Johnson-Reed Law that was based on dubious race science and provided inspiration to the Nazis.
Brachiator
@schrodingers_cat:
Interesting how the Trump administration consistently attracts the most vile people imaginable.
debbie
@schrodingers_cat:
I almost wish they would. Miller and Krikorian both would fail that test.
Original Lee
@Dorothy A. Winsor: I’ll buy a couple of copies as gifts, after I pay my taxes. Alas, the third party service that does payroll underwithheld on my state taxes and that means I have to pay a penalty for not sending the state the correct amount as I earned it, which is a new wrinkle.