.
President Trump reportedly fears "that Americans would be captivated by seeing and hearing" Robert Muller testify before Congress on national television, according to AP https://t.co/YcqKC5YQ97
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) May 13, 2019
I can remember when the devotees of television soap opera were outraged that “their” programs were being pre-empted on all channels by the Watergate hearings.
Even Fox News would probably feel compelled to air Mueller’s testimony, if only for “rebuttal” (attack) purposes. It would be a nice fillip to imagine the Oval Office Occupant, remote in hand, furiously clicking away in search of his essential daily doses of ego-stroking from ‘Judge’ Jeaninne and the Blond with Two Boobs on A Couch…
The ratings! Think of the ratings. https://t.co/Cy8nQy5m7o
— Schooley (@Rschooley) May 13, 2019
NotMax
Not something this old fart uses, however a heads-up to those – or those whose kids – do (emphasis added).
OzarkHillbilly
@NotMax: Cell phones are a plague.
raven
@OzarkHillbilly: Oh gawd. . .
OzarkHillbilly
A sign of our times: Man makes deepest-ever dive in Mariana Trench and discovers … litter
satby
@NotMax: @OzarkHillbilly: Good morning and thanks NotMax, I just checked the update status of my phone. I have WhatsApp because it’s heavily used in other countries. In fact my Mexican sons sent me Mother’s Day greetings via it Sunday. It’s far less intrusive a messaging system than its FB competitor. I hate Messanger.
satby
@OzarkHillbilly: it really is depressing how much garbage there is everywhere.
NotMax
FYI. Robbing the future to finance a vanity-based venture.
The kicker, buried below the fold (emphasis added).
NotMax
@satby
Facesieve – er – book owns WhatsApp now. Plans already announced to “integrate” FB, WhatsApp and Messenger in the near future.
NotMax
FYI.
satby
@NotMax: (hangs head)??
Kay
They’re both horrible, along with Barr. None of them can defend their actual work so they run around competing in some contest of who is more sanctimonious and easily offended and most “nonpartisan”. This is the person who signed off with Donald Trump’s campaign slogan, right? This nonpartisan ethical giant? Wrote that embarrassing love letter to his boss?
Why don’t they try just doing a better job? Mueller somehow manages to be respected without going on these self-promoting tours and insisting he’s the most patriotic and most nonpartisan. Maybe the reason we have raging, dumb populism is that our elites suck. They’re bad at their jobs. They talk too much and won’t stick to their job description.
NotMax
@satby
Thought it was a more recent acquisition; just looked it up and FB bought WhatsApp in 2014 for $19 billion.
rikyrah
Good Morning,Everyone ???
Amir Khalid
How does Mueller pronounce his surname? I have assumed it was something close to the pronunciation of Müller, the equivalent German name, but it doesn’t seem to be so.
NotMax
@Amir Khalid
Mull-er. Same as it is pronounced in this ad for the pasta company.
;)
satby
@Amir Khalid: it seems he pronounced it as “Mull-er”, most people I have known with that name pronounced it as “Mew-ler” in English.
satby
@rikyrah: Good morning rikyrah?
OzarkHillbilly
@NotMax:
SSDR. Same Shit, Different Republican.
Kay
If Mueller had been investigating a Democratic President and declined to charge with obstruction (or something- anything) the entire GOP base and leadership would spend the next six months discrediting him, and all of media would take it as an open question on whether he was trustworthy. This didn’t happen with Democrats.
While I am glad that this didn’t happen with Democrats, I do wonder what one does with this and whether Democrats will continue to accept legal decisions when Republicans
don’t, because it seems to be a competitive disadvantage.
satby
@OzarkHillbilly: Pell grants are give-aways to poor people; they should be in debt bondage to a rapacious for profit fraudulent diploma mill. Win-win in Republican eyes.
Immanentize
Good morning All. Or, from your posts, Blech.
PS @NotMax: Why do people keep insisting Israel is our friend? Isn’t WhatsApp the way Kushner and MBS communicate?
Immanentize
@Kay:
Rosenstein so wants that Court of Appeals judgeship.
Kay
@NotMax:
One nice thing about winning the House is the D House is working on education, mostly without media coverage. It’s not something media cover, but Democrats in the House actually spend a lot of time and energy on education, because it’s a bigger issue with Democratic voters than it is with Republican voters. Our voters rank education higher as an issue. They won’t get all of it because it has to go thru the senate but they will be able to mitigate a lot of the Trump/DeVos proposed cuts.
Immanentize
Well at least I found one good piece of news. That crazy drugged up coast guard hit man terrorist will not be getting out on bail after all….
Kay
@Immanentize:
Ugh. I’m so sick of all of them. There’s something wrong with your legal work if you have to defend your work with speeches so much. The thing should speak for itself. They’re such passionate advocates for themselves. Maybe they could take some of that energy and actually serve the public.
I don’t want to hear from them unless they’re testifying. The job. What is it? Why not try doing that?
satby
@Immanentize:
INORITE?
Good morning backatcha. It’s the first day without rain for several days so after work today I’m going to try to plant the last of my tomato plants.
germy
satby
@germy: oh fer fucks sake
germy
@satby: We’ll need the Houston Astrodome for the primary debates.
clay
@germy: Well that’s not true; that’s Mayor Pete’s whole shtick. Unless he means won a statewide office in a red state.
snoey
@germy: Montana ain’t that red and if Bullock wanted to do something useful he could try to be the other Democratic Senator from the state.
Baud
@rikyrah:
Good morning.
johnnybuck
@germy: Auditioning for 2024 I suspect. I think that explains several of the “candidates” in this ever expanding field. I doubt either he or DeBlasio are auditioning for the second chair.
Baud
@germy:
Why hasn’t he turned his state blue then?
Baud
@Kay:
Could have stopped there. Dems work a lot more when they are in control than the GOP does. Not that they are rewarded for it.
debbie
I wonder if Israel realizes the irony?
The Palestinians would like a word with you, sir.
plato
@germy: His reasoning is as good as any since totus thug has set the bar so low.
Amir Khalid
@germy:
This is the season when you learn which politicians think they can see a President in their mirror.
satby
I usually turn NPR off but was out of the room, so came back to this infuriating story.
I had missed that the criminal-in-chief had pardoned them.
Government by cleek’s law.
Kay
@Baud:
The DeVos/Trump budget was horrible, but they wisely focused on a tiny part of it- Special Olympics- because they knew that would get media coverage and Pell grants and Title I wouldn’t.
And it did. DeVos was whining about it at an education conference last week. No one is allowed to imply that her proposed budget is an indication of her priorities. That’s unfair,
reading the plans she puts out. We must look into her soul.
Argiope
@debbie: OT but thanks for the list of OH cosponsors of that monstrosity of a forced pregnancy & birth bill. Spent my lunch hour yesterday on the phone with their staffers and/or voicemail. Needed antacids afterwards, but one of the three I spoke with said his boss is rethinking his strategy. Perhaps all the media attention on Becker as proud dumbass is something they don’t want to associate with publicly.
Ian R
@Kay: Rosenstein isn’t exactly wrong. Comey is a partisan pundit who deserved to be fired. It’s just that he’s a partisan Republican hack, while Rosenstein tries to claim otherwise.
debbie
@Argiope:
Great news! Rethinking is a highly unusual action in the Ohio GOP. By any chance, do you remember which one said that? He or she deserves a different message than my basic email.
OzarkHillbilly
@debbie: The Palestinians stole it from the original Israelites.
danielx
@satby:
Got that right. Dems appear to be taking that whole “literally ANYBODY else” mantra a bit too seriously. On the other hand, it’s hard to blame them when the likes of Herman Cain can look in a mirror and see presidential timber.
Kay
Biden just terrifies me. He’s never been a strong candidate. I see that he’s polling first among Democrats but aren’t we going to need more than “yeah, I definitely know him” to get people out? Because the Trumpsters are going to be out in droves.
I just don’t believe he miraculously transformed into a winning presidential candidate.
Baud
@Kay:
If he’s that bad, he is unlikely to win the primary. He’s always flailed in primaries before.
Argiope
@debbie: Pretty sure it was Jon Cross (R-Kenton). I can’t remember the actual quote from the staffer, but it was something about their morning meeting being devoted to the bill and how they planned to proceed going forward. He also asked me if I had contacted the lead sponsor and I informed him that Becker’s staff aren’t brave enough to answer their phones. We had a very cordial conversation, all things considered.
Kay
@Baud:
He has. Always flailed. I just can’t help it. Why not Durbin, if we have Biden? Durbin is a better senator than Biden ever was :)
There’s like 5 better senators in the “older, presentable white man” genre.
Baud
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/magazine/stacey-abrams-being-a-black-woman-in-politics-isnt-some-fatal-diagnosis/2019/05/10/f8027e16-5fc6-11e9-9412-daf3d2e67c6d_story.html
Baud
@Kay:
You know why Biden. Because Obama.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@germy: Years ago I heard a silly piece on the radio, probably NPR, where someone wanted to test the hypothesis that everyone in LA has a screenplay or wants to write one. So they went down the street asking people at random “How’s your screenplay?” And pretty much confirmed the hypothesis. IIRC one of the negative responses was “I don’t have one… but my 10-year-old son here does.”
I’ll bet you could update that story today with the question “How is your Presidential Campaign going?” And not just in LA.
(“Ha ha, I’m not running for President… but my 10-year-old has formed an exploratory committee…”)
MomSense
@Kay:
If Harris wins or comes in second in Iowa, there will be a lot of deserters in the SC primary and Harris will win it.
Warren has to do well in NH compared to Wilmer.
All the other Senators in the race need to go take care of their Senate seats so we can spend all our money on flipping the few senate seats we have a chance of winning. And the candidates who have never won a statewide election need to stay in their home state and win a GD statewide election. They really have zero credibility to say they are going to get all these Midwestern white T voters until they get them in their own fucking states.
Baud
@MomSense:
Are any Senators running up for reelection next year?
rikyrah
TRUTH ???
Sally Albright (@SallyAlbright) Tweeted:
Millennial women who worked against Hillary have no idea what they have brought on themselves. My generation could rely on the courts to save us. That’s gone now. https://twitter.com/SallyAlbright/status/1128032074072510464?s=17
Kay
@Baud:
I think Biden made white, older Democrats more comfortable with Obama. And Biden could possibly make black Democrats more comfortable with Biden, because of Obama. That might work in reverse. But I’m still left with the reality of Joe Biden as a stand-alone and then I’m..at a loss. I don[‘t even know what to say about him. “He’s very… affable!” :)
Baud
@Kay:
He is affable! And he does have a knack of speaking from the heart about important principles.
Kay
@MomSense:
Is this a mayor Pete reference? I like him. I’m a Warren supporter but I think it’s fine he’s in. I think he’s smart and seems popular and is generally a good thing for Democrats.
If Democrats have more diverse urban areas which allows them to win cities in red states why would we insist they win the whole state? Mayors are legitimate political actors in their own right. I think Ohio Dems should promote some mayors for national government, because urban leaders are as legit as rural state leaders. I think I will push that.
Baud
Trying to reassure markets, which are gullible if they believe him.
And does anyone think any deal he does reach will be a major improvement from what we have now for working people?
raven
@Baud: Yea but he’s made mistakes and he uses a cellphone. Is that what we want????
rikyrah
Watch Whiteness Work ?
https://twitter.com/wsbtv/status/1127970507461201920
Baud
@raven:
No. In fact, the reason I’m running is because I demand perfection.
I don’t understand the cell phone reference.
rikyrah
Exploited without consent ??
https://twitter.com/NWBlackWomen/status/1128042624873586689
Kay
@Baud:
This is horrible to say and mean to Joe Biden, but my take on it was media portrayed Biden as uniquely appealing to older white Democrats when he ran with Obama, and I don’t think he was. I think a lot of older white Democrats have issues with race and they would have been reassured with any presentable, familiar older white man as a running mate.
raven
@Baud: OzarkHillbilly
May 14, 2019 at 5:40 am
@NotMax: Cell phones are a plague.
MomSense
@Baud:
Well Klobuchar just won in 2018 but she has zero chance of winning the presidential nomination so why not use her home state popularity in her home state on other elections? Help the DSCC?
Booker has zero chance of winning the nomination so why not focus on helping Dems get elected. Go help someone get rid of Lindsey Graham.
It’s just ridiculous at this point.
rikyrah
Lynn V (@lynnv378) Tweeted:
Anyone seeking office with these far-left agendas or saying incrementalism doesn’t work is basically running a scam. There is no way these laws would survive the courts, not now. Laws on the books now are vulnerable. People have not been paying attention. https://t.co/byOA7fQCtA https://twitter.com/lynnv378/status/1126861592623222785?s=17
rikyrah
@rikyrah:
Lynn V (@lynnv378) Tweeted:
My first thought 11/9/16 was how we were screwed because of what I knew would happen with these Courts. It’s happening. The Courts should’ve been enough for people to go vote or to get their votes right. It wasn’t & sadly we won’t be the ones mainly paying for those choices. https://twitter.com/lynnv378/status/1126864356472446976?s=17
MomSense
@Kay:
I keep hoping he will learn from the stupid and offensive things he keeps saying but he keeps proving me wrong. I find it shocking how people here give him a pass for sayjng the same kind of BS we rightly fault Wilmer for to the point of telling the few POC people who comment here that they are wrong.
rikyrah
@rikyrah:
Lynn V (@lynnv378) Tweeted:
We are beginning to see just how much we fucked up in 2016. Every single “Progressive” law in this country and every single “Progressive Act” people want to see happen will be challenged in these courts. This is Trump & McConnell’s legacy & it will live on long after them. https://twitter.com/lynnv378/status/1126472655002046464?s=17
rikyrah
@rikyrah:
Lynn V (@lynnv378) Tweeted:
You’re living in my head.
2045 when this country becomes majority-minority, Kavanaugh & Gorsuch & other SC’s will still be on the Supreme Court & Trump’s judges will still be on the bench. 26 whole years. Don’t people get the ramifications of this? The damage is already done. https://t.co/dOs9NCEXWV https://twitter.com/lynnv378/status/1125507164934635520?s=17
Ken
@OzarkHillbilly:
Cell phones are an incredibly useful tool. I wish we still had them, instead of malware-crammed computers with tiny screens.
Amir Khalid
@Kay:
On the other hand, Biden could turn out to be the Democratic Jebbush of 2030.
rikyrah
@rikyrah:
Lynn V (@lynnv378) Tweeted:
People look at me funny when I say I’d like to see Democrats make reforming the courts part of their platform. I’m not talking about just expanding the number of seats on the Supreme Court. I’m talking about reforming how judges & SC justices are selected, term-limits, etc. https://twitter.com/lynnv378/status/1104042400333422594?s=17
PJ
@MomSense: I guess with even the lowest polling candidates, until Iowa and NH, as long as they have enough money in their coffers to show up around the country to campaign, they are raising their profiles nationally, which is no small thing. That’s seven more months of publicity. And I have no idea what their ground games are like in the early primary states, but its always possible that one of them could come out of nowhere to win, place, or show.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: That’s my fault.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@rikyrah: The number of judges are determined by statute.
lurker dean
iran and china are on the front page and mueller and russia are a distant memory. fuck.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@OzarkHillbilly: Of course it is.
Baud
@raven:
@OzarkHillbilly:
What does that have to do with Biden?
?BillinGlendaleCA
@rikyrah:
That’s a Constitutional change, I want a pony too.
OzarkHillbilly
@Ken:
HA! But I still despise the damn things and the obsession people have with being in touch, and their expectations that they should be able to get hold of me any time anywhere.
Baud
@Kay:
Which older white male should Obama have chosen?
MomSense
@PJ:
Normally I would agree with having a large, contested field in a year when Dems are the opposition – but not this year. If we don’t flip the Senate and keep the House we will be screwed even with a D president. Yesterday I listened to this whole discussion about the strategy for climate change legislation – and all I could think was GTFO. If we don’t win the Senate by at least one and get rid of the filibuster there won’t be climate change legislation. There are too many candidates competing for the few available lanes and all they are doing is making it more likely we get an old white guy nominee.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: Not a damn thing.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@OzarkHillbilly: Welcome to the 21st Century.
ETA: Back in the 20th Century, many jobs required the use of pagers, so that folk could contact you at anytime.
MomSense
@Baud:
Lieberman ?
OzarkHillbilly
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Everything’s my fault, it’s a dirty job but somebody has to take the blame.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@BillinGlendaleCA: At the moment, my favorite cell phone story belongs to my son. He works in a secure area, so everyone has to leave their cell phones in a cabinet outside the door. My son’s office happens to be on the other side of the wall that cabinet is on. All day, he hears phones going off. Drives him crazy.
OzarkHillbilly
@?BillinGlendaleCA: It sucks. Can I go back to the stone age? Truth, if I’d been born a hundred years earlier, I never would have made it to my 30s, so the 20th century wasn’t all bad.
eta, than again, the rest of the world might have been better off if I had died at 29.
Baud
@rikyrah: Stop blackmailing us.
@MomSense:
Ha. He wanted to be McCain’s Veep so bad.
rikyrah
Wakandan War Dog (@Kennymack1971) Tweeted:
The GOP handed their party over to a complete idiot and a clown.
MAGAs will lose it all because of him and they will still vote for him. Enthusiastically so.
The movement began by Barry Goldwater, cultivated by Reagan/Bush and weaponized by McCain has achieved its final form. https://t.co/gxZV0bH68J https://twitter.com/Kennymack1971/status/1128268297236041728?s=17
MomSense
Democrats have a demographic advantage but a massive geographic disadvantage that already makes a Senate majority difficult. By 2040 half the country will live in 8 states – 16 Senators for half the population. It’s not that far off.
JR
@OzarkHillbilly: the romans did that mostly
rikyrah
@Kay:
Keep on telling the truth ???
MomSense
@Baud:
But he’s so damned vainglorious he totally would have taken back everything he had said about Obama if he had gotten the offer.
rikyrah
@Immanentize:
I know….that he could have ???
rikyrah
@germy:
Then run for the Senate, muthaphucka ?
OzarkHillbilly
@JR: Yeah but only so they could leave it to the Palestinians when their empire collapsed.
OzarkHillbilly
I don’t usually get personal on Twitter, but 6 months after my #mumps ordeal it seems important to tell my story. This is the first time I’m sharing these photos publicly, and I’m doing so only to show the real consequences of preventable diseases like mumps and #measles [1/14]
With pictures.
Baud
@rikyrah:
I endorse germy for Senate!
Oh, you meant Bullock.
Is there a Montana Senate seat open in 2020?
raven
@Baud: Adjust your snarkometer.
rikyrah
@Baud:
I love her ?❤️
rikyrah
@MomSense:
All kinds of truth in your post ???
Baud
@raven:
Well, I knew you were snarking. I just didn’t know what you were snarking about.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@raven: Baud’s snarkometer goes to 11!
Kay
@MomSense:
Well, we disagree. I think the things he says are being presented in misleading ways. I don’t really go for his approach- I think his 30,000 feet “I am observing the thing I’m involved in” is kind of self-indulgent but they all think they’re political experts and can measure the pulse of the nation, or whatever- they all have a theory of the case they need to make- they just know better than to talk about it.
I think Harris is very strong and has that “leader” quality that people look for but I’m disappointed she backed down on running as a former prosecutor. She is a former prosecutor and that’s a fine thing to be. I agree with her on truancy. California allows TWENTY unexcused absences (Ohio allows 15) and they have all kinds of supports in place and an elaborate process before anyone even goes to sanctions. They need to get to school. They cannot be taught anything if they aren’t there. I wanted her to defend that- she’s right.
raven
@Baud: Maybe because I think it’s all bullshit at this point.
NotMax
ElvisSleep has left the building.:(
@raven
All fished out? (As if.)
MomSense
@rikyrah:
I’m just sick of it. A much better path to victory in the midwestern states that flipped to R last time is to make sure black people in Milwaukee, Detroit, etc can actually vote this time. Black people didn’t stay home because they didn’t like Hillary. Their votes were stolen from them by GOP voter disenfranchisement laws.
Some of these D presidential candidates should raise money for voting rights groups, become the SOS in their state – do something more productive.
MomSense
@Kay:
I’m listening to black women and believing them when it comes to him. There’s a whole register of whistling we can’t hear.
Baud
@MomSense:
I think it was both. There’s a reason the Russians targeted black voters and Midwestern voters with propaganda. Obviously, it affected only a sliver of them, but that’s all they needed in combination with everything else.
Immanentize
@Baud:
Why, BAUD! Of course.
raven
@NotMax: As Lenny Cohen said, “I ache in the places I used to play. . .” .
germy
OzarkHillbilly
@raven: It is all bullshit, no matter what point one is at.
raven
@OzarkHillbilly:
Now you can say that Ive grown bitter but of this you may be sure
The rich have got their channels in the bedrooms of the poor
And theres a mighty judgement coming, but I may be wrong
You see, you hear these funny voices
In the tower of song
snoey
@Baud: Daines is up for re-election. He won the first time against an emergency fill in candidate. Tester won last time. Gianforte won against weak opposition.
If we are going to take the Senate we have to hit all the races like this hard and hope to win enough of them.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@MomSense: Alot of politicians fail to grasp that politics is a team effort, everyone can’t be quarterback nor should they be.
MomSense
@Kay:
I’m with you on truancy because that is often the way we discover serious jeopardy. It’s a battle she can’t win in primary race, though. I’m so petty and bitchy I would dig in on it, but I’d also never be a successful candidate.
My lane is making phone calls – like thousands and thousands as long as I can make calls from home. I hate the phone, too! Honestly I make so many calls they gave me my own bar code scanner.
Baud
@Kay:
I haven’t been paying enough attention to notice a shift in strategy. I think Harris is compelling because she has a good combination of a lot of different things, rather than having any one particular quality that is make or break for her.
Immanentize
@MomSense:
I am going on record as saying getting rid of the filibuster is a BAD idea. That’s why we have the shit judges Trump has pushed on us. The liberal people of this country need a minority tool to prevent right wing abuses. The Senate is structurally cooked against Democrats and getting rid of the filibuster just strengthens the hand of the radical right.
Each year, Congress can pass one piece of budget legislation by the reconciliation process which is filibuster proof. That was how Obamacare was passed and how the Trump tax cut got through. That should be our legislative focus if we get a Senate majority.
Otherwise, everything we gain will be taken away.
Baud
@Immanentize:
A lot of assumptions there, not the least of which is the idea that I would play second fiddle.
MomSense
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Candidates run for office sometimes to make money. A certain 2016 candidate whose name rhymes with low valley even admitted it to a senior staffer I know.
MomSense
@Immanentize:
It’s a horrible idea but we are at a crisis point.
If we somehow manage to get 51 Senate seats we have two years to fix all the things. Given the citizenship question in the census – this is our last shot.
raven
@Baud:
Dance me to your beauty with a burning violin
Dance me through the panic ’til I’m gathered safely in
Lift me like an olive branch and be my homeward dove
Immanentize
@Kay:
If she makes it to the general — that will definitely be a big part of her persona. She faced down cartels and politicians. She can clean up Washington. She can put the concept of “Justice” back into the DOJ. She will not tolerate corruption and will push for the laws to stop it.
But in the primary, she is going slow and quiet to not stick her neck out on that topic just yet. Let Bernie drop out first.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Immanentize: Quite a bit of legislation got jammed in the Senate in 2009-2010 due to the filibuster, the stimulus was much less robust that could have been and Obamacare was held up for months largely to try to get some Republicans on board to avoid using reconciliation. So we went into the 2010 cycle with Republicans point out that Obama hadn’t done anything.
Immanentize
@OzarkHillbilly:
Shit is fucked up and Bullshit.
Truer words never spoken.
bemused
@rikyrah:
When I started reading “The immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” by Rebecca Skloot, little else got done until the last page.
Immanentize
@Baud: I though the first assumption was that you were old. In 08.
Immanentize
@MomSense:
The citizenship question is horrible. And it really is setting up a voting rights challenge to counting non-citizens which will be bad.
But if we get the Presidency back, the undercount issue will be handled through litigation and negotiation like it is every 10 years.
Just FYI, we have always counted non-citizens for representation purposes. See, e.g. slaves.
O. Felix Culpa
@MomSense:
Speaking as a woman in the LGBTQ+ community, amen to that. It’s…interesting…being told I’m not hearing and seeing what I’m hearing and seeing.
gvg
@Kay: No that isn’t quite true. Biden’s really good rapport with Obama that anybody could see made him almost uniquely appealing. Other white men might have been able to do this, but they didn’t get the chance to show us.
Some white male democrats showed us they couldn’t get along with Obama, and weren’t to be trusted.
So Biden was used by Obama to reassure some white voters. Now Biden gets to use that to reassure black voters.
I’m white, but I did take note of the not to be trusted democrats too. However, unfortunately for Biden, I really want a competent hard worker too, and I am not getting that vibe from him. he doesn’t seem like a leader, only a nice guy who isn’t Trump.
Immanentize
@raven:
Yes,
But did you ever get Clear?
H.E.Wolf
@MomSense:
OMG thank you for your service! My lane isn’t phone calls, so I’m in awe and also curious: are the phone # lists bar-coded?
raven
@Immanentize: so great
Immanentize
@raven: my favorite L.C. and I really like almost everything he has every done.
Tazj
@rikyrah: Sadly, many millennials and older voters were convinced that Hillary was the worst and BS was more of a feminist than she was.
Is Mueller ever going to testify?
raven
@Immanentize: I NEVER knew this
Leonard Cohen’s Elegy For Janis Joplin – Chelsea Hotel #1
MomSense
@H.E.Wolf:
If you work off printed lists. Not if you work off virtual phone bank but that’s just entry.
tobie
@NotMax: I saw those figures for the carbon dioxide last night and my jaw dropped. We could be in for a 3-4 degree rise in temperature before the century is out. Devastating. Rachel Maddow interviewed Beto O’Rourke last night and one of the things he emphasized was that we need robust alliances to push for an immediate and aggressive global response to climate change. Climate change will drive our foreign policy moving forward either because of the instability and refugee crisis it spawns or because we choose to lead on it.
plato
Oil tankers are the new yellow cakes and thug bolton is the dumbsfeld.
US ‘blames Iran’ for damage to tankers in Gulf of Oman
Immanentize
@raven: Have you seen this introduction Cohen gave to Chelsea Hotel (2)? It’s sad and funny and true
Immanentize
@tobie: Nice world we are leaving our kids.
ETA Syria is a climate change war. Drought drove farmers to the cities where there was not enough work and in a fundamentally socialist/patronage society, revolution was not far behind.
Betty Cracker
@MomSense:
It’s early days, but I’ve got a sinking feeling it’s going to be Biden. Broken glass, blah blah blah, but what a missed opportunity that will be if so…
O. Felix Culpa
@Betty Cracker: Sigh. Extinction Burst Part Infinity. And yes, broken glass &c. I fervently hope it doesn’t come to that, though.
Betty Cracker
@Immanentize: One rhetorical flourish I’ve noticed with Harris is that she frequently refers to THE TRUTH, which is a subtle yet effective contrast with the pathological liar in the White House.
Immanentize
@Betty Cracker: I like that — she talks about truth a lot. Science truth and honesty truth.
OzarkHillbilly
@tobie: You’re just some sucker buying that Chinese Hoax, unlike the True Patriot(tm) who shut down Hillary’s child sex ring when he stormed the basement in that DC pizza restaurant.
Dorothy A. Winsor
I’m skimming all the reports of Trump et al defying subpoenas. The Ds (or a judge) need to make an example of somebody. And I don’t think fines are enough because these guys never pay their own bills. I think someone needs to go to jail for a while. We are not playing tiddlywinks here.
Immanentize
damn. I’m getting that fool full page, can’t go back, Walmart pop up in Android ?
Gotta reboot the phone.
raven
@Immanentize: Damn. I saw her and Johnny Winter just before she died.
rikyrah
@Kay:
Kay,
I respect you an awful lot. And, I wouldn’t have chosen Biden in 2008, but that’s what Obama did.
And, he was his Vice President.
Some stuff from yesterday that maybe you didn’t see.
FedUp_Mom (@Fedup_Mom) Tweeted:
Black voters, especially older Black voters, are as passionate about the Obamas as “white working class” racist voters are passionate about Trump. That’s something the DC pundits, especially Black pundits, with the exception of @TheRevAl, have never understood.
Of course Biden is benefiting from his relationship with the Obamas. It’s also indicative of Black folks’ sense of fairness. Not saying Black folks are morally superior, but we do STRONGLY believe in fairness and many Black folks believe Biden was not fairly treated in 2016. https://t.co/hmgyAfqwYB
— FedUp_Mom (@Fedup_Mom) May 13, 2019
Why shouldn’t he benefit? He was loyal and diligent in pushing PBO’s agenda. He’ll have my time& money if he’s our candidate. Plus I’m all in for anyone who pushes Bernie out of the candidacy. Bernie was anything but loyal.
— Just “Throw the Bastards in Jail” Jo (@desertcronenm) May 13, 2019
tobie
@Immanentize: Your analysis of Syria seems spot on. I haven’t been paying as much attention to what’s going on in Central America but evidently there’s a historic drought there too. Right now, we’re looking at climate change at the national level and often in terms of consumer items (battery operated cars, low energy appliances). All that is necessary and good but if the problem is not addressed globally, we’re all doomed.
tobie
@OzarkHillbilly: I obviously need to change my news diet, since I’m clearly manipulated by the all powerful left-wing brigade. Who knew BJ had so much influence!
Omnes Omnibus
@rikyrah: How was he treated unfairly? Unless I am missing something, he didn’t have the fire in his belly that you need to win. Losing a son can do that to you.
OzarkHillbilly
@tobie: Just head on over to FOX’s evening line up of Tucker, Sean, and Laura and they will set you back on the straight and true.
zhena gogolia
@rikyrah:
I will say that I would be a million times happier with Biden as the candidate than with Sanders. But I’d prefer Harris.
Cacti
I see the bed wetting about Biden is still in full force. Meanwhile, he’s doing exactly what I thought he’d do, which is sucking all the wind out of Wilmer’s sails.
How can that be anything but good?
rikyrah
@zhena gogolia:
I prefer Harris too. And, it’s up to Harris to win it. She has the double whammy of racism and sexism to contend with, and I think she knows that.
OzarkHillbilly
@zhena gogolia: I’d prefer a DEM for our candidate.
burnspbesq
@NotMax:
Do they seriously think that the House will agree to scale back Pell grants?
rp
@zhena gogolia: Yes. I really, really, really don’t want Biden. But I want him a million billion times more than Wilmer. I think Biden is too old and not very imaginative, but I think he’s a decent man and would be a fine president. I wouldn’t have any hesitation about voting for him.
That said, it’s still WAY too early. The polls are mostly meaningless at this point because few people are paying attention.
Ruckus
@Kay:
Biden hasn’t transformed into any thing new. He may be a better politician because of 8 yrs of exposure to President Obama, but he’s still the same person. The one who went nowhere both times he’s tried before. But what’s different this time is that the press is on him and he has that President Obama scent all over him. With 20+ choices, he’s the guy with the most recent and closest name recognition to President Obama. Who of course is so far ahead of the current occupant that it’s an unmeasurable distance. His coattails are strong and that’s what Biden is running on. He’s not Obama in white face. But people want Obama back or some assurance that the person they do elect will be close and those coattails look real good right now. We as a country have sunk so low in our elected leader that Biden looks like a sure thing to return to some sanity. Sure things seldom pan out, the surety seldom is.
Nicole
@Betty Cracker:
I’m wrong all the time, but I don’t think so. He’s really not good on the debate stage. He did okay against Ryan in the VP debate, but Ryan’s a fucking idiot (and he didn’t actually do that well against Sarah Palin and she’s REALLY a fucking idiot). The other Democratic primary candidates are not fucking idiots. Nor were the primary candidates the last times he ran for the nomination and he didn’t do so great in the debates. He was okay, but nothing outstanding or interesting.
Again, I can certainly be wrong, and frequently am, but it’s so, so early still.
Immanentize
@tobie: Have you seen the movie “Only Lovers Left Alive?”. It’s a Jim Jaramusch movie about vampires — but not a normal vampire film at all (Eg Tilda Swinton (without a bald cap)) Anyhoo, there is this great scene about Detroit and water and the future. This is a poor quality clip, but all I could find.
It ends with some dialogue like — “The water wars….
They’ve already started.”
rikyrah
Wakandan War Dog (@Kennymack1971) Tweeted:
At some point Democrats need strong candidates for the Senate. I’d prefer not having that ass Mitch as majority leader….but what do I know? https://twitter.com/Kennymack1971/status/1128304538467885056?s=17
Quinerly
@Immanentize: @raven:
You guys have posted a couple of my favorite Cohen songs. Love the two YouTubes re Janis references. Never knew… But it all certainly fits. The Kristofferson reference gave me my morning chuckle. We had a rainy weekend here and I spent most of it with Leonard Cohen and Bruce Springsteen on Alexa Echo. Lots of free Amazon Prime stuff. Added bonus.. Springsteen released on YouTube his Jazz Fest show (17 songs with Seegar Sessions Band) right after Katrina last week. I was at that show and it was absolutely incredible. Was a wonderful tribute to a great city. Highly recommend.
Betty Cracker
@Nicole: Good points!
Quinerly
@Quinerly: Here’s the piece about Springsteen’s post Katrina show with the YouTube link.
https://www.theadvocate.com/new_orleans/entertainment_life/festivals/article_41710578-7105-11e9-acc8-d353f53dbc5b.html
Ceci n est pas mon nym
I’m in the “I really, really hope it’s not Joe Biden” camp but I was reflecting on why it is I think fondly of him. It’s not just that grinning presence at Obama’s elbow, and their obvious fondness for working together. It was that “this is a BFD” moment when the ACA was rolled out. And mostly it was that 2012 Memorial Day speech.
http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/11/20/happy-birthday-mr-vice-president-our-10-favorite-joe-biden-moments/slide/inducing-tears-with-a-heartfelt-personal-memorial-day-speech/
That was Joe really being Joe, talking from the heart and speaking about grief in a personal and touching way that no Republican pretending thoughts-and-prayers-sincerity could ever manage.
And there’s his personal story, losing his family when he just entered the Senate and then carrying on, commuting via Amtrak. And what seemed to be genuine support of Amtrak, which I love. (There he disappointed me, though. I thought the “Amtrak VP” would do more to advance the US train system during the Obama administration.)
So I do have genuine good recent memories of Uncle Joe. That said, I want him off the national stage. His time is done. He’s a drag on the party. I really, really hope he has a spectacular Jeb Bush-style flameout in the early primaries and gracefully bows out to a well-deserved retirement and obscurity.
rp
@rp: A caveat: I think the polls are mostly meaningless at this point, with one exception — Wilmer. He has the best name recognition apart from Biden, so it’s a pretty bad sign that he didn’t have a bigger lead over Harris et al a few weeks ago, and an even worse one that he’s polling so far behind Biden. I think it shows that he’s got a pretty low ceiling on his support. (And I know there’s some confirmation bias going on, but still…)
Omnes Omnibus
@Ceci n est pas mon nym:
How would he have done this? For six of the eight years that he was vice president, the GOP controlled Congress. Republicans hate trains.
rikyrah
Thread
Just heard from my niece this a.m. who just ended her college semester with a 3.25 GPA. She had to drop out of school at 18 to help raise her sisters because her mom was suffering from mental illness. She’s now a single mom whose faced eviction, job loss and turmoil. pic.twitter.com/GGKZIO4goG
— Ida Bae Wells (@nhannahjones) May 14, 2019
trollhattan
@Omnes Omnibus:
To be fair, Republicans hate trains that tote people–those fuckers should all be in cars…er…trucks!
Trains that tote coal and exploding oil–doing Gawd’s work! Plus, those railroads represent America’s first corporate land grab.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@Omnes Omnibus: I guess maybe I just hoped he’d lobby for improved train service in some way or at least talk about it. I hoped he might make it a personal issue. But as far as I know, he was largely silent on the issue, unless I missed something.
rikyrah
When young people vote at the levels of and consistency of Big Mama and ’em, then you can talk. But, spare me that Big Mama and ’em, who show up for every election, are supposed to listen to those who can’t be bothered, and need ‘ inspiration’.
Spare me this bullshyt…and, I’m not even on the Joe Biden train. But, older Black people were the LEAST surprised by Dolt45’s election. ..and, had done the MOST to prevent it.
…………………………….
Tell Your Mee-Maw And Them To Break Up With Joe Biden, I’m Bored
stan
I keep seeing this. Half the population already lives in 9 states.
joel hanes
I don’t know who’s being quoted for the quote marks around “captivated”, but it isn’t Donald J. Trump.
He doesn’t do Latinate polysyllables — they’re just not part of his thousand-word fourth-grade working vocabulary.
germy
FOX offered Warren a town hall. She turned them down.
plato
@germy: Telling it like it is. Unlike the totus thug. And bs.
Doug R
@Kay:
8,000,000 MORE Democratic voters than Republican in 2018 and the highest turnout in a midterm in 40 years.
Cacti
@stan:
Taking it a step further, Los Angeles County by itself has more people than all but 8 US states.
glory b
@rp: Yep, Markos Moulitsas said this on the radio a few weeks ago, actually. He said BS has almost 90% name recognition among regularly voting Dems, and 24% (which is what it was at the time) was pretty bad. And this was before Biden got in.
plato
Doug R
@Baud:
Russians hacked DNC analytics so they knew EXACTLY how many resources were going to the 4 states. They also hacked into state voting databases. Change a few apostrophes and/or initials and voters get flagged by Crosscheck and disqualified. Coupled with thousands of “undervotes” for president in Detroit and Flint and there’s your margin.
glory b
@Ruckus: I was watching a focus group of African American women (various ages, levels of education, etc.) They ALL loved Kamala as V Pres., they ALL wanted Biden. One of them said he’s the closest they could get to a third Obama term and hoped he would appoint a lot of Obama’s people.
Interestingly, when the moderator asked about Anita Hill, they pretty much said it wasn’t good, but it was a long time ago and there were more important things to consider now. The younger ones said, “who’s Anita Hill?”
lurker dean
@plato: i freaking love warren. she fights while the rest of the party is getting steamrolled by fox and the gop.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@lurker dean: Warren just moved up a notch on my list because she refuses to appear on Fox, calling it a “hate for profit racket.”
rikyrah
@glory b:
I remember that time. My mother and her contemporaries believed everything that Anita Hill said, but, always gave Hill the side eye.
The question that came up over and over with them was:
“WHY did she follow him from job to job?”
You see, for Black women like my mother, who grew up and came of age in a time where the ONLY options, if they were educated were: teacher, social worker, and if you were scientifically-inclined: nurse…the thought that you could sell that Hill, and well educated Black lawyer ONLY had the option of working for Thomas…that dog never hunted with them.
My thing is..Hill seems to have more smoke for Biden than for the muthaphucka on the court that has been torturing Black people with every vote of his for going on damn near 3 decades. Don’t think that older Black women don’t notice that TOO.
CarolDuhart
@stan: Also, a President Biden won’t need a learning curve, is too old for scandal, doesn’t scare moderates. No he isn’t the most charismatic-that’s not his lane-but he’s personable enough for the job. Black people also know that he’s comfortable with minorities-he wouldn’t have taken the job if Obama made him uncomfortable. Indeed, I remember in one of my books that he actually lobbied for the job, which is a plus in my book.
Biden will listen to reason, keep his cool mostly, and isn’t dysfunctional. Yes, he’s old. Normally he would be willing to just be a mentor, but in a time when things are on fire, he’s willing to come out of retirement and do his bit for his country.
People are underestimating that longing for just sanity and calm. Biden has that, if nothing else. Yes, we like the other folks fline, and we have a great bench for Senate, Governor, high-powered activists and future Presidents and Vice Presidents. But Biden has found his moment.
It isn’t going to be policy, although Elizabeth Warren has several great ones. Indeed, I see Elizabeth Warren as being the Ted Kennedy person for the future, and I hope she becomes Senate Majority Leader or even a Governor of her state. This time it’s just having a sane President with no surprises.
lurker dean
@Dorothy A. Winsor: and that’s exactly what fox is. warren appears to be connecting even with trump voters. i don’t accept that she’s unelectable, she’s incredibly bright, relates to the working class, and has many good policy proposals. that said, the ultrarich hate her because of the cfpb (and now her weath tax), so that’s a worry because they will pour money into campaigns to crush her.
Aleta
@lurker dean: Something important about Warren: not only does their steamrolling not slow her delivery, she somehow uses their steamroll in the moment, to model determination and courage. Very important ‘message’ in itself. It looks natural (and impressive) but it’s created by intelligence and skill and technique. Harris does this too in a different way. The strength of opposition that they show is what we need in a candidate I think.
germy
dww44
@Immanentize: He wants something very badly to have so prostituted himself. I actually feel there really is a bit of difference between his fawning over Trump behavior and that of James Comey. I think it was Comey’s NYT op-ed a few days ago and then that town hall on CNN last week.where he was remarkably frank in his comments about Rosentein. that stung so much that the latter felt compelled to paint Comey in a less than positive light.
I hope to live long enough to find out what Trump has on Graham and Rosentein. It’s gotta be devastating. Now, Barr, it’s simply that he’s a right wing idealogue. No less and certainly no more. Which is why the latter is so much more dangerous for our democracy.
tobie
@CarolDuhart:
This matches my sense from the little bit of canvassing I’ve done this season. Usually when you door knock people will give you a minute or two but mostly they’re eager to get back to their own stuff. Not this year. The fear and despair is real and it’s all-pervasive. So many people have told me there’s no one issue that motivates them but the desire for decency, fact-based dialogue, rule of law. We’re all so shell-shocked, myself included. If we can vote Trump out and retake the Senate, it will be national trauma therapy.
rikyrah
@dww44:
Barr also has Russian ties…..uh huh
uh huh
Brachiator
@germy:
I respect Warren’s decision here. I also have no problem with other candidates who choose to appear on a town hall on Fox.
@CarolDuhart:
I’m looking for a competent president to undo the damage caused by an incompetent fool.
@glory b:
Biden is a good guy, but he is just too damn old. Also, he was a good VP, but I don’t see him as being particularly presidential. And I don’t get why Harris should settle for the lesser position.
Lastly, Obama appointed some Clinton people and its been a long time. And I’m sure that Biden would have his own people. I want new blood and new ideas.
rikyrah
Targets of House investigations into Trump revealed in court docs
Rachel Maddow reports on the House Intelligence and Financial Services Committees legal effort to obtain Donald Trump’s financial records from Deutsche Bank and Capital One, and what their subpoena says about what they’re investigating in the Trump family businesses.
Betty Cracker
@rikyrah: They’re entitled to their opinions, but damn, do I disagree!
It wasn’t the ONLY option she had, but though I am about a decade younger than Hill, I remember a time when educated women pretty much had to make nice with piggish, powerful men to advance their careers. Not just black women — women across the board felt like they had to put up with that bullshit because that’s just the way the world worked back then. The “why did she follow him” question sounds exactly like what so many clueless men said at the time of the hearings, and me and my fellow young professional women rolled our eyes at them.
Maybe it’s because Thomas has a lifetime seat on the SCOTUS, thanks in part to Biden’s shitty performance during the confirmation, despite the fact that Hill did everything in her power to stop it? Biden is asking for people’s votes. Hill never asked for the damned spotlight — she was dragged into it, and she was brave and patriotic to try to stop that disastrous appointment. Her reaction to Biden is perfectly reasonable, IMO, and the anger at Hill is wildly misplaced.
Cacti
@Brachiator:
If she wins the most votes, she won’t have to settle for anything. But going out and winning them is up to her.
rikyrah
Tim Conway of ‘The Carol Burnett Show’ dies at 85
POSTED 11:48 AM, MAY 14, 2019, BY CNN WIRE, UPDATED AT 11:52AM, MAY 14, 2019
NEW YORK —Tim Conway, the stellar second banana to Carol Burnett who won four Emmy Awards on her TV variety show, has died, according to his publicist. He was 85.
Conway died Tuesday morning after a long illness in Los Angeles, according to Howard Bragman, who heads LaBrea Media
https://wgntv.com/2019/05/14/tim-conway-of-the-carol-burnett-show-dies-at-85-rep-says/
tobie
I know the primary’s absorbing all of us — me too!– but if you have some change to spare Marc Friedenberg is running in a special election for a House seat in central PA/Penn State area on March 21. Friedenberg is a cybersecurity specialist and, god knows, we people with expertise in that area in the House right now.
Brachiator
@rikyrah:
Very talented and funny guy. His son does a radio talk show here in Los Angeles.
Sympathies to Conway’s family, friends and fans.
Brachiator
@Cacti:
True ’nuff.
I should have written that I don’t agree with those who are prematurely consigning her to the second spot on the ticket.
TenguPhule
@Kay:
Maybe?
TenguPhule
@Kay:
You can’t say that here Kay, you’ll offend the feefees of easily offended people who get depressed by bad news. Or something. //s
J R in WV
@OzarkHillbilly:
And don’t I recall that G-D told Moses and his people to kill all the Canaanite men, and take the women as concubines, and the children as slaves?
So the Original Israelites took it from the slightly more pagan native who were there when Moses and his tribes escaped from Egyptian slavery.
And surely the Canaanites stole it from someone else, all the way back to Lucy and her friends and family. History, grim and bloody, mostly.
J R in WV
Cell phones… a cell phone story.
Where we live there is no cell phone service, and I don’t care enough to enable it via our wifi connection. They are just turned off 95% of the time.
Some time back I came out of the bookstore. There was an attractive young woman talking emotionally on her cell phone. She said, loudly, ” You don’t understand!! I don’t want to talk with you!” She was crying, actually.
I thought, loudly, but not out loud, “Honey, you can turn off the phone for a couple of days, until you learn how to block a caller…” Maybe I should have said it out loud, I dunno.
debbie
@Argiope:
Thanks!
Ruckus
@glory b:
I understand. But my feeling is that Biden is not going to be able to rebuild a government. He’s too connected to the past, which seems to be the exact thing that supporters of his like. He can’t seem to let go of his record, and that actually isn’t all that good. Joe is an old time politician, “If you can’t eat their food, take their money and vote against them they aren’t politicians.” Do you see this happening with any republican politician within our borders? The only politician I see doing this is Joe. Unless Kamala rigs him up with strings and removes his vocal cords so that he’s just a puppet, that’s what he will do because that’s who he is. He’s too old to change or suddenly become a born again liberal, so who he is, is who he will be.
All that said I like Joe as a human being. He is top notch at being a real human. That’s not enough this time around.
Because Obama trusted him 10 yrs ago, is not a good enough reason to elect him, not this time. I’ve been told that’s racist, not trusting black people to tell me who to elect to office. But I’m sorry, I don’t see it that way, I have real concerns that electing Joe Biden to the presidency with not work out well for all of us. Gender, age, race won’t make a difference if we go under because we don’t elect someone smart, strong, and a willing, forceful politician. The two I see qualified right now are Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren. And I prefer them in that order.
Ruckus
@Aleta:
Exactly. Harris and Warren both have this skill. Warren does it right to your face and Harris does it as if in a courtroom. Both are effective but I feel Harris’s approach is more, well, presidential. But, and it’s an important but, Warren is deceptively good at delivering it right to their faces and explaining why so that their really is no rebuttal.