47 years after #RoevWade ensured women's control over their reproductive health, our message is clear:
We will not go back.
We will not rest until all women have access to the comprehensive health care they need and are treated equally under the law. https://t.co/SCQ0Z5o02W
— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) January 22, 2020
Another betrayal – President Trump admits he wants to pay for the cost of the #GOPTaxScam by cutting Social Security and Medicare. https://t.co/MAAwVd0enG
— Sherrod Brown (@SenSherrodBrown) January 22, 2020
Where Trump admits to CNBC’s Joe Kernen this AM that he is looking to CUT Social Security and Medicare at the end of this year. https://t.co/Ce1mkhB2RA pic.twitter.com/pV6AuNAtcm
— Jennifer Baty (@JenBaty) January 22, 2020
We knew this was their plan all along. https://t.co/1X2xRfJL1m
— Sherrod Brown (@SenSherrodBrown) January 22, 2020
Meanwhile, Bernie Sanders — excuse me, Sanders *supporters* — attack Joe Biden for using the word ‘adjustments’, which is the same term Sanders used, regarding Social Security funding.
At this point I have to believe that Trump's remaining base solely consists of people who are constitutionally incapable of admitting that they got played for a fool.
— An Antic Disposition ? (@pavanvan) January 22, 2020
Mr. Mack
Good time to try out my “blech.”
OzarkHillbilly
@Mr. Mack: Not bad, but make a harder, more guttural “ch”.
Baud
OT, but can I raise an issue that’s been severely overlooked with everything else that’s going on?
Has anyone else noticed that the House impeachment managers are engaging in the best PowerPoint presentation in the history of PowerPoint? The way they weave text and images and video into their oral presentation is impeccable.
I would even go so far as to say that it’s the only effective PowerPoint presentation in the history of PowerPoint. Truly outstanding.
mrmoshpotato
@OzarkHillbilly: Shouldn’t that ‘b’ be capitalized?
mrmoshpotato
From downstairs:
Anyone in the market for suspended scaffolding? I now know of a company that specializes in it. (You weird ad algorithm.)
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: I haven’t been watching, now I am curious and will take a look? Any particular recommendation?
OzarkHillbilly
@mrmoshpotato: Sometimes yes, but not always.
Baud
@schrodingers_cat:
I think they all use it, but I’ve seen Schiff the most since he was on in the evening.
mrmoshpotato
Slow clap. Congrats to all you seniors who didn’t want Hillary stink on your voting record. Well done.
mrmoshpotato
@Baud: No but ummm….bravo? ?
mrmoshpotato
@OzarkHillbilly: I see. First of the day is capitalized? What’s in the style guide?
JPL
Although trump said he’s consider cuts to Social Security and Medicare, if Biden is the opponent, he’ll be accused of wanting to cut Social Security and Medicare. It’s just the way trump rolls.
Baud
No. His base is and always has been people who value hating us over all else.
MagdaInBlack
@mrmoshpotato:
My slow clap uses middle fingers.
mrmoshpotato
@MagdaInBlack: Me likey. Five claps, flip the birds, five claps, flip the birds?
debbie
@Baud:
I’ve listened rather than watched, but outstanding is definitely the right description. But why demean it with “Powerpoint”? ?
debbie
@JPL:
Even better, Trump will insist he never said it.
mrmoshpotato
@debbie: Why didn’t Microsoft make Clippy yell suggestions at people?
MagdaInBlack
@mrmoshpotato:
i’d prob throw in a few verbal m-f’s ? with the flip
OzarkHillbilly
@mrmoshpotato:
Illiterate hillbillies have a style guide? You ain’t from around here, is you?
mrmoshpotato
OT – seeing YouTube ad for a billionaire former mayor making college affordable. Doesn’t someone else have a plan for that? And why not fund a college grant, you actual billionaire dick?
Kraux Pas
Obviously the answer is “both”
mrmoshpotato
@OzarkHillbilly: I’m a coastal elite!
SFAW
@Baud:
No kidding. Maybe “An Antic Disposition” should use a different adjective. “Moronic,” for example. No, that’s not quite right. “Clueless,” maybe? Hmmm… how about “Dunning-Krugeresque”? Tough choice.
I wonder if this guy spends his spare time going on Cletus safaris.
Mo MacArbie
@mrmoshpotato: About 2:10.
SFAW
@OzarkHillbilly:
Don’t know, I think we better ask J.D. Vance
Kay
@JPL:
I think we can take a lesson from “but her emails” (because something good should come out of it). You just have to say it over and over and over. Remember those “word cloud” things after the election where “emails” was by far the biggest word for Clinton? That worked.
Dorothy A. Winsor
I haven’t seen Adam Schiff’s closing from last night, but this is what Charlie Pierce says. To my shame, I had to google Webster’s Reply to Hayne, but I found that it’s generally regarded as one of the greatest speeches even given in the Senate. Adam Schiff is bright moment in a terrible time.
Baud
@Kay:
Repetition. Also, don’t fall into the trap of trying to “prove” it’s true. If a skeptic or a person of bad faith asks you for evidence, they won’t stop asking you for evidence as long as they think you will comply.
rikyrah
@Baud:
You are right.
They have been terrific with all the ‘aids’ in their presentations ???
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone ???
rikyrah
@Kay:
So true, Kay.
So true.
Baud
@rikyrah:
Good morning.
Jim
Another betrayal – President Trump admits he wants to pay for the cost of the #GOPTaxScam by cutting Social Security and Medicare.
No , the money is going into the Orange Lump of Poo`s pockets .
mrmoshpotato
@Mo MacArbie: Which comment are you replying to?
rikyrah
@Baud:
Tell it,.Baud.
Their hatred of THE OTHER tops everything else.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@mrmoshpotato:
You know what? I really don’t need your insults.
It broke my heart when HRC was robbed. I am, indeed, a senior, so the chances I’ll live to see a woman president are not great even now. Being a second class citizen is bad enough. I don’t need you slamming me for my age.
rikyrah
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Elie, the Black firebrand commentator on MSNBC, tweeted that he wants to be as prepared someday for ANYTHING,the way that Schiff has been prepared for this moment.
OzarkHillbilly
I found this over at the Bulwark last night: We’re Trying to Send a Refugee to Die to Make a Government Lie Seem True
So I did. I read every enraging detail. As Miller summarizes:
Miller is right. You need to read Ameen’s story too.
ETA While Taub’s story at the New Yorker defies excerpting, I do want to quote this paragraph from it:
rikyrah
I really appreciate Senator Brown calling it The GOP Tax Scam….
Cause that’s what it is ???
OzarkHillbilly
@mrmoshpotato: And here I thought you were a Chicago thug.
mrmoshpotato
Damn you YouTube, now I want a cheesesteak.
rikyrah
@schrodingers_cat:
They all have been good.I really appreciate Schiff and Jeffries
OzarkHillbilly
@SFAW: Sheeeit…. Vance is a literate hillbilly. WTF does he know?
Immanentize
@Baud: I agree the PowerPoints are good. I read somewhere it’s because they have them on Hillary’s server.
Josie
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Thanks for this. There is a sad tendency by some here to paint with too broad a brush – not just on seniors, but on other groups also. No group is a monolith, and in times of stress we should try to remember that.
Baud
@Immanentize:
Hillary’s server is the new El Dorado.
@Josie: That’s why I try to hate all groups equally.
Mr. Mack
@OzarkHillbilly: Jesus. We’re out of control, and I’m afraid more innocent people will needlessly die.
mrmoshpotato
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Ummm….you realize that wasn’t aimed at anyone who voted for Hillary, right? A lot of us younger folk were just as disgusted because, well, 40 years of a Supreme Court injustice to begin with. And then there’s all the other shit that the fucking fascist said he’d do and has done or tried.
I only bring up seniors because, well, Medicare and Social Security. I hope they still exist by the time I’m eligible.
Kay
@rikyrah:
Sherrod has a theme for Trump and it’s “betrayal”. It’s a good theme for an Ohio senator because Trump ran here as a populist and Sherrod is a real populist. Tax cuts for the rich? Betrayal. Cuts to Medicare and Social Security? Betrayal. No infrastructure investment? Betrayal. The blue counties love the Trump attacks, the purple counties might be persuaded, and it is sympathetic to the voters in Trump counties.
He just has to put together a lot from blue, some from purple, and hold down red. Add that up across 88 counties. It’s not easy but it is simple.
mrmoshpotato
@Josie: See comment 49.
mrmoshpotato
@OzarkHillbilly: Are you denying Lake Michigan has a coastline? :)
OzarkHillbilly
@Mr. Mack: Kay talks about “institutional failure” all the time here.
Everybody, all together now:
“You’re right, Kay.”
OzarkHillbilly
@mrmoshpotato: No, not at all, just denying that there are any elites along that coast.
Kathleen
@Mr. Mack: Is that a literal or figurative “Blech”?
Josie
@Baud:
An admirable standard.
Kay
Mitch McConnell said it too. He said he hopes to work with Democrats to cut Social Security and Medicare after the election because “it has to be bipartisan”.
Their wealthy donors are pressuring them to cut social programs and they’re responding. That’s who they’re speaking to. Those people want reassurances.
mrmoshpotato
@OzarkHillbilly: Haha, well played.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@mrmoshpotato:
Thanks for pointing out the link to Social Security and Medicare you meant to imply. I missed that, and it’s right of course.
Immanentize
I drove into a huge pothole on the highway last week. At about 65 mph. It could not be avoided. Plus, there is a recall on my car for problems with the passenger airbag system. Sigh. So it’s off the the dealer for me and my auto today.
OzarkHillbilly
@Josie: Baud is an equal opportunity hater.
Zzyzx
The problem with that Trump clip is that it’s so incoherent that I’m not even sure he said he’d support cutting social security. It made no sense. He just said random words and the few sentences he memorized.
Kay
He said the same thing last week. Their bullshit, fake “economic theory” didn’t “pay for itself” (because it never once has) so now they need to find some money. They’ll be taking it from you-all.
OzarkHillbilly
@Immanentize:
That could be very expensive. You might want to call your insurance.
mrmoshpotato
@Kay: The Republican party has hated most of the people of this country for decades. Why stop now, or after November, or ever?
Cermet
@mrmoshpotato: You do know Bloomberg has in fact provided for students in need (not just poor) to attend Johns Hopkins University for free. His 1.8 billion (!) dollar grant for that exact purpose? I still don’t want him winning but facts are facts and he did exactly that so get your facts right before posting.
Mo MacArbie
@mrmoshpotato: That was my clap-bird-clap routine.
PST
@Kay: Sherrod Brown could have been both an excellent candidate and an excellent president, largely because he combines populism and progressiveness about as well as anyone. He’s proven it by winning in Ohio year after year without compromise. He can explain Democratic policies in common-sense terms. I would have loved to vote for a Harris-Brown or Brown-Harris ticket.
Mr. Mack
@Kathleen: It’s literally a figurative Blech. Still working on the delivery.
Ken
@mrmoshpotato: Chicago has a freshwater coastline. Hence the division between saltwater and freshwater economic theory.
(All economics suffers greatly from the “assume a spherical cow” style of theorizing, but freshwater has a greater tendency to round their bovines. Or at least so Krugman and DeLong say.)
Immanentize
@OzarkHillbilly: I know. I am somewhat worried….
burnspbesq
There’s nothing wrong with the finances of the Social Security system that can’t be fixed by uncapping the wage base.
With all due respect, Mr. President, you can fuck right off.
SFAW
@OzarkHillbilly:
That statement applies, if not to everything Kay writes, to almost everything.
Ken
@Immanentize: Be sure to say the pothole hit you, and sped off without leaving its insurance card.
A goose once flew into my car, breaking the side mirror and damaging the paint. I was sure the insurance company would demur, but apparently it’s a common thing.
SFAW
@Mr. Mack:
Where’s Steve in the WTFKW these days? I haven’t seen him, but I haven’t been here a ton these days.
I literally have no idea why I thought of him.
O. Felix Culpa
@burnspbesq:
In other words, giving him all the respect he has earned [is due him]…[checks notes]…he can fuck right off. Yup, we agree.
Top of the morning to all.
OzarkHillbilly
@Immanentize:
I had such an incident. I forget what it cost but well remember what all needed replacing. Both upper and lower A frames, the control arms and bushings, ball joints and tierod ends… Basically half the front end.
And that was in a ’68 Oldsmobile, built with ’68 steel. While much safer and far more fuel efficient, cars these days aren’t near as stout.
OzarkHillbilly
@SFAW: Yep, it’s still nice to hear from time to time. Or at least, that’s what I’ve convinced my wife.
Kay
@PST:
I don’t know if Sherrod would have been a great national candidate. He’s prickly and he’s blunt. I think he’s perfect for Ohio and he completely understands the state politically but I’m not sure he’s capable of the kind of adjustments national candidates have to make. He’s also not “warm” and I say this as someone who is also not particurlarly warm so it’s not a criticism- people can be all kinds of ways. You wouldn’t see any of that Joe Biden/Elizabeth Warren emoting outta Sherrod :)
Patricia Kayden
SFAW
@burnspbesq:
It depends on the definition of “wrong.” For RWMFs and Rehugs in general, “wrong” (vis-a-vis Social Security) means “it exists.”
If I believed in Hell, I’d be (only slightly) warmed by the idea that Pete Peterson, Howard Jarvis, and Barbara Anderson are spending eternity Down There. I hope Grover Norquist joins them soon.
[For those benighted non-Massholes out there: Barbara Anderson was MA’s version of Jarvis.]
Jeffro
@burnspbesq:
Exactly right. And there’s nothing about the deficit that can’t be fixed by restoring our formerly progressive tax rates and trimming defense spending.
GOP tax scam didn’t work out, Republicans? Well, then I guess the first thing we ought to do is undo it, right?
PST
@Kay: That’s fine with me. I hate emoting. (I feel a little like Lou Grant saying “I hate pluck.”) Charisma could have been one of Harris’s jobs.
mrmoshpotato
@Cermet: Good. He should do more of that instead of this vanity presidential run.
Kay
@burnspbesq:
I don’t think it’s Social Security (although we should say it is). It’s Medicare and Medicaid. They are expensive and they can be cut. They go where the money is. They can’t admit that their economic theories are nonsense- the tax cuts didn’t pay for themselves- so they have to blame “entitlements”
McConnell did exactly that in 2018 when he first floated this plan. He said Republicans didn’t have a budget problem, Democrats did.
SiubhanDuinne
@SFAW: I heard from him (email) a few days ago. He’s been doing a lot of travelling, from sub-Saharan Africa to lower Alabama. Another jackal, whose nym escapes me (sorry!), has also been in touch.
Kay
@PST:
It’s fine with me too – it is how I operate- but even I can get a little taken aback with him. I was in this county meeting once and someone said to him “why don’t Ohio Democrats do any outreach to Latinos?” and he started rattling off the percentages of Latinos in Ohio counties – it’s low. This is a true statement! That’s why.
But still. Fucking brutal, Sherrod. Warm it up :)
SFAW
@Kay:
I was going to point out that his very public canoodling with Connie Schultz — what does Brown’s wife say about that? — opens him up to all sorts of smears by the Trumpistas, but then remembered that their Fuehrer has sort of broken the boundaries on that. [Of course, that never stopped them before.]
[Note to Kay: yes, I know who Connie Schultz is.]
HinTN
@Baud: When I was briefing brass I proved myself on having the least slick slides in any briefing. Just enough for a reader to get it but leaving space for me to tell them the story they needed to hear.
I do agree, these House presentations are superior for content, form, and message.
mrmoshpotato
@Ken: That is the most serious – and confusing – response to silly banter that I’ve ever seen. :)
SFAW
@PST:
I can hear him saying it, too. [Although, actually, it’s “spunk.”] Thanks for the laugh.
Soprano2
Heard Noel King interviewing Sen. Mike Braun (R-IN) this morning about the impeachment trial. She did some pushback on him complaining about not hearing any new evidence. I wish she had said, every time he mentioned they hadn’t heard anything new, “But didn’t you and 52 other Republicans vote not to hear any new witnesses or allow submission of any new evidence?” When he cited the Clinton impeachment, I wish she had said “But didn’t President Clinton cooperate with the independent council by submitting all documents requested and allowing all witnesses to testify? By contrast, President Trump has obstructed all the witnesses the House requested and blocked all documents. Doesn’t that make this different?”
Dorothy A. Winsor
@PST:
From the pilot episode! I loved that moment and the one where he gets the bottle of hooch from his desk drawer as Mary tells him she’ll have a brandy Alexander.
mrmoshpotato
@SFAW: Actually, you figuratively have no idea why you literally just thought of him.
Betty Cracker
I’d bet a modest sum that Trump has no idea “entitlements” includes Social Security, etc. Not saying the threat to cut them shouldn’t feature prominently in every general election ad — it should. There’s even a good chance he’ll own up to a threat he didn’t consciously make rather than admit an error. But he’s obviously in pure bullshit mode in that clip.
Speaking of the general election, I really want whomever the candidate is to make a fool of Trump onstage during a debate by accusing him of mishandling the U.S. relationship with Wakanda or something like that. He would totally fall for it.
“Jake, I think Mr. Trump missed an opportunity to strengthen ties with Wakanda, which has the world’s richest stores of unobtainium…”
SFAW
@SiubhanDuinne:
Thanks!
Viva BrisVegas
Three American firefighters died yesterday when their firebombing C-130 crashed while fighting a large blaze in southern New South Wales. These are folks who traveled halfway around the world to put their lives on the line for us and paid the price. We’ll remember.
Good news, bad news. Across large areas heavy rain has dampened fires and made them more controllable. But because there is now no ground cover, a thick sludge of ash and mud is working its way down the rivers and killing millions of fish.
mrmoshpotato
@Patricia Kayden: Jen still believes in “principled Republicans”, both in office and as a voting bloc. Adorable.
Kathleen
@Mr. Mack: Thanks! I just wanted to make sure in case Baud chooses you as a running mate. We wouldn’t want viral videos of problematic Blechs.
OzarkHillbilly
@Soprano2: Dreamer, wishing for a competent news media. Some people…. ;-)
Mr. Mack
@Kathleen: Too much voltage at the bottom of the ticket.
Dorothy A. Winsor
In my fantasy life, we elect a D president, House, and Senate; Clarence Thomas decides to retire; and Adam Schiff joins the Supreme Court.
OzarkHillbilly
One-armed golfer’s hole-in-one at The American Express 2020.
SFAW
@mrmoshpotato:
Is that like “The part of the first part shall be known as ‘the party of the first part.’ ” ?
SFAW
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Does your fantasy life have room for Gorsuch and Kavanugh being removed (presumably via impeachment)? I mean, might as well go whole hog. [Yeah, I know there are plenty of things to add to the wish list.]
Dorothy A. Winsor
@SFAW:
Sure! Throw in impeaching Gorsuch and Boof-boy.
zhena gogolia
@Baud:
It is amazing. Even if H. R. Haldeman was identified as Harry Hadelman.
OzarkHillbilly
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Why stop with Clarence? I would also wish for a meteor strike on John Roberts house while he was home alone, for Samuel Alito to get in the way of Dick Cheney’s shooting, for child Pron to be found on Kavanaugh’s Kindle, and for Gorsuch to resign in an attack of conscience.
zhena gogolia
@schrodingers_cat:
I haven’t been able to watch continuously, but Schiff is PHENOMENAL. I hear great things about Jeffries, Demings, and Crow as well.
SFAW
@OzarkHillbilly:
Such a kidder, you are.
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly:
The problem with political fantasies is the same as the problem with sexual fantasies. It’s overwhelmingly frustrating when they don’t come true.
Or so they tell me.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@OzarkHillbilly: Wow. Why not? Good idea.
OzarkHillbilly
@SFAW: @Baud: @Dorothy A. Winsor: If I’m gonna wish, I might as well wish big.
JPL
@Viva BrisVegas: How sad.
Kay
@SFAW:
SHE’S actually warm. We had her here when he first ran for senate, in ’06. She was doing the Elizabeth Warren engaged, sympathetic listening thing. I don’t think it’s fake. It’s just some people can’t or won’t do it.
Sherrod likes “pulling back the curtain”. So at another event here during the health care fight I told him the CEO of our rural hospital had written an anti-Obamacare screed in the newspaper. Sherrod said “that’s funny because he calls me all the time on Medicaid subsidies for the hospital”. Rural hospitals get extra money if they’re the “sole provider” in a geographic area. It’s the hypocrisy of rural people insisting they hate gubmint health care, when they’re all on it.
The CEO has since been fired for what was rumored to be “me too” issues, although that is just a rumor, but really a pretty reliable one judging by the 5000 people who told me it. He now lives in Florida.
Kattails
@mrmoshpotato: This senior has Hillary stink all over my voting record, it smells like roses thank you very much.
@OzarkHillbilly: Now I haz confusion. Is blech a “ch” as in a-choo, or more of a German-style back of the throat “kh” like a cat coughing up a hairball? You said guttural. Just want to read it correctly.
Kay
I’m wary of the centrist position on college costs because they have oversold these programs. I keep going back to the fact that everyone pointed to the “public service loan forgiveness” program as fabulous and turns out they had loaded it up with so many conditions almost no one qualified.
These things can’t be nightmarish mazes and they have to be sold honestly. If your program applies to 50,000 people than say that.
They’re over-drafted. Simplify.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@JPL: Trump will blame the budget deficit on Biden’s tax cuts.
I am pretty sure Trump isn’t serious about it because that would require work from Trump. Most likely this is one of Trump’s lies to the Senate Republicans that in return for their no vote on impeachment Trump will consider safety net cuts. Then forget about it.
rikyrah
@Kay:
they know damn well that if the Democrats hadn’t of won in 2018, that they were gonna cut them…that was the plan, and they wouldn’t give a shyt about ‘bi-partisan’. it would have been as bi-partisan as the GOP Tax Scam was.
OzarkHillbilly
@Kattails: Guttural, like a German cat coughing up a hairball, not one of them sissy French cat hairball coughs.
Kay
My youngest is a Bernie supporter, so you know, add that in, but he showed me the youth reaction to Kamala Harris’ college cost program when that came out and they were having a ball with it, making fun of it. They thought it was ludicrous it had so many conditions. It is ludicrous. They’re right. Stop micromanaging these students. Don’t let everyone in the room add their pet clause. It’s freaking oppressive.
EmbraceYourInnerCrone
@burnspbesq: Thank you! I have never understood why there is a wage cap anyway, so the people who make more don’t have to pay SS taxes on all their paycheck? How does that make sense?
Then there are the people /politicians who keep saying teachers need to agree to have their pensions cut…If one is a teacher in one of the 12 states that does not participate in SS taxes for public workers such as teachers, you are not eligible for SS so your pension may be all you have…
PST
@SFAW: Ah yes, spunk of course. Good thing Balloon Juice means never having to check your facts first.
Kay
@rikyrah:
Forget him. The tax cut, which was a gift to his supporters, didn’t “have to be bipartisan”, he happily jammed it thru – but wildly unpopular Medicare cuts have to be? Why? Why is it my job to protect vulnerable Republican politicians? It’s a budget. Look somewhere else for the money they pissed away.
hitless
@Kay: I think it’s a pretty brilliant strategy – it allows people who supported Trump to not have to admit they made mistake. It blames Trump for failing to deliver what he promised. Convince people that he’ll screw them over. That’s the best shot dems have I think. Also has the benefit of being true.
Lapassionara
@Betty Cracker: Trump is not going to debate the Democratic candidate for president. I wish he would, but he will not agree to do so.
Kathleen
@Kay: If I remember correctly the OMB said that the Rethug tax cut would create huge deficit before the bill was passed. I also don’t remember media hammering this point. Those of us who were paying attention saw bright flashing red neon letters screaming “Gut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid” to the accompaniment of warning siren.
Just One More Canuck
@Ken: they round a byproduct of bovines
Eolirin
@Lapassionara: If he doesn’t we get to call him a coward for months. That probably works more to our benefit than the debates themselves would.
OzarkHillbilly
@Eolirin: I’ve been calling him a coward for years.
Ruckus
@Jeffro:
They could never make an economic mistake, could they? Well I’m going to make the claim that every republican president of the last 60 yrs has made many, and all of them fucking stupid economic disasters of mistakes. And because they seem to be incapable of learning, well anything, and completely unable to admit mistakes of any magnitude they never learn and they completely fuck up everything they touch. That and they don’t give a damn about any one who isn’t stealing money from as many places as possible.
You may notice that I’m not a proponent of republicans.
J R in WV
@PST:
I thot the rewrite so recently successful was gonna include total fact check verification for every comment!!!
;-]
chopper
@Kay:
it has to be bipartisan because it’s going to be so unpopular they need to come up with a way to put the blame on the dems.
Ruckus
@Kattails:
So does this senior. I even worked for her to get elected. In the group I worked with was a republican, middle aged man, who said he couldn’t not help defeat shit for brains.
Aleta
@hitless:
I also like to imagine: “Trump Lies!”
“He lied to these farmers. Lied to these plant workers. (images) Lied about cutting taxes for (number) people. Lied when he said (video) ‘Mexico will pay for my wall.’ (Headline: $ from Pentagon.) Lied about (Trump U, . … … ….).
“Americans are paying for Trump. Now he’s lying about jobs, about supporting our military (… …). What else is he lying about ?”
He/they know he’s vulnerable on the lies because they’ve been hammering “promises kept” for two years. It’s 3/4 of Ivanka’s twitter.
Another Scott
60 years ago today – https://www.history.navy.mil/news-and-events/events/trieste-anniversary-event.html
Cheers,
Scott.
...now I try to be amused
@Ruckus:
I think Republicans are ideologically incapable of making sound economic policy, dating back to their rejection of Keynes if not before.
mrmoshpotato
@Kattails: I have Hillary stink all over my voting record too. And my entire record just stinks to high heaven of Democratic party votes. Very stinky like sauteing garlic. Mmmmmm sauteing garlic. Deeeelicious.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Jon Favreau interviewed a group of Romney-Clinton voters in AZ for his latest Wilderness podcast. He started off asking what their most important issues were: One said climate change; another said LGBT rights; another said women’s reproductive rights. And I just sat there thinking: And you voted for Mitt Fucking Romney?
One thing all his groups have in common– Obama-trump, Obama voters who stayed home, Romney-Cinton– they all hate something called “politics”. They all just want everyone to get along and get something done. But they don’t want it to involve “politics”
schrodingers_cat
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: The stupid, it burns.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@schrodingers_cat: three episodes and three focus groups in, that’s my consistent reaction. Against Stupid, the gods themselves struggle in vain.
Jeffro
@Ruckus: They’re never wrong…we just aren’t implementing their fabulous policies good & hard enough.
Rand cultists, the lot of them.
glory b
@schrodingers_cat: It does. I’ve lost respect for the Pod Save America guys for continuing to pursue (obsess over) these voters, as well as for being a bit too Bernie-curious for former Obama staffers.
Uncle Cosmo
He’s actually done the latter. To the tune of several billion dollars. But it’s only (AFAIK) to one school, his (& my) alma mater: “The” Johns Hopkins University. And it mostly gets used to put his name on buildings. The leftover gets stuffed into the endowment – or buys perks for the administration.
So long as it benefited from a fine sprinkling of Mikey Bloomberg’s bazillionaire-spare-change, “The Hop” was pretty quiet on the fundraising front. No more; as soon as he decided to redirect said monies into a presidential campaign, their Orifice of Annual Grifting has been busy sending out dunning (or is that Dunning-Kruger?) letters. The latest came right after New Years & damn near ordered us alums to tell them within 14 days how much we were willing to kick in. I presume my silence told them all they needed to know from me…
EmbraceYourInnerCrone
@Viva BrisVegas: That’s terrible (both the deaths and the run off issues from the rain)
I was kind of afraid that would happen (the run off) as I remember from living in Southern California that after the hot, high winds came the wild fires and after the wild fires came the annual torrential rains followed by the flash floods and mudslides.
I’m really glad it rained for Australia. But it does come with knockon problems…
zhena gogolia
I recommend Chris Murphy’s twitter for his brief recaps of the trial every day.
https://twitter.com/ChrisMurphyCT?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
zhena gogolia
I also recommend this piece on Starr and Dershowitz:
https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/trump-impeachment-defense-lawyers-ken-starr-alan-dershowitz-share-disturbing-ncna1120736
Where is everybody? What happened to Betty’s post?
Betty Cracker
@glory b: I’m a PSA listener, and I find the existence of these voters irritating. But while the PSA guys aren’t infallible, they’ve demonstrated they know how to win. IMO, we dismiss their insights at our peril, as annoying as it is that so many of our fellow citizens are clueless numpties.
joel hanes
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
I too missed what moshpotato meant to say.
tomtofa
@Baud:
There’s talk that one of the reasons Pelosi delayed sending the articles over was to give the managers time to put this together.
patrick II
@OzarkHillbilly:
that last one (For Gorsuch getting a conscience) is a stretch.
Betty Cracker
@zhena gogolia: I couldn’t get the line spacing code to behave, so I trashed it.
joel hanes
@Ken:
All economics suffers greatly from the “assume a spherical cow” style of theorizing
I am told by actual economists that experimental economics exists and thrives and does reproducible quantitative work. This is not the style of economics that is often employed by governments, especially Republican governments, nor does it offer the kind of soundbite narratives that would get its exponents onto the Sunday political TV shows.
schrodingers_cat
@joel hanes: Its not just the fault of economic theories. At the macro level the tools you have are limited.
1. Monetary policy (interest rate)
2. Fiscal policy (taxes and direct investment in the economy)
gvg
@mrmoshpotato: Jen Rubin is speaking in a public position that might actually get heard by some elected Republicans and certainly will by some maybe gettable republican voters, so it works better to speak as if it is possible for them to have a better self. then they might live up to it.
Where as we here can vent our feelings that they are all head dead deplorables.
People don’t listen to other people that tell them how totally terrible they are. they just don’t. They may listen to some more gentle arguments. I can’t make those gentle nudges, which is another reason I can’t be a politician for instance, nor probably a journalist. Rubin was a republican. She probably has a better idea how to discuss this than I do.
joel hanes
@burnspbesq:
With all due respect, Mr. President
[checks notes]
Apparently, the quantity of respect actually due to this President* is zero. Zilch. Nada. Nichyevo. Bupkis.
japa21
@joel hanes: That’s because he was very inept in saying it. He talked about senior voters as a class or group. If he had said senior voters who voted for Trump it would have been fine. No need to apologize or say you missed what he was saying because he didn’t say it until his follow-up response.
And, so it doesn’t just single him out, as also mentioned above, the same over generalization is often used by commenters in other areas. Boomers, seniors, whites, etc. are all lumped together. If I responded every time somebody did that my figers would be tired.
MisterForkbeard
Apparently the Senate Dems are throwing a press conference at the moment. Can’t watch it myself – anyone know what they’re doing?
HinTN
@burnspbesq:
I endorse this sentiment.
Dorothy A. Winsor
Cole’s twitter feed shows he made a post, but I get a 505 error when I click on it.
Belafon
@OzarkHillbilly: Go check out this about the 1959 Bel Aire and a 2009 Malibu. The Bel Aire just folds, and does nothing to protect the passengers: https://autoweek.com/article/classic-cars/1959-chevy-bel-air-vs-2009-chevy-malibu-crash-test-pretty-ghastly.
Soprano2
@OzarkHillbilly: At least she did push back some, which is more than they used to do. They used to let the Republican talking points go mostly unchallenged. Still, I know this stuff, as does she – why can’t she challenge him? It’s the least she could do for her listeners.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Whoops. A 404 error.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
trump is gonna go totally team Meghan now
He blew off Mother, too
NotMax
@OzarkHilbilly
Giving mention because
1) The Ozarks
2) Dogs.
Lionel Barrymore movie The Voice of Bugle Ann airing at 5 p.m. Eastern time on TCM.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
James Madison and John Quincy Adams need to start haunting the House cloak room and gym and whatever twenty-something bar Mr Gaetz inappropriately haunts on his own time
opiejeanne
@Ken: Damn! It’s been 50 years since I took Economics in college and they never mentioned that theory. It must be newer than that.
SFAW
@Kay:
Not surprised. What little I’ve seen of/from her, she seemed pretty grounded. [I seem to recall her response to someone seriously writing about her canoodling with Brown was in relatively good humor.]
opiejeanne
@SFAW: Jarvis suddenly changed his tune when he was diagnosed HIV positive, but alas, his anti-tax foundation lives on to give Californians conniption fits when they realize what they’ve really voted for. At one point in my life I was an expert on what Prop 13 stripped from schools.
mrmoshpotato
@gvg: She can do whatever she wants. I just don’t buy that there’s a Republican conscience left after watching 2015 to now.
I’d been wondering why the GOP didn’t lay waste to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security in 2017-18 when they had control of the House, Senate and White House, and the only conclusion I can come up with is not being able to convincingly blame the wreckage on the Democrats when it comes to messing with the benefits of a demographic that doesn’t blow off elections.
Leto
Happen to have the tv on MSNBC and again realize there’s no more useless people than Brian Williams and Robert Costa. Both were pontificating about Bolton testifying, how the WH is going to block that, and Williams lobs up a softball of, “Why doesn’t Bolton sit down with you, Robert, and lay out what he’s going to tell under oath?” Costa responds with, “Well he has a book coming out soon, so I hope that we all get to know blah blah blah blah…”
Absolutely worthless. Grifter circle jerk.
Betty Cracker
@Leto: Costa used to write an NRO column, so I always take that into account when reading his straight reporting. He does well enough in print most of the time, IMO, but on TV, ugh.
I’ve never been able to figure out why Williams is apparently held in such high esteem by his peers. Maybe he’s a really fun guy behind the scenes, so he gets a pity show? Otherwise, I’m stumped.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Betty Cracker: as I understand it, his ratings are pretty good, for latish-night cable news. I haven’t seen how they compare to O’Donnell’s.
And while I find his overbearing insistence on trying to be funny grating*, I’ll take him over fucking tweety or Chuck Todd.
*better or worse than Ari Melber’s hip-hop schtick… I’m not sure
?BillinGlendaleCA
@opiejeanne: Gann was HIV positive, not Jarvis.
opiejeanne
@mrmoshpotato: I got what you were saying. I think people read it too quickly and missed who it was aimed at: Seniors who didn’t vote for Hillary, for Reasons.
NotMax
@Betty Cracker
The impregnable combination of shallowness mixed with cluelessness of Williams is incredible. If Fozzie Bear and Mortimer Snerd had a child, it would be he.
ziggy
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Wow, that was pretty blatant. So much for our great standing in the world!
opiejeanne
@japa21: Oh, go back and read it. It was crystal clear what he was saying and who it was directed to.
opiejeanne
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Oh, right.
Haydnseek
@opiejeanne: I’m an expert on it too. Those property taxes were absolutely brutal, and increased every year. My parents were almost taxed out of their home. Very prudent people financially, both worked full time. People on our street did lose their homes. Prop 13 was addressing a serious problem, but it went much too far.
japa21
@opiejeanne: I sincerely apologize. Overreaction on my part. Sometimes one can be too hypersensitive to things and react first and think later.
dww44
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: @Betty Cracker:
As an inveterate MSNBC viewer, I’ll speak up in defense of Bryan Williams. He does actually have good guests on at his 11 p.m. hour and I watch the first part pretty regularly. I note that he’s been pretty much on our side since he came back (because he’s strongly anti-Trump), albeit that he still believes that the Kasichs of the world not only exist but are deserving of support. I personally can’t harangue him too much about that, because in a different world where Kasich still held sway in the GOP, he’d likely get the vote of my bil and spouse.
Re Costa, he gets applauded for ostensibly being neutral and truthful. I always listen to him with a bit of skepticism. I’ve never heard him utter a pro liberal statement.. He knows on what side his bread is buttered, as, evidently, does NPR.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Haydnseek: Prop 13 was poorly written(my first vote was against it), but it did address a real problem.
Haydnseek
@?BillinGlendaleCA: It certainly did, as I stated in my post. It was the implementation. It was much too drastic. A much more gradual approach would have caused much less pain.
NotMax
@dww44
I don’t find him as being either pro or anti but more as his seeing Dolt 45 as a resource to be applied to bolster Williams’ street cred at the network.
Agree the guest choices can be very good, although having 3 or 4 on together during the same short segment barely gives any time to more than scratch the surface. Still cannot stomach watching the program unless someone else is filling in for Williams. Have better uses for my time than spending it wading through his vapidity to get to a nugget.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@dww44: I don’t hate him the way I hate Chuck Todd, though both are obsessed with displaying their insider’s savvy. I do think Williams gets what trump is in a way Todd, for that matter Mrs Greenspan, don’t. Tweety I find irritating. Extremely irritating.
Ksmiami
@Kraux Pas: tbh I’m hoping a bunch of Republican Seniors die off from the flu since they’ve so actively destroyed the good things government should provide…too bad, so sad
opiejeanne
@japa21: It’s ok, I know that those are hot issues for a lot of people and not just me, but I got it on first reading.
Not helpful as much as careful reading, but my mantra has become “If it’s not about you, it’s not about you.” Eliminates a lot of “but not all X are that way” arguments.
WaterGirl
@Dorothy A. Winsor: I think that was probably the Grift Goes On post that Betty posted for a second and then took down.
opiejeanne
@Haydnseek: Yes, we were watching our property taxes rise as the values soared into the realm of the ridiculous, or so we thought. In 1976 we aid $42k for an older house (1930s) that needed a lot of work but was in a nice neighborhood, and it was $2k overpriced at that. 6 months later a neighbor sold a similar house for $80k. Property taxes were part of our mortgage payments, so we saw it jump but not as shockingly as if it were the standard two-part bill.
Ksmiami
@rikyrah: ef that – the answer is we will protect ss and medicare and Republicans rob you
opiejeanne
@Haydnseek: For the schools, it was all those nitpick little rules that no one noticed when they were voting for 13, such as all covered areas would be counted as classrooms including covered walkways between classrooms (sorry kids, you’ll get wet or sunburned) covered outdoor eating areas, libraries, auditoriums, principal’s offices, and janitor’s closets. I’ve forgotten the rest of the nonsense but it was critical to the older schools my kids attended and it’s why the new schools built since then look so stark.
Yeah, property taxes needed to be addressed sharply, but no one read the fine print.
opiejeanne
@Ksmiami: Yeah, no. Because what they’ve done, they’ve done to the rest of us too.
Shalimar
@…now I try to be amused: I saw a random person in an online movie discussion having nothing to do with anything political or economic say earlier today that Thomas Sowell should get a Nobel Prize for Economics soon. Just out of the blue in a discussion about the literary genre the movie was from.
It was an alarm bell not to take this person seriously about anything. Yes, Sowell is an economist in addition to being a hack libertarian columnist, but I have never heard anyone sugggest before that he has done anything noteworthy in the field.