Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

No one could have predicted…

Verified, but limited!

Not all heroes wear capes.

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

This is all too absurd to be reality, right?

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

Shocking, but not surprising

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

What fresh hell is this?

I can’t take this shit today. I just can’t.

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

Naturally gregarious and alpha

The revolution will be supervised.

Yes we did.

This fight is for everything.

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

They are all Michael Cohen now.

You are here: Home / Civil Rights / Women's Rights / A Woman's Place Is In The House / Monday Evening Open Thread: Another Excellent Small, Symbolic Step

Monday Evening Open Thread: Another Excellent Small, Symbolic Step

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Can’t tell you how sweet it is to be highlighting good news instead of clown-car outrages!

Reader Interactions

152Comments

  4. 4.

    debbie

    Good. Let ’em choke on it.

  7. 7.

    LeftCoastYankee

    I love it.  Harriet’s wry smile is perfect.

    I predict an uptick in counterfeit Jackson $20 as the rubes start to hoard them, because “something something, really not racism, no really”.

  8. 8.

    JPL

    @Baud:  They can send their twenties to me, and I promise that I’ll burn them.

  11. 11.

    Eric S.

    @Baud: I’m pretty certain destroying US currency is a crime. Not that these snowflakes are ever held to account but I’d love to see some of them go to jail for it.

  13. 13.

    Chief Oshkosh

    I preferred the image of her with a pistol in one had, an axe (?) in the other, and a “Harriet does not play” look on her face.

    But sure, I’ll take this one.

  15. 15.

    Roger Moore

    @BruceFromOhio:

    Let’s put BIPOC on all our money.  After all, the tradition of putting presidents on our coins only goes back to the early 20th Century.  Lincoln was the first president on a coin, and that wasn’t until 1909.

  16. 16.

    zhena gogolia

    I guess nobody cares that they lifted the ban on transgender people in the military today — I keep posting it, but no response. Champ and Major can be heard barking outside the window after Biden signs it.

  20. 20.

    scav

    These boots are made for walkin’
    and that’s just what they’ll do.
    One of these days these boots are gonna to walk all over you.

  21. 21.

    rikyrah

    @zhena gogolia:

    I care.

    A wrong has been corrected.

    May all the encroachments against our transgender citizens put in place by Dolt45’s Administration be destroyed. They certainly wanted to destroy them 😡😡

  25. 25.

    zhena gogolia

    @rikyrah:

    I am just soaking in all the humanity that is returning to our government.

    We have a real First Lady and a kickass Second Gentleman.

  28. 28.

    Roger Moore

    @zhena gogolia: 
    There’s just too much exciting good stuff going on for everyone to keep track. It’s like the opposite of Trump’s “too many scandals for any one to capture public attention” approach. Fortunately, the Capitol Coup Attempt happened late enough in the game that Trump hasn’t been able to whip up a scandal to push it out of the headlines, so we’ve managed to keep it on the radar.

  30. 30.

    Van Buren

    @zhena gogolia: I wouldn’t call pointing out that Sinema, Manchin, etc deciding that they’d rather have McConnell run the country than Joe Biden whining. My good mood didn’t last a week. We are so well and truly fucked.

  32. 32.

    Miss Bianca

    Don’t bogart those new $20s, MAGAts, pass ’em all over to me!

    In other news, thus begins a rant on Brexit in the Grauniad that is worthy (almost!) of Tony Jay:

    You would have to possess a heart of stone not to weep with laughter at some of those who are now suddenly complaining about Brexit. It is a bit late for Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist party, those lusty sponsors of the great experiment with the UK’s prosperity, to be wailing that they have been betrayed. I smiled to see that Roger Daltrey, the Leave-supporting lead singer of the Who, has joined the chorus of rock stars furious that the post-Brexit visa rules will ruin their prospects of touring across the Channel. Mr Daltrey will have to sing Won’t Get Fooled Again to himself before moving on to Boris the Spider and I Can’t Explain.

    There’s more at the link. tl/dr version: Surprise, surprise, surprise, Brexit is turning into the shitshow every sane person promised it would be.

  33. 33.

    RSA

    @Roger Moore:  After all, the tradition of putting presidents on our coins only goes back to the early 20th Century.

    I really liked the German bank notes (DM) just before the Euro was adopted.

    Famous national artists and scientists were chosen to be portrayed on the new banknotes. Male and female artists were chosen in equal numbers.

    Gauss, Clara Schumann, Paul Ehrlich, the Grimm brothers…

    For the U.S., Harriet Tubman is a fine choice. The portraits don’t need to be people in government.

  34. 34.

    MomSense

    Some friends of mine own a small, indie bookstore.  They’ve been using a black ink stamp to write TUBMAN in large print on all the $20 bills since 2017.  They’re good people.  They also keep dog treats behind the counter and are very patient with my dog when she cuts the line to get her treats.

  36. 36.

    Dan B

    @zhena gogolia: I was happy to see the ttansgender ban lifted.  It was listed last week so not as newsy I guess.  Some form of the Equality act would be great news as well.  That would impact hundreds of thousands of trans and queer people.  Hoping!

  41. 41.

    dmsilev

    @MomSense:

    They also keep dog treats behind the counter and are very patient with my dog when she cuts the line to get her treats

    Hah. The indie bookstore near my parents does the same thing. My mom stops by as part of the morning dog-walk to pick up a newspaper and a treat. She always has to bring the dog outside before giving him the cookie, because “if I give it to him inside, he goes to the counter to beg for another one, and I have to drag him out the door. It’s embarrassing.”

  42. 42.

    Steeplejack

    @zhena gogolia:

    My RWNJ brother cares. Him on Facebook: “A HUGE miss on this one. Using the military for social experimentation weakens the hammer. Defies good order and discipline. I hope he gets talked out of this gaff [sic].”

    He was in the Navy for four-six (?) years decades ago, then in the Navy Reserve for a long time, and his Facebook home page is still a picture of a destroyer and an inset picture (relatively current) of him in a jacket with bullshit pseudo-military patches all over it (e.g., Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association). And his tag line: “Former Surface Warfare Officer at United States Navy.” Sad.

  43. 43.

    germy

    Punchbowl News: Schumer, asked about going nuclear: “All I can tell you is we are not letting Mitch McConnell dictate how the Senate runs or what we do. … I will tell you this. There’s huge anger in my caucus about what he’s done.”

    — Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) January 25, 2021

    Schumer later said to a larger gaggle: "He is minority leader" — referring to McConnell. https://t.co/Y2BvAVqtFy

    — Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) January 25, 2021

  45. 45.

    topclimber

    @Eric S.: Business guy here. Wall Street and Banksters do way more to destroy currency (as in, the value thereof) than even a 100-Man-Militia March smoking $20 stogies. Blunt truth, folks: Speculators and racists going to be the death of us yet.

    Does anyone remember a show about Presidents going at it in an animated WWF event? The finale had Harry Truman going all Rocky Marciona on a tough but ungainly Abe Lincoln to claim the belt.

    I agree they were the likely finalists. But the TR/Andrew Jackson under card might have produced a dark horse.

  47. 47.

    germy

    @Steeplejack:

    I’m grateful for the “social experimentation” – I think what weakens the hammer is the culture where rape accusations go ignored, and white supremacists infiltrate.  The new leadership is working on that.

  53. 53.

    Steeplejack

    @germy:

    First comment was a mutual friend bringing up rape in the military. RWNJ brother harrumphed: “Rape is a criminal attack and is punished severely under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.” Problem solved!

  54. 54.

    germy

    !!! NEW: US Justice Dept tells judge Riley Williams, woman accused of stealing computer from Nancy Pelosi's office, is suspected of using internet in recent days, encouraging people to destroy evidence in Capitol insurrection case. They want judge to prohibit internet access pic.twitter.com/YwKKj0kdIe

    — Scott MacFarlane (@MacFarlaneNews) January 25, 2021

  55. 55.

    Geminid

    @Dan B: It’s been a little over ten years since Congress upheld the right of gay people to serve openly in the military. A half dozen Republicans joined the vote to repeal the ban in December 2010, including North Carolina’s Richard Burr, who surprised me. There was very little pushback, just griping similar to what we’re hearing now.

  56. 56.

    dmsilev

    @Steeplejack: They said that about desegregation in 1948. They said that about women in combat in the 90s (See Newt Gingrich and “men are programed to hunt giraffes” or whatever it was). They said that about gays in the military for the last twenty or thirty years. Etc.

    “They” have been wrong each and every time. Why should we listen now?

  57. 57.

    Sister Golden Bear

    @zhena gogolia: I’m ecstatic — I just haven’t been on BJ all day (and I’m just dipping in briefly right now).

    Now we need both the repeal of the trans military ban and Thursday’s EO on trans rights to be turned into law, so that trans people don’t face the risk every four years of their rights being dependent on who wins the election.

  58. 58.

    NotMax

    @Steeplejack

    It’s incorporating parity with and in service to the larger society, not experimentation. Much as some may wish it were otherwise, the military as an institution does not exist in its own impregnable dimension unconnected to or oblivious of the society which funds it.

  60. 60.

    Steeplejack

    @Baud:

    I don’t remember. He might have kept his yap shut because our other brother, the squire of Sighthound Hall (Air Force veteran), is gay. But he probably did oppose it.

    Shorter: He’s a 65-year-old RWNJ. The only thing I haven’t confirmed is whether he voted for Trump (either time). I think in 2016 he might have voted for that no-name third-party candidate. Other than that he fits the profile perfectly.

  61. 61.

    Haroldo

    @germy:

    Doesn’t look like Joe Manchin agrees with Chuck.

    “Why would I … vote on something that would divide us further when Joe Biden is coming in trying to unite the country?” Manchin asked.

    When I pointed out that McConnell isn’t letting Democrats take over the Senate, Manchin responded that Schumer and McConnell would have to “sit down and get by this,” adding: “I believe very strongly in bipartisanship.”

    Spokespeople for Sinema and Schumer didn’t immediately answer when I asked them if they were open to the mini-nuke option.

    Joe Manchin as quoted by Greg Sergeant, WaPo 1/25/2021

  63. 63.

    Mike in NC

    Andrew Jackson’s main accomplishment was to slaughter Native Americans. Get rid of his face on the $20 bill.

  64. 64.

    David 🎅🎄Merry Christmas🎄🎅 Koch

    Samuel L. Jackson on the $100 bill with Jheri curls, an eye patch, holding a mutherfucking snake on a plane

  66. 66.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Haroldo: He’ll have to come around, I guess. Or he won’t.

    There is no way Manchin actually believes this. There is no “sitting down” with McConnell to “get by this”. Manchin absolutely knows this by now.

  71. 71.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    The Radicalization of Ron Brownstein continues…

    Ronald Brownstein @RonBrownstein ·1h

    McC blocking Senate organization to preserve filibuster fits his pattern. He shatters a democratic norm & then paints Ds as extremists if they respond. McC holds open SCOTUS seat thru Obama’s last year but rushes 1 thru in Trump’s-then says Ds are extremists if they enlarge court

    He escalates Senate combat by using filibuster to prevent the new majority from taking over, butwill say Ds r violating the norms if they restrict filibuster to respond. Most amazing thing: so many Senate Ds let McC get away w/it in name of protecting “norms” that he’s trashing!

  76. 76.

    trnc

    @germy: At what point does Chuck decide that Mitch isn’t negotiating in good faith and pull the plug so he can start installing chairs?

  77. 77.

    burnspbesq

    @Baud:

    I look forward to them burning their $20 bills in protest

    I wouldn’t put it past the seditionists to try to burn down the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. Shit ain’t funny.

  79. 79.

    Ken

    @topclimber: Does anyone remember a show about Presidents going at it in an animated WWF event? The finale had Harry Truman going all Rocky Marciona on a tough but ungainly Abe Lincoln to claim the belt.

    Possibly Robot Chicken.  Unless you’re badly mis-remembering the Star Trek episode “The Savage Curtain“.

  83. 83.

    Formerly disgruntled in Oregon

    @zhena gogolia: I care – having a President who actively supports Trans rights is a BFD to this Dad of a teen who identifies as Transgender.

    It’s a Big Biden Deal!!!

  85. 85.

    cain

    Rose twitter is all in fury because of Biden’s comment on negotiating. I listened to the press meeting and I wasn’t triggered by the negotiation. But I suspect he is trying to look reasonable, but also there is probably going to be some hard bargaining at least with the Senate.

    I will say this though – if Dems can’t even control the senate even though they are in the majority because McConnell is using the fillibuster (as I understand it) to stop passing the control – in which case, I think we will need to start looking for another Dem leader.

  88. 88.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @cain:

    in which case, I think we will need to start looking for another Dem leader.

    who is that new Dem leader and how is he or she supposed to corral Manchin? Or Sinema? Or (according to varied and sometimes conflicting rumor) Tester, King and Feinstein? Tell them to fuck off?

    ETA: what triggered me in that press conference was the reporter who asked Biden when he was going to give Congress the “green light” to proceed without Republican votes. I may not like Manchin much today, but I am rather partial to the whole idea of separate and co-equal branches of government.

  92. 92.

    Steve in the ATL

    1. @Baud: I’m on the Zimbabwe dollar bill. Haven’t checked the exchange rate, but I’m told that’s quite prestigious.
  93. 93.

    BruceFromOhio

    @Baud: Dude. Do you like, I don’t know, stay up nights writing these and then filing them so you can just roll them out when needed?

    I be laughing at your shit hours, hell, days later. This one’s gonna leave a mark.

  95. 95.

    Ruckus

    @Steeplejack:

    Tell him from ex navy, he’s full of fucking shit.

    It’s people who are scared that someone’s sexuality is going to fly off and attack them that are the ones who won’t or can’t admit they are not traditionally orientated. Or are just bigoted fucks.

    As many people that are in the military there has to be non traditionally sexual people serving. And just like the rest of the world, if you aren’t spreading it around in public and don’t tell anyone, no one knows but you. Which is why so many people are astonished when they find out someone they’ve known for years is not traditionally sexually orientated. Besides, no one fights with their sexual organs, they fight with their brains. And his…….

  99. 99.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @germy: @debbie:

    To the hoosegow with her.

    ab-so-fucking-lutely. Rachel Maddow read out the transcript of the hearing when the judge released her to home custody under her mother’s guarantee (go to your room, young (white) lady, you’re grounded!). She still thinks this is some kind of zany TV show she’s playing a part in? Let her experience Orange Is the New Black.

  106. 106.

    StringOnAStick

    @BruceFromOhio: Hmm, interesting how he offered to testify about anything he might have seen during the insurrection.  It’s almost like the strategy of rolling up the low level players and scaring them good and hard is useful or something.

  107. 107.

    Baud

    @Ruckus:

    Besides, no one fights with their sexual organs,

    That reminds me of the time I realized that a “cock fight” is a far more horrible thing to witness than one would expect.

  108. 108.

    Anya

    @Haroldo: Manchin sounds like a simpleton. My one enduring memory of Manchin is when he made an ad of himself shooting an environmental bill. While I understand why he has to make a huge noise about opposing democrats (I mean, come on, WV) but the way he delighted in opposing Obama while kissing up to Trump makes me believe he’s actually a racist at heart. He was personally offended by Obama, the same way West Virginia Dem primary voters who voted for a guy in jail instead of voting for Obama. I get that we won’t get anyone better from WV in terms of policy but that doesn’t mean I have to like his racist ass.

  111. 111.

    Steeplejack

    @Ruckus:

    He was a little bit after you, I think. Went in in 1979 and served on the Forrest Sherman (DD-931), then on the Richard S. Edwards (DD-950). After about 1982-83 he taught Navy ROTC at the University of Arizona (?!) for a few years, then got out. Stayed in the Reserve until he retired from that in about 2006.

  112. 112.

    oldgold

    I am all for replacing Jackson with Tubman.

    But, until the vaccination debacle is straightened out, I would put this and virtually everything else, including the Senate impeachment trial,  on the ‘to do next list.’

    P

  114. 114.

    Ken

    @Steve in the ATL: typically there is an investigation, filing of charges, and conviction prior to incarceration

    Are you using “incarceration” in some legal technical sense?  Because a lot of people are kept in jail before trial because they can’t make bail, or are thought to be a flight risk, or (pertinent case) violated the judge’s orders regarding their pre-trail behavior.

  115. 115.

    WaterGirl

    @Steve in the ATL: what about all the people they hold in jail while awaiting charges?  not that i think that’s the right thing to do generally, but if she was told not to use the internet and then did what she claimed, that would seem worthy of that situation.

    But what do I know?

  117. 117.

    debbie

    Twitter tells me some guy named Jeff Sites has announced he’s running against Gym Jordan. If redistricting works out, he may have a chance.

  118. 118.

    Jinchi

    @Steve in the ATL: @WaterGirl: typically there is an investigation, filing of charges, and conviction prior to incarceration

    I think the key point is that she was encouraging people to destroy evidence.

    She isn’t being jailed for using the internet.

  120. 120.

    Haroldo

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    @cain:

    in which case, I think we will need to start looking for another Dem leader.

    who is that new Dem leader and how is he or she supposed to corral Manchin? Or Sinema? Or (according to varied and sometimes conflicting rumor) Tester, King and Feinstein? Tell them to fuck off?

    I agree, it is a problem. What do you think could be done to solve it?

  121. 121.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @Steve in the ATL: Statistic I just read: nearly half a million people in US jails on any given day are awaiting trial. They are in jail and they haven’t yet had a trial.

  122. 122.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Haroldo: get more Democrats elected to the Senate, and the House, which means reining in a whole lot of emo horseshit, sucking it up and getting on with the fight with the field we have, not with the one we think we should have

  123. 123.

    Jeffro

    @Haroldo: Shorter Joe Manchin: “I am magically uniting the country by…keeping the majority from getting what it desperately needs in a time of crisis!  Voila – UNITY!!”

    Like underpants gnomes, only dumber.

  125. 125.

    The Thin Black Duke

    I think I’m going to wait and see what happens before screaming “WE’RE DOOMED!!!”, alright?

  126. 126.

    Jeffro

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I hope someone in the Biden Administration – doesn’t have to be Uncle Joe himself – “walks” Manchin and Sinema through their stupidity to show them where they, the Democratic Party, and the country are going to end up if they let ol’ Mitch keep the filibuster.  (that would be ‘utterly vilified and then out of a job’, ‘completely screwed in 2022 and 2024’, and ‘completely screwed, period’, respectively)

    I suspect in the end they will come around to killing it in at least some circumstances, which is the second-stupidest solution available here…but at least it’s not the rock-bottom worst.

  131. 131.

    Geminid

    @debbie: I read that Ohio has some new redistricting rules intended to reduce gerrymandering. And that Ohio stands to lose one, maybe even two seats. Republicans like Jordan may be in a game of musical chairs.

    Virginia will use a new “independent commission” to redraw the same eleven districts. My new 5th District Congressman won by 5 points in a district drawn by republicans, and I’m hoping a more neutrally drawn district might help make him a one-termer. The guy is such a loathsome asshole I don’t want to type his name.

  135. 135.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Haroldo: in the short term we suck it up, accept the fact that Chuck Schumer was elected by the Democratic Caucus, that we don’t have a majority without Manchin et al, that there are no One Weird Tricks or Platinum Coins, that neither Elizabeth Warren nor Bernie Sanders would do a better job leading the Dems in the Senate, we put our shoulders to the wheel and get on with it.

    The cause endures, the work goes on.

  136. 136.

    J R in WV

    @Sister Golden Bear:

    Congratulations, Sister !!!

    Although I thought the Supremes ruled that Trans rights were the same rights as everyone else has last year, but I could be mis-remembering that. Won’t be the first time!

    But you and yours should be happy, stay happy, keep working for freedom and equal rights. I’m right there with you all. I hope we are all sleeping better lately.

  138. 138.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Steeplejack: It’s the same damn argument that was used to oppose integrating the armed forces, and to oppose allowing gay people to serve.

    Using the armed forces to enforce social conservatism weakens the hammer, by keeping good people out and establishing a culture of secrets and taboos.

  141. 141.

    Haroldo

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    And in the meantime, wonder of wonders, it seems McConnell dropped his filibuster request.  Sometimes to my amazement, politics works.

    (And it goes -and should have gone- without saying, that the hard work is necessary and there are no magic cures.  There are, though, problems that need solving and discussing the mechanisms by which those problems are solved is often useful)

  142. 142.

    Origuy

    @oldgold: I don’t think the folks at the Bureau of Printing and Engraving are going to be very helpful with Covid or the vaccine. This was in the works for a long time during the Obama administration; Trump just put the brakes on it. Besides, they change the design of banknotes every few years anyway to foil counterfeiters. This is just a bigger change than most.

  145. 145.

    The Thin Black Duke

    @satby: Then again, to be fair, everybody in this community has been trapped in an ugly, abusive relationship for the past four years. And although it’s finally over, we’ll be feeling the bruises for a long damned time.

  147. 147.

    Brachiator

    Coming very late to the thread. Heavy work day.

    All for Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill.

    For the U.S., Harriet Tubman is a fine choice. The portraits don’t need to be people in government.

    Ben Franklin was never formally in the government.

    ETA: Pretty much in favor of almost everything that Biden has done so far.

  150. 150.

    Chacal Charles Calthrop

    @MomSense: an artist I know fashioned a stamp of Harriet Tubman’s face that exactly fit Andrew Jackson’s and went around stamping people’s money if they would let him. I think that was in 2017 when the Trump admin nixed the idea of Tubman on the 20.

  152. 152.

    the pollyanna from hell

    My trans-daughter is an anarchist and survived the ghostship fire. When I think of issues that might affect her I wonder more often about what an anarchist fire-code would look like than what a career in the military would do for her. I am joking because my more serious commentaries about serious issues are so boring, compared to what I can read from all of you guys. Thx!

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