Remember the obnoxious Trump superfan/Texas real estate broker who livestreamed flying to the January insurrection in a private jet, smilingly posed next to a busted window at the Capitol and then bragged she wouldn’t be held accountable?
A judge just sentenced her to 60 days in jail, which is the harshest penalty anyone charged with a misdemeanor in connection with the attack has received so far. WaPo:
A Texas real estate agent who bragged after Jan. 6 that as a blonde, white woman she would not be going to jail for joining in the assault on the U.S. Capitol by a pro-Trump mob was sentenced Thursday to two months of incarceration…
“You’ve been very upfront that you feel no sense of shame or guilt,” [Judge] Cooper said. “You suggested antifa was somehow involved. And perhaps most famously, you said that because you had blonde hair and white skin, you wouldn’t be going to jail.”
I’m enjoying these insurrectionist comeuppance stories more than I like to admit. There’s something so satisfying about watching an arrogant, entitled turd nugget like Ms. Ryan run face-first into a brick wall of consequences. Probably because it doesn’t happen nearly often enough. Open thread.
schrodingers_cat
As you sow. so shall you reap.
Baud
That tweet is on page 1 of the CRT Handbook.
SiubhanDuinne
Searching around for my tiny violin so I can play a sad song for Ms. Blondie Whitey.
WHERE CAN THAT VIOLIN BE?
Oh wait, I remember now. I put it out with my fucks when I decided I didn’t want them any more.
SiubhanDuinne
@schrodingers_cat:
Happy Diwali, SC!
germy
The Schlapps (Mr. and Mrs.) have set up a legal defense fund.
Not for the rabble who broke windows, but for former Trump aides, the ones who will be facing the house committee.
Suzanne
<<<insert gif of Michael Jackson eating popcorn here>>>
WaterGirl
This makes me ridiculously happy!
trollhattan
Ha! Will have that song in my head all day now, and it will bring a smile on each replay.
Two months without a pedi, what’s a girl to do?
WaterGirl
@germy: Are they the gun couple from the photographs?
It’s so hard to keep all of these people straight.
geg6
@WaterGirl:
YES! I love that so much I want to marry that comment from the judge. I heart Judge Cooper.
Joe Falco
@schrodingers_cat:
Or as the kids say today:
As you fuck around, so shall you find out.
germy
@WaterGirl:
No, they’re not the gun couple. Matt Schlapp and Mercedes Schlapp are former Trump admin. officials. Communications, etc.
I don’t know what became of the gun couple. I assume they still prosper.
bluegirlfromwyo
Ms. Ryan’s tweet is proof that there’s no racism and whites are the true oppressed. /s
Central Planning
I think she’s a turd, not a turd nugget, because turds are bigger than turd nuggets (cf. chicken)
I can’t believe I just wrote that.
WaterGirl
@geg6: Love some of these judges!
OT, were you able to find a higher res photo of Cleo for the calendar?
geg6
@WaterGirl:
No, they are a whole other couple of toxic sludges. Matt and Mercedes Schlapp are much higher level couple of toxic sludges.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Schlapp
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercedes_Schlapp
Brachiator
I keep hearing conservative pundits claiming that there is no such thing as “white privilege,” and I keep seeing obnoxious white people trying to assert it.
Baud
Memorandum
From: Jenna Ryan’s attorney
To: Jenna Ryan
Re: Tweeting racist things before sentencing.
Don’t tweet racist things before sentencing.
geg6
@WaterGirl:
No, that’s the best I can do. Sorry!
WaterGirl
@germy: We need a deck of cards like they had in Iraq. Sadly, we would need well more than 52 cards for all the Rs who are attacking democracy.
We are going to be updating the Balloon Juice store at some point soon-ish. Maybe we need to make our own deck of 52 cards and sell it in the store.
Step 1: make a list of names.
Step 2: get someone (s) to design some cards
germy
Schlapp is such a smooth bullshitter!
geg6
@germy:
Isn’t the husband running for Senate in Missouri or something?
JoyceH
@trollhattan:
Reminds me of when Paul Manafort made a court appearance after being in jail for a few months and the news types were all, oh, how he’s aged! And I was all like, guys guys guys, he’s SHOWING his age. That’s what happens when you separate a pampered millionaire from his hair colorist and his facials and all the other accoutrements of wealth.
germy
@WaterGirl:
A deck of cards would be helpful. I can’t keep them all straight, either. And so many “Millers” and “Meghans” etc.
germy
@geg6:
Would not surprise me at all.
And it wouldn’t surprise me if he won.
Central Planning
@WaterGirl: A deck of cards which is 5 or 6 decks, like they do at the Vegas blackjack tables.
Scout211
I saw that this morning and was happy to hear about the jail sentence and restitution. IIRC, the prosecution asked for jail time but legal analysts were not certain that the judge would grant jail time for a misdemeanor.
WaterGirl
@germy: Yeah, we might have to have a thread on the 52 who should be in the deck. I say not T****, leave him out.
But put in all the rest. We might need an “A” deck and a “B” deck.
I’m thinking Rudi (with the hair dye streaming down his face) and the My Pillow guy for sure. Bill Barr.
WaterGirl
@Central Planning: Yes! We could have the starter pack for the first 52 offenders, and then other supplemental decks.
SiubhanDuinne
@WaterGirl:
Step 3: profit!
prostratedragon
Oh good! During the increasing nuttiness of a year ago through the aftermath of the insurrection, I kept relevant bookmarks in a file called “Crescendo.” These finding out tales are going into “Diminuendo.”
SpaceUnit
I’m guessing that on top of everything else MAGA Barbie was acting as her own attorney. That wouldn’t score any points from the judge either.
Shakti
@schrodingers_cat: Happy Deepavali to you!
zhena gogolia
Love the post title. I’m hearing that goofy guy from O Brother Where Art Thou?
Tony Jay
Surely it’s obvious from a non-partisan reading of Ms Ryan’s tweet that she was, in fact, sarcastically apologising to her twitter assailant for all of the characteristics (blonde, white-skinned, gainfully employed, optimistic) that his pathological reverse-racism finds most offensive about her. The difficulty of being grammatically correct on Twitter accounts for any remaining confusion.
No honest person could fail to see who the real victim is here. What that says about the ethics of this activist judge I leave for others to expand on.
(her lawyers tried that one, didn’t they?)
M31
@germy:
It’d be like a Tarot deck with 80 cards, only all of them are The Fool
The Dangerman
Rapture Blondie.
prostratedragon
@WaterGirl: Rudi and Lindell: the two jokers.
Roger Moore
@WaterGirl:
I would suggest a Tarot deck, but I’m not sure what games you can play with one. Even that wouldn’t be enough, though. You’d need something like a Pokemon deck, one with the full National Pokedex. Gotta Arrest Them All!
germy
@M31:
https://youtu.be/j7PgnjEiMcA?t=36
Omnes Omnibus
@Baud: Ninety percent of legal practice is telling clients that they are being dumbshits and should stop.
Roger Moore
@WaterGirl:
He would be the Joker.
Shakti
@Brachiator: The fact she’s only going to jail for two months is white privilege in action.
Really, they should all be going away for much longer than that and if it were up to me, all of them would rot in prison for the rest of their natural lives at the very least. None of them would die peacefully in their beds at home.
We made a mistake by letting the confederate leaders out of jail and it shouldn’t be repeated.
Roger Moore
@Omnes Omnibus:
Only 90%?
Dorothy A. Winsor
This post made my day.
Yes, I can be petty
matt
I mean, a country that took itself seriously would chop her head off but I guess this is ok.
germy
Omnes Omnibus
@Central Planning: A baccarat shoe.
Gin & Tonic
@germy: Where did I read that his name is like the sound of a pork chop falling on the floor? You can’t forget a metaphor like that.
SpaceUnit
Sometimes I actually feel sorry for these brainwashed fools that get all their thoughts and ideas from The Stupid Channel.
Sometimes I don’t.
Snarki, child of Loki
Tarot deck? Traitor deck.
The judge was FAR too kind. The MAGAts should have their firearms and voting privileges revoked until 2024, minimum.
Doc Sardonic
@WaterGirl: Not sure you would have enough cards in a Canasta set.
Gin & Tonic
@Omnes Omnibus: Look at Mr. Fancy I-don’t-play-blackjack-I-play-baccarat.
WaterGirl
@SiubhanDuinne: Yes!
I am more than halfway serious about this deck of cards thing.
mrmoshpotato
The judge went on to add, “Well, I’ve got some bad news for your Trump trash fascist ass!”
RSA
“What’s with this Tarot deck? Half the cards are Fools.”
Omnes Omnibus
@Shakti: These are the plankton of the insurrection. Not even little fish.
Regulon
@WaterGirl: I know a guy who did something like this. I think it was around Iran-Contra.
germy
@Gin & Tonic:
Simon Maloy said “matt schlapp” is the sound made by two pork chops falling onto a linoleum floor.
Omnes Omnibus
@Gin & Tonic: I read the Bond novels during my formative years.
NotMax
@SiubhanDuinne
Tragic: The Gathering.
//
Gretchen
@germy: the man of the gun couple is running for Senate in Missouri.
The Moar You Know
Baiting the judge handling your case is always a bad fuckin’ idea.
Marmot
@germy: oh my. This is juuust like that anti-masker who was punched in the face after threatening the restaurant, shoving a a dude, and screaming a lot—then coming back with “That’s assault, bro!”
Baud
Instead of Pokemon cards, you could make Pokey-man cards.
germy
The sarcastic young people online are already making “Jenna Ryan or Jenn Aryan?” jokes.
Omnes Omnibus
@The Dangerman: Take a tour, Through the sewer…
Baud
@germy: That’s good. I’m sad I didn’t see that myself.
germy
@Marmot:
Yes, the people who are all “The law doesn’t apply to me” …and then they invoke the law.
WaterGirl
@prostratedragon: I would say yes, but what about the crazy lawyer lady?
Roger Moore
@NotMax:
I just looked it up, and apparently the largest deck in one of these collectable card games was 2222 cards*. That’s the scale we’d be talking about if we really wanted to include all the Republicans you need to be worried about.
*After this, they changed the rules to restrict deck sizes to 60 cards in that game. Magic The Gathering has a minimum deck size of 60 cards, but the deck size is limited to what you can shuffle in your hands, so absurdly large decks are effectively excluded.
sab
@WaterGirl: I want a deck of pie slices and critters.
WaterGirl
@Regulon: My ears are perking up. Tell me more!
SpaceUnit
A long time ago they used to put pictures of missing kids on milk cartons along with the words ‘Have You Seen Me?’ It was intended as a public service. Maybe they could do the same with the jailed insurrectionists. As another kind of public service
ETA: Of course, a lot of us would just end up snorting milk out our nose.
The Moar You Know
@Omnes Omnibus: A former girlfriend of mine is a public defender, which really is the shittiest job of all time, and during the downtime from trying to stop them from doing more crimes while awaiting trial, she tries very hard to stop them from saying stupid shit in court or on social media.
It’s a hopeless job, apparently, leavened with VERY few wins.
WaterGirl
@sab: That’s a great idea! I am going to put up an “idea” post for the new BJ store in the next week or so. Be sure to add that idea in there so it doesn’t get lost.
I think all of avalune’s pie filter drawings should be cards, too.
Shakti
@Omnes Omnibus: So?
People went away on weed charges for much longer. She was part of a mob that wanted to disrupt the counting of the electoral college votes and kill several members of Congress and the VP. Do you really think if they’d succeeded Trumpkins wouldn’t have declared a state of emergency and suspended elections?
Just imagine Josh Hawley and Tom Cruz fake in sorrow giving the president emergency powers. I mean, boo hoo, imagine all of these fuckers running a junta.
Your view only makes sense if their testimony puts the leaders are under the jail. And I repeat, Robert E Lee and Jefferson Davis died peacefully in their beds.
germy
@Gretchen:
I wonder if he’s been in touch with the former guy for an endorsement.
Roger Moore
@germy:
This gets back to the “people the law protects but does not bin and those it binds but does not protect” thing.
sab
@Omnes Omnibus: A close relative was told that just this week. I mean in those exact words.
tybee
@WaterGirl:
you could do multiple decks with each deck having a different graphic on the back…
Omnes Omnibus
@The Moar You Know: It depends how you define a win. Giving the your client the best defense possible with the law and rules of ethics is the job, not winning cases.
Villago Delenda Est
60 days? How about 60 years for treason?
Interrobang
Two months is a joke for what she did plus the lack of remorse.
Omnes Omnibus
@Shakti: Yours is a point of view.
J R in WV
Such a great song, and so applicable to this situation right here at hand… So many great comments, also too!! Deck of cards… hmm, face cards are so complicated works of art, can’t just give that work away, can we? Gotta get J G Cole’s back up reserve bank account up where he’s comfortable.
Educators don’t get paid that much!
And isn’t baccarat just French for Blackjack?
The Moar You Know
OT even though this is an open thread:
The GOP is sending up a quiet batsignal. My now-ancient mother, who has been Trump Team Foreva since the famous escalator ride, said to me this morning: “I hope Trump doesn’t run in 2024 because he’s going to make the Republicans lose”.
She DID NOT get that idea on her own. There’s something going out on the mailing lists. I think the Youngkin victory – he made a point of never appearing with TFG – has shown them Trump can be disposed of, and even more so, is a serious liability.
So the question remaining is this: who’s the next Hitler? Won’t be someone as dumb as Trump next time.
Urza
How is even being there at an insurrection only a misdemeanor? Should be at least a low level felony just to be present.
WaterGirl
@tybee: Good idea, so they could be separated if you wish, or a giant deck.
Omnes Omnibus
@sab: Like I said.
KsSteve
Call me a cynic, but I think I’ll hold off celebrating untill she I see her in her prison uniform. Appearing after being subpoenaed by congress is apparently optional now so whose to say if being sentenced to prison means you actually have to leave the house. White Priveldge is a helluva drug.
gwangung
@The Moar You Know: Yes, it’s Trumpism, not Trump, that’s the problem. And Trumpism is distilled right wing “thought.”
Omnes Omnibus
@J R in WV: No, it is a similar game.
germy
The young dude in the wheelchair, Madison Cawthorn. Or maybe Josh Hawley? Matt Gaetz is joking about explosives, so maybe he’s a contender if he can stay out of prison. Who knows?
Scout211
@Urza:
It was a plea deal, like so many of the others who were sentenced. She was originally charged with “entering and remaining in a restricted building, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building, violent entry and disorderly conduct in a Capitol building and parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building.”
I’m not sure if any of those were felonies, since IANAL.
Villago Delenda Est
@The Moar You Know:
The next Hitler? Tom Cotton.
VOR
Need something like the Herman Cain Awards but for 1/6 people making excuses and getting sentenced.
germy
@Villago Delenda Est:
With or without beard?
The Thin Black Duke
Eric Garner died for the heinous crime of selling loose cigarettes. Little Miss Barbie did fucking OK.
Villago Delenda Est
@Shakti:
Every member of Jefferson Davis’ cabinet should have been hanged. As should have every flag officer in the CSA’s military.
dexwood
Too fucking funny! Don’t forget your toothbrush, Jenna.
Anon in NC
@WaterGirl: Agreed
Regulon
@WaterGirl: He was teaching in Chicago when I was in grad school. He gave a talk and at the subsequent reception, he started describing a project he had worked on in his pre-academic work as a graphic designer in Cali. We were so thrilled by it, he went to his office and brought back a deck and the galley proofs. Top notch caricatures. He is back in California teaching now. He might be interested,
stinger
@WaterGirl: Myself, I’d rather not see those names and horrible mugs over and over again. They should all be consigned to the dustbin of history. A deck of cards I would buy is one that features decent people, liberal heroes: Stacey Abrams, Jimmy Carter, Eric Swalwell, Michelle Obama, Val Demings, Nancy Pelosi, Tammy Duckworth, Tim Kaine, Raphael Warnock, Deb Haaland, Alexander Vinman, Ted Lieu, Katie Porter, John Lewis, Fiona Hill…. You could have several versions of “the good guys” decks.
Kay
Guffaw. Republicans keep tooting on the dog whistle even as all their defenders denies they’re doing that.
It’s almost refreshing.
JoyceH
@The Moar You Know:
I’m going to be curious to see how Youngkin governs, now that he’s won. They pretty much stacked the nominating process to get him selected – the ‘unassembled convention’ versus an actual primary. So do we have a Romney, or a DeSantis? If a Romney, the base is gonna be SO pissed!
Mike in NC
Just got home and switched on MSNBC where they’re talking about yet another investigation into the Trump Crime Family.
Major Major Major Major
Good!
Regulon
@Regulon: on Amazon
Iran-Contra Scandal Trading Cards, featuring The Secret Team Cards – January 1, 1988
eclare
@zhena gogolia: Same here! Tim Blake Nelson?
CaseyL
@Omnes Omnibus: I have at various times in my life had the opportunity to watch lower courts in action.
At one, many decades ago (I was in paralegal school, and court-watching was strongly recommended) a young man, no more than 22, was up for multiple counts of larceny, car theft, and other minor criminal offenses. It was one of those things where they read out the docket, and the previous parties go away for the current parties to take their place, and this kid just stayed put because he had, like, three slots on the docket.
The judge looked him over and said something like, “You had quite a busy day, didn’t you?”
The kid also had a girlfriend and at least one kid. At age 22, no job, no history of work, no noticeable skills (well, not legal ones), and – based on his responses to court personnel – not a whole lot of brain, either. Someone who was a Loser at Life from the moment he was born. No capacity to think beyond the moment, no ability to understand anything beyond the desires of the moment, and no desire to try either one.
(And white, BTW. If that matters.)
I looked at this loser kid, and realized his offspring would also be just like him – unto the nth generation, no doubt – and I think it was at that moment that I gave up any hope of humankind becoming anything like we saw in Star Trek, or even like what we saw in the I-want-to-teach-the-world-to-sing Coke commercial. Because there weren’t nearly enough good smart people to make up for all the dumb dysfunctional shits.
I imagine public defense attorneys get their noses rubbed into this sad truth every day, throughout the day, case after case, and my compassion and respect for them is infinite.
Betty Cracker
@The Moar You Know: Is she a Tucker Carlson fan? Apparently he threw Trump under the bus in his “Patriot Purge” agit-prop series. My thought is he’s setting himself up to run, but who knows?
SiubhanDuinne
@Shakti:
True enough. But I rather like the fact that she’s going to be spending Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Eve behind bars. Enjoy those prison holiday feasts, Blondie.
laura
@Villago Delenda Est: That particular fucker is at the top of my list for American Fuehrer too, but the Greg Stillson is strong in a whole lot of them- David M Cawthorn, Death Santis, Hawley, Chris Christie, Cruz and the OG tfg.
germy
@laura:
Maybe Tucker Carlson? The base finds him telegenic.
Reboot
@JoyceH: Definitely a DeSantis. At a fundraiser here in SW Virginia, he said he planned to emulate DeSantis. The article went on to say that, at this, ‘The crowd hooted and hollered…’.
SiubhanDuinne
@WaterGirl:
I wish I had some kind of artistic talent. Do we have any gifted/skilled caricaturists In Our Midst? I’ll help come up with suggested names if somebody else will draw the pictures.
eclare
@SiubhanDuinne: After 60 days, she will not be blonde.
Omnes Omnibus
@eclare: Ha!
SiubhanDuinne
@WaterGirl:
Last night I pied someone for the first time ever since the new drawings went up. Now I wish I had pied lots of people much sooner! Because these sketches are utterly charming!
JoyceH
@Reboot:
Yeah, but he said that before he was elected. Now that he’s been elected, will he follow through? I sure hope not – we don’t need to import all those stupid Mask Wars from the craziest state in the nation.
SiubhanDuinne
@eclare:
HAHAHAHAHA!!
Omnes Omnibus
@SiubhanDuinne: Was it me or Baud?
Reboot
@JoyceH: Good point. How will an ex-Carlyle co-CEO who was forced out (per Forbes mag) after he screwed up too many projects, and only then sought political office, govern? The Carlyle Group isn’t sending its best.
Jinchi
I’m curious where a 60 day sentence falls in sentencing guidelines for a case like this. Part of me would like to see the lot of them sent away for much longer than that.
tam1MI
In other news, this is what I like to see from Congressional Dems:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/democrats-stung-by-losses-press-forward-on-biden-agenda/ar-AAQhBj7?ocid=DE_20211104_ENUS__1
Cameron
@germy: Wasn’t that an old nursery rhyme?
“Matt Schlapp
Ate only crap..”
Or something like that.
Lapassionara
@JoyceH: I can see a proposed law re abortion like the one in Texas.
Chris
Sorry I have blonde hair white skin a great job a great future and I’m not going to jail.
See. I keep hearing that Republicans honestly feel like they’re being left behind and can’t catch a break and suffer from the fact that nonwhites and liberals have all the privileges today and they have none. And that even if that’s not true, they sincerely feel that way and we should have compassion because of that. But… when you get down to the brass tacks, it simply isn’t true. They know they’re privileged. They know that they and not the blacks, the poors, and the hippies are the ones catching all the breaks. And they’re happy to assert it whenever the threat of consequences rears its head.
(The fact that she’s only getting 60 days suggests that she’s, if not technically correct, not really as wrong as all that, too).
Brachiator
@JoyceH:
They voted for a plutocrat with no political experience.
They couldn’t possibly have any realistic expectations.
Cameron
@Villago Delenda Est: Except maybe Longstreet.
Brachiator
@Reboot:
The Carlyle Group has a best?
Urza
@Reboot: While Youngkin may not have brought down the company, it sounds like that might not be from lack of trying. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-08-04/ex-carlyle-boss-racked-up-bad-bets-before-switching-to-politics
sab
@Brachiator: They do, and that is it.
Roger Moore
@CaseyL:
But this isn’t inevitable. It’s a choice. That man’s kids aren’t destined to become losers because they’ve inherent loser DNA from their dad or something. If they become losers, it’s because our society has prejudged them. We’ve decided that as the children of a habitual criminal, they’re bound to wind up the same way, so there’s no point in bothering to educate them decently or provide for any better future. If instead we decided that they needed extra help and gave it to them, we could probably turn them into productive members of society. Hell, even dear old dad could probably be taught a useful job; he’s a habitual criminal because we haven’t provided him with a better shot in life.
Cameron
“Where the white women?”
“In jail…..”
germy
I think it went:
Matt Schlapp
Could eat no fat
His wife could eat no lean
And so betwixt them both
They licked Trump’s backside clean.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
The possibilities.
Lawyer “Your Honor, my client obviously is an idiot. The court needs to account for my clients diminished capacity when passing sentencing”
Judge “You’re representing yourself.”
Enhanced Voting Techniques
I am shocked, shocked to read that Youngkin is yet another mediocrity failing upwards, Sure explains why Yougnkin was distancing himself from Carlyle.
Jeffro
They are all either batshit insane or enable the batshit insane. I think we should ‘compare and contrast’ our candidates vs theirs as often as possible.
SiubhanDuinne
@Omnes Omnibus:
As if I would ever pie either of you, even for the pleasure of seeing adorable drawings.
I think you would approve of my pie choice.
Betty
@germy: But they hired the toilet seat AG to represent them. Matt Whitaker. This should be interesting.
Omnes Omnibus
@SiubhanDuinne: Mince meat?
PaulWartenberg
Jenna shouldn’t have gotten a misdemeanor. I don’t care if she pled down to it or now. 60 days is cheap, even for her. There are Black women sitting for 10-20 year sentences because cops found 2 ozs of pot on them back when that shit was still illegal.
Kay
@Jinchi:
The sentence seems reasonable to me. She wasn’t charged with insurrection or treason- this is what she pled to. She bragged about not going to jail (because she’s white) which is insulting to the judge – she might have gotten 30 days if she hadn’t have opened her big mouth.
debbie
Hope they cut off her damn hair.
debbie
@Baud:
Are we sure she wasn’t pro se?
Enhanced Voting Techniques
Look at Youngkin – some billionaire who can claim to be a successful businessman and has no political record. Generic Republican.
frosty
@SiubhanDuinne:
There’s been such a run on tiny violins the nanoluthiers can’t keep up!
sab
@Kay: Thank God for lawyers around here giving us some perspective before we burn the place down.
Mike in NC
In case anybody has forgotten, the Schlapps are the odious couple who manage CPAC.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@geg6: I might be able to help.
Betty
@Brachiator: Depends on the definition. James Baker was pretty effective if not a good guy.
debbie
@Kay:
Typical they haven’t noted that plenty of people running for school boards lost because they were pushing anti-CRT nonsense.
Kayla Rudbek
@WaterGirl: tarot card deck is 78 cards.
Cameron
@germy: :)
sab
@debbie: Yes! I was frankly amazed. I shouldn’t have been. Parents just want their kids educated. And a lot of us have been on the lookout for decades for fear of creationists.
Served
@debbie: I have a theory that a lot of those screamers running for local offices lost because everyone in their towns personally knows how big of assholes they are. Candidates on a larger stage, like Youngkin, may be able to get away with it because that personal experience doesn’t exist.
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
@Dorothy A. Winsor: ME TOO!! You (and Betty Cracker) can come sit by me anytime.
Betty Cracker
@Kay: That’s a common theme with the rioters, their big fat mouths getting them in trouble. I wonder what percentage were busted solely on the basis of evidence they posted on social media? My guess is a lot! Couldn’t happen to a more deserving bunch.
Reboot
@Brachiator: Well, at least it had a winner in the power struggle.
Betty Cracker
@Served: LOL! That’s probably true. There’s a cattle rancher in my little deeply red town — Trump super fan, has lots of money, etc., but though he keeps running for local office (county commission, election supervisor), he never wins. He’s just such a prick that everyone hates his guts, even the people with the same odious political views.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Roger Moore: The whole deck is Jokers.
sab
I want to plug Fiona Hill’s book. Very concise. Not all about TFG. Interesting stuff about trying to get educated as a working class girl in Podunk UK . Also interesting stuff about US v Russia v UK as we industrially realign. Also interesting stuff about her perspective as a working class Brit seeing US race relations. Also interesting stuff about trying to get paid adequately as a woman professional in the US.
I love this book. She is thoughtful and informed. A lot of work and thought went into this.
ETA Title : ” There is nothing here for you.” Based on her father’s encouragement for her getting educated and moving on… ” There is nothing for you here, pet.” Makes me cry to even type that. Must have broken his heart to say it, but he did.
Reboot
@Urza:
Oh boy, this one is way better than the Forbes article. Thanks!
germy
different-church-lady
“Welp, nothing to do about this but to vote for white racists even harder!”
rose weiss
I just checked Patreon and John now has over 200 monthly pledges! I realized yesterday that I was way over-due to send some $ his way after mostly lurking here for probably 15 years.
CaseyL
@Roger Moore: I used to believe as you do: “If only we could get them early enough, into an education program good enough!”
I don’t believe that any more. Way too many people are simply incapable of reasoning above a 6th grade level.
We see this over and over again: in our politics, in our places of employment, in the reactions to the pandemic, in the reactions to the fake “CRT scandal!”
Most people are stupid. Intrinsically, immovably, stupid. No amount of schooling can fix stupid.
WeimarGerman
My new favorite line for all things GOP, “Go To Jail, Jenna”.
Praying this comeuppance reaches all corners of that shithouse.
Another Scott
@sab: Thanks for the pointer.
Fiona Hill seems to be a not-uncommon name. ;-) And she’s written several books.
This book is There’s Nothing for You Here: Finding Opportunity in the Twenty-First Century. Maybe I’ll send a copy to Manchin…
Cheers,
Scott.
NotMax
@rose weiss
We’re going to end up pushing him into a higher tax bracket, aren’t we?
:)
germy
Urban Suburbanite
@Betty Cracker:
I can’t give an exact number, but the feds were definitely entering social media posts and memes (one genius tagged himself in a post) in the evidence for charges. The conspiracy investigations also had entire conversations these geniuses had over some app they were using to communicate during the attack (I think this was the Oath keepers investigation).
WaterGirl
@SiubhanDuinne: Avalune?
WaterGirl
@SiubhanDuinne: They really are!
Dan B
@sab: Alight. I ordered it!
/s You convinced me and we’ve got 4 or 5 big storms lined up so a week of heavy rain is a good time for a warm book. Too bad my Breck’s order is set for Sunday delivery, oy!
Another Scott
@CaseyL: I don’t think it’s intrinsic, and I agree with Roger Moore there. Environment is huge in the way we turn out. “Where you stand depends on where you sit.”
Too many people were poisoned by lead. Lead in children’s blood is now mainly caused by burning coal. Too many people have mini-strokes that does damage to our brains.
There’s much more that can be done and we would all benefit (to varying degrees) if we as a society did so.
Cheers,
Scott.
rose weiss
@NotMax: No doubt he’ll bitch about it whether we give him too much or too little! His rants are a big reason I’ve been reading this blog on a daily basis, although he’s absent way too much lately.
Another Scott
Meanwhile, … TheHill (posted at 11:41AM):
It won’t be too much longer now. Mmmm. Sausage!
Cheers,
Scott.
sab
@Dan B: She is from a mining town in Uk called Bishop Auckland, County Durham. ( I did my junior year abroad at University of Durham). My choices were somewhere in France, but polishing my French seemed pointless. Or St Andrews in Scotland, but I wanted to go to law school, and Scotland has a very different legal system from the rest of UK, or Durham, which was very near where my ancestors came from, and excellent. I was surprised they took Americans, but that is a whole different story.
RobertB
@Roger Moore: Former crappy M:tG tournament player here. There’s no maximum deck size limit in M:tG because there doesn’t have to be one. You’re deck should have a plan to win and every card in the deck should have a role in executing that plan. More spells in the deck, even if useful to the plan and as effective as the ones you already have (very rarely the case), require more lands to fuel the deck. Don’t put enough land in the deck and you run the risk of not getting it when you need it (‘mana screw’). Put too much land in it and you run the risk of drawing too many lands (‘mana glut’).
People who play a 100+ card deck that have a little bit of everything get taught in a hurry that smaller is better. Voice of experience here.
Dan B
@sab: Time to Google County Durham. I probably have been close.
Book’s supposed to arrive tomorrow
Yup, been to York.
Baud
@Another Scott:
Wait, so they are voting on infrastructure before getting agreement on the BBB bill?
sab
@Dan B: It is a lot like rural Ohio. The New Yorkers in my US student group felt out of place. The midwesterners felt, oddly, like they/ we had come home.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@sab: I once took a slow train trip from Edinburgh back to London. I know I stopped in Durham but my memories have grown vague (I am using that phrase too much lately…) is that where the cathedral is kind of up on a bluff and river curves around below it?
Another Scott
@Baud: No, they’re voting in the House first on the BBB, then voting for the BIF tomorrow.
Then Schumer will have to drag S&M over the line on the BBB. (The Senate passed the BIF long ago.)
We’ll see!
Cheers,
Scott.
Scout211
This is good news. The justice department sues Texas over new voting restrictions.
sab
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: The person in our American group who liked it the most was an Ohio girl from a lapsed Mennonite family. She joined a dissident (protestant, not Church of England) church immediately and met all sorts of lovely people who welcomed her with open arms. I am sure she is still corresponding with them.
Steeplejack
I’m basking in a ridiculously huge sense of accomplishment after finishing the arduous task of replacing the HVAC air filter. Long overdue—the old one was filthy! It’s above the drop ceiling in the little hallway. Hard to maneuver, hard to get everything to fit right, hard to see what’s going on, tiring to work reaching above my head. Anyway, job finally done, and I fired up the central heat for the first time this season. The temperature has been dropping, and this morning it was 64° inside the apartment. Getting too chilly for me.
The heater is chuffing away now, and I can feel it getting warmer. This has also allayed my annual starting-the-heater fear: “Area man perishes in freak lint fire.”
WaterGirl
From the story linked above somewhere:
WTF?
When has a legislative victory every bruised a party’s political standing???
debbie
@Served:
I think that’s why a coal lobbyist won over the Dem for the special election to fill Steve Stiver’s seat. He’s involved in the bribery scandal over First Energy, but he refused to give interviews and refused to debate. What better way to hide your positions from the voters? //
Now that he’s won, he won’t shut up about his plans to lean more toward Gym Jordan than his predecessor. My hope is that he postures himself right out of the actual election next year.
billcinsd
@debbie: Are we sure she wasn’t pro se? — gregation? yes, she probably is
@debbie:
WaterGirl
@geg6: Okay. Cleo will still be in there, of course! The photo will just have to be smaller. She will still get her day in the sun.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@sab: I just did a google image search, and now I really, really want to go back to Durham.
I read Dan Jones’ Plantagenets a couple of years ago and as I read about all those terrible battles across the green and pleasant land all I could think of was, “If I rent a car in Winchester, then head west….
ETA: but I’m very leery of driving in England. An English friend of mine told me she hates driving in that picturesque countryside. Hedgerows are nerve-wracking apparently
WaterGirl
@WaterGirl: This is bullshit, too:
The “left flank” didn’t hold anything back. It is Manchin on the right and Sinema with her head up her behind that have held things back! The framing of this article is pissing me off.
trollhattan
@Steeplejack:
Same. First use each fall after being off six months, I replace the filter, switch the thermostat on then sprint to the basement to watch for the igniters to glow and listen for the gas and induction blower to do their thing, me with fingers crossed. TBH if something really bad happened the basement is the last place to be but since the cutoff valve is right there it seems like the guy thing to be there just in case.
The one time it truly would not light we had to have the control computer replaced; luckily there are generic boxes that can be set up by the tech to operate many individual models.
Installed 30 years ago, so guess we chose the right one. Everybody else wanted to drop a unit on the roof and leave the old one in place–screw that.
billcinsd
@sab: Martha, one of my favorite bands, is from Pity Me in County Durham
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVcgfGKizDM
sab
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Durham is actually kind of amazing. Nothing now, but a huge deal about 1000 AD.
It is on a river, with a weird loop and some bluffs. It was already important because of its geology/ topography. But when William the Conqueror decided to build a Cathedral that fixed it. It is still tiny, but it has an ancient important cathedral and university and castle.
I was there just before Margaret Thatcher blew the place up.
It felt a lot like rural Ohio. Farmers and miners just making a living.
Eta Unlike Ohio, they have a medieval cathedral and a medieval castle that are really old. 1000 + AD
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@WaterGirl: as a Squad-skeptic, the delays in this bill have all been due to Machinema, and that nitwit Gottheimer, but that was a gnat’s fart.
And I’m deeply skeptical that anything than happened, or hasn’t, in DC played more than a marginal role in VA. Lawrence O’Donnell was heaping blame on McAuliffe as a candidate last night, and I gotta say, I agree.
Joe Falco
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
The Tarot deck version would be all Fools (or Devils for some).
Chief Oshkosh
@Roger Moore: I hear you and I’m with you…sort of. But boy oh boy, you need to spend some time with my cousins…
sab
@billcinsd: I didn’ t know about them. I have been to Pity Me ( they claim it should be Petite Marie) Thanks. I like them.
Another Scott
@WaterGirl: One has to be very, very selective in reading TheHill.
That’s why I only quoted the first paragraph. ;-)
Cheers,
Scott.
Dan B
@sab: The rural Ohio vibe is not a tourist bureau draw for me. Having grown up in a small development of about 50 homes surrounded by farms I’ve been there, done that. It’s close to Edinburgh so would be a good base for exploring. I love most small towns in England / Britain though. Many of them have plenty of cultural activities that have roots in ancient past and in the present.
Baud
@Another Scott:
Well, that means infrastructure will become law with no assurance that BBB will
Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony
@Betty Cracker: My bets on either Tucker or Josh Hawley for the next Hitler.
sab
@billcinsd: Listening further I like them quite a lot. I will probably buy an album or whatever the kids do today. Thanks.
My husband of twenty years doesn’t like my music. I need to sneak it back into the house. A life without music seriously sucks. He likes music, just different from mine.
Steeplejack
@trollhattan:
Truth. In line with “going down with the ship,” etc.
My building dates from about 1960, and the compact HVAC system was retrofitted sometime later (hence the drop ceiling in the hallway). It works very well, but “compact” is a hassle at maintenance time.
sab
@Dan B: Durham UK is actually quite interesting. Or it
edwasforty years ago.ruemara
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: They gotta start blaming voters. Terry ran a good campaign, but white voters literally went double digits for the Trumpy dude who wouldn’t say Trump but will be trump-like.
UncleEbeneezer
Good thread by an attorney about why all the fretting about DOJ/Garland is not helpful:
https://twitter.com/Teri_Kanefield/status/1454839055305240587
Dan B
@sab: More interesting than Wadsworth?
/s
WaterGirl
@Baud:
I don’t actually know, but if the Senate passed the BIF long ago, Then it seems the BIF was already voted on and the BBB is coming second.
Where is my thinking wrong?
JustRuss
@sab: Visited Durham many years ago, visited an acquaintance who taught physics at the university. He was tall, awkward, funny, and kind, pretty much exactly how you’d imagine an English physics professor to be. Thanks for bringing back a long-forgotten memory.
Roger Moore
@CaseyL:
Being stupid alone doesn’t turn somebody into a criminal or make them useless. Treating people who are dumb as if they’re unworthy and deserve every bad thing that happens to them is part of the problem. We see it even here on an allegedly liberal blog, where people act as if being dumb enough to fall for obvious fraud means the person deserved to be stolen from. We need the kind of society where we look out for people who can’t look out for themselves, and where people who aren’t able to contribute as much are still valued as human beings.
Origuy
I only spent a day in Durham; I drove down from Newcastle. The cathedral is amazing; the university, which is in the castle, was closed for remodeling. I didn’t explore any of the rural areas of the county.
Driving in Britain can be challenging. The motorways aren’t too bad, you just have to remember to exit and enter from the left. I screwed up the most times pulling out of a carpark and getting in the wrong lane. Scotland and northern England have a lot of single track roads. You must learn the rules for using laybys, which are frequent. Always move to the left if a car is approaching. If the layby is on the left, pull into it. If the layby is on your right, stop to the left as far as possible and let the oncoming car drive around you in the layby. I was even given a brochure with these rules from the Argylle and Bute County council.
UncleEbeneezer
@ruemara: Thank you.
Dem turnout was excellent. But the GOP was very successful with a combination of 1.) Full-court CRT Bogey Man press and 2.) Youngkin positioned himself far enough from Trump, to give racist White voters enough plausible deniability to return home to the GOP. In purple states with razor-thin margins, shit like this can work.
sab
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Yep, That’s it.
apocalipstick
@geg6: Yup, but he’s not getting huge traction.
Baud
@WaterGirl:
Your thinking is never wrong.
MisterForkbeard
@Another Scott: I’m honestly just done watching this, I really am.
We’ve been told “It’s really close!” only to have Manchin and Sinema yank the football away for five months now. And after Viriginia, some of the conservative democrats are feeling their oats and want to push for doing even less because they somehow believe that failure will make Democrats do better in elections.
So basically, I’m just going to zone out on these things and wait until it’s done and in. I won’t believe much about it until then. Have other better things to deal with.
mrmoshpotato
Oh man…
sab
Geminid
@apocalipstick: deleted
Dan B
@MisterForkbeard: But, but, but… You got #2 three times!
Is it a sign?
MisterForkbeard
@Dan B: Definitely a lot of #2 going on w/ Manchin + Sinema, that’s for sure :)
sab
@Dan B: Everything is more interesting than Wadsworth. But Durham is. It’s really old. Venerable Bede is buried there. Thorfinn the Earl of Orkney fought there. So did the Scots at Nevilles Cross. It is soaked in British history, which is Scots, Danes, Angles, Saxons, Normans, Picts. Everyone tromped through and everyone fought and devastated the place.
Another Scott
@Baud: Only if Biden signs it.
They’ve gamed all this out. Both will pass, both will be signed. The cat herding continues…
Cheers,
Scott.
Another Scott
@UncleEbeneezer: That is excellent and should be read everywhere.
Thanks for the pointer.
Cheers,
Scott.
DFH
It’s probably been said, but my schadenfreude exists precisely because so many are let off with a slap on the wrist.
Another Scott
@WaterGirl: Pelosi’s talking about the House votes tonight and tomorrow (if things go/went according to the earlier plans). Manchin was recently whining that the House needs to do their stuff so that the BIF can be passed [and signed and enacted]. The House is going to do so – pass the BBB and then the BIF shortly thereafter, and then (if the BIF is the same in both houses), then the BIF will go to Biden’s desk. It still won’t be a law until he signs it. So there’s still pressure for everyone to get the BBB done. I expect the BBB bills will be very similar in the too houses too, because leadership wants to get it done.
With the holidays coming up, I expect both to be done sometime when the Senate is scheduled to be in town:
November 15-19, November 30 – December 10.
(They don’t like being called back, and hate not being able to leave for their home states on time.)
The Continuing Resolution runs out on December 3, also too, so presumably the BBB passing before then would help get the FY22 budget bills for the rest of the year resolved with minimal additional pain.
My $0.02.
I hope I understood your question, and hope this helps.
Cheers,
Scott.
billcinsd
@sab: I quite like Courting Strong and Blisters in the Pit of My Heart a huge amount and Love Keeps Kicking is very good. You can get their entire discography from Bandcamp for like $27. They are a DIY band,
https://marthadiy.bandcamp.com/album/courting-strong
Quiltingfool
@Roger Moore: Probably too late to the thread, but I agree with you re loser petty criminal’s child. A high probability that his kids may be like dear ol’ Dad, but there is a chance that they might turn out okay. I’ve seen many examples of this during my teaching career. Loser parents, some of the kids are the same, but every so often one kid out of the bunch plots a different path.
Genetics is not always destiny. The kind of upbringing you have may not determine the future. The thing is, though, the kids that break the cycle seem to have to do it on their own. We need better (and more) resources in schools and community to give all children (and adults) the chance to make better life choices. Will that have 100% success? No. Human beings are not identical, and we will always have humans making choices that aren’t the best for them. But that should not stop us from trying.
UncleEbeneezer
@Another Scott: Thanks maybe someone will Front-Page it ;)
Quiltingfool
This is off topic – today I went to a second meeting of a quilting guild I recently joined (yea me! People who want to talk quilts!). Anyway, this guild does a lot of community service projects, and they focus on foster children and domestic violence victims. One of the projects is making pillowcases and drawstring bags in fun prints for foster kids. At first I thought, “Neat! These kids get cool pillowcases to sleep on. “ Well, yes, but the pillowcases are used to carry clothes when kids are moved one place to another – instead of their stuff in garbage bags. Thinking about putting a child’s meager belongings in a garbage bag makes me feel sad and angry at the same time. I know there are many children in our country who are loved and well cared for, but, damn it, all children deserve that. Why are we so bad at that?
Quiltingfool
Well, if you’re gonna be an outlaw, be a good outlaw – leave no evidence. Or the Stringer Bell rule. Thing is, these jamokes didn’t think they were breaking the law. So, why not brag?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@UncleEbeneezer: I’ve been saying here from time to time: Making “jail” the end game of Dem politics is not good, not because trump isn’t a criminal, but because one of the few things he’s actually good at is not leaving fingerprints, and one of the others is being a litigant.
WaterGirl
@Another Scott: Yeah, right off the bat it helped to know that it was Pelosi talking. :-)
If this goes into December I think I might spontaneously combust.
WaterGirl
@UncleEbeneezer: @Another Scott:
I read it because you both raved about it, but I find a series of tweets like that to be tiresome. I wish people would just write up an article, even a short one, to make their points. A series of tweets responding to a bunch of individual tweets. That just doesn’t work well for me.
It feels very disjointed.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@WaterGirl: yeah, that formatting was hard to read, I was trying to think if a thread-roll would be better. But it’s things quite a few of us, even non-lawyers, have been saying here for a while….
Stacy
@The Moar You Know: That’s how I feel out here in Loudoun. My former Repug congresswoman Barbara Comstock and for Rep. Charlie Dent went on Anderson Cooper right before the election to vouch for Youngkin as a moderate. My prediction is that he’ll govern like she did while in congress. Dis Trump and but vote 98% with his/gop policies. This is their way out from under Trump. Also, we kept all the house seats that we flipped in Nova in 2017, so at least there’s that.
WaterGirl
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I’m not sure even a thread roll would help because of all the in-between tweets that she is responding to.
SiubhanDuinne
@sab:
I started it earlier today. It is excellent. She tells a compelling story and writes beautifully.
Another Scott
@WaterGirl:
I agree that Twitter is horrible for long thoughts.
How about a blog post transcript of her YouTube video?:
HTH!
Cheers,
Scott.
UncleEbeneezer
@WaterGirl: Yeah the formatting is not ideal, though I think she makes some very good points. Twitter Game: C-
WaterGirl
@Another Scott: Thanks. I’ll check that out tomorrow. I am beat!
Soprano2
@Gretchen: Yes, and he’s not the worst Republican running. Our former governor who resigned in disgrace after being accused of engaging in non-consensual sex (with bondage!) with a woman who wasn’t his wife and violating campaign finance laws has a decent chance of being our next senator. MO is such a joy…….
NotMax
@Soprano2
At least you’re able to drink wholesale.
:)
Ella in New Mexico
Fuck yah!
bookworm1398
I saw on Twitter that she has complained that alt-right media has not interviewed her or championed her. She believes it is due to gender discrimination.
Which is quite likely true!
Tony Gerace
Sixty days in jail — for a woman who probably never had a day of discomfort in her worthless life. Some people would learn from that. I think that this asshole will learn nothing at all — except that she’ll learn that she’s entitled to revenge for being treated SO UNFAIRLY!!!!
Tony Gerace
@Ella in New Mexico:Sixty days in jail — for a woman who probably never had a day of discomfort in her worthless life. Some people would learn from that. I think that this asshole will learn nothing at all — except that she’ll learn that she’s entitled to revenge for being treated SO UNFAIRLY!!!!
Tehanu
@Shakti:
Totally agree with you.
a thousand flouncing lurkers was fidelio
@WaterGirl: A Magic: The Gathering deck for our times. Or Pokémon cards…
Gretchen
@Soprano2: yes, it’s amazing he’s running for Senate rather than hiding in shame for the rest of his life. While Jason Kander lost his Senate race and now runs a nonprofit for homeless vets and a podcast about how to talk to people different from yourself.