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Republican Venality

Impeachment Open Thread: Our Failed Republican Party

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And its Very Woke enablers…

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Russiagate Open Thread: Another Day, Another ‘Snow’ Storm…

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dc braces for blizzard of evidence - walt handelsman

(Walt Handelsman via GoComics.com)

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Bad Faith Open Thread: … “But the CHILDRUN!!!”…

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The first resort of the modern American “patriot”…


Per the Washington Post, “‘I feel so bad for the children’: N.C. towns cancel Christmas parades after demands to remove Confederate groups”:

… In a Wednesday night video message, Wake Forest Mayor Vivian Jones announced that the town’s downtown board of directors voted to cancel the Dec. 14 Christmas parade out of concern that “outside agitators” would show up to protest or defend the Sons and Daughters of the Confederacy, who planned to march in the event.

The decision in Wake Forest, located less than 20 miles outside Raleigh, comes almost a week after another nearby town, Garner, N.C., announced it was canceling its Christmas parade over possible protests of a float sponsored by a local Confederate group, the Raleigh News & Observer reported.

By the end of her video announcement, Jones was fighting tears…

Wake Forest Police Chief Jeff Leonard said in a statement that one group had notified the town of its plans to protest, but that the police department was worried that more agitators would “show up, wreak havoc then leave.” The town had received “credible information” about a “growing number of outside groups” planning to attend to either defend or oppose the Sons and Daughters of the Confederacy, according to a statement. The town had not received any threats, officials clarified, but Leonard and Jones said they still believed safety could be put at risk.

“We aren’t happy telling kids they can’t attend or participate in this year’s parade, but it’s better than trying to explain to a parent whose child was injured why we chose to proceed despite so many warning signs,” Leonard said. “No matter what side of this issue you are on, our focus is public safety and at this point, the risk of moving forward with the parade simply outweighs any possible reward.”…

Blaming the ‘outside agitators’ — another proud Suthrun tradition, of course.


Our proud Puritan forebears actually banned the celebration of Christmas — it was considered ‘pagan’, i.e., Papist (Catholic). Christmas trees became an aspirational holiday accessory when hordes of desperate German refugees started producing tchotchkes cheaply enough for the American middle class to imitate Queen Victoria’s annual tribute to her German husband. (Which, of course, didn’t stop those good, patriotic Heartland Americans from vilifying the Germans as filthy disease-carrying criminals who couldn’t be bothered to learn English or teach their hordes of subnormal offspring decent behavior.)

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‘Season of Giving’ Open Thread: Spare A Thought for the Locally-Grown, Artisanal Bigots & Hypocrites

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The multinational big-box kleptocrats, with the Oval Office Occupant as their spokesthing, are making it impossible for the traditional regional hatemongers to get the earned media (free publicity) they rely upon to survive!

Take, for instance, newly-minted reparative-justice advocate and unindicted insurance-fraud Republican Darrel Issa:


“If the soulless legislative middle managers are gonna keep a stand-up guy like Duncan Hunter from voting with us, just because he’s pled guilty to robbing wounded veterans to pay for his golf fees, cigar bars, and at least five extramarital liaisons with lobbyists and staffers… who’s gonna be left to accuse the Democrats of immorality and lawlessness? (ME!, that’s who)”

… In August, Issa announced that he had launched an exploratory committee to consider a potential bid for Hunter’s seat, which prompted him to withdraw his nomination by Trump for a trade post.

The Union-Tribune noted that unlike other challengers running for Hunter’s seat, Issa has not criticized the embattled Republican congressman.

On Thursday, the House Ethics Committee urged Hunter to “refrain from voting on any question at a meeting of the House or of the Committee of the Whole House,” citing a House rule regarding convicted lawmakers…

Not to mention the sad status of favorite blog chewtoy Little Prince Rand, who can’t get any front-page MSM attention for the kind of puke-funnel performance that used to be worth thousands from his donors / voters…

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Friday Morning Open Thread: Be Prepared

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As House Democrats geared up for their first impeachment hearing last month, Speaker Nancy Pelosi huddled in her office with her leadership team, downplaying expectations.

Don’t expect these hearings to trigger a massive shift in public support toward ousting President Trump, Pelosi (D-Calif.) told her colleagues the night before the hearing, according to Democrats familiar with her warning who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the encounter frankly.

Those words of caution — delivered as House Intelligence Committee members prepared in the Capitol basement for the next day’s hearing — reflected the innate skepticism that has influenced her every move as she has guided her Democratic majority through a tumultuous moment in the nation’s history…

But with a five-minute nationally televised address Thursday morning, she has become the ­reluctant face of the impeachment effort, donning a role she never wanted at a time when she’d rather be talking about anything else.

“I’m really sorry the president made this necessary by his complete disregard for the vision of our founders,” she told reporters Thursday. “An impeachment is not a pleasant experience. It can be divisive. We don’t take any glee in this at all. It’s heartbreaking. But the president gave us no choice.”.…

Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), a former CIA officer who was among the “national security freshmen” who pushed Pelosi toward supporting an impeachment inquiry, praised her handling of the process. From the beginning, she said, she asked Pelosi to ensure that the investigation was done in a strategic, efficient and serious manner, and she said Pelosi has followed through.

“I really can’t stand anything that celebrates this moment we’re in, because if you’re from a place like Michigan — swing state, you know, where your neighbors have different political views than you do — that tension is seeping into our everyday lives and no one’s happy about it,” she said. “I think she has set an important tone.”

Slotkin added that Pelosi has kept the moderate freshmen at the top of her priority list, making sure their bills are passing the House and tending closely to their political needs. Slotkin pointed to one of her top priorities — allowing patients to have immediate access to prescription drug prices from their doctors’ offices. The House passed the bill Oct. 29, two days before the House formalized its impeachment probe…

When the dust settles, there will still be legislation that needs to be made. Pelosi may or (Trickster forbid) may not be around to keep shepherding the Democratic cats, but she’s doing her best to make sure that the rules will not be forgotten and that somebody will be there to implement them.

We can hope Pelosi gets some credit in the history books, because she sure won’t get any from her very-woke “allies”…

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Thursday Morning Open Thread: No Stopping, No Going Back

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gop will say anything for trump - tom toles

(Tom Toles via GoComics.com)

From the Washington Post:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam B. Schiff left little doubt with fellow Democrats Wednesday that they plan to move swiftly to impeach President Trump as soon as this month.

According to multiple Democratic lawmakers who attended a closed-door Capitol meeting, Pelosi announced no firm decision or timeline in moving toward a vote on Trump’s impeachment. But, a day after Schiff delivered a 300-page report detailing charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress against Trump, she made clear what lies ahead in the House.

“Are you ready?” Pelosi (D-Calif.) asked her colleagues, after describing grave constitutional circumstances posed by Trump’s alleged wrongdoing surrounding his dealings with Ukraine and his subsequent decision to stonewall the House investigation into it.

The caucus, according to multiple members, erupted with shouts of approval.

“We’re moving forward,” said one member, summarizing the thrust of Pelosi’s remarks and speaking on condition of anonymity to candidly describe a private meeting. “We’ve got a job to do whether people want to testify or not.”

Pelosi then turned the room over to Schiff (D-Calif.), who received a standing ovation before saying a word, the members said.

Schiff proceeded to run through the major findings of the report, add context to some of the key events the inquiry has uncovered, and explained to colleagues why, among other things, he did not wait for additional witnesses — such as former national security adviser John R. Bolton, who met with Trump to discuss Ukraine policy — before issuing his report…

In a separate closed-door meeting elsewhere in the Capitol basement, Vice President Pence rallied Republicans against impeachment — encouraging the GOP rank-and-file to “turn up the heat” on House Democrats and accuse them of focusing on impeachment instead of solving the nation’s problems.

Pence praised Republicans for sticking together and defending the president, telling them he and Trump were proud of their work standing up for the president. He also criticized Pelosi and House Democrats for what he called shameful behavior — not just the impeachment proceedings against Trump but also claiming Democrats had turned a blind eye to other issues that affect people’s everyday lives…

cold warrior putin has gop on ice - matt davies

(Matt Davies via GoComics.com)

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Wednesday Morning Open Thread: Another Day of Ugliness

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I haven’t been able to watch all the way through this, but from what I have it’s a good, if crowded, recap:

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Sunday Pharisees Open Thread: The New Failson Falkirk Center

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Jerry Jr. (last seen defending himself against charges of real estate fraud, self-dealing, misappropriation of funds from the university he inherited, and nightclubbing in Miami Beach) has gotten together with Charlie Kirk (founder of TP-USA, last seen bulk-buying failson Trump Jr’s ‘best seller’) have a new grift, per the Washington Examiner:

Growing concerns in conservative circles that liberals are trying to convert young Christians into socialists by distorting the Bible and U.S. Constitution have prompted Virginia’s Liberty University to form a new center to push back on the media, academics, and Democratic politicians.

The new think tank, announced Saturday in Lynchburg and previewed to Secrets, was co-founded by two key leaders in the Christian youth movement, Liberty President Jerry Falwell Jr. and Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk.

The Falkirk Center for Faith and Liberty, a combination of their names, will “play offense” against efforts by liberals to water down Judeo-Christian values in the Bible and Constitution in their bid to build support for big government, said Kirk.

“The fastest-growing religion in America is atheism and secularism and with that is the rise of leftism and statism and, as people veer away from the church and veer away from the Judeo Christian values that built our country, people are more likely to embrace statism,” he said in an interview…

It will operate under a 501(c)(3) charter and is owned by Liberty.

The plan to go on offense is similar to how President Trump operates, and it’s no coincidence that both Falwell and Kirk are leading defenders of the president.

Kirk, who stressed that it was an “honor” to work with Falwell in the bid to “organize an army of believers in faith and liberty,” said he expects to be attacked as he and Liberty’s president have for their support for Trump…

“If you want to be loved today as a political conservative, go against the president. You’ll get the best press you could ever possibly imagine. But if you want to stand for what’s right, if you want to stand for truth, defend our country, then you have to stand behind this president,” said Kirk, who has been accompanying Donald Trump Jr. during his book tour to colleges and universities to promote Triggered: How the Left Thrives on Hate and Wants to Silence Us.

All the failsons gotta hang together, it’s both natural affinity and a defense against their (many, legitimate) enemies.

That Jesus dude notoriously condemned religious profiteering, promoted multiculturalism and sharing material goods across the community, and gave away free food and healthcare. (Also, He preferred hanging with his group of fellow believers to getting an honest job, and when one of the overworked women of the movement asked for a little help in the kitchen, slanged her off for not properly valuing the worth of intellectual labor.) So: Signs point to YES!

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Things Fall Apart (Open Thread)

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Iowa is a foreign country to me, and I don’t really understand the Democratic primary electorate very well, so I’m asking, can this sort of thing work? Are there boiling pools of resentment against hogwash that can be tapped to motivate pro-Biden caucus-goers?

Here’s a person who understands the Democratic electorate even less than I do:

Auto Draft

Excerpt:

The state of the Democratic field reflects the weaknesses of the individual candidates, but it also reflects the heterogenous nature of the Democratic coalition, whose electorate has many more demographic divisions than the mostly white and middle-class and aging G.O.P., and therefore occasionally resembles the 19th-century Hapsburg empire in the challenge it poses to aspiring leaders.

Douthat’s take is wrong in that he attributes all divisions within the Democratic Party to identity politics while glossing over the male-dominated, enthno-nationalist bent of Republicans, who are the current champions of the most salient example of identity politics in America since forever. But he’s correct to describe Democrats as “heterogenous,” just not entirely for the reasons he thinks.

In comments in a recent morning thread, I argued that the GOP’s open embrace of demagoguery in service of oligarchy (mirroring Putin’s strategy) has resulted in an untenable situation. Only one of the two parties in a two-party system is interested in civil rights or sound governance. Good-faith policy debates about the size of government, taxation, human rights, etc., only take place in one party.

There’s your heterogeneity. And yes, it may pose a “branding” challenge when only one party feels an obligation to represent all Americans. I don’t know how we address that, but my feeling is either the Republican Party gets utterly obliterated and rises from the ashes (perhaps with some milquetoast nonentity like Marco Rubio bleating platitudes at its head) or everything simply falls apart.

Douthat again:

But for the kind of American who is mostly with the Democrats on economics but wary of progressivism’s zest for culture war, Sanders’s socialism might be strangely reassuring — as a signal of what he actually cares about, and what battles he might eschew for the sake of his anti-plutocratic goals. (At the very least he’s no more radical on an issue like abortion than a studied moderate like Mayor Pete.)

This is why, despite technically preferring a moderate like Biden or Amy Klobuchar, I keep coming back to the conservative’s case for Bernie — which rests on the perhaps-wrong but still attractive supposition that he’s the liberal most likely to spend all his time trying to tax the rich and leave cultural conservatives alone.

Douthat isn’t the only person who suspects Sanders doesn’t really give a shit about anything but economics, which has been and remains a huge obstacle to Sanders winning the Democratic Party nomination. Douthat either underestimates the opposition to Sanders’ democratic socialist approach from moderate Dems and/or — even more stupidly — believes a Sanders candidacy would peel off enough Rust Belt whites who voted for Trump to make up for the loss of those moderate Dems and other constituencies within the party (women, people of color) that would recoil from a Sanders candidacy. With the nuances shaded another way, the same might be true of Biden or anyone else.

IMO, the bottom line is this: Republicans broke the two-party system. We can’t fix it for them. Indeed, we’re struggling to keep the country afloat long enough for the Republican fever dream to break and the GOP or some other organization to rise, fill the vacuum and restore the two-party system. I’m not optimistic that will happen. The course of least resistance is this: things fall apart.

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Impeachment Inquiry Open Thread: Don McGahn Looks Down the Barrel

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Repub ‘Traditions’ Open Thread: Feelers… Nothing More Than Feelers…

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The people she knows best are Republicans. Even the ones who can read would rather not risk muddying their propaganda skillsets. Fox News and the Oval Office Occcupant’s twitter feed tell them all they need to know to succeed in grinding through their daily routines.

Every so often, the Republican Party reaches a new nadir, where they can’t even scrape up a conventionally good-looking figurehead to spin the propaganda on television. Now it’s Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who looks entirely too much like her old man (nepotism, of course, being her only qualification). Last time the GOP was about to get stomped, it was the Albino Amphibian who led the charge:

Gotta hand it to Newt: He’s an inspiration to every soulless grifter in American politics.

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Russiagate Open Thread: Twelve Monkeys Spies

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There was a lot of testimony during this past week’s impeachment inquiry about foreign interference in our 2016 election, including the president’s assertion that Ukraine was involved. But the president’s own intelligence agencies say it was the Russians who “hacked” the 2016 elections. Special counsel Robert Mueller spelled it out in his report.

Now the Justice Department has at least two open cases against Russian citizens for interfering with our presidential and congressional races, we decided to take a closer look at one of them – the case against 12 Russian military officers accused of breaking into the Democratic Party’s computers, stealing compromising information, and selectively releasing it to undermine Democratic candidates. There’s no evidence of similar operations against Republicans in 2016. With the 2020 election approaching, the story of “The Russian Hack.”

Robert Anderson: The Russians never left. I can guarantee you in 2016 after this all hit the news, they never left. They didn’t stop doing what they’re doing.

Bill Whitaker: This wasn’t just a one-time thing?

Robert Anderson: No way. Russia doesn’t do it that way.

Robert Anderson should know. He spent 21 years inside the cloak and dagger world of spies and hackers overseeing the FBI’s counterintelligence and cyber Divisions and tracking Moscow’s spy agencies, an alphabet of artifice, the FSB, SVR, and, especially, the GRU.

Robert Anderson: The GRU is military intelligence. So when we look at the attacks that happened during our presidential races in 2016 you had military organizations inside of Russia attacking our infrastructure…

These are the hacker-soldiers from GRU unit 26165 who, according to the Justice Department, were responsible for “breaking and entering” into the Democratic Party’s computers remotely, from Moscow. Their names, ranks and faces are now on the FBI’s most wanted list for stealing, among other things, the Democrats’ strategic plans, detailed targeting data, and internal polling. GRU Colonel Aleksandr Osadchuk commanded a separate unit, 74455. One of his officers was in charge of spreading the stolen material to political operatives, bloggers and the media. Another hacked state election boards.

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Late Night Open Thread: Clowns for the Clown Car God

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I *think* we can still joke about this, because Spicer doesn’t “look great on TV”, and Priebus hasn’t shown sufficient doglike loyalty to the Oval Office Occupant. As long as Pete Hegseth doesn’t want to give up his Fox News duties…

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Saturday Morning Open Thread: Write Your Own Jokes / Jabs

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Starter: Just be grateful you’re not on the cleanup crew…

President Trump, partial to gold and marble elegance, never took a shine to rustic Camp David. So acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney pitched to him an unusual idea at the start of the House impeachment inquiry: Use the secluded mountainous presidential retreat to woo House Republicans.

Since then, Mulvaney and top White House officials have hosted weekend getaways for Republicans at the historic lodge, seeking to butter up Republicans before the big impeachment vote. The casual itinerary includes making s’mores over the campfire, going hiking, shooting clay pigeons and schmoozing with Trump officials, some of whom stay overnight with lawmakers.

During dinners, Trump has called in to compliment members personally…

The Camp David excursions are one prong of a broad White House charm offensive, meant to hold House and Senate Republicans in line through a House impeachment vote and a trial in the Senate that appears all but inevitable.

Never shy to feud with his own party, Trump has for weeks refrained from full-throated attacks against Republicans who have been even remotely critical of the conduct now under scrutiny by the House: The president’s attempts to pressure Ukraine to investigate former vice president Joe Biden and the Democratic National Committee.

The White House has made sure that a small clutch of Republican lawmakers have accompanied Trump to a trio of recent sporting events, whether at the Ultimate Fighting Championship in New York, the World Series in Washington or at the football game in Tuscaloosa, Ala., between the University of Alabama and Louisiana State University

In recent weeks, the White House has also invited a group of GOP senators every Thursday to have lunch with the president, where the mealtime conversation rarely centers on impeachment but inevitably veers toward it, according to participants. Trump’s message to the senators echoes what he has said publicly against charges that he abused the powers of his office, and Republicans who’ve attended say they feel no overt pressure from the president to stay on his side…

At the Nov. 9 football game in Alabama, Rep. Robert B. Aderholt (R-Ala.) said he listened as Trump spoke — again — about impeachment, expressing surprise while chatting with lawmakers in a luxury box at Bryant-Denny Stadium that Democrats were even moving forward with proceedings.

Trump, again, implored the Alabama and Louisiana Republicans in attendance to read the memorandum of the call with Zelensky. He also stressed that he is pleased Republicans have been united behind him so far.

“He had more impeachment on his mind,” Aderholt recalled, “than anything else.”

Your strategy is working, Comrades Pelosi and Schiff!

2019, in one tweet:

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Cold Grey Pre-Dawn Impeachment Recap Open Thread: Sondland’s Testimony

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https://www.gocomics.com/jeffdanziger?ct=v&cti=181176

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