I’m boarding a plane now to fly to DC for the March. I’ll be at the Wonkette Meetup at Pi Pizza on F Street NW from 6-8 PM. Hope to see some of you there.
The Apocapeachment Will Be Televised!
Earlier this year, we cut the cable cord. My husband is thrifty (cheap!), and as we considered streaming TV options, he pushed for an inexpensive Sling TV package that includes CNN but not MSNBC. I agreed, figuring I could get my Rachel Maddow and Joy Reid fix online and watch CNN on TV for breaking news, even though CNN kinda sucks since it lards its panels with raving wingnut assholes in a futile attempt to avoid “fake news” and “liberal media” criticisms.
We don’t watch that much live TV anyway, so this arrangement worked — until yesterday. It was a big news day, and we were watching CNN’s coverage of the Bolton prepocalypse. Then, right in the middle of that, CNN aired an hour of Anderson Cooper interviewing a woman who is so goddamned dumb that she admits she slept with Donald Fucking Trump for FREE! An hour of this moron! On the day the demagogue in the White House appointed a noted Reichstag arsonist as nat-sec adviser!
After enduring half an hour of that agony — which was akin to listening to a punctured blow-up girlfriend lose air in response to vapid questions — I grabbed my phone and upgraded our Sling package to include MSNBC. It’s several extra bucks a month, but, as I told the mister, if we’re going to blunder into additional wars of choice (maybe with nukes this time!) and/or (please FSM) have an opportunity to view impeachment proceedings, I’ll be damned if I’m going to look at Jason Miller’s hideous ass-face during those momentous events.
At precisely 8:59 p.m. Eastern time, our package upgrade completed, and I switched to MSNBC just in time to see Maddow start her broadcast in front of a massive wall with all the names of departed Trump administration villains. Good Christ, how I’d missed her! I know we bitch about MSNBC around here a lot, but friends, it took going cold turkey for a few months to make me realize the value of that network. In our household, at least, the apocapeachment will be televised!
Open thread!
Cheap Snark Open Thread: “Only Ryan and McConnell Can Pen in Tyrannosaurus Trump”
Yeaaaah, like that’s gonna happen. It’s always entertaining when Repubs turn on each other, but especially so when a professional GOPster like Rick Wilson picks up his cutlass…
… Republicans who believe firing Mueller will change the political dynamic and free Trump to do whatever the hell they think he’d do without the special counsel on the scene are dreaming. Trump is already permanently stained, a president with an asterisk next to his name, a joke, a con, and a political poison that’s devouring their campaigns and their legacies. Even the White House clown bus of mooks, slowcoaches, edge case cranks, and kissers of his double-wide backside seem to understand more than the GOP in Congress; he’s crazier than a rat in a septic tank, and only Congress has any power over his behavior.
The Trump signals that he’s going to fire Robert Mueller need a more real, vigorous, and blunt response than any member of the House or Senate has yet provided. For being such fans of the Constitution, Republicans seems to have forgotten they’re in a co-equal branch of government and swore an oath to protect the Constitution from all enemies, foreign and domestic. Dismissing the special counsel in the middle of an investigation of foreign interference, obstruction of justice, and ties to hostile foreign powers isn’t just reckless; it’s politically idiotic.
I understand the argument that both Speaker Ryan and Leader McConnell need to calibrate their remarks to stay in the middle of the sentiment of their respective caucuses. Paul Ryan knows the Trump-hadis, yahoos, InfoWars conspiracy fanboys (looking at you, Matt Gaetz), dead-enders, and political anarchists on his right flank are restive, worrisome, and would stone him to death in a hot minute if Trump asked them to do so. In the center of the GOP caucus, the sense of doom is so thick you can cut it with a knife. For McConnell, his crafty, baroque mental calculus is less clear, but with Jeff Flake and John McCain headed out the door, he’s left with almost no one willing to publicly stand up and take on this president. For all that, both men are on the hot seat this week as Trump edges closer to Muellerdämmerung…
Understanding how to contain Donald Trump isn’t complicated. In every single domain of his entire life, Donald Trump is a cheater. This isn’t ad hominem. It’s documented fact in every part of his career in business, marriage, and politics. He will take advantage of any leeway, loophole, gullibility, or porn starlet he sees.
Donald Trump views red lines as green lights. The transgressive, disruptive nature of Trump is beloved by his base, and by an army of formerly conservative writers now eagerly fluffing the president’s rampant statism, corruption, and obstruction. They desperately want the narrative to become, “Donald the Magnificent girds his loins, defeats Mueller and evil sorceress Hillary in single combat, as bountiful harvests and happy peasants follow. Bards sing his praises for a thousand years.”
Even if Republicans believe Mueller ought to be fired, and hate him for being the skunk at the garden party of Trumpism, their political fortunes rest in part on whether voters see them as accomplices to a lawless, dishonest, corrupt president. If Trumpism is so powerfully hypnotic that they put their political survival after this president’s whims, I suppose they’re beyond counsel and help, but it hasn’t stopped me from trying…
And before anyone starts wailing that I need to take the risk of Trump firing Mueller more seriously: Unlike Mr. Wilson, I don’t want Donald Trump “contained”, except in one of our finer SuperMaxes. Or Gitmo, which the Repubs refuse to close down. Lord Smallgloves may or may not attempt to fire Mueller — I don’t think he’s got the guts, but some of his toadies might still talk Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III or one of his fellow revanchists into attempting it. But at this point, I really doubt Mr. Mueller will be going anywhere. Unlike his targets… who will be going to jail.
The ACA turns 8
Eight years ago, the ACA was signed into law.
A year ago, the House of Representatives pulled the bill that became the AHCA because they did not have the votes.
They pulled it because of public protest. They pulled it because they saw the outrage coming. They pulled it because the policy made no sense and it would make even less sense on its own internal coherency going forward.
And last night, the Senate talked about Silver Loading a lot:
McConnell touts that Collins bill “would end the practice of ‘silver loading,’ which unnecessarily costs the taxpayers tens of billions of dollars.” (Dems like silver loading because it increases ACA subsidies).
— Peter Sullivan (@PeterSullivan4) March 22, 2018
So Happy Birthday ACA:
On the Road and In Your Backyard
Good Morning All,
This weekday feature is for Juicers who are are on the road, traveling, or just want to share a little bit of their world via stories and pictures. So many of us rise each morning, eager for something beautiful, inspiring, amazing, subtle, of note, and our community delivers – a view into their world, whether they’re far away or close to home – pictures with a story, with context, with meaning, sometimes just beauty. By concentrating travel updates and tips here, it’s easier for all of us to keep up or find them later.
So please, speak up and share some of your adventures and travel news here, and submit your pictures using our speedy, secure form. You can submit up to 7 pictures at a time, with an overall description and one for each picture.
You can, of course, send an email with pictures if the form gives you trouble, or if you are trying to submit something special, like a zipped archive or a movie. If your pictures are already hosted online, then please email the links with your descriptions.
For each picture, it’s best to provide your commenter screenname, description, where it was taken, and date. It’s tough to keep everyone’s email address and screenname straight, so don’t assume that I remember it “from last time”. More and more, the first photo before the fold will be from a commenter, so making it easy to locate the screenname when I’ve found a compelling photo is crucial.
Have a wonderful weekend, and enjoy the pictures!
Friday Morning Open Thread: Ready for the Deluge?
Old me: It’s Friday. I’m sure it will be a nice slow news day. Nothing ever breaks on Fridays.
2018 me: Uh-oh, it’s Friday. Where’s my news helmet and Kevlar news vest?
— The Hoarse Whisperer (@HoarseWisperer) March 9, 2018
Man, this Infrastructure Week was AWESOME.
— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) March 23, 2018
.
But on the positive side, Rep. Doug Jones gave a speech…
WATCH: Alabama Sen. Doug Jones uses his inaugural floor speech to speak out on gun violence in the U.S.:
"At its core, the Second Amendment was an effort to protect Americans. Let us do the same." pic.twitter.com/XPmffNk6lh
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) March 21, 2018
Yeah, low bar, but at least he’s speaking out. Let’s not discourage the baby-steppers.
This is a great & courageous maiden Senate speech by newly elected Alabama Democrat Doug Jones. Very sensible re gun safety laws we could realistically enact today. Really wish everyone would listen. Hope his colleagues do. He's gently shaming them to act. https://t.co/eQxWJYxPck
— Eric Redman (@ricredman) March 21, 2018
Friday Morning Open Thread: Ready for the Deluge?Post + Comments (146)
Late Night ‘If Only It Physically Hurt to Be So Willfully Stupid’ Open Thread: Tucker Carlson, Nativist Poster Child
#ICYMI Check out the segment from tonight about the changing demographics in America pic.twitter.com/eM1VJkN8OG
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) March 20, 2018
Shorter T-Carls: Why hasn’t the trailer trash security detail evicted all these scary strangers yet?????
When there are demographic changes you don’t understand and they frighten you it’s called xenophoberty. pic.twitter.com/RWcEbjI5lS
— Schooley (@Rschooley) March 21, 2018
Let me point out: Tucker Swanson McNear Carlson was born in 1969. He does not personally remember the 1950s, and he’s more than old enough to have figured out that change is a human constant, not a personal affront.
Tucker Carlson rails against America’s demographic changes. “Most immigrants are nice … this is more change than human beings are designed to digest." Tell that to Native Americans, Tucker. https://t.co/GHFfj2JyLO via @voxdotcom
— Stella Rouse (@Stella_Rouse) March 21, 2018
Carlson "told the American Conservative in February, 'We have wonderful neighbors, and we love it. And what’s not to love? Our neighborhood looks exactly like it did in 1955.'" Not even subtle. https://t.co/FqHINoZyRF
— Brendan Nyhan (@BrendanNyhan) March 21, 2018
I encourage you to click over & read all of Michael Harriot’s hilarious excoriation of the “sentient celery stalk” at The Root:
… Here we should point out that Hispanic immigrants have not pushed out Hazelton’s white population. There are just as many, or more white people in Hazelton as there have always been. There are just more Hispanics now. Hazelton just grew. Hazelton’s white residents are free to have as many white friends as they always had. For them, absolutely nothing has changed except they are now outnumbered. There’s a name for people who want to hold on to that kind of society:
White supremacists
Carlson’s entire argument is based on the fact that he doesn’t want to live around brown people. More pointedly, he doesn’t want to be a minority. But if—like Tucker often claims—he’s not a bigot and racism is overblown, why would he have any problem being a minority? After all, he’d still be white…
But he’d never know what those “Hispanics” were saying to each other, in their weird inscrutable furrin languages. They might even be laughing at him!
(Spoiler, Mr. Carlson: Even us monolingual White people are perfectly capable of laughing at you… )