Seems like we need a new place to talk about the affairs of state or whatever, seeing as how the last election thread is cursed and overstuffed and we’re never waking up from this nightmare and I don’t want to pollute the chess thread with less intellectually weighty matters.
Real links please, not fake ones. I want a fact-based homophily in here.
There’s a new ranking member on the Senate Judiciary Committee, and it’s DiFi. She had better be ready for a fight.
Darrell Issa still could lose, and he is being a big baby about it.
By the way, thanks for letting me vent so much spleen and for generally being such smart and thoughtful people. I value our discussions a great deal.
Obama used the Nuclear Hotline to warn Putin to back off.
This is either a great idea or a really terrible one.
Seems like a not-bad idea in and of itself, but having social workers on call is really something the government should be doing (especially in a place like SF), not leaving it to volunteers and an app.
FFS is there going to be a point when we can just go back to spelling words with all the letters?
for starters, don’t use the letters “app”
God these guys are craven assholes.
I agree that cost escalation is a huge problem. My subsidy has gone from about $4000 in 2014 to $5450 in 2017. That is not sustainable.
That part is wrong. I have a bronze policy and yes the deductible is over $6K so if I have a heart attack or something I’m out that much in addition to the premiums. But for routine visits and prescription drugs I benefit from negotiated rates for in-network services, plus the security of a ceiling on my out-of-pocket if something serious does happen.
I’m open-minded about how they change it. “Subsidy” means public money going straight to the insurance company, “Tax credit” means money coming back to me and the GOP loves to sell that idea, but the bottom line may not be a whole lot different.
Hate to be the one to point it out, but that had been happening well before ACA. I had stopped going to the doctor a couple of years before ACA was enacted when the cost to see a doctor + seek treatment reached 4 digits at a minimum without much in the way of insurance support. And that was through a work policy. It’s gotten perpetually worse every year, but not all that much more so year to year than before.
Before 2014 it wasn’t a govt. spending program that benefits well under 10% of the population. Even with a Clinton win it wasn’t going to be fixed as long as the GOP kept the House. If that rate of cost increase continued I expected congressional Democrats to start running away in 2018.
can’t you only use reconciliation once a term?
I don’t know about this plan. I hope they know what they’re doing.
Yuck.
1) At this point, I would prefer to just be the party of No. Do not try to make this asshole look good. (Yes, this probably makes me a bit of a hypocrite. But these are not normal circumstances.)
2) Having read a billion thinkpieces and twitter fights about the election and the future of the Democratic party, I find myself on the side that thinks trying to pander to these supposed “white working class voters” who voted for Trump is the losing strategy. As mb retweeted:
(Plus Manchin just seems like an asshole, and I am not very happy with Sanders right now either.)
3) If you do want to win those voters back, you won’t do it by making the asshole look good. See #1.
Enabling Cory Booker is also a losing strategy though.
god, I fking can’t stand those fucking assholes
I think it’s academic because Trump isn’t going to give a shit about the legislative agenda. Senate Dems will give some speeches pointing out that they want to do these things that Trump promised on the campaign trail. Then Trump and the House/Senate Rs will just ignore them.
This is probably true. I think (hope) they are just trying to signal openness to good ideas and maybe complicate T’s relationship with the Ryanists. They need to be careful though. The number one objective has to be crippling him politically ASAP. He’s too dangerous to accommodate, in ways that have almost nothing to do with whatever legislation Congress sends him to sign.
This opportunity is getting closer!
Whoa, Charlie Pierce reads fk?
Now I want to add “Electric Boogaloo” to the title.
Well, looks like Trump’s national security advisor will be hotheaded dictator-loving Islamophobe extraordinaire Mike Flynn. So we can be sure that Trump’s worst instincts abroad will be not only encouraged, but worsened. This is bad bad bad.
There’s also strong evidence that he is at least White Nationalism-curious. Oh, and he is reportedly on the payroll of the Turkish regime while publicly advocating for the US to turn over Gulen. Good times.
Utterly corrupt.
Clinton is now 1.3 million votes up with the counting still going.
(What the hell takes this state so long to count, anyway?)
Mail in absentees. Have to check each and every signature against the file, open millions of paper mail without damaging the ballot, then record it. It makes sense to me that it can take a while.
Big Game is on the Pac 12 Network? Hells Bells.
Get a free 7-day trial of Sling Orange. It’s watchable on phone or tablet that way. I have found that Sling does not get along very well with Chromecast though (frequent pixellation).
Also a LOT of tickets are still available.
I’ve found that almost nothing gets along well with chromecast. Fox sports go is the only service that works smoothly and gives me quality streams.
WatchESPN looks perfect for me on the HDTV using Chromecast, indistinguishable from the satellite signal through the DirecTV box. FSGo is fine too. Sling always sucks no matter which channel I try. Chromecast was cheap enough and for the streams that work well, saves me from having to go outside and clear the dish when the snow is pounding down.
Interesting…I’m buying what you’re selling.
Thanks for the tip. There were a few freezing glitches alomg the way, but waaaay better than being in the stadium or at a bar!
I’m looking at the Sling website, and it no longer shows the Comcast RSNs as “coming soon.” I guess negotiations fell through.
Ding, dong, the witch is dead!
the witch has moved to a different seat. a little more drafty in that seat, but not really dead
coolidge?
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I don’t understand why Democrats aren’t hammering Trump on the conflict of interest angle. There are a million potential conflicts posed by his active holdings, in addition to some actual, present conflicts (NLRB ruling on Vegas hotel labor issues, GSA ownership of land where his new DC hotel sits). This is a serious problem and an easy story to tell. They should be demanding that he divest his ownership if he wants to be president. If he’s so successful, he should be able to sell his holdings for a lot of money, no?
Not just holdings, but debt could also present conflict of interest. Does he owe a lot of money to Russian banks? That’s why releasing taxes and other financial disclosures is a big deal.
It does seem a bit difficult to put commercial real estate holdings in a blind trust, the way past presidents’ stock and bond assets have been managed.
Trump in limo: “Look, there’s one of my buildings. Wait a minute. Who the hell changed the sign to ‘Buffett Tower’?”
For a proper blind trust he would definitely sell off all his buildings. Not any question of maybe that building sold or not — they are all sold. Then the money is invested in stocks or whatever.
Meanwhile, the kids who are supposedly going to run the business are sitting in on his meetings with foreign heads of state. This is a complete farce.
I’m fine with the kids running the business; it’s something Trump can be harassed endlessly about, kind of like harassing somebody endlessly about the legitimacy of their birth certificate.
Assuming we escape from this with an independent judiciary and uncorrupted prosecutors, it’s hard to imagine none of the kids ending up indicted for influence peddling at some point.
Oh, the pardons he’ll be handing out the day before he resigns.
“I’m done. Let’s go.”
“But Mr. President, you forgot Tiffany!”
“I said I’m done.
Relevant:
It’s a golden age for nepotism.
That may be the tackiest room I’ve ever seen.
The floor alone.
I just can’t. there is so much wrong.
why aren’t people screaming about this?
oh, i’ve been screaming you can’t match brown shoes with a black suit aaaaaalll day.
Is David Patraeus seriously in the running for Secretary of State?
Lock him up! Lock him up!
But he’s a man and he did it to get laid.
Also explains Guiliani.
He only hires the very best.
He’ll announce the pardons and the nominations at the same time.
The Panthers’ uniforms tonight are painful to behold.
Dick Cheney. Darth Vader. Satan. That’s power.
So all 3 nominations so far get the David Duke’s approval.
Kakistocracy, white supremacy style.
So who gets booed more, Durant tonight in Boston or Kanye last night in San Jose?
Aside: I like that shoe throwing as political statement is catching on here.
Just make sure they’re New Balance.
So Kanye went back-to-back at the Golden 1 Center last night; looks like we have a
winnerloser here.So I had a weird day. Court employees (clerks, reporters) were on strike. It had been a while since negotiations broke down, they have been out of contract for 2 weeks and mediation failed. We had notice that a strike was possible (so I had SLF make me a purple bow tie) and since i am buddies with a lot of staff, I got the heads up.
Earlier I had told some of my friends that i had to cross the line but I can refuse to conduct real business. I also ran that past my brother who is an organizer for SAG-AFTRA.
So today when I arrived there was the picket line and marches, I went up to them and offered my encouragement and then told one of my closer clerk friend that I had to go in and not get things done.
it was naturally chaos. I had a motion to suppress scheduled in a courtroom that I may have ranted about here with a crazy Republican judge. Earlier in the day i had spoken to the DA and we agreed to continue it.
when I walked into the courtroom the judge called my name and asked if I was willing to stipulate to a commissioner and send this to her. i walked up to the lectern saying that i was refusing to have a hearing without professional staff.
He went right-work-nuts on me. calling me disrespectful and contemptuous. He ordered me to sit down and not leave the courtroom. He further ordered me to “think about what I just said.”
As I sat there I texted my friend and told here that the judge was going nuts with a few details about the story. after about 10 minutes he stormed off the bench and called me and the DA into chambers. there he yelled at me some more and told me that he “didn’t want to get into politics.” (although one time I had him yell at a juror who asked for a “google maps” because “[HE] DOESN’T USE GOOGLE!”)
I made a non apology for using the wrong tone and words. he calmed down a little and instead of denying my “motion to continue,” he said that he would allow me to remove him from the case. Which caused a dilemma with me because I wrote the motion specifically for him. One of the Appellate court judges was his judge in the past and I fucking wrote the Appellate judges name twice in one paragraph.
before I got to kicking him off the case he asked for a side bar and offered something my client couldn’t refuse. pre plea diversion for 2 months. so I took it. I hated myself but I took it.
I had a couple other things to not take care of before I left. but when I walked out the strikers all turned and gave me a big round of applause.
Great stuff Ed. I can only dream of being able to not get any real work done with such aplomb.
Bunkering down against the rain for a throwback sports day. Harvard-Yale, the Big Game, a full Golden Gate Fields card (remotely), and the Ward-Kovalev fight tonight. Garnish with cigar and fedora.
Rain helping create a bunch of Stanford turnovers is about our best hope. Several weeks ago this looked like a closer matchup, but since then our defense has gone from pretty bad to a horrendous abomination, and meanwhile with a QB change Stanford has found enough offensive weapons other than McCaffrey to put up 52 in Eugene last week against a defense about as bad as ours.
Tedford won 7 of his first 8 Big Games, but since then Tedford lost his final 3 and Dykes has lost all 3 (by 50, 21 and 13 for Dykes).
How’s the snow forecast on the Bill King deck?
Right now it’s dry and windy. This is supposed to be one of those storms that craps out when it hits the Sierra, so probably just a little rain and snow here. Some of the long range forecasts are suggesting cold and wet with several feet of snow starting late in the Thanksgiving weekend but that’s still a week away.
I’ve got the Sling 7 day trial set up and will be very glad not to be sitting in in the rain.
We got a couple more inches last night so it’s a white Thanksgiving for the holiday visitors. But, there hasn’t been that much natural snow yet and it has only been the last few nights that it finally got cold enough to make the fake stuff so I suspect the skiing is pretty limited. There will be more for the rest of the weekend, but “several inches”, not “several feet”.
And 2016 continues to suck.
You can tell from the light at the top of the photo that it was a sunny day in Cambridge, although it did get quite chilly late in the day. I can confirm there was significant pre-gaming going on so I doubt they would have felt any pain no matter when in the day they did this.
I keep telling you guys. We’re the party Ivy.
Why…?
It’s tough to win when all the other team has to do for a guaranteed 8, 10, 12 yards is hand the ball off and run up the middle. McCaffrey is good but it has been this easy for just about all of Cal’s opponents this year.
They hung in for awhile, but the D looks in full abandon ship mode now.
Lost every horse bet all day until the $1 trifecta in the last race paid $71.10!
It’s going to be a great fight, the kind boxing rarely puts together any more. The odds going in are nearly even, and whoever wins will be deemed the world’s best pound-for-pound fighter.
Ward’s gotta be the #1 active athlete from Oakland right now, ahead of Damian Lillard. So go home team. But Kovalev looks scary as fuck.
Ward wins a narrow and controversial decision, despite getting knocked down in round 2 and looking at serious risk for the first half of the fight. Kovalev looked like the winner to me. But close. A really good fight.
I just read through a transcript by round (Telegraph UK) and I didn’t get a sense of the controversy, but they did say it was a great fight. Sounded like Kovalev looked much the better for the early rounds but Ward weathered through it and had the goods in the later rounds. Good for him.
The rounds Kovalev won, there was no doubt, he hurt Ward often. The rounds Ward won were much closer, murky, as you expect from Andre’s tactical style. There were 5 clear rounds for Kovalev, plus an extra point for the knockdown. To give Ward the win you have to give him all 7 other rounds. And that’s sure not what I saw.
He gawne
What a time to be alive.
Straight up Nazis feeling themselves enough to operate right in the open.
truly.
i’m kinda grateful for being able to witness these times?
i mean, all my life i’ve been somewhat resentful of anybody who got to see the history of civilization beyond what i was going to see, but now i’m pretty sure it’s all ending soon and i won’t miss much. well, maybe a few months’ worth after n-korean nukes stretch their range and hit the farallons (we still die), but not more than that. not enough to produce any worthwhile bands or movies i’d be jealous of missing, anyway.
also, i’ve been playing a game in my head where i pick a dead historical person, tell them something the likes of, “wake up, wake up. wanted to catch you up… so russian entrepreneurship and subterfuge have outsourced US propaganda production… to the US, which of course turned the US into nazis, allowing the US to join the UK in general feelings against foreign trade because it was bleeding us dry of wealth and identity, which in turn allowed france to also forego liberté, leaving germany as the last possible bastion of open internationality and racial dialog, until at least such a time as we can thank our forefathers for the 2nd amendment, which is the only way we have to fight against our own elected government. shhhhh, shhhhhh, go back to sleep now.”
so far, eisenhower really freaked out. really. did an impression of mad marge. MLK was all, i knew it, cursed briefly, and rolled over. nixon… he was ok with it. susan b didn’t catch half of it but felt there was something wrong somewhere anyway. lenin wept.
Bravo.
P*** chant on the Texans kickoff?
And now a laser pointer in the quarterback’s face. Azteca as all hell.
I wonder if there is any scenario in which the House republicans would bring articles of impeachment against Trump. They will have their pick of pretexts if they ever want to be rid of him, and Pence would be so pliable for their crazy agenda. Like, how bad would it have to get for them to pull the trigger?
Alternatively, if things get bad enough could the Democrats nationalize the midterms by running on a platform of impeaching Trump?
Many people
Der Fuhrur should spend more time berating the media in off-the-record meetings instead of all this tweeting.
The entire population of the UK for a start – get the runty little fucker as far away as possible.
Having proven himself the best ever appointer of US officials, he’s moving on to Europe. I’m sure he’ll have great suggestions for Le Pen too.
Solo gana, bebe!
[checks language setting]
And just like that the Raiders are A Big Thing again…over Tom Brady no less.
That NE/NYJ game had already been “flexed” out of prime time.
Why is this game on CBS at all? I thought networks for inter-conference games were tied to the road team.
That’s still mostly true but no longer an absolute. The NFL and the networks try to make sure 1) Sunday Night Football has a decent matchup and 2) the network that has the afternoon doubleheader has a good late game. It makes the scheduling easier if they can swap a few Sunday games around, particularly this week with three Thursday games, plus as andeux mentioned SNF dumped the originally-scheduled Jets and grabbed KC-Denver from CBS. I’m sure Fox gets compensated with an AFC game at some point in return for losing Carolina-Oakland.
They have started swapping some games the last couple of years, sometimes even intra-conference ones. Last week Buf/Cin was on Fox, and Phi/Sea was on CBS. No idea why.
This is about as succinct an explanation of the rules as I can find.
So far this season they have done 5 swaps (meaning 10 games affected, 5 going each way) but as to why something like Buffalo-Cincy was involved you would have to dig pretty deep.
Mayor Libby Schaaf: Framework Deal Reached to Keep Raiders in Oakland
So not with the actual owner of the team.
(background)
That’s weird. So Lott’s group would own the stadium and lease it to the Raiders or something?
Not clear. It says he doesn’t want to own a piece of the team, and also that he is not a developer. So either what you said, or he’s just a middleman trying to broker a deal among other parties. In any case, at this point I think a “framework deal” is along the lines of “hypothetically if you could do all the things you say you want to do, we would probably be on board with that.” (Maybe FSU has more insight into this sort of thing.)
My take: this framework would end up with City and County agreeing to sell the Coliseum land to the Lott group. Possibly conditioned on Lott reaching a deal with the Raiders, or possibly just as a straight land sale. In either case, deal would include paying off remaining Mt Davis debt.
While such a deal would not guarantee the Raiders choosing Oakland over Vegas or LA, what it would do is greatly simplify the land equation here. That would significantly assuage league concerns born from previous experience with our local pols (Stooge-like comes to mind). As or more important, handling the existing debt would give said pols a lot more cover for supporting a future deal.
Draft deal “framework” does not address existing Mt. Davis debt.
You have to be careful with Matier and Ross, smart sources know exactly how to use their platforms. I’m sure this story came from City and County pols.
Deal would include “$600 million in private money from Ronnie Lott’s investment group, $200 million in public money and an equal amount from the National Football League…Davis would be asked to kick in an additional $300 million…who down the road may be asked to sell part of the team to Lott and his partners…city and county would jointly put up $200 million to upgrade infrastructure…repaid from revenue generated by the stadium project.”
Seems like a non-starter for the city/county if the debt isn’t accounted for, no? That seems like a lot riding on expecting the stadium to pay for the infrastructure too.
So either Fischer is gonna spend stupid $$$ to do Howard Terminal or FK You A’s?
Thanks, and go As.
He’s just going to use the presidency to his financial advantage in the wide open and dare anyone to do something about it.
Interesting which one he prioritizes in this quote…
would be a relief if that’s all that happens. (because i’m listening to the latest trumpcast.)
That show (and slate in general, actually) has been very clear-eyed about the threat he poses, which makes it very hard to listen to right now.
While we’re on the subject, I’m curious for your take on the corrupt Trump-Macri dance outlined in this lawyer’s twitter thread.
huh. well, i’d read the one that denied that there was a call yesterday but didn’t know where it came from. macri called him right after the election (and trump passed the phone to ivanka so she could say hi… macri had met her when she was little), that’s known. but i’m reading denials that there was a call yesterday. not sure what to make of it.
abe met with macri in argentina yesterday, and trudeau had talked with macri recently, btw. both were pro-trade meetings.
There’s a fair amount of sketchy ass shit linked here.
:/
i’m starting to see ripples of cherrypicking/conflation typical in these hearsay stories as they travel down the line, and at that point in those cases i disbelieve everyone because i don’t know which set of plot points belongs to which version (though i’m rooting for a scandal, of course). but i do appreciate the bizarro world feelings, because it’s the argentine press that usually loves a juicy scandal made out of two phone calls rubbed together and the US press that stays on top of facts.
not entirely OT, finally heard a trump-perón comparison trotted out of the despot depot yesterday.
LasVegas Golden Knights. Horrible.No, actually it’s “Vegas Golden Knights” rather than “Las Vegas”. Even lamer. Edit: sorry, the crossout was semi-invisible.
If you’re going in that direction, I could have lived with “Las Vegas Desert Nights”.
The other thing about this is, I wonder what their local television deal will be, since there is no Las Vegas RSN. I’m guessing I will be in both the Sharks’ and Golden Knights’ television territories…and DirecTV already charges me a $3.63/month “Regional Sports Fee” since I have more than one RSN, so this will probably be another extra charge.
Clinton popular vote lead now up to 2 million/1.5% and still counting…
what’s our emo-cognitive temperature with this thing?
I think there’s nothing there (though more transparency is always a good thing so I support an “audit” on general principle).
FFS
why not?
I have no issue with doing a recount. I have an issue with Jill Stein suddenly pretending to give a shit who wins this election in order to get some attention and email addresses.
yes, I do hope she and the green party either shows up for local elections, or dies in a fire
there are (nearly) a dozen dozens of them! dozen dozens!!!
Well, given the politically tricky position Clinton and the Dems are in with asking a recount at this point, it is help to have a loose cannon willing to do the dirty work. So while she’s certainly doing it for her own selfish reasons, I have no problem with the means in justifying the end. Even still, I doubt anything comes of it.
She’s over $2 million already!
(She’s not giving the money back if the recounts don’t happen, or if she gets more than she needs, FYI. The money will go to “election integrity efforts and to promote systemic voting system reform.” Which sounds good, but…)
And now she’s raising her estimates of what the costs will be by multiple millions and increasing her fundraising goals. This is a scam, people.
because the last super obvious scam didn’t work.
I think Zany Scheme is her next step, along the path that culminates in Diabolical Plot.
i meant the last super obvious scam by any presidential candidate.
On the other hand, this seems to have provoked a totally batshit insane twitter rant from the next leader of the “free” world, so not totally without value.
Trolling seems to be Jill Stein’s chief skill, so she may as well put it to good use.
HE FUCKING SAID THAT MILLIONS OF PEOPLE VOTED ILLEGALLY OMFG.
Thanks, and go As.
It would be the height of irony if he were right. And it cost him the election. But oh well.
She raised the goal to $9.5 million, claiming that Wisconsin jacked up the price on her by a couple of million bucks.
9.5 MILLION DOLLARS.
This is a remarkable grift.
I just now learned that what I called “accordion binding” is actually called “Leporello binding”. Oh, madamina, I find it beautiful
Game 1 of the 1981 ALCS (Mike Norris vs. Tommy John). Features Bryant Gumbel interviewing the home plate umpire on the field regarding the Yankees’ accusations that Billy Martin had the A’s pitchers doctoring the ball.
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Lots and lots of Reggie-Billy-Steinbrenner talk, as you might expect.
Game 3 of the 1981 ALCS, in which Matt Keough’s first pitch nearly took Jerry Mumphrey’s head off. Also, there was a temporary fence in centerfield because of the Raiders, meaning the ballpark dimensions were different than in the regular season.
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The Warriors just put up an 80 point half.
I briefly considered whether that was close to a record and then found this game.
The loss in LA seems to have gotten their attention.
In other sports news, the Tar Heels look great. Maybe good enough to crush my hopes and ruin Opening Day again.
They do. And are fun to watch.
Who is Cedric Ceballos, and how did he put up 32 points in 23 minutes off the bench?
He’s the guy who thinks ’93/’94 Suns would torch the ’15/’16 Warriors
I remember him
Happy Thanksgiving, FKers!
Somehow I do not see anyone in this group going shopping tonight or tomorrow. Even if the local Walmart or someplace has incredible deals on 85-inch HDTVs.
*perks up*
Thanks, and go As.
I actually did. Went to one place and was in and out in 30 minutes.
The Aces actually typically go out shopping on Black Friday, but we always did it more for people watching/burn off some of the day’s calories vs actually waiting 3 days for some $5 TV.
Yes, I hope you all had a satisfying day with family and/or friends.
I love a truly no-fuss holiday. We didn’t invite anyone over so the meal was manageable and I spent a few hours at the shelter walking dogs and making them peanut butter kongs to snack on so it was pretty great.
same. stayed home. invited one person who didn’t make it. ate watching teevee (42″)
11 waifs, strays and family round the table, with more joining for desert.
Cracked open the last bottle of the Feb ’15 Russian Imperial Stout, which was particularly delicious with pecan pie.
We ate in front of the TV too! While working on a giant jigsaw puzzle and watching “Alan Cumming sings sappy songs!” on PBS.
Aretha (at age 74!) is the only person who can sing a 4-minute long national anthem and still be awesome.
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I’m still waking up in a cold sweat each day, and often during the night, because of who the next president is.
Same, and it’s taking its toll.
Class-action lawsuit?
I think my concern is that the GOP unifies behind President Pence after Trump gets frustrated and resigns. I see GOP civil war for the next 18-24 months until that happens.
That’s a bad outcome for sure, but still considerably less bad than having this incompetent lunatic fraudster surrounded by bitter conspiracy theorists with his finger on the button and the ability to detonate various and sundry democratic institutions.
I think you underestimate the inclination of the GOP Congress to run away at the first opportunity.
I hope so.
Four months later and there are encouraging signs.
I think you overestimate it. They’ve now realized that they need the Trumpists to hang onto power, and that’s really all they care about. So they will keep pandering to that wing. In fact, it looked like that’s the way the Republican dynamics were headed even when we all thought Trump would lose. Now even Mitt (for whom I had gained a modicum of respect) is humiliating himself to try to get a cabinet post.* People like Ryan and McConnell are even more shameless, and it just gets worse from there.
*I can kind of see Mitt in his old-fashioned patrician way believing that he has a duty to serve in the cabinet post, if asked, in order to try to inject some sanity into the administration. Problem is, Trump probably just wanted to see him beg, and had no intention of ever offering him a job.
A funny scenario would be the Republicans finally deciding to stab him all at once via impeachment when he balks at signing their shitty bills, only to have the Senate Democrats say hmmmm….what do we get for the fifteen extra votes you need to remove him?
Nah, the GOP is loves power too much. They’ll line up and kiss the ring. Quietly they’ll grumble behind the scenes, but deep down they’re all weak. Nearly all the Never Trumps have already shrugged off their morality and started supporting him. They’ve had plenty of time to grow a set and put the country above their party. But every time we’ve asked “is this the time they finally turn their back on him” they’ve tucked tail and defended him. They buy into him for simple desire to maintain their power. Even if that means not getting what they want. We’ve expected their humanity to finally show up and stop it, but we really can’t stand back and expect that to happen. Instead we have to expect and count on them not doing so and moving forward from there.
yep, this
My sleep has never been worse. Terrible dreams all night long and an impending sense of doom at every toss and turn.
:(
Thanks, and go As.
i’m looking north to colder climates and temperate options to shape my views…
because you know that scene in strange brew when they discover the brakes have been cut by murderous greedy idiots bent on world domination? and doug just folds his arms and goes, “no point in steering now.”
*opinions
(my diction mistakes make me mad.)
so i had my first trump dream.
it. was. awesome.
him and pence and entourage are going through this large lux modern apartment i’m somehow living at with other people. they’re going through every closet and drawer, which this apt is lined with, looking for private property. apparently there’s no such thing as private property anymore so team trump is making sure no citizen is holding anything (that trump may want for himself). at the in-person drawer-by-drawer level. so pence opens a door, rummages around, takes something or not, and closes the door. trump, he comes in behind him and opens the door again just slightly. every door. at different opennesses, so they look messy. ON PURPOSE. so that someone has to come in behind him and close them all up again to tidy up. he’s, in fact, kind of annoyed that pence isn’t leaving them ajar so that he himself has to do it. but he likes doing it. it’s petty. so petty. he’s got a gleam in his eye thinking about whoever has to come clean up after him. i’m watching the whole time, from a few feet away. just drinking a cappuccino or some other nice fancy coffee beverage from a nice appliance in the kitchen. and now we’re all in the kitchen and pence inspects the dishwasher. closes it. trump opens it up and sort of rattles all the dishes off their places so that it’s all just slightly messy. he’s got this look. totally gleeful. i’m sitting there leaning on the counter, looking straight at him, laughing my ass off. what a tool, i’m thinking. petty shitty little tool. a 5-year-old. i’m still laughing when he looks at me. notices for the first time that i’m not laughing with him but directly at him, sipping coffee in between. he rattles the dishes a little louder and less tidy. i turn around. just like, poor guy, he’s got no clue about what level he’s at. i walk away. not quickly nor slowly, but just confidently at-home, walking away. he can’t stand it. runs after me, opening doors and drawers down the hallway behind me. causing a ruckus, but i’m always just a little in front of him down the hall and somehow getting further ahead. i never turn around to look. just walk and sip coffee and sort of shake my head. and he can never catch up.
i haven’t remembered a dream in a long time. glad it was that one that broke through.
The “beginning of the end of the Second Reconstruction” is a useful framework for understanding the agenda that Trump and “mainstream” republicans are likely to pursue.
I guess I should be comforted that the prezelect tweeted out a crazy desire to strip citizenship for exercise of an established first amendment right not as part of some premeditated plan but because some bullshit he was watching on Fox News tickled his lizard brain…
…but I’m not.
The flag-burning thing has earned the ACLU a $100 donation this morning. Trump is going to send their business into the stratosphere.
I’m about to do the same. Do you still get a card to carry?
they’re doing gift-matching today. no card.
can personally vouch for their sweatshirt, classic style and craftpeopleship. (currently sold out though.)
“No card”? Well HELL YES there’s a card, what would it be without that. “(your permanent card will arrive in the mail soon if you are a new member).”
I like this t-shirt.
ah, memories…
Worthwhile Canadian Initiative
Welp, so much for Romney having principles or pride.
When did that ever seem plausible?
Well he gave that one speech. You know, the one that achieved nothing, after which he did fuckall to stop any of this.
The same can said of the party itself.
I assume this result means Mr. Ryan will be banished to the committee-equivalent of Outer Mongolia.
We can come back and check. He was most recently on House Appropriations and House Budget Committees, which seem like pretty big time appointments. I’m not sure how much churn between committee positions is “normal” (i.e. at times when you don’t piss off the minority leader).
This whole debate is ridiculous to me. I have no reason to believe that the identity of congressional leadership matters a whit to who gains seats in Congress unless they are corrupt or are propositioning pages. Pelosi is good at counting noses and keeping her caucus together. That’s what actually matters.
And I wouldn’t put it past Pelosi to be on board with a challenge.
Actual quote from the supposedly deeply conservative veepelect regarding the payoff to Carrier: “The free market has been sorting it out and America’s been losingâ€
That runs contrary to everything that dudes like Paul Ryan supposedly believe in, and yet he and his boys are not going to do a thing about it as the Republican party lurches ever further away from classical liberalism. As long as he gets his tax cuts and shreds the social safety net, government interference in the market at a highly micro level is apparently A-OK.
Oh.
Cool.
tremendous murderer. The best. he is committed to solving crimes, bigly
Best case scenario with all of these foreign leader calls is that he is just completely flying by the seat of his pants.
What I think foreign leaders will ultimately conclude:
1. He’s generally full of shit and you can’t take his word for anything
2. The word of his state department is completely worthless
3. He won’t even pay lip service to caring about your human rights abuses; in fact he may admire your steel in carrying them out
4. He will not care at all about details of what is happening anywhere; will operate on “feel”
5. The surefire way to get what you need from him is to be in business with him. He will cheat you on the business deal, but you will make up for it by pantsing him on diplomacy.
OF FUCKING COURSE!
Pretty much
What in fucking hell is wrong with this idiot.
Nothing. He just puts his business interests far and away above the interests of the country. That’s all. No biggie.
He also thinks he knows more about everything than the experts and generals and other eggheads, and he never reads anything. It’s fine.
Welcome to the Trumpocalypse.
sufferin succotash, general mattis! stop saying “serious,” you sound like sylvester the cat.
What.
If anything, that should signal our need to be even MORE detailed in our review of the recount, not less so. What are you hiding because an innocent man doesn’t resort that.