Lady G Shook the Covid Tree - August 2021 US Politics Thread

fuck the world

world pregnant

world kid sad

Be a real tragedy if people followed Sinema around on vacation and bullied her.

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/08/09/the-big-money-behind-the-big-lie

i was so hoping jane mayer was the author of that before clicking :)

Dark Money is now too out of date to be a huge recommendation (though still worthwhile - i read it a few years after it came out), but i am glad that someone who writes well is paying attention

Is it? The Koch bros chapter is pathetic and chilling.

This new article is fascinating but (to me) incredibly depressing because of what it reveals about the depth and determination of the effort. And its deep pockets, obviously. It's telling that the foundation the article starts out talking about has connections from way back to the John Birch Society. The Birchers have essentially taken over, and there's almost no one left in the party to stop them.

Kurt is heard addressing Johnson at the end of the four-minute recording: “I just want to let you know there truly is a surge in Georgia. I work in hospice. So I just want to make sure you’re encouraging people to get the vaccine.”

“I’m not going to do that,” Johnson responded as his supporters jeered Kurt. “I don’t encourage or discourage.”

Before leaving the room, Kurt said: “But you’re saying things that are counterproductive and not scientific. So I just wanted you to know.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/ron-johnson-fbi/2021/08/02/5791b4aa-f25f-11eb-81d2-ffae0f931b8f_story.html

Mad props to Kurt for not erupting in violence

They've made it hard to get around the paywall— what is that article even about?

It's telling that the foundation the article starts out talking about has connections from way back to the John Birch Society. The Birchers have essentially taken over, and there's almost no one left in the party to stop them.

They've made it hard to get around the paywall— what is that article even about?

― heyy nineteen, that's john belushi (the table is the table)

Ron Johnson, asshole.

Well, I got that much— it's about Covid restrictions?

no, it was just a story about Ron Johnson telling people after a public appearance that he thinks the FBI knows more about the January 6th stuff then they are letting on, just the usual conspiracy bullshit. someone from Atlanta overheard and went to talk to him and brought up issues of covid in Georgia.

I see Hungary is the hot thing over at Fox News. A lot of people's older relatives are going to be singing Viktor Orban's praises at Thanksgiving this year, which should be great.

They've made it hard to get around the paywall

I have found that disabling javascript in a browser allows access to WAPO (and NYT) articles.

are there a lot of regular Republicans outside the pundit and political class that are super pumped about Hungary? It's hard for me to imagine this having a lot of appeal to your average conservative American.

Tucker Carlson is broadcasting from Hungary pic.twitter.com/mljlWccI5P

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 3, 2021

yeah, I'm aware this is happening, but do average people actually care about it at all?

"Insider reports, citing investigative researcher Anna Massoglia, that the Orbán government paid $265,000 to a DC lobbying firm in 2019 to arrange an interview on Tucker Carlson Tonight."

"And just how do they smoke paprika here in Budapest? What are they trying to hide?"

some of the richest cryptoturds might have to pay taxes (...yeah right. they'll get out of it)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2021/08/03/crypto-bitcoin-infrastructure-portman/

Two leading Republican senators are at odds over a proposal to step up tax-reporting requirements on cryptocurrency transactions, a measure designed to help pay for the $1 trillion infrastructure proposal moving through Congress.

Searching for new funds to pay for their infrastructure package, the White House and moderate Senate Republicans led by Sen. Rob Portman (Ohio) agreed to increase requirements for what brokerages have to report to the Internal Revenue Service. The measure emerged as a late potential compromise after months of disagreements over how to pay for the package.

The new provision is aimed at improving voluntary compliance and helping the IRS track evasion of large cryptocurrency sales, which often go unreported. But industry groups and some lawmakers, including Sen. Patrick J. Toomey (R-Pa.), are warning that the language as drafted is too broad and could give the Biden administration the opportunity to crack down on not just cryptocurrency brokers but also bitcoin “miners” who are crucial for validating transactions on the decentralized network.

most likely, they won't come to an agreement, the cryptoturd regulation will be stripped out of the package, and then republicanturds will use that as an excuse to not support the infrastructure bill because it won't be fully "paid for"

also, shocking news here, very surprising

According to @swin24, people around Trump have raised the idea of him using his platform to urge diehard fans to get the vaccine, but “he doesn’t want to do it, he doesn’t want to do Joe Biden any favors, and he doesn’t think his fans really want it.” https://t.co/a9BgxwuuKX

— Adam Weinstein (@AdamWeinstein) August 3, 2021

just the blood of hundreds of thousands on your hands, that's all

even if he was somehow compelled to "urge diehard fans to get the vaccine", they would instantly know it was an act. it's like when he finally is forced to say "ok, i don't like white supremacists, ok? is that enough?", it somehow doesn't seem very convincing

Yeah, that article on Lake of the Ozarks stated that the hardcore anti-vaxxers won't even listen to Lord Trump; their minds are made up and they're gonna own the libs even if it kills them en masse

Anyone think Cuomo will resign?

I went kayaking in the ozarks a couple weeks ago. that was a mistake, not from the standpoint of covid (it was all outside, i stayed away from the people on the river as much as i could), but just hearing hundreds of people all be terrible, for hours straight. i heard many things about libs and "the progressives" and lots of really dumb, sub-ben garrison jokes. also lots of arguments bordering on violence. when i set off, someone my age was screaming at at an old lady (i think her mother) because she was using her life-jacket as a buttpad. "you can't sit on that, you fucking idiot! you fucking idiot!" said the daughter. the old lady apologized, even though she had done nothing wrong. (i was sitting on my life-jacket as i witnessed this, in fact). as my kayak drifter out toward the center of the water, the fight escalated and i heard a loud slap on skin and then "OW! don't fucking hit me! don't you fucking hit me!!" and so on. this kind of scene happened another handful of times throughout the journey, these arguments escalating and based on...nothing. just nothing. when "the public" wasn't doing that, they were talking about libs and making threatening remarks to me and my friends as we passed by, i guess because we had weird hair and were obviously on drugs that weren't shitty beer.

in other words, i agree, they are beyond redemption and now their sole pleasure in life is to see how low they can go

xp

nope! he'll stay and fight

I went kayaking in the ozarks a couple weeks ago. that was a mistake, not from the standpoint of covid (it was all outside, i stayed away from the people on the river as much as i could), but just hearing hundreds of people all be terrible, for hours straight. i heard many things about libs and "the progressives" and lots of really dumb, sub-ben garrison jokes. also lots of arguments bordering on violence. when i set off, someone my age was screaming at at an old lady (i think her mother) because she was using her life-jacket as a buttpad. "you can't sit on that, you fucking idiot! you fucking idiot!" said the daughter. the old lady apologized, even though she had done nothing wrong. (i was sitting on my life-jacket as i witnessed this, in fact). as my kayak drifter out toward the center of the water, the fight escalated and i heard a loud slap on skin and then "OW! don't fucking hit me! don't you fucking hit me!!" and so on. this kind of scene happened another handful of times throughout the journey, these arguments escalating and based on...nothing. just nothing. when "the public" wasn't doing that, they were talking about libs and making threatening remarks to me and my friends as we passed by, i guess because we had weird hair and were obviously on drugs that weren't shitty beer.

in other words, i agree, they are beyond redemption and now their sole pleasure in life is to see how low they can go

― Z_TBD (Karl Malone

This is...jaw-dropping, like, a circle of hell. Chronic rudeness toward the old?

followed by chronic slapping from the old, which is kind of lol

Who slapped whom? I assumed the screamer was the slapper.

it was unclear to me who slapped who, but i think it was the daughter. she was a very loud, ignorant asshole

just off a different river, NW Illinois, last weekend, i helped some other friends set up a giant balloon sculpture with a hyper-detailed rendering of my friend's face on it. he just turned 40, and was the reason we were there. the face was clearly visible even from about 1500-2000 feet away, it was amazing. anyway, while we were setting it up, canoes and rafts would occasionally float by. inevitably, they yelled out "is it a gender reveal?!!", to which one of my friends (accurately) said "no, it's public art!", and they said "nothing", then another friend said "it's an age reveal!", and that seemed to make them mad, and then a third friend said "it's a giant balloon with our friend's face on it. you can't see the face because it's drawn on the other side of the balloon. it's his birthday", and they said "oh". they were floating so slowly that about 10 minutes later, i walked down the trail to piss, downriver a bit, and found myself within listening distance of them again. one woman in the group said the guy with the purple hair kinda looked like brad pitt - i do not, at all, but it made me feel good! - but was quickly answered by someone who said "if you're into fags", and then the whole group (dozen or so) laughed heartily.

goddammit Maven, pass me my goddamn shitty beer and give me my sunblock back you fucking asshole daughter!!!

if i made a zine called "I heard it on the river" and sold it for $15 and it went toward my studio TBD/life/donation bullshit, would anyone buy it? i'm tempted to go back and bring my zoom recorder, set up camp right on the riverbank again

if you're into fags

It's Mourning Again in the Midwest!

I used to labor under the impression that the vast majority of Americans are decent, hardworking, salt-of-the-earth types, but now I just don't know

then I guess that I jut don't know

I lived in my share of rural backwaters in my yoot, and while they were stifling and unpleasant places at times, I think the people living in those places (like the place where my mom lives and I lived my last two years of high school, which was conservative and ol' fayshun for sure but mostly just quietly ignorable but is now apparently filled to the brim with rabid Trumpists) have gradually gone completely insane since those days.

I'm sure drugs are a factor, but certainly not the only factor.

to be clear, a lot of these rural backwaters were also insane back in the day

Oh for sure. It could be, as much as anything, just a matter of people who've always been insane but tamped down by the rapidly-eroding mores of polite society now feeling free to let their insane flag fly outside of the confines of their own broken homes.

I was up visiting family in Humboldt County CA last week, and now there's a weird fusion of gun-toting yet weed growing Trumpy-types living in the hills.. I guess ' rural counterculture libertarian' would be an apt description? It's an odd combo but maybe not that weird anymore

conservative stoners are the worst

i had to split an apartment with one for a summer in Boulder (i think i posted about this at length on 77 when it happened, way back when).

all they did was smoke spliffs and watch south park, talk about how good south park was, and played beer pong

Always bogarting the j n shit

he also scored a philosophical victory over me one evening when he confronted me about my reasons for being a vegetarian, which were basically just that meat consumption typically requires much more energy than a vegetarian diet. he pointed to the Morning Star package i had pulled out of the freezer. "you do know that it takes energy to make that fake burger too, right?", he said. yes, i did. he walked off

i did inspire one of them, though, in the group. he always seemed like a decent enough guy, and near the end of my time there he told me that he was reading a book! like, he was really excited about that! i don't remember what the book was. hope it wasn't History of South Park or something, but still it seemed to be a positive development in his life

sorry, not sure why i'm turning this thread into Stories About Dumb People I Have Met

especially when I could be working on I Heard It on the River

Growing up in Humboldt, there was a distinct split between the back-to-the-land hippie growers (the new folks) and the multi-generational rancher/logger types (the old folks) but now it seems those lines have at least partially blurred... or so the bumper stickers would seem to indicate lol
*Dancing bears yelling 'stop the steal'*

Okay I didn't actually see that sticker but still

This is actually addressed in that Sasquatch documentary on Hulu, the overlap of back to the land hippies and gun-toting get off my landers. The doc notes a big change happened once the federal government started messing with everybody up there in the 80s and the value of pot skyrocketed (and some organized crime established their presence). Even the back to the landers had to start carrying weapons to protect their crops.

Out on the road today I saw a MAGA sticker on a VW bus

DON’T LOOK BACK

The Q phenomenon seems to be pretty inclusive.. a place where far-left wingnuts and far-right kooks can find common ground

no, that's los angeles

This is an interesting thread…

This anti-vaxxer getting humiliated by @waltermasterson is named Ashley Jefferey.

Ashley Jefferey is an actor, with an IMDB profile.

He has no visible means of income. He has unlimited free time to attend anti-vaxx events 5 days a week.

Let's dive in. pic.twitter.com/aX4zL9IOmu

— Chad Loder (@chadloder) August 1, 2021

omg

i saw that on twitter and responded "who cares what their income is", because without context (the other tweets), i didn't see it was a series meant to illustrate the theme that a bunch of failed actors are suddenly spending all their free time doing anti-vaxx stuff. a minute later, i replied to myself "oh whoops, i see what the point was, nevermind", but then a few seconds later, the original tweeter was like "READ BEHIND THE LINES, ZACH". and then i was like "oh i did! yeah i should have read the other posts, haha!" and then we made up. we're all good. but ever since then, ever 20 minutes some guy on the internet hits the Like button on "READ BEHIND THE LINES, ZACH"

Read between the lines Zach

— Chad Loder (@chadloder) August 1, 2021

Sorry, I did not mean to contribute to your Twitter shame…

lol

oh, it it's moved beyond shame now

Chad Loder will pay. and all of his followers will pay. Kurt Loder will pay as well

well well well if it isn't the exact thing the right accuses every single leftist movement of being

Yeah hmm it’s almost like there is a pattern here, and you can tell exactly what they’re up to, based on what they are accusing others of. To me it’s like they are tipping their hand, every time there is concentrated focus on a particular accusation, it’s plain as day that’s exactly the thing they are doing behind the scenes, but I guess it’s all part of their game.

don't worry everyone. it's been confirmed. you know michael fanone, the 1/6/21 cop who recently testified about how he was pulled into the mob and beaten? well, it turns out that he was NOT the guy who was in the crowd holding the giant confederate flag and leading the charge into the capitol.

Fact Check: D.C. police officer Michael Fanone was not pictured carrying confederate flag at the Capitol siege, as some social media posts claim https://t.co/87Wrs7VdFP pic.twitter.com/Agl3n7dWz3

— Reuters (@Reuters) August 3, 2021

what? i'm sorry? what was the question? i eat metal. i like to chew on the metals and be #1

i have heard that Fauci is actually behind all this covid. he travels the world and knows everyone. don't you think it's weird how everyone just trusts him? there's something not right about him. so why is he in charge of covid?

how come when i touch the wall i don't go through it

i got a rock stuck under my foot, dumb sandal

Fact check: noted public doctor Dr Anthony Fauci is not behind Covid.

Fauci started AIDS too. World's biggest serial killer.

isn't it kind of suspicious how the public health official keeps showing up for these terrible things that happen to the whole world?

it's like...hey what's Fauci doing there again? what are the chances?

it's him they should be investigating

If he's so smart and so good, then why is there still Covid, or for that matter any illness? $$$

they should do a task force report to determine the chances of Fauci being there for both AIDS and now COVID. if he's one of 330 million people in the USA, then i think it would be like the chances of someone winning the lottery twice, so like 1/330m^2 probably

xp

FOLLOW THE MONEY, that's what i always say

Fauci Fauci, Louis Louis, Fendi Fendi, Prada

"fauci ouchie" is one of the more regrettable covid-era folkisms

uuuuuuugh

“House of Fauci”

The faaather the sooon and the house of faucccci

"fauci ouchie" is one of the more regrettable covid-era folkisms

I straight-up threatened to murder people who said this in my vicinity

I was like "you are over 50, act like it"

murderous djp otm

Fauci Fauci, Louis Louis, Fendi Fendi, Prada

who da fuq is Lady G

i think that's lindsey

ah

Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), whose state is experiencing record COVID hospitalizations, to President Biden:

“Why don’t you do your job? Why don't you get this border secure? And until you do that, I don’t wanna hear a blip about COVID from you, thank you.” pic.twitter.com/lqyTV1l9ou

— The Recount (@therecount) August 4, 2021

Christ, such an asshole. But this whiny baby bullshit whataboutism is what his base eats up.

I really hate the Lady G shit.

Is DeSantis complaining about ... the border they share with Alabama and Georgia?

He wants Biden to stop COVID from getting out of Florida.

Such a perfect encapsulation of the modern Republican party: ignoring a true crisis while wanting to focus on something that isn't much of a problem except in the mind of bigots.

Priorities 2021

1. CRT
2. Election fraud
3. Drag queen storytime
4. Snowflake Olympians
5. Dr. Suess
6. Guys speaking Spanish over there
7. Thing that is just like slavery

as much as I hated Rick Scott, even he wasn't quite this horrible, though we're talking about the difference between an F minus and a "get the fuck out of my school"

Rick Scot would for sure have blamed COVID on migrant crossings.

DeSantis wants to replace Trump while remaining a loyal lapdog lackey

It was driving me crazy last night trying to figure out what that DeSantis fit reminded me of, it finally hit me this morning.

A year or two out of college I was the architect's rep for a project that got off to a really bad start, the contractor fucked up royally and installed the foundations in the wrong place. It was a mess. So the owner/developer held this big "let's get back on track" meeting at his office. The hard work had mostly been done so the meeting was mostly to talk how to avoid issues in the future and to ease some ruffled feathers. Anyway, the CEO for the contractor flies into the meeting about 15 minutes late, seething and in an obvious rage but doesn't say a word, just sits there for about 20 minutes visibly fuming. Finally he stands up, interrupting a project engineer, and shouts something along the lines of, "it took me 20 minutes to find a parking spot without a pothole that would damage my car, if you can't even fix your own fucking parking lot then I have no reason to fix your fucking building" before stomping out, slamming the door and knocking a couple plaques off the wall. Mind you, his was the company that screwed up in the first place and had already publicly accepted responsibility. It was insane.

This was the same guy that, seven years later, called my boss and told me I was banned from parking in his company's lot during project meetings because I had an Obama magnet on my wife's car.

At what point exactly did 'ambulatory burlap sack filled with human feces' become an aspirational state, is what I keep wondering and wondering

When the even richer ambulatory burlap sacks filled with human feces started giving them money and they figured out a way to scam poor people out of their money too.

Anyway, the CEO for the contractor flies into the meeting about 15 minutes late, seething and in an obvious rage but doesn't say a word, just sits there for about 20 minutes visibly fuming. Finally he stands up, interrupting a project engineer, and shouts something along the lines of, "it took me 20 minutes to find a parking spot without a pothole that would damage my car, if you can't even fix your own fucking parking lot then I have no reason to fix your fucking building" before stomping out, slamming the door and knocking a couple plaques off the wall.

I can only picture Tim Robinson as the CEO.

ice cold

It should fill Floridians with confidence that their state approaches climate change with the same foresight and attention to facts as the inspiring response to COVID.

— Dan Rather (@DanRather) August 5, 2021

maybe I’m off but i feel like conservative nerds like the Very Serious Brett Stephens were singing DeSantis’ praises not 3 months ago, specifically w regard to his handling of Covid(!?!). wonder if he’s done any reassessment on that front.

As Delta COVID surges cases across the country and fills hospitals in low-vaccine Red States, Republicans have been test-driving a range of messages to maneuver out of accountability for their reckless policies on vaccines. They’ve tried a belated effort to push vaccines, deny they were ever against them and then sidled back to opposing various kinds of vaccine mandates. But over the last couple days they’ve started pushing a new message: the problem is undocumented immigrants “pouring” over the US-Mexico border. Embattled Florida Governor Ron DeSantis put it this way (emphasis added) in a fundraising email sent out yesterday: “Joe Biden has the nerve to tell me to get out of the way on COVID while he lets COVID-infected migrants pour over our southern border by the hundreds of thousands. No elected official is doing more to enable the transmission of COVID in America than Joe Biden with his open borders policies.”

He used a slightly modified version of his new message in a press conference yesterday in Florida.

And he’s not the only one. Ted Cruz was pushing the new message as well, “the election of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris … a super spreader event because their open border” is flooding Texas and the rest of the country with COVID.

And then there’s the lightly vaccinated state of Iowa.

Reacting to rising cases counts in the state, Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds (R) Tuesday pointed the finger of blame at immigrants entering the country over the US-Mexico border.”Part of the problem is the southern border is open and we’ve got 88 countries that are coming across the border and they don’t have vaccines so none of them are vaccinated and they’re getting dispersed throughout the country,” Reynolds said at a Tuesday news conference. Her spokesperson circulated a Fox News article which claimed that 135 immigrant detainees in Texas had tested positive for COVID.

The rush of comments, all emerging within 24 to 36 hours of each other, have all the hallmarks of a coordinated messaging push trying to shift the public conversation away from increasing calls for schools, hospitals and big companies to mandates vaccination for their employees. Most also push an unverified claim from the city of McAllen, Texas that 1500 COVID-positive undocumented immigrants were released into the community over the previous seven days – a story that’s made the rounds of the Fox-o-sphere and the rest of the Murdoch empire. The New York Post and The Wall Street Journal have both published editorials in the last 48 hours pointing to undocumented immigrants as the source of soaring COVID rates. Last week, according to a Facebook post flagged by The New York Post, someone flagged down a police office in La Joya, Texas to complain about what they identified as a “family of immigrants” at a local Whataburger “coughing and sneezing without covering their mouth and not wearing face masks.”

it's time to blame immigrants again

good morning!

ted cruz will sign my painting of ted cruz, i declare it

whining about unvaccinated immigrants "coughing and sneezing" while refusing to get vaccinated or wear a mask is just ultimate Republican shit, surprised it took 'em this long to adopt that messaging

Jon, that guy sounds like the king of all assholes.

“family of immigrants” at a local Whataburger “coughing and sneezing without covering their mouth and not wearing face masks.”

Sound like they're fitting right in to their new home

At what point exactly did 'ambulatory burlap sack filled with human feces' become an aspirational state, is what I keep wondering and wondering

1492, 1619, 1776, 6000BC, 49BC many many options.

Jon, that guy sounds like the king of all assholes.

Absolutely was, just embodied every stereotype of the rich conservative asshole you can imagine. Constantly screamed at and belittled people, bragged about his wealth at every turn, just awful. Thank god I got out of his orbit years ago, but I'm absolutely positive he'd be a rapid MAGAt now. I genuinely expect to see his name pop up in reporting on 1/6.

"rabid MAGAt"

Halston, Gucci, Tony Fauci

Courtney Love and Marilyn Manson

I really hate the Lady G shit.

cosigned a billion percent

i cosign at the ten thousand percent level, as i have other percentage points i need to save for other signings

can we call him Lady Antebellum instead

Seems more reasonable just to call him Lindsey Graham. The "Lady" stuff mocks him for the wrong reasons.

we could call him Shart-Scented Fuckface, I'd be cool with that

Charles Pierce's Huckleberry Butchmeup can't be bettered.

That’s even worse, somehow.

posts very much in character

ILX in a nutshell

let's do it again

So, if your beloved nieces will perform tomorrow at the Trump Doral, would you attend?

I mean, is it possible to watch the performance while extending your middle finger in the direction of his name the entire time?

Get drunk...on freedom!

Chills pic.twitter.com/mhCRXC5MZo

— Mary Margaret Olohan (@MaryMargOlohan) August 5, 2021

whaaaaat the fuuuuuuuuu

Greatest twist ending ever. M. Night Shyamalan is now actively considering a career in advertising.

Chills . . . but only the Chardonnay. Serve the Cab at room temperature.

i made one of my typical uncomfortable replies to nobody, to that one, which was notable because i made a good true joke:

"[my dad died, etc]. he liked to mix water with wine because he didn’t actually like wine. He probably would have liked your wine."

And from:

Pope Ramsey (@Ramsey_Campbell)

I love a good Pinochet Noir

We the People wine... but who picks the grapes?

Just to understand Gov. Florida...

Immigrants from central and south America know the perils of communism first hand - BUT those people coming across the border are the real super spreaders.

De-funding the police over a disagreement over policies is BAD, but de-funding public education over disagreements mask mandates is GOOD.

OK, got ya.

I think to truly understand Gov. Florida, it's important to acknowledge that he's constantly asking himself, 'okay, how can I be the biggest asshole imaginable in this particular situation?' It's a magnificent recipe for sound governance.

I was kinda worried about DeSantis running in 2024 but I've come to realize he's just as dumb as Trump but with none of the personality

'okay, how can I be the biggest asshole imaginable in this particular situation'

I really kinda think that is the Florida state motto.

in all seriousness - this is a very frightening time. i can't believe what i have seen, and what i'm still seeing play out now. it makes me dislike "people". i don't want to be like that. i am surrounded by people who aren't "people". but the idiots seem to be overwhelming the system. i don't think that's 100% a function of the media/clickbait thing, either, where the media is pulled to highlight the worst, dumbest stuff because it gets the most clicks. it may be related to that, but there's something real underneath there. i don't know what the fuck happened to everyone, but everyone has collectively lost their fucking minds

"“We can either have a free society or we can have a biomedical security state and I can tell you, Florida, we’re a free state"

this is the governor

here's the governor of NJ

“YOU ARE THE ULTIMATE KNUCKLEHEADS.”@GovMurphy with the mic drop pic.twitter.com/2wGK0019wF

— New Jersey (@NJGov) August 4, 2021

since he's saying something that is clearly true, i expect he will be punished for this and will be voted out of office soon.

if i were a governor, i would create a crisis on my second day in office because all the legal types would have to figure out how to handle me jumping over a barricade and punching a q_anon covid truther in the motherfucking face

I just want to move ahead to season 6 on Netflix when they start shooting each other and the dragons show up.

"Stupid is coming..."

I think the problem is that stupid and/or evil people, in stretching out their tentacles of stupidity/evil, have found surprisingly little resistance within polite society. Like there needs to be some serious, immediate, and concrete consequence for behaving like a rabid baboon or else...why not behave like a rabid baboon, if such is your wont? And if those consequences aren't institutional, well, I guess people are going to have to take some matters into their own hands at a point.

Like I hate to think that it'll come down to that, but I don't know what other option there is in the face of overgrown toddlers who exist just to wreck shit while their guardians just haplessly stand around with a 'whattayagonnado?' expression plastered across their dumb faces.

i took a screenshot of someone in a crowd that was shouting down a school district board because they wanted to require masks or something. the ring leader was saying that the board was a dictatorship and would be replaced by the "people "or whatever. while all that was happening, this guy was sitting 4 to the left:

https://i.imgur.com/7oZ5YrN.png

does he think the q_anon person is dumb? does he think the school board is a dictatorship? is he thinking about what title he would like when they overthrow the school board? he's a real nowhere man...

https://i.imgur.com/7oZ5YrN.pnghttps://i.imgur.com/7oZ5YrN.pnghttps://i.imgur.com/7oZ5YrN.png
https://i.imgur.com/7oZ5YrN.pnghttps://i.imgur.com/7oZ5YrN.pnghttps://i.imgur.com/7oZ5YrN.png
https://i.imgur.com/7oZ5YrN.pnghttps://i.imgur.com/7oZ5YrN.pnghttps://i.imgur.com/7oZ5YrN.png

welp, just another school board meeting where madison cawthorne shows up to express support for the revolution to overthrow the dictatorial covid conspiracy hoaxists

https://i.imgur.com/7oZ5YrN.png

Climb aboard the Almost Heaven, which is somewhere between a trawler and a yacht, big and boxy. Step inside the cabin and marvel at the creature comforts: a semicircular, plush-leather couch with a matching ottoman, glass cabinets trimmed with dark wood, a marble dining-room table with thick white candles and a box of blue-and-white cocktail napkins with red cursive lettering: "Welcome aboard Almost Heaven." Below deck, the master bedroom is cozy but well-appointed, with an abundance of throw pillows. There's a guest room with a bed above the washer/dryer.

Up on the party deck, amid the wrought-iron chairs and tables with umbrellas, you might see Trump-allied Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), just months removed from objecting to President Biden’s election, talking college football with Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

“Pete’s from Notre Dame,” said Tuberville, a former college football coach, recalling a visit to Almost Heaven. “So we talked about the ‘Catholics versus Convicts’ game I coached in 1988, when Notre Dame went on to win its last national championship. I was coaching in Miami. We went for two at the end of the game. Didn’t make it.”

coach is on the 30-yard-line, and it's 4th and long but he's only 3 points behind. and there's only 10 seconds left. you know coach has pulled off many a hail mary in his time but as a public leader he thinks he may have to play to tie this time. play it safe. but coach doesn't want to tie. coach wants to win

this is all on joe machin's houseboat btw

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/joe-manchin-boat/2021/08/05/a3575508-f5e7-11eb-a49b-d96f2dac0942_story.html

And hey, look at that view! On one evening cruise, some years back, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) was so moved by the picturesque Washington skyline that she began singing “God Bless America.”

And see this chair here? Sen. Ted Cruz is said to have once rested his foot atop this seat, standing in the Captain Morgan pose, polishing off three beers in a matter of minutes while talking to one of his most liberal colleagues, then-senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa). “He was drinking those beers like water,” said former senator Mark Begich (D-Alaska) who watched the conversation in awe.

they are leading these weeeeeeeeeeeeird magic lives on a houseboat while we all fucking die

what do we think about that? what does america's heartthrob think of all this? is this normal? is this good?

https://i.imgur.com/7oZ5YrN.png

yeah....yeah. that's how i feel, too. i think. ?

since he's saying something that is clearly true, i expect he will be punished for this and will be voted out of office soon.

Murphy's reasonably popular (57%) on his own, but he's more than 20 points ahead of the no-name jagoff who won the Republican primary. I think he'll survive — he's handled the Rona well, and he legalized weed.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/1/1a/Randall_Flagg_%28Jamey_Sheridan%29.jpg/170px-Randall_Flagg_%28Jamey_Sheridan%29.jpg

even former cool guy dave grohl is starting to lose it. nbd, just playing the bee gees on a trailer to troll the intellectual center of white evangelicalism. it's 2021, we all need to blow off steam

See Foo Fighters troll Westboro Baptist Church with Bee Gees classic before Kansas concert. https://t.co/1WpPDt6Olf

— Rolling Stone (@RollingStone) August 6, 2021

I think the problem is that stupid and/or evil people, in stretching out their tentacles of stupidity/evil, have found surprisingly little resistance within polite society. Like there needs to be some serious, immediate, and concrete consequence for behaving like a rabid baboon or else...why not behave like a rabid baboon, if such is your wont?

That there are no consequences for not following the rules is the biggest takeaway from the Trump era.

Norms were never going to save us.

biomedical security state

This seems like one of those phrases that's going to be everywhere. The baroque bullshit these people come up with.

Golly gee wilickers

https://www.politico.com/news/2021/08/06/vaccine-demand-states-delta-502701

Pete Buttigeig visited the town I grew up in today, for some reason.

U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg answers a question from Kyle Mazza of UNF News on if the bipartisan infrastructure deal goes far enough for progressives and what the response is to criticism from Former President Donald J. Trump in Westfield, NJ on August 9, 2021 pic.twitter.com/bc9O59hHfT

— Kyle Mazza (@KyleMazzaWUNF) August 9, 2021

UPRIGHT

EVERYTHING'S ALRIGHT

UPTIGHT

Mayor Pete, Fan of Obscure Green Day Cuts

Infrastructure bill passed in the Senate

It's kind of funny to think that was one of the few things Trump probably could have pushed through, but again and again and again he dithered in favor of total bullshit.

it was such a gimme

Wait, is it actually Infrastructure Week, at long last?

iirc it is a bipartisan 1/5 of infrastructure week

are they still planning on that reconciliation bill?

Cuomo resigns

https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/09/politics/senate-reconciliation-package/index.html

Ted the Obstructor!

Nearly seven months since he took office, only 10 of Biden’s State Department nominees have been confirmed. Dozens more, including some 60 would-be ambassadors, face what one person familiar with the situation called Cruz’s “death grip.” Other senators have put holds on nominees, but none has enforced such a blanket block without an easy path through it as Cruz.

The Texas Republican is blocking State Department nominees en masse because he is upset that Biden waived some sanctions related to Nord Stream 2, a Russian-German energy pipeline project that the United States has long opposed.

Overall, Biden has nominated 405 people for Senate-confirmable positions across the government, including the State Department. Of those, 288 are still awaiting confirmation, far more than his modern predecessors...

Maybe Uncle Joe should buy him a twelver of Shiner Bock

Cory Booker's a try-hard with the brains of a Labrador retriever, but he has his moments.

"This is a gift," Cory Booker says in an animated speech praising Tommy Tuberville's non-binding amendment to punish localities that defund the police.

"I am sure I will see no political ads attacking anybody here over defund the police."

It passed 99-0, all Dems voted for it. pic.twitter.com/GUqAfcSlxH

— Andrew Solender (@AndrewSolender) August 11, 2021

I'll be deeply disappointed if I find out they didn't in fact sashay.

the party of SCIENCE:

FULL STATEMENT: The White House urges OPEC+ to pump more oil (above and beyond the current 400,000 b/d monthly hikes the cartel is already implementing) | #OOTT pic.twitter.com/qnWA1l7Pnt

— Javier Blas (@JavierBlas) August 11, 2021

that's funny, i'm sure i saw Joe Biden sternly tweeting that the time to address climate change is now

IN THIS HOUSE WE BELIEVE...pumping more oil is science

Perhaps when you get into office, you get a top secret briefing that time-traveling aliens have communicated the sell-by date of humanity as May 27th, 2045, so ... fk it.

hey guys, the faster we pump the oil, the faster we run out of it. Fossil fuel emissions at zero. Science!

ugh a building should collapse on top of Cory Booker.

$3.5T budget resolution passed in the Senate. Looks like infrastructure + big reconciliation will indeed happen.

Alfred, did you just call Rosario Dawson a brickhouse

“I have serious concerns about the grave consequences facing West Virginians and every American family if Congress decides to spend another $3.5 trillion,” Manchin said in a statement Wednesday.

Timmy asked his mother to come inside and tearfully asked his mother if the increased government spending was going to lead to an increase in Capital Gains taxes.

And for the first time, Beverley had no answer

lol

Republican tax cuts and increased spending = responsible statecraft
Democrat spending = KARL MARX wearing a BLM mask

My statement raising concerns about the consequences of passing a $3.5 trillion budget: pic.twitter.com/gGsEXcVTxd

— Senator Joe Manchin (@Sen_JoeManchin) August 11, 2021

that's a long paragraph

guess who our grandchildren are going to owe that money to, joe

other americans who are living at that time

if the citizens of this country aren't happy with that they can tax those other americans more and get their money back

in summary, shut the fuck up

what a half-assed personal logo

This disingenuous asshole trying to put the toothpaste back in the tube:

Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) gets heckled at a fundraising event for saying the 2020 election wasn’t stolen:

“Don’t kid yourself into believing that’s why we lost … 5 different states? Hundreds of thousands of votes? You’re kidding yourself.” pic.twitter.com/gj0tAb22lA

— The Recount (@therecount) August 12, 2021

that'll be about the most accountability he'll face for what he's done. awkward moments at a fundraiser

Guarantee he tweets out an apology for this "misstatement" and doubles down on "the election was stolen" narrative within 24 hours.

if thine offend thee, etc

"Tucker, I never said I doubted that the election was stolen. That just didn't happen. Now what I want to talk about tonight is something that's real, and that's the war on our souther border bla bla bla"

Vast swaths of rural America--and an outright majority of all counties--lose population, per Census pic.twitter.com/7sU8ZS8wIS

— Nate Cohn (@Nate_Cohn) August 12, 2021

Early read: based on the strong urban and weaker rural numbers I'm seeing, this is a *much* more favorable Census count than minority advocacy groups/Dems had feared.

— Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) August 12, 2021

Per Census: Hispanics are 18.7% of the U.S. population, *higher* than the 18.6% from the Census's most recent population estimates and up from 16.3% in the 2010 census.

— Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) August 12, 2021

xxpost Crenshaw didn't vote against certification iirc

There they go again, assuming Hispanics are reliable Dem voters

i can't read his mind, but that's not what i'm assuming. hispanics went for biden 70/30. an increase in the fraction of hispanic voters (or any group other that white voters) is good news for the democrats. that's not the same as taking a bloc voters for granted or assuming they all vote the same way.

There they go again, assuming Hispanics are reliable Dem voters

― Andy the Grasshopper,

Trump gained with some segments of Hispanic voters (hi! I live in Miami-Dade County) but Biden still won handily.

xp crenshaw is like almost all of the GOP - he speaks out of both sides of his mouth depending on the audience

https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/17/politics/fact-check-crenshaw-republican-amicus-meet-the-press-overturn-election/index.html

May 17 -- Washington (CNN)Texas Rep. Dan Crenshaw tried Sunday to downplay his December decision to sign on to a legal brief in support of the Texas lawsuit that sought to get the Supreme Court to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

The extraordinary and ultimately unsuccessful lawsuit from Texas' Republican attorney general asked the Supreme Court to invalidate the results of the election in Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Georgia, all of which were won by Joe Biden.
Crenshaw and 125 other House Republicans backed the Texas lawsuit in a submission to the court known as an amicus brief. Crenshaw defended his decision in a Sunday appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press" -- telling host Chuck Todd that the amicus brief has been unfairly portrayed by the media.

"You guys in the press painted that as some extreme action, and of course it wasn't," Crenshaw said. "That amicus brief was a simple question of the Supreme Court, in saying, 'Can you please speak to this question of whether, of whether process changes in the election -- last minute, not approved by the legislature -- can be deemed constitutional?' It was a question, and they didn't want to answer that question."

Meanwhile is America's Most Bloodthirsty Governor retreating slightly?

After weeks of hesitance from the state to release more detailed coronavirus case data, Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday signaled a willingness to reverse Florida’s stance.

Cases and hospitalizations are skyrocketing across the state, but the trends are uneven, the governor said. Jacksonville has long gotten the worst of this summer’s surge, for example. Other areas in the state are reporting more sick patients, but some are nearer to their peaks than others, he said.

Given the regional pandemic differences, DeSantis said it may be time for Florida to report more detailed information than the case data published daily by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — daily data the state shares with the federal government but not the public.

“It is a huge state, and I think that these waves are not necessarily uniform,” DeSantis said at a press conference in Jacksonville. “With these daily cases, those are reported publicly every day to the CDC so people have access to that. But in terms of breaking it down by county, that may not be a bad idea going forward. I know we used to look at that a lot.”

DeSantis’ remarks come weeks after experts began calling for the state to resume sharing more coronavirus data so citizens could be more informed about the state of their communities.

more racist boomers moving to Florida:

"The nation’s fastest growing metropolitan area was The Villages, a sprawling retirement community in central Florida that saw a 39% population gain during the decade." https://t.co/udfKL9kkd6

— Tarini Parti (@tparti) August 12, 2021

that place is truly evil

Just found out my aunt moved there awhile back. She's very "nice" but I could always tell my mom loathed her. When I grew up I realized why. When my aunt visited my parents' home in 2010 or so, my mom hung up a framed photo in the living room of Obama just to fuck with her lololol.

So ... US census stuff that just came out seems positive for Democrats?

oh, I see, addressed up thread.

So much happens that maybe I missed this:

Have any laws been passed to require presidential candidates to make their taxes public?

why would we do that? what with the audits they have to deal with, these important men with money, always getting harassed by the IRS, they can't just hand over their taxes

not federally AFAIK but it's been a story in the CA governor recall. the current leading candidate in the event of a succesfull recall sued to establish that the law didn't apply:

https://calmatters.org/politics/2021/07/newsom-recall-tax-returns-2/
https://www.capradio.org/articles/2021/07/21/judge-puts-larry-elder-on-recall-ballot-throws-out-tax-return-requirement/

Does anybody follow any GOP or right wing sites? I was just wondering what it is they're finding to complain about lately. Just the same ol' shit? What are they going to run on, the Crisis at the Border?

White rage iirc

Afganistan

Socialism, erosion of family values, erosion of what made/makes America great, persecution of Christianity, personal freedoms, immigration, the national debt, American intervention overseas, the education system, the elite agenda, black and blue lives matter, fake climate change, etc. Add a short audience attention span, and the well never dries.

What are they going to run on

afaics, they'll coast along on tribal identity, emotional appeals to 'we cherish your freedom and they will rob it from you and your children', rebranding the democratic budget as 'dangerous socialism', plus all the signature Trump hits like 'border crisis' and 'own the libs'. iow, nothing remotely new, because they refuse to acknowledge a role for government in solving anyone's real problems.

they've been trying to make INFLATION happen. I just saw a ted cruz tweet that claimed the Democratic party is "structurally pro-China" whatever that means

Means we buy a lot of things made in China.

Cruz just seems like he's indulging in pinning a vaguely ominous label on his opponents, like 'pinko' but way clunkier. I'd be greatly surprised if any R (other than Trump) called loudly for reviving the trade war with China as an issue in 2022 or 2024, now that rural America has a clearer idea about what that actually entails.

Btw, this fucker DeSantis, pushing Regeneron as a “70 percent reduction in hospitalization and death for covid patients," but not promoting the vaccine, which is 99% effective at limiting hospitalization and death.

They don't have to run on anything different than they do every two years, they just have to hope for weak turnout among Black and young voters.

Cruz just seems like he's indulging in pinning a vaguely ominous label on his opponents, like 'pinko' but way clunkier.

Oh he's not at all vague in other tweets, and you're right: he's silent on trade and big on Covid-lab theories.

Is Trump President again

good morning!

#BREAKING Biden increases US deployment to Afghanistan to 5,000 as Taliban roll on pic.twitter.com/Dd9WjahrBH

— AFP News Agency (@AFP) August 14, 2021

No matter what Biden does in any direction, the results on the ground in Afghanistan will look terrible when it's shown in the media. He can't win this now. Best he can do at this late date is evacuate a few more Afghans who were deeply implicated by working for the US/NATO armies, before Kabul is taken.

Politically, it might look bad, but what are the Republicans going to do, campaign on sending troops to Afghanistan? Then again, that party is so fucked up I can totally see it.

When something looks like a humiliating disaster, all the Republicans need do is cluck their tongues and point at it as loudly as possible. No need for them to bring up the idea they might have done better. They couldn't. They will pretend their hands are clean. They aren't.

This week, the Biden administration resumed @ICEgov deportation flights to Haiti, deporting more than 100 Haitian asylum-seekers, including children. https://t.co/6fIiUVl1Qv pic.twitter.com/co7saxvq7j

— Max Granger (@_maxgranger) August 14, 2021

Q-Anon-ers are dragging Dan Crenshaw for being a RINO, and I'm here for it, especially as proof that my enemy's enemy is still an enemy.

VP on Afghanistan: "We will leave in 2014."

— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) October 12, 2012

"Relax, Jack" said the Biden,
"We are programmed to receive.
You can check-out any time you like,
But you can never leave!"

The U.S. military has a very real predicament. It must now evacuate the embassy in Kabul, via Hamid Karzai International Airport. What happens when Afghans grasp the gravity of the situation, the airport is swarmed? This is why it needed to keep Bagram open.

— Bill Roggio (@billroggio) August 14, 2021

In a way, Biden is lucky this mess is happening in August when most Americans are tuned out to political news.

What are you talking about, this will obviously be the key issue of the 2022 campaigns, especially once it's revealed that the Taliban are using the opium money to fund Antifa.

the cia dialling into video calls with “CIA” as their name on the screen is absolutely hysterical to me https://t.co/VhT3QwT2PI

— michael wave (@SzMarsupial) August 15, 2021

Chaser p good

these are my medals mother, from cia

— michael wave (@SzMarsupial) August 15, 2021

The American flag being liberated from our embassy in Afghanistan. Something the Left will never understand. pic.twitter.com/q3sYcmp6ZD

— Buzz Patterson (@BuzzPatterson) August 15, 2021

Totally perplexing. What's a flag?

You Floridians will chortle at the bootleg Trump/DeSantis 2024 sign I saw today.

I want to sell merch that says "DeSantisized for your Protection."

The American flag being liberated from our embassy in Afghanistan. Something the Left will never understand.

I thought those colors didn't run?

Something the Left will never understand.

Sure we do. It's a potential trophy, like the helmet and sword of your slain enemy hanging in the mead hall of a bunch of Vikings, so you can gloat over it. Shit like that's been happening for thousands of years. It's emotionally powerful, despite being somewhat childish and irrational. Buzz can only see the one side of it, while most of "the Left" can see both sides.

Thinking about how SNL literally broke out in song a month after the US invasion of Afghanistan: pic.twitter.com/qetYylGglJ

— Human Rights Watch Watcher (@queeralamode) August 15, 2021

snl has always sucked
#onethread

in better news

A 25 percent increase to help tens of millions of people in poverty: “The Biden administration has revised the nutrition standards of the food stamp program and prompted the largest permanent increase to benefits in the program’s history.” https://t.co/O6vQ9QU6Bo

— Taniel (@Taniel) August 16, 2021

SNL sucks but I'm pretty sure that's supposed to be...IRONIC !??

pic.twitter.com/IRn1I8Cyx9

— Phillip Walter Wellman (@pwwellman) August 16, 2021

(U.S. military dog being evacuated from Afghanistan)

Considering the number of people who feel more strongly about the welfare of dogs than they do about people, not evacuating the dogs so that more Afghans could be evacuated would be political suicide.

Thought valuing the lives of dogs but not those of humans was an English thing, good to know we have sth else in common.

99 percent of dogs I have met > 99 percent of people I have met

The RNC has removed all of Trump's 'let's bail on Afghanistan' talking points from the website, and why would they not?

(posting this here not on the afghanistan thread because it's specifically about the electoral politics of the withdrawal)

What I am feeling and thinking about the situation in Afghanistan, I can never fit on Twitter. But one thing that is definitely sticking out is that I haven’t gotten one constituent call about it and my district has a large Veteran population.

— Ruben Gallego (@RubenGallego) August 14, 2021

Trump was seen as reckless but the hallmark of his actual policy moves (esp. foreign policy) was timidity. Biden is seen as stodgy but he's shown himself willing to roll the dice.

On the food stamp expansion, my most Trumpy local state representative tweeted out outrage that Biden was making it more attractive for people to stay home and not work. Completely oblivious that most food stamp recipients are children or elderly, and most of those who are working-age do in fact have jobs. The visceral urge to punish people for not having money is really something.

Also the average increase is $36 a month, for god's sake.

Completely oblivious

you're too generous

the carrot does not work. we must use the stick. work harder! forget your branes morans, work HARDER!

the poverty will continue until morale improves

Fingers crossed

Thinking about this @ryangrim piece from last year as the CPC now appears to be wielding power pretty effectively to get the outcome it wants ($1T bipartisan bill + $3.5T social infrastructure bill). Pelosi just called the Blue Dogs/Gottheimer "amateurs". Imagine that a year ago. https://t.co/v69POTOTJG pic.twitter.com/QFT2BmuDh6

— Paul E Williams (@PEWilliams_) August 17, 2021

Also the average increase is $36 a month, for god's sake.

― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Tuesday, August 17, 2021 3:21 AM (eleven hours ago)

Today, I'm introducing the Monthly Economic Crisis Support Act to provide $2,000 every month throughout this crisis.

I've been saying it for months: a one-time payment is not enough when millions of people are unemployed and need to eat. We need bold action, immediately.

— Vice President Kamala Harris (@VP) May 8, 2020

GREG ABBOTT HAS COVID-19

"Greg Abbott ... has big fat dandruff ... "

https://i.imgur.com/tVl9prV.png

josh marshall provides some hope for those who wish for the death of governor Abbott (not to be confused with ilx all-timer abbbotttttt!)

But the statement from the Governor’s office also noted that he has begun taking the Regeneron antibodies treatment.

I don’t know the governor’s health – “in good health” is not a clinical term. And I am no expert on the Regeneron treatment but it is generally indicated for people who are showing mild or moderate symptoms of COVID and are at high risk of developing severe disease. It’s not like Tamiflu where you take it just to be on the safe side. It’s not clear why someone in good health would be taking the treatment before even developing any symptoms. One possibility is that Abbott’s paralysis or conditions related to it count as co-morbities or pre-existing conditions which place him at greater risk. I am curious to hear from clinicians whether this is a possibility; I have no expertise to judge.

A short time later NBC News reported that Abbott has been telling associates that he received a third booster dose of the COVID vaccine. That also seems notable since the FDA has actually not approved third doses of the vaccines, except a few days ago in the case of people with compromised immune systems.

just to provide some cover for those who feel a little awkward wishing for someone to die of covid, knowing how agonizing it is -

governor Abbott totally deserves to die of covid, and he deserves to die painfully and over the course of 6-8 weeks. there is no hell, although he deserves one. so let him have his hell here on earth, (sleepy god willing!!!!!) the only place where he might actually face some sort of accountability for all the other people's lives he purposefully ruined

counterpoint: die faster so we can all move on

anti-anti-point: abbott dies faster; dan patrick gets to kill more people faster

*mortal kombat voice*

A NEW MURDERER ENTERS THE ARENA

https://www.austinchronicle.com/daily/news/2021-08-18/can-tabc-really-lift-a-restaurants-license-over-covid-rules-its-complicated/?mc_cid=7f06de80ba&mc_eid=d26b96d866

Hajjar also noted that SB 968 – an omnibus bill with other COVID-related provisions that don’t impact the industry at all – went into effect immediately, as an emergency measure, and not on Sept. 1 as is standard after a legislative session, and without any time for TABC to make rules or plans on how to enforce Section 14. That was done, he says, on purpose: It was “fast tracked” into code, a “conscious decision” by the hard-right wing of the Legislature.

“And,” continued Hajjar, “it runs completely counter to the policy that is not even a year old in terms of keeping Texans safe.” This is referring to Abbott’s prior plan to “re-open Texas,” ostensibly crafted with a blue-ribbon panel of experts’ advice, and his executive orders from 2020 – all of which Abbott has backtracked from in recent months under continued pressure from the hard right. Hajjar suggests that pressure is in turn being put on TABC: “There is an ongoing dialogue between the governor’s office and TABC, at all times, related to all kinds of things, and so right now TABC is taking its order from what is in code and who is directing it.”

The restaurants of Texas are now bystanders in this political tug-of-war...

so ... dude in a truck allegedly with a bomb near the capital right now?

So says the FAA Emergency Notification System.

I saw some of his Livestream. He's talking directly to Biden and Nancy. Very upset about Afghanistan.

Please be white

board motto

lol he's as white as can be

I hate to admit that this is always my reaction to these bits of news.

he looks like somebody forced an AI to draw a universal capitol rioter that could overload all the facial recognition software https://t.co/zlhhjlI2Vb

— kilgore trout, terminal hiccups patient (@KT_So_It_Goes) August 19, 2021

Been watching videos created by capitol bomb threat suspect. Facebook account has been taken down. But I still have access. Explicitly references fall of Kabul, claims Biden gave mil equipment to Taliban, etc. Complains abt being being shadow banned by FB, etc. etc.

— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) August 19, 2021

Bring in a Chinook to drop a concrete bubble over him IMO.

https://wtop.com/dc/2021/08/us-capitol-police-investigating-suspicious-vehicle-near-library-of-congress/

Apparently the person in the vehicle has just surrendered to the police.

I worked for a while at the LOC several years ago. The office I was in had a well-rehearsed evacuation procedure and rendezvous point--and several times we were called on to evacuate. (Usually due to a suspicious vehicle stopped in the vicinity.)

Apparently he mentioned other "revolutionaries" who were also supposed to be in the city. Wonder if they're still there, or if they were there but then split when the shit got real, or if they were never actually there.

They’re at the bar

Apparently he mentioned other "revolutionaries" who were also supposed to be in the city. Wonder if they're still there, or if they were there but then split when the shit got real, or if they were never actually there.

When he looked around, he saw them...

odds are he was claiming to be part of a larger group in order to magnify his threat and get a bigger reaction & more publicity. won't be surprised when they announce his 'detonator' was a harmless prop.

The Biden administration has announced that it will automatically erase student loan debt for more than 300,000 Americans with severe disabilities that leave them unable to earn significant incomes. The move will wipe out more than $5.8 billion in debt. https://t.co/fFuud3oF98

— The Associated Press (@AP) August 19, 2021

better than nothing, a huge deal for those affected, but this is less than 0.5% of the total, and is going to contribute nothing to the nominal liberal goal of cancellation (which is fiscal stimulus, not fairness).

Why does he believe it's constitutional to wipe out this debt but not all other college debt?

maybe its a test run

yeah they already wiped some other debt. I can see this rolling out to different demographics every quarter. maybe that's wishful thinking.

lol, i'm sorry, but there are so many little amusing things in this story about the student who took the first photo of the capitol bomb guy this morning:

casually seeing witnessing a bomb threat on the way to class nbd love this country #capitol #libraryofcongress pic.twitter.com/inpBJP0cCy

— fupa mama (@nirvananoir) August 19, 2021

Sydney Bobb, a rising senior at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, snapped the first picture to publicly circulate of Floyd Ray Roseberry, the man police have identified as the would-be bomber, outside the Library of Congress.

She was on her way to class — “literally a block away from the Library of Congress” — when she saw a pickup truck parked up on the sidewalk.

Roseberry, who recorded many livestream videos to his Facebook page in which he bemoans the state of the country under President Joe Biden, parked in the Capitol complex Thursday morning. He held a device in his lap, which he told passersby was connected to a bomb. After speaking with negotiators, he surrendered to law enforcement Thursday afternoon and is now in custody.

Bobb said she heard Roseberry yelling that he had a bomb, and telling people to call 9-1-1. She watched him throw fistfuls of dollar bills out of the window as she swerved around the vehicle.

She took the picture as she crossed the street. “I’m from Boston, I’m from a city, so when crazy things happen, you just mind your business,” she told TPM.

But still, she was concerned — not least for her classmates, who she knew would be coming the same way behind her. She called them to make sure they avoided the truck.

“It’s a white guy in a truck near the Capitol,” she said. “I’m not from D.C., I don’t know if that’s a regular Tuesday here.”

She said she saw some people ignore the man and keep walking, while one DoorDash delivery man stopped his bike to scoop up the bills.

One of her classmates, Bobb said, stopped a Supreme Court police officer to alert him to the situation, but he said it was the jurisdiction of the Capitol Police.

“Weird, okay,” Bobb remembers thinking. “So if there was a guy with a gun, you’re just gonna wait for the right people to come?”

She said she had to “suffer through” two anxious hours before law enforcement contacted her class, telling them they couldn’t leave and had to shelter in place. An hour later, she said, they were evacuated.

Bobb said she is only in D.C. in the first place because UW offered the one-month study away program as “half-assed compensation” for students who were supposed to study abroad in India or Botswana before COVID-19 scuttled those plans. She’s taking a class on race and politics in the United States.

“It’s been such a long day,” she sighed.

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/eyewitness-bomber-capitol-roseberry

The part about throwing one dollar bills out his truck window puts the finishing touch to this story. "I have a bomb!! I am throwing money on the ground!! Call 9-1-1!!"

see, to me the punchline for that is "one DoorDash delivery man stopped his bike to scoop up the bills."

and i love the volunteered info about the "half-assed compensation" from UW-Madison, loooooool

it's all very "slice of life", like in addition to this crazy ass white guy threatening to blow everything up in the name of freedom - which really seems pretty commonplace and not THAT shocking to a younger person - there is also the reality that no one has any fucking money and that schools fuck everyone over

the student loan debt cancellation stuff is good news

it's lifechanging news for the people who will get it. i hope it's not all that remains of the push for student debt relief, though

a non-partisan round of covid infections!

Sens. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), Angus King (I-Maine) and John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.) announced Thursday that they have tested positive for the coronavirus, becoming the latest members of the Senate to announce breakthrough infections in recent weeks.

Earlier this month, Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) said he had tested positive for the virus. All four senators have been vaccinated.

So they won't die.

feel like this sort of statement would've ended your career back in oh...2015

My statement on the Capitol bomb threat: pic.twitter.com/yCuTNTbJyP

— Mo Brooks (@RepMoBrooks) August 19, 2021

Hickenlooper is okay.

The fracking fluid strengthened his immune system, he should be fine.

feel like this sort of statement would've ended your career back in oh...2015

Jesse Helms suggested that Bill Clinton would get assassinated if he came to North Carolina.

^^ was going to say not among many US constituencies since, uh, forever

idk maybe its me but this "we understand where the terrorists are coming from" thing feels kinda new

terrible grammar in that statement

I guess Mo' to talk about something when you don't want to touch that 40 people died in his state of Covid and there was 11000+ new cases reported yesterday.

F'k them all, building boom in hell to house all these clowns.

Absolutely incredible....

95% of Georgians over 18 years old have now registered to vote.

THANK YOU STACEY ABRAMS 🧡 pic.twitter.com/9YmNfH9DdJ

— Jake Lobin (@JakeLobin) August 20, 2021

GOOD GRIEF

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick blames unvaccinated Black people for Covid spread in his state pic.twitter.com/CfwajqECLM

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 20, 2021

Fuck that guy

I'm willing to give it a shot if you write up some detailed step-by-step instructions for me.

And only if all expenses paid, ofc.

We are imposing further sanctions on senior Cuban officials and the head of Cuba’s prison system, where protestors unjustly imprisoned face abuse and abysmal conditions. We will continue to promote accountability for the Cuban regime’s violence and violations of human rights.

— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) August 20, 2021

“I’m not from D.C., I don’t know if that’s a regular Tuesday here.”

Just want to call this out as a possible placeholder for next month's thread title.

Thank you.

The Supreme Court just being like "Not my problem" is pretty sweet

Supreme Court cop, that is

i'm not sure how evergreen of a link that is. at the moment, it all goes to a california teacher - later, it will go to something completely different

A California teacher is hospitalized after he's allegedly attacked by a parent over face masks on the first day of school
https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/13/us/teacher-parent-fight-face-masks-trnd/index.html

Couple violently attacks Indigenous Filipina nurse distributing face masks in New York subway
https://news.yahoo.com/couple-violently-attacks-indigenous-filipina-185336808.html

On this day, things are not going well for three patients. One in particular, a woman in her 50s, will not live much longer.

“This patient is trying to die right now. We’re trying to get ahold of family to let them know transitions are happening,” said Monica Schulz, the nurse who manages this ICU.

1984. that's what that sounds like, feels like

At one point, two people -- a masked man and unmasked woman -- got into a yelling match. The woman accused the man of spitting on her and the man accused the woman of hitting him in the mouth.

from another cnn story. wtf

clay higgins (r-LA) is ready to beat somebody up

A man from Alaska named Joel Dolphin roasted Higgins in the comment section of one of the congressman’s posts on Tuesday, saying that “Higgins and his ilk have made it abundantly clear they are domestic enemies to our Constitution” and that “sycophantic fools like Traitor Higgins happily amplified” ex-President Donald Trump’s lies about the 2020 election.

Higgins exploded.

“Joel Dolphin, you be the messenger son. You. I’m easy to find,” he wrote. “Higgins out.”

Dolphin said he would “happily take the time to repeat myself to your face” if Higgins ever visited Anchorage.

The Republican told his internet detractor that he’ll be visiting the state with Rep. Don Young (R-AK) next year

“Locate us a ring, or a dojo,” Higgins wrote. “I’ll give you a few rounds to make your point. Be seeing you. Higgins out.”

higgins out

xp hate it when someone wearing a mask over their mouth spits on me

that's me btw, i am clay higgins and those are my views as expressed in tens of thousands of posts to this very message board, you may risk your body in disagreement should we ever cross paths

higgins out

xp

i will fight you clay, in a place of my choosing and a time of your choosing. so tell me what time it's going to be and we will duke it out.

what's sad in that story is that BOTH the congressman/pugilist and the rando alaskan guy are ex-cops

Well, we are residing in the absolute worst of all possible timelines, lest we ever fail to be reminded every five minutes.

Higgins out.

HIGGINS OUT

I always thought you could be arrested if you walked around in public with your higgins out.

Nice

Scoop: Multiple House Dem moderates have fielded calls from DCCC that they took as a warning they could be cut off financially if they oppose the budget next week. https://t.co/wK4UtHZjj8

— Sarah Ferris (@sarahnferris) August 20, 2021

hig is the hot new verb:

Dude, scored some really lit vape juice last night. we were totally higgin' out.

Yeah babe, I meant to txt u last night but CSI Miami was on, and I higgined out.

Every time I mention capybaras to my boo, he totally higgins out.

When you hig out, you usually have a reason for the action

This is how you Higgins Out:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EptcPyDXMAAnBVB.jpg

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/joe-biden-media-coverage-afghanistan-withdrawal_n_612014d6e4b0c69681087cd7

I spent too much time last night trying to find a “Seacrest out” YouTube video

The internet seems to have forgotten that

You tried, and that’s what matters.

and this is why JD Vance is getting his ass handed to him. you can't fake real Conservative Brain https://t.co/1yyZbR2FdU

— ryan cooper (@ryanlcooper) August 21, 2021

Gettin Higgy with it

xp

oh lindsey-paws. i guess one measure of how the world has changed so rapidly (in my view, at least) is that graham's statement doesn't even register as newsworthy. it's just what everything is now, it's expected

The era of perpetual presidential impeachment is probably upon us.

Six months after the conclusion of the last impeachment, Republicans have begun calling for President Biden to be removed from office over his handling of the evacuation of Americans and allies from Kabul.

“If we leave one American behind, if we don’t get all those Afghans who stepped up to the plate to help us out, then Joe Biden, in my view, has committed a high crime and misdemeanor under the Constitution and should be impeached,” Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.) said Friday on Fox News.

On Monday, Rep. Elise Stefanik (N.Y.), the No. 3 Republican in House leadership, called for Biden’s ousting amid the evacuation chaos at Kabul’s airport. “Joe Biden is unfit to serve as President of the United States of America,” Stefanik wrote on Twitter, a phrase she has reiterated several times since.

Add those comments to the sentiment from GOP provocateurs who draw outsize attention on conservative news, like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), who announced Thursday night that she would introduce articles of impeachment related to Afghanistan.

It’s now increasingly clear: If Republicans win the House majority, Biden is very likely to be impeached.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/biden-republicans-impeachment/2021/08/21/90538f4c-01c9-11ec-ba7e-2cf966e88e93_story.html

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2021/08/17/16-republicans-voted-against-special-visas-help-afghanistan-people/8163392002/

A lot of journalists who were around (and implicated) at the start, seem furious/baffled that most people either don’t care or are cynical or sad about what happened over the past 20 years but otherwise supportive of withdrawal (Rubin is terrible for other reasons but she’s not one of them afaict)

in NBC poll Afgh is literally nowhere on the list of concerns: Economy/Jobs (26%), Immig (10), covid (7), corruption +healthcare (5)... not even 1 %?? https://t.co/Ik5DJOEKr3

— Jennifer 'pro-voting' Rubin (@JRubinBlogger) August 22, 2021

Rubin, I hate to say, has been consistent about her swing away from the right in recent years. But she does like war, I think.

i don't read her much - did she used to be more of a "centrist" or a bush supporter? when i read her column these days she just sounds like she picks up things that other people blogged about 5 days ago and used that to put together her own column

and also seems SHOCKED at all these really obvious developments that are foreseeable for months in advance. like when Biden gets impeached after the 2022 midterms, she is going to be SHOCKED

She was fanatical about Romney iirc.

lol

i never understand how people like this get a gig writing a prominent op-ed column in a national newspaper

she did manage to pick the ONE republican senator with a spine though

She adored Romney.

for all the ways romney sucks, at least he already had enough attained enough personal wealth and political power to be temporarily able to make a very, VERY obvious stand against all of the bootlickers in his party. no one else did

Her valentines to Romney in 2011-2012 were the closest contemporary equivalent to George Will's gay-ass paeans to Ronnie Reagan.

Though apparently immediately after Romney lost she wrote a scathing article about all the aspects of his campaign that she had praised a few months earlier.

I just posted that tweet because of the survey result. I don’t endorse her or even think she’s particularly worth talking about.

Her Wikipedia page is clearly written by someone with understandable contempt for her.

" The boyfriend" looks nice and the girls seem to have eaten their spaghetti and meat balls!

— Jennifer 'pro-voting' Rubin (@JRubinBlogger) April 19, 2020

the picture is grim, the tweet is weird af

lol

i never understand how people like this get a gig writing a prominent op-ed column in a national newspaper

yeah she was one of the loudest Cuomo-boosters.

these people are so profoundly silly it’s almost like we’re being punked

looooool harbl, that tweet. whaaaaa!?

xp is that right boring, MD? i've never had the "real" version of the washpost, only the digital subscription. it does make me curious, though, about the relevant numbers of physical vs digital readers. i'd assume at this point that it would be much more of a relegation to be banished to physical-only, rather than digital-only?

90-year old Senators don’t read the digital edition.

that tweet. whaaaaa!?

I'm thinking the pressure on professional journalistic 'pundits' to tweet incessantly eventually results in their babbling incoherent nonsense just to fill their daily tweet quota.

lol what’s your excuse

i think 90 year old senators just wake up every day and cackle and how fucking evil they are

"i'm 90! i think i'm the best suited person to be one of just two senate for my entire state! my power is immense, and i'm fucking 90 years old! hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha! oh hi jennifer, who is this spaghetti boyfriend i keep hearing about?"

could be. or maybe Cuomo is a legit vampire and JR is in his thrall?

"tiiiiiiiiiiime to go to a hearing on cryptocurrency! i don't even know what that means!! :P :P :P AND I'M RICH!!!"

hahaha, i'm in charge of an investigation now! i just hired this new researcher who is SEVENTY YEARS YOUNGER THAN ME! hope they know how to read these adobe PDFs

tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiime for my 90-year-old ass to talk out loud about RACISM in the united states! i was born in the 1930s!!!! loooooooooool

for all the ways romney sucks, at least he already had enough attained enough personal wealth and political power to be temporarily able to make a very, VERY obvious stand against all of the bootlickers in his party. no one else did

― professional anti- (Karl Malone), Sunday, August 22, 2021 12:59 PM (thirty-six minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Romney said his father, Michigan Governor George Romney, had told him, "Mitt, never get involved in politics if you have to win an election to pay a mortgage."

lol what’s your excuse

must amuse myself while coasting toward death

could be. or maybe Cuomo is a legit vampire and JR is in his thrall?

careful out there James

*from the direction of the u.s. supreme court, the soft sounds of blood and other liquids oozing out of ancient justice's bodies can be faintly heard dripping onto the hardwood floors. the floors are easier to clean this way. some of justices believe that the floors are kept hardwood for this reason - to make it easier to clean up their failing body, the liquids trying to escape from the host.*

"looooooooooool we're all fucking old too, except for the federalist society wing! loooooooool"

CNN reported this morning that Trump's audience at the Sat. Alabama rally "stopped in mid-cheer" when he spoke favorably about vaccination (guess when they first heard the word, thought he would go negatatory)--- subsequent mention of outright booing---

So then, in footage, he was like, "We all have the freedom to chose, that's great, but I'm just sayin'"--for how long? CNN also showed Hannity backing down, after previously having said, "I believe in the science behind it" etc. (CNN also pouncing on actual Fox corporate policy, and control room masked up while talking heads rant vs. masks and vax)

careful out there James

There is/has been a lot of digital content at the post that doesn't make it into the dead tree print edition, mostly commentary. That's why it confused me for a while to see that mustache prog guy (Weigl?) described as a Post writer, he's mever in the "paper" edition I read. (I like getting newsprint on my hands).

I don't think there's any Post content that is only in the dead tree but not online.

must amuse myself while coasting toward death

^^New Borad Description?

^seconded

.@TheProspect has learned that "several" of the nine conservative House Democrats who insisted to Nancy Pelosi that they would not vote for a budget resolution without a vote on the bipartisan infrastructure package first have flipped. There are no longer 9 Dem holdouts.

— David Dayen (@ddayen) August 22, 2021

.@BernieSanders just sent an extensive email to his list explaining why he’s hitting the road at the end of this coming week. pic.twitter.com/uusdmeE3Uj

— mike casca (@cascamike) August 22, 2021

good lord, i thought that said "hitting the end of the road" and my heart stopped for a second

It meant he's covering Boyz II Men cover band.

let's let bygones be begones and have FUN out on the campaign trail this year!!

Dear White House staff, please share the below polling to @POTUS. He said he had not seen it yet. https://t.co/dW09nTjQeX

— Bo Erickson CBS (@BoKnowsNews) August 22, 2021

These fucking dweebs

Am I right to be mildly concerned that this Elder fuck might actually take over California? Or are the Dems just finally getting out the message that they actually need people to not sit this one out?

I was thinking it would probably be the dumbest and therefore most likely result that he wins with 17% of the vote and then Feinstein remembers that she had been meaning to retire all year.

That would require Feinstein's memory to be operating.

everyone I know is alarmed that Elder might win. I don't believe California voters will allow that happen.

Feinstein is not going to retire in any case

Newsom will squeak it. Nobody in the california Democratic Party will learn anything from this waste of a year.

But yes you’re right to be concerned. It looks like it’s going to be close.

https://t.co/Tu1CgUP77K pic.twitter.com/UrT1Tckt3D

— Senator Joe Manchin (@Sen_JoeManchin) August 23, 2021

Senator Joe is mad that the House is playing by his rules.

from the same rally on saturday where a few people booed trump for advising people to get vaccinated, mo brooks also ran into trouble

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xr9ZxQsggbM

“There are some people who are despondent about the voter fraud and election theft in 2020,” Brooks said. “Folks, put that behind you. Put that behind you.”

“Yes. Look forward. Look forward. Look forward,” Brooks said as the crowd declined to yield and boos continued to ring out. “Beat them in 2022. Beat them in 2024.”

Ultimately, Brooks was chastened, and he walked it back.

“All right, well, look back at it, but go forward and take advantage of it,” he said. But the crowd was still unhappy.

a little voice inside my head said /
well, look back at it but go forward and take advantage of it

but the crowd was still unhappy

by the end of the rally, mo brooks and trump led the cheering crowd backward in time, back to the stolen election, then back before coronavirus destroyed his presidency, then back to the other election he lost in 2016, then back to the golden years of birtherism, then straight back to antebellum south, back to where they were last happy

a new favorite for the GOP 2024 ticket has emerged

https://thesocietypages.org/thickculture/files/2010/02/6a00d8341c86cc53ef011571496b54970b-800wi.jpg

lol sorry hueg

oh shit, they're still going backward in time! now it's back before the mayflower, and they're eating raw onions while dying of the plague! go go go go!

oh shit, now it makes sense. they were wanting to go back to the crusades. well, fuck

I would like very much for republicans to seethe endlessly about the 2020 election and forget that there are more of them approaching. That would be a really spectacular turn of events. They're clearly just gagging to die horrible, preventable deaths so any stupid thing is possible.

lulz

https://www.salon.com/2021/08/23/arizona-audit-report-delayed-by-cyber-ninjas-covid-outbreak/

We Got Nothin' (except Covid-19)

coronavirus: welcome to the resistance

The #SpaceForce received the 2021 Space Achievement Award from the @SpaceFoundation at the 36th #SpaceSymposium. #TeamSpace #36Spacehttps://t.co/smcNr8dGDm pic.twitter.com/fISwftw2Fn

— United States Space Force (@SpaceForceDoD) August 24, 2021

Space

how high can you go

must click through the link for maximum spaceage:

Space Foundation News
Space Foundation Honors US Space Force With 2021 Space Achievement Award
Written by: Space Foundation Editorial Team

In Its Second Year, the US Space Force Has Successfully Established the World’s First Independent Space Force

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — June 23, 2021 — Space Foundation, a nonprofit advocate organization founded in 1983 for the global space ecosystem, today announced the U.S. Space Force (USSF) as the recipient of the 2021 Space Achievement Award.

Did Space Force celebrate their space victory with a round of space shakes, I wonder

everybody get up, it's time to slam now

c’mon, the space force shouldn’t be eligible for the space award, that’s hardly fair.

Take it up with the space judge

Forget it, Jake. It's Space.

increasingly isolated! https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/08/24/susan-wild-josh-gottheimer-house-democrats-infrastructure/

imagine how increasingly isolated the squad will be if they ever try this stuff

They should try it in space and maybe get a space award out of it.

There's a space guy in the Senate right? Maybe he can talk about his isolation.

no idea what's going on at this point

Pelosi wouldn’t even give moderates a fig leaf; they got “a clarification.”

Congrats to all involved! Josh Gottheimer really won this round! https://t.co/yVyg6fzniX

— Matt Fuller (@MEPFuller) August 24, 2021

If this is true, then there will be no reconciliation bill and Biden's presidency is effectively finished https://t.co/fuDOtVy0d5

— Will Stancil (@whstancil) August 24, 2021

(see thread on that second one)

I think Stancil is misreading what is going on

hstancil, so much to answer for

Lol

The budget passed.

https://www.politico.com/news/2021/08/24/democrats-near-deal-to-break-budget-impasse-506749

While the Gottheimer group did not get their initial demand, they have a public agreement with leadership that says the House will consider the $550 billion infrastructure deal by a specific date — Sept. 27 — effectively guaranteeing it will become law by next month if House Democrats stay united to pass the bill.

In addition, Gottheimer’s group negotiated what they say are meaningful guarantees from leadership about the potential size and scope of the $3.5 trillion social spending plan. Moderates in both chambers, including influential Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), have signaled they are not supportive of such a large price tag.

Progressives remained mostly quiet as their leadership negotiated the deal. But several prominent liberals did not hide their irritation after the deal was announced.

“You know the whole thing was a fiasco, to be honest," said Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), chief vote counter for the Congressional Progressive Caucus. "I really don't know why they try to get into something without having an actual goal that they wanted to accomplish. It seems like amateur hour.”

"effectively guaranteeing it will become law" i.e. giving up some (all?) leverage for the big reconciliation bill?

It may just be theatre for the sake of those stupid moderates.

BREAKING: House votes 220-212 to pass the rule to

(1) begin writing Biden's $3.5 trillion safety net package

(2) guarantee a vote on the Senate-approved $550 billion infrastructure bill by Sept. 27

(3) vote on the John Lewis voting rights billhttps://t.co/JFrUwq4zWX

— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) August 24, 2021

xp right, fingers crossed. i assume it all comes down to manchin and sinema anyway.

And they're not gonna write the bill from scratch -- they'll reconcile it with the Senate bill. She handed the moderates, it looks like, an insistence on a deadline everyone was already talking about. It's a non-binding resolution.

i'm not celebrating until manchin gets his space freeways

*cues 'Freeway of Love'*

i'm not celebrating until manchin gets his space freeways award

tbf to manchin, they haven't finished highways they broke ground on 50 years ago https://www.eenews.net/articles/infrastructure-bill-winners-highways-conceived-decades-ago/

Blundering conservative operatives Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman already face felony charges in multiple states. Now: a $5 million FCC fine! https://t.co/GtWZ0BZFUp

— Will Sommer (@willsommer) August 24, 2021

Inject it directly into my veeeeiiiiins

Did Space Force celebrate their space victory with a round of space shakes, I wonder

No, they went to the Space Bar.

Space Food Sticks and Tang, iirc.

Cool to see the 1/3rd Trump appointed Supreme Court force Biden to resurrectTrump era racist immigration policies. Seems good.

what if they won the space award and they just didn't have any room for it because they used up all their space

Let's start a nuclear war
Start a nuclear war
At the space bar, space bar, space bar

last year's winner was the guy who normalized a single space instead of two spaces between paragraphs. lifetime achievement award. I was robbed.

ALERT: US House Select Jan 6 Committee sends sweeping requests for records to federal agencies... including to US Justice Dept

Seeking: Agency communication before Jan 20 w/ M Meadows, S Powell, R Giuliani, J Ellis

Documents about possibility of invoking "Insurrection Act" pic.twitter.com/uutcxDTYs3

— Scott MacFarlane (@MacFarlaneNews) August 25, 2021

This will be going on forever.

if they get solid documentation, I'm good with this

.@VP Harris lays flowers at Hanoi memorial where John McCain’s plane was shot down.

"He was an extraordinary American. A hero...he loved our country. He was so courageous and really lived the life of a hero...always fought for the best of who we are." pic.twitter.com/9KgZJ9GWCm

— CSPAN (@cspan) August 25, 2021

Haha holy shit, yeah I found a translation of the inscription on ithttps://t.co/qTWPoAwojF pic.twitter.com/UrnYYVNFAw

— Climate Apocalypse Now (@DanFmTo) August 25, 2021

milo seems unfamiliar with the strict social conventions associated with delivering a eulogy to a public figure, while laying a wreath on their memorial.

their memorial.

...

hegemony works in mysterious ways

Their was a rider on one of the stimmy bills that outlawed badmouthing McCain.

once again reality outdoes Veep

We Got New Benghazi

https://www.cnn.com/world/live-news/afghanistan-news-taliban-refugees-08-26-21-intl/index.html

See, this just wouldn't have happened had the US stayed there forever.

“It’s time for accountability, starting with those whose failed planning allowed these attacks to occur. Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Antony Blinken, Lloyd Austin, and Mark Milley should all resign or face impeachment and removal from office,” Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) said in a statement referring to the president, vice president, two Cabinet officials and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Under Blackburn’s scenario, Pelosi would be next in line to become president.

In his remarks to reporters, Biden rejected critics who said the United States should not be cooperating with the Taliban on the defense of the airport perimeter.

“No one trusts them,” Biden said. “It’s a matter of mutual-self interest. . . .They’re not good guys, the Taliban. But they have keen interests,” he added.

"i'm 114 years old,", he added.

the top tiers of U.S. leadership are crusty old farts. it's a reflection of the military, the DOD - dozens and dozens of layers between the very top and the very bottom. the very bottom layers are the high schoolers. the very top are these ancient fucks.

so many of the problems of the US would be ameliorated by old people (including myself here at the ripe age of 38) getting the fuck out of the way

all of the best people i know are younger than me. all the worst people i know are ancient and should have died a long time ago

The best lack all blue checks, while the worst
Are full of cholesterol medication.

It sickens me that this officer is in hiding.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/officer-who-shot-ashli-babbitt-during-capitol-riot-breaks-silence-n1277736?fbclid=IwAR1uCg3YIfFjSpow_CPTv8w5F3Z94NRJta3jp_YqNr39Q1SCWezgroBunoc

I didn’t realize he’d gone public. I didn’t look at all the maga-leak stuff so I didn’t know who it was.

He is in a lonely position. On the right is a bunch of people who support Donald Trump, still. So, a bunch of white supremacists. On his left, people who hate cops and want to ban guns.

Is there a consensus on Havana Syndrome? I've seen some chatter from people on Twitter that indicates a lot of people don't seem to believe this even exists but they won't say what they actually think; do they think this is some made-up syndrome from burned out State Dept employees?

That was the Chapo take I believe

It's amazing how much of it is unknown, and what is publicly known the powers that be have been weirdly shady about. The default off the record claim seems to be blaming Russian microwave technology, iirc. But on the record stuff, there's been everything from hints it's psychological to some sort of mystery weapon. Here's the most recent deep dive in the New Yorker:

https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/vienna-is-the-new-havana-syndrome-hotspot

Fabulous horseshit

It sickens me that this officer is in hiding.

we can trace him by his badge number, IwAR1uCg3YIfFjSpow_CPTv8w5F3Z94NRJta3jp_YqNr39Q1SCWezgroBunoc

From the Minds what brought you everything from the Red Scare to WMDs in Iraq

I don’t think the State Department career employees were huge cheerleaders for Iraq IIRC.

_It sickens me that this officer is in hiding._

we can trace him by his badge number, IwAR1uCg3YIfFjSpow_CPTv8w5F3Z94NRJta3jp_YqNr39Q1SCWezgroBunoc

If the Russians had this technology, you’d think they’d go bigger than giving Dartmouth grads migraines.

A local bar set up a table with beers for all the soldiers who died in the Kabul attack, but they put out bottles of Bud Light and are getting roasted by local beer nerds for it.

That was the Chapo take I believe

blech, I resent that Chapo is a thing anyone is expected to give a fuck about

what can one do? what is the opposition to this if they can't be held accountable for just lying constantly? there's no drawback for it, it's all reward for them now.

Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) mused about busting Jan. 6 “political hostages” out of government custody at a raucous Macon County Republican Party meeting Sunday.

Responding to a question about how he would support the people who were “captured” on Jan. 6, Cawthorn began by calling them “political hostages” then said that one problem was that he wasn’t sure exactly where they were being held pending trial.

“The big problem is, we don’t actually know where all the political prisoners are, and so if we were to actually be able to go and try and bust them out–”

Cawthorn abruptly stopped and changed course.

“And let me tell you, the reason why they have taken these political prisoners is because they’re trying to make an example, because they don’t want to see the mass protests go on in Washington.”

Then, someone in the crowd interrupted: “When are you going to call us to Washington again?”

“We are actively working on that one,” Cawthorne grinned, before adding that he didn’t have a specific answer for the man but that “we have a few plans in motion that I can’t make public right now.”

He then falsely claimed that “we’ve 536 people who are being held in solitary confinement.” For one thing, closer to 600 people face charges related to Jan. 6. More to the point, hundreds are not in federal detention at all. According to a Guardian analysis in May, well more than half of roughly 400 Jan. 6 defendants at that time had been released from custody pending trial.

The Jan. 6 defendants were just one in a slew of topics Cawthorn discussed Sunday.

He referred to the 2020 election as “stolen” and said it was “wrong” to say that 2020 Republican gubernatorial candidate Dan Forest lost his race (North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D) beat him by around 250,000 votes).

Cawthorn falsely said that racial justice protests in 2020 had left “dozens of cops dead” and “cities completely destroyed and burned.” He said he would be willing to “prosecute Anthony Fauci for lying.” He said he supported pursuing the removal of Joe Biden from the presidency under the 25th Amendment. And after Biden is removed, Cawthorn added, “when Kamala Harris inevitably screws up, we will take them down one at a time.”

As the event wrapped up, Cawthorne signed a shotgun that the Macon County GOP is raffling off, and was asked about the government “pushing” the COVID-19 vaccine.

“Defend your children,” he told the inquiring mother, adding later: “It’s not worth it to put an experimental jab into your son’s arm.”

Gripping the shotgun, he closed by discussing gun rights.

“The Second Amendment was not written so that we can go hunting or we can shoot sporting clays,” he said. “The Second Amendment was written so that we can fight against tyranny.”

there's no point in "correcting" any of that, it's just one after the other. everyone there knows he's is lying and is ok with it

I think they believe it

Let me know when he’s gripping prison bars.

he never will! never will MTG or trump or any of these people. he obviously doesn't care what anyone left of the john birch society thinks, so that's out. so for accountability, only mccarthy or other party leaders can make him stfu, i guess? and obviously mccarthy's not going to do that. so...you can just win a congressional seat, lie your ass off constantly and openly try to organize a new coup, and then no one even bothers saying anything but what's the point.

if we're all so used to it that we don't even notice it any more - and i would argue yes, we are - then we are fucked

it's up to chuck todd to ask the tough questions now

will it have a positive effect on the midterms, Karl, y/no

will what, will cawthorn's fascist tours help the democrats? or help the republicans? i have no fucking clue. honestly i think it helps the republicans. it's working for them.

cawthorn is straight out of 20s/30s, just with the straight-up fascist way he operates and the way that he just continues and gains power

Saw a weird one this past weekend on the right wing flag waver front...I was cutting through Bardstown this week heading to the 'Ville way knee deep in the Muddytrump and saw your typical dualy pickup with two flags waving posted in the back BUT this time for some reason they had a French national flag and some red flag with a Griffin on it.

Got me...

lol, similarly, my wife and I came home a month ago from several days with family and after 5 hours drive pull into our dead end street to see a pickup truck with a giant flag on it we couldn't read and tons of people milling about. My wife started freaking out that it was Trumpers (we are in a relatively blue area).

It ended up that it was the young millennials next door throwing a party and the pickup truck was full of water and had been turned into a pool.

pickup truck *bed* was full of water

Cawthorne wants a cushy right-wing media gig, not actual power, I think. But, if it is The People's Will that he be crowned Imperial Praetor Maximus, he wouldn't say no.

still wish he'd died in that car accident

I can't think of him without remembering the foot-tapping scene in Bob Roberts.

yeah i don't agree that he has much if any power

New thread anyone?

We should. I can’t think of a good title though. Maybe “AMERICA, FUCK YEAH”?

FUCK AMERICA, YEAH?

That works too

"AMERICA! FUCK NO!" ?

5-4, Bitch: US Politics September 2021