when she was handing out passwords to Bluesky on twitter a few years ago, she gave me one. it was a huge revelation to me, regarding the Goddess of Parking Spaces.
I linked to the piece on the Blue Sky, calling her America’s Most Beloved Masochist (sitting through what she like the Shark of the Union as well as POTUS debates and stuff) and she nonetheless “liked” the post. Must be that All publicity is good publicity thing…
Agreed, get rid of SOTU. In a partisan age, the speech is just another political rah-rah opportunity. Or just rename it the "I'm doing a great job and here's why" address.
It seems petty to criticize Democrats when Republicans are literally not figuratively destroying the country. But c'mon, how can you not? The ENTIRE DEMOCRATIC BASE is screaming "Fight! Fight! Fight!" at them. Granted, they can do little legislatively, but this was a rare opportunity. Don't show up at the very least -- that signals you know this has become an illegitimate administration, rife with crimes and abuse.
Staging some counter-programming would have been even better. Instead we get the optics of the Dems sitting there huffily with their arms crossed while Trump verbally abuses them, like a bunch of school kids getting yelled at by their teacher. Awful, just awful political instincts.
Some of them *did* "counter-programming" and it was as effectual as the White House peace tent during the Iraq War. Media covered it like a clogged toilet at a birthday party.
Yeah, and they don't have the moxie for the kind of Go Big Or Go Home event that would draw real attention. Also to be fair, it's hard to combat the media's "that Trump, such a lunatic but great for ratings!" bias.
Stop trying to make me think about the STFU speech! Meanwhile, Trump sent Vance out to tell Minnesota Medicaid recipients to eat shit and die. He didn’t have the balls to put that in the speech; would’ve made a few headlines beyond “Booooring!”
You're not going to like hearing this but: It is literally in the Constitution that a State of the Union update must be given to the American people; whether the American people choose to opt out is on them.
Memory fail. And I too had the pin! The Wiki adds "Currently, the Reddy Kilowatt trademark is owned by Xcel Energy." It also links to this guy: Willie Wiredhand, of whom it says "Willie Wiredhand was created when the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) was unable to license the Reddy Kilowatt mascot from Ashton B. Collins Sr." and goes on to say "In 1936, the Rural Electrification Act provided federal loans for rural co-ops to build non-profit electric infrastructure through democratically-elected organizations. This program was part of Franklin D. Roosevelt's "New Deal", and later developed into the modern Rural Utilities Service in the United States Department of Agriculture. The NRECA was founded in 1942 as a trade organization to represent these rural co-ops and provide additional services which were too expensive individually. In 1948, Collins refused to license the Reddy Kilowatt character to rural electrical co-ops, on the grounds that it would harm the reputation of the investor-owned utilities to be associated with the federally-subsidized rural programs. In response, the NRECA had a contest to design their own mascot."
"Freelance artist Andrew "Drew" McLay designed "Willie the Wired Hand", with the "birthday" of October 30, 1950. The name is a play on the phrase "hired hand", a common term for agricultural laborers."
"Collins challenged NRCEA's right to its own mascot as soon as the mascot design contest was announced, writing that he was "the originator and owner of figures symbolizing the use of electric energy". The first lawsuit was filed in 1953 in South Carolina's federal district court. This case was decided in the co-ops' favor in 1956, and Collins appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals Fourth Circuit. The three judges unanimously ruled that the lower court's decision held, dismissing the complaint on January 7, 1957. The court held that there was no trademark confusion. The opinion, written by Judge Harry E. Watkins, stated that "[t]he names Reddy Kilowatt and Willie Wiredhand are entirely different. The two figures themselves do not look alike." The NRCEA successfully countersued for their legal fees. Willie Wiredhand was granted his own trademark by the U.S. Patent Office in 1957."
I just looked at Article II Section 3 of the Constitution because I remembered something about it mandating it. Nothing in Section 3 requires a joint session of Congress; if I recall correctly, some presidents complied with Sec. 3 with a letter.
Neilsen reports 28 million watched, compared to 32 million last year. All the shit that's gone down in the past year was good for about a 10% drop in speech-watching.
Up until Wilson it was just a letter, but like the producers of the Tonight Show they eventually realized it was a great platform for a marketing strategy, and just like the Tonight Show that realization turned it into shit.
You're not gonna like hearing THIS but: It is literally in the Constitution that a war cannot be declared by a US president because only Congress has the duty to declare such. Whether Congress chooses to opt out is NOT on them, or so I've heard on bleaksky...
The press is full of ignorant trustfunders, the government is run by degenerate pedophiles and we are ruled by billionaires with a permanent sad because no matter how much they spend, they can't make their dick bigger or people actually like them.
That's not good!
I watched a video yesterday about Shot Towers, specifically, the one in Baltimore. The only reason I watched is because I know someone who lives in Baltimore.* It was fascinating! Are you familiar with the story behind the place, Roy?
* Some say he lives in a trailer park on the outskirts of Kingman AZ.
"Shot" was a clubhouse name. His teammates were amused that Towers made a big deal of a drunken fan confronting him with a penknife after a particularly dank performance.
We visited Sir George's previous spread up in Newfoundland. Nice little spot on the coast (well, nice in the summer – we had a picnic on the bluff) but it all fell apart, so he absconded to Maryland and got lorded.
"There's no rule that says a dog CAN'T play basketball!" [from a movie nobody watched but everybody quotes, name some more like that for a Fun Friday prompt]
My go-to is "Gone Batty", the second of the Bobo the Elephant cartoons. Bobo is pitching, the other team complains, the umpire is shown between the two. he hits the rule book for emphasis. "There's nothing in the rule book that says an elephant can't pitch!"
(back in the early days of cricket, there was no limitation on the width of the bat on the rules. Some clever character shows up with a bat a foot wide, wider than the wicket. Nothing the other team could do, other than have the stuffing pounded out of them)
And now the Medal of Freedom is like a McDonald's Happy Meal for one lucky kid on the hockey team. At least it still had some cachet back in 2020 when the world's biggest whore hung it on the world's biggest prick, and on broadcast TV no less.
I needed this one. I subscribe (I actually pay money) to another substack. The guy is really funny, but his politics come from deep middle. And his SOTU take is “Dems fell for Trump’s trap, again.” One man’s opinion and all. But it drives me fuckin nuts. I guess I could unsubscribe, but I don't wanna go full Travolta.
Jesus, is that kinda stuff irritating. It doesn't fuckin' matter, people, everybody will have forgotten ALL of it by Friday.
The Democrats are a political party. They run candidates for office. If enough of their candidates win Mike Johnson ain't speaker no more. That is all, don't expect more.
Oh, you want leadership, drama, excitement? Right now the people of Minneapolis and other American cities are showing us how it's done, just look to that. Why anyone would look to Democratic politicians for such things I'll never understand.
Its not even expecting Leadership, its expecting the ability to read the room, understand your opponent, and take steps necessary to win. The Democratic leadership is doing none of those things, it is playing the status quo see-saw of power game that ran from 1950-2016, while the Republicans are reenacting Sherman's March to the Sea. The party offers no evidence they understand this in the face of the SAVE act in Congress now or the siezure of ballots in Georgia or the blackmail attempt on Minnesota for the same. And the Republican party hasn't started on serious vote supression yet.
Back when I was workin' for the teachers union, people would talk a lot about all the shenanigans the bosses could pull to swing the vote their way, but what we were trained to do is keep yo eye on the ball and turn out your people, because any shit they try short of cancelling the election can be overwhelmed by superior numbers. I'd bet a month's rent that's exactly what's in the head of Dem leaders.
Now, if we're talking about Tubby sending in the army to seize the ballot boxes, I got nothin', but I sure wouldn't be lookin' to Chuck Schumer for that one.
Maybe, but Chucky Che could be the Cuban crossover restaurant every harried parent has been looking for – dump the kids in the playpen and dig that Afro Cuban beat!
Turning out your people doesn't help if they're turned away at the poll or their ballot is disqualified. That's Republican strategy now, not working their voters.
Tubby's already sent in people to Georgia to seize voter rools, so that's one small step for a man. iIRC one of Turning Point USA's projects was recruting "poll watchers". This is one reason why Kirk's loss hit so hard, he was about the only one doing the competent ground work of setting up agent provocateurs, something the party has been historically bad at.
Yeah, Republicans have basically given up on any form of voter persuasion, "If you're not with us, fuck you" seems to be the attitude. I assume they think they don't need it. Maybe they're right about that, the bag of tricks will work instead, but they don't seem to have a firm grasp on reality, do they? Imagining that stationing ICE agents outside the polls to scare away all the illegals may not be as effective as they think.
That kind of brute force would be a last resort I think. The places they would need to do it would be inhospitable to ICE, as well as being wildly illegal. The party prefers preemptive strikes, preventing people from registering or getting them thrown off the roll, and post-facto annulment, challenging ballots and results in court. All nice and legal-like.
I can imagine some agent provocateur action that disrupts the process to invalidate votes in that polling place, but that's a really tricky con to pull off. Lotta moving parts, poll workers, observers, cops, ICE as muscle maybe. This gang just isn't that capable. If they tried it would almost certainly blow up real good. Anything more blatant than this is just canceling the election, which would light a firestorm no one could control, least of all Trump.
No, they're gonna go with the toolbox they have. I also expect a return of Dirty Tricks. What's Roger Stone up to these days?
Back when the fam assembled, fired up the radio and gathered 'round the hearth to hear the President tell you what he wanted you to hear, when there wasn't 24 hour a day screeching in your face, the SOTU was a thing. It's just a pep rally anyway (LOOK AT ALL THE GOOD WE DO) and this turd has obliterated it of any purpose other than helping the opposition reinforce its points - like anything he gets his grimy little meatflaps on - but that in itself is a good thing. The alternative roundups have been really delightful, snarky, fair and encouraging. I like being reminded that I'm on the side of right by other thinking, sentient but angry beings like yourself.
That Moneywise article about the guy in NC who lost his lumber mill (and the 50 workers who lost their livelihoods) thanks to Trump's insane tariffs is pretty good. I agree with you about the SOTU, but I don't know what anyone can do when the bullshit is so goddamned effective with certain folks:
"Wilson Jones voted for Trump — all three times.
Even after losing his business to Trump's policies, he stands by his vote: "Given the two people running, regardless of what they said on the campaign trail, I would've voted for President Trump again."
His brother Stephen agrees: "I don't think I had a choice to vote any other direction.""
And I don't know what this means, but it sounds just plain nuts:
"I voted for Trump all three times. Yep. I did," he admits. "But I literally was in the voting booth. And I rapped my knuckles and the Trump one hurt more, and that was the one that I voted for. Because it was just, it was so disgusting and, and I hate to say that, but that's literally how I made that choice."
I'll tell you WTF. There's a class of Trump voters who see him as a demigod, an ideal, their avatar of all the grievance, resentment, and hate they feel for not-Real America. They will follow him over a cliff into the pit of Hell. Ol' Wilson and Steve there would rather chew off their leg than vote for some damn Demoncrap.
But they are a minority, say 27% of voters. Their influence is outsize because they are otherwise non-voters who come out for Trump, and the serious gaming of the election process the Republicans have been dedicated to since the 90s gives them extra support.
The remaining Trump voters are anything with an (R) and Trump is entertaining. Racism, grievance, and low taxes are all mixed in there too, but they are not bound to Trump the way the 27% are. But getting them to admit they were wrong is possible but a heavy lift, and it would help if Democrats pushed the idea they were conned by Trump and the Republican party. That last bit is key, you break Trump's grip by breaking the Republican party's grip.
Yeah, everybody thinks that Presidential and senatorial races are the only ones that matter which is why everyone complains about them. Meanwhile Republicans get control of statehouses and governorships to gerrymander states like North Carolina into semipermanent Republican control.
(Example is North Carolina itself, which has more Democratic voters than Republican ones, and has a Democratic governor and lieutenant governor, but thanks to successful Republican gerrymandering and voter ID laws--first started in the mid 2010s and intended to disenfranchise as many Black voters as possible [https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/court-north-carolina-voter-id-law-targeted-black-voters/]--almost all other elected state officials are Republican, as are both its Senators.)
The members of the prestige press are fascists, too. I feel like someone just told me the people who have been feeding me are only doing so to fatten me for the feast and I'm the turkey. AI is going to take my job. I'm going to be a redundant thing, not even human. My organs are for sale. What do I need them for, now that I'm not going to continue living?
Back on point, I tuned in for several ten to twenty second visits on the SOTU nonsense. I feel from the lack of reactions I hear in the world of my days, each ending in Y, the world I grew up in is no more. POTUS, SCOTUS, SOTU. Acronyms are supplanting words. Reality TV is more watched than news. News is no longer news. Was it ever anything but propaganda by another name?
Now someone told me the Fourth Estate loves a good goose step. I guess it is good for the gander I've been taking at the stupid stuff they've been slinging for the last ten years at least. I feel old and helpless suddenly. Why did I order those undershirts?
You are prophetic once again! I order things to feel as if someone cares to send me things. Soon I'll be leaving love notes around for myself to find. "Remember you are lovely!" Now get back to your oar, slave!
Sounds like you maybe should take a break from politics for awhile, watch the sun rise and set, see the stars come out and track the phases of the moon. That’s what I do in my trailer park outside of Kingman. You can still follow what’s going on by reading REBID. The comic filter lessens the blows.
Well, if you did we wouldn’t be able to read you, though tragic as that would be, I’d of course want you to take care of yourself first. And believe you me, there’s still a lot of ugly politics in and around the trailer parks and off grid RV folk around Kingman. It ain’t all just calming moonrises and sunsets. The speed limit in a lot of those places is about 2 grams.
In former times there obtained a distinction (now lost, like the actual meaning of “decimate”) between abbreviations and acronyms, a subset thereof: The fact that the former could be readily pronounced aloud—unlike, say, FDNY—did not suffice: the abbreviation had to constitute a recognizable word in its own right. My favorite, from decades ago: 𝗔roused 𝗖itizenry 𝗥epresenting 𝗢ppressed 𝗡ew 𝗬ork 𝗠inorities.
That’s straight out of Orwell’s 11111000000 (a novel that most people read as a cautionary tale until a deeper textual analysis by Professor Stephen Miller revealed that it should more appropriately be understood as technical documentation).
The SOTU has become just another GOP wankfest and prom for media nerds. I agree with Roy: a half-empty hall would have been a better response by the Dems. Me, I took a pass and streamed "Honey Don't," an entertaining little film about a lesbian private detective in Bakersfield, CA. Much better use of the time I have left.
I tried to watch that and got about a half hour in, but thought it was a bit too cute and I couldn't quite suspend disbelief. Is there a payoff if you keep going?
The only upside was Vance and Johnson having to sit within a six foot radius of his stenchy underpants directly downrange at face level for two hours straight without being allowed even a disgusted scowl.
I consider it telling that in 1974, even the idea of being impeached had Richard Nixon so disgraced but he resigned. Now this clown has been impeached multiple times in addition to criminal convictions, but he's still sitting behind the Resolute Desk desk and nobody blinks a fucking eye.
Here's how it's done now: Harass and coerce one of your staff into sex, she later commits suicide, it all comes out in emails and text messages, STILL you refuse to resign.
I've said this before, but when the party watched Nixon board Marine 1 that last time they swore Never Again, and they meant it. That vow is part of the reason Trump so easily took over the party. They were waiting for him.
On one hand, there's the simple fix: Don't watch the thing and then ignore establishment media faux-reporting (that is, Trump and GOP PR).
But Roy's way, we lose a banger like this:
https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/maura-quints-state-of-the-union-recap
You know I'm right.
You also know I can go much darker...
Maura Quint is great.
when she was handing out passwords to Bluesky on twitter a few years ago, she gave me one. it was a huge revelation to me, regarding the Goddess of Parking Spaces.
I linked to the piece on the Blue Sky, calling her America’s Most Beloved Masochist (sitting through what she like the Shark of the Union as well as POTUS debates and stuff) and she nonetheless “liked” the post. Must be that All publicity is good publicity thing…
We await with breath abated your darkitude!
Manqueman2: If You Thought THAT Was Dark...
If this reboot was any grittier you’d have to special order it from Home Depot.
*rimshot*
"You also know I can go much darker..."
Naw, I wouldn't have believed it. Optimistic cat like you, always a cheery word and a bit of encouragement? Nope, no sir, not buying it.
Agreed, get rid of SOTU. In a partisan age, the speech is just another political rah-rah opportunity. Or just rename it the "I'm doing a great job and here's why" address.
It seems petty to criticize Democrats when Republicans are literally not figuratively destroying the country. But c'mon, how can you not? The ENTIRE DEMOCRATIC BASE is screaming "Fight! Fight! Fight!" at them. Granted, they can do little legislatively, but this was a rare opportunity. Don't show up at the very least -- that signals you know this has become an illegitimate administration, rife with crimes and abuse.
Staging some counter-programming would have been even better. Instead we get the optics of the Dems sitting there huffily with their arms crossed while Trump verbally abuses them, like a bunch of school kids getting yelled at by their teacher. Awful, just awful political instincts.
Some of them *did* "counter-programming" and it was as effectual as the White House peace tent during the Iraq War. Media covered it like a clogged toilet at a birthday party.
Yeah, and they don't have the moxie for the kind of Go Big Or Go Home event that would draw real attention. Also to be fair, it's hard to combat the media's "that Trump, such a lunatic but great for ratings!" bias.
Next year's party budget item: 10 million frog costumes. Hop to it!
Also, it's freakin' February, stage an event on the mall and all you'll get is penguins.
Well, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦’𝘴 a memorable simile!
Stop trying to make me think about the STFU speech! Meanwhile, Trump sent Vance out to tell Minnesota Medicaid recipients to eat shit and die. He didn’t have the balls to put that in the speech; would’ve made a few headlines beyond “Booooring!”
You're not going to like hearing this but: It is literally in the Constitution that a State of the Union update must be given to the American people; whether the American people choose to opt out is on them.
People need to know - all parts of the constitution are still valid even if someone has wiped their butt with it -
Sure. And the Democrats should opt out.
As it's hardly a good faith fulfillment of a duty of office that guy's doing.
But then, a few more important things in the same Constitution have already gone in the trash.
especially by the 6 garbage collectors on the supreme court.
"A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State...."
fer instance.
It doesn’t have to be a speech: the SOTU could be sent to congress as a document, with a lovely bow around it.
I think Woodrow Wilson is the one who revived the old custom of a live State of the Union address.
He would. He loved the sound of his own phrases, and thought he was the smartest person in America.
i think it should be like the little newsletters i get from the local utilities co-op.
Ever since Redi started that steroid regimen, he's seriously bulked up.
RediMegawatt!
word on the street he's eatin that clean coal, rarely sleeps.
Reddy, you ass. Worked for him. Got the lapel pin. HARRRRUMPH!
Memory fail. And I too had the pin! The Wiki adds "Currently, the Reddy Kilowatt trademark is owned by Xcel Energy." It also links to this guy: Willie Wiredhand, of whom it says "Willie Wiredhand was created when the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) was unable to license the Reddy Kilowatt mascot from Ashton B. Collins Sr." and goes on to say "In 1936, the Rural Electrification Act provided federal loans for rural co-ops to build non-profit electric infrastructure through democratically-elected organizations. This program was part of Franklin D. Roosevelt's "New Deal", and later developed into the modern Rural Utilities Service in the United States Department of Agriculture. The NRECA was founded in 1942 as a trade organization to represent these rural co-ops and provide additional services which were too expensive individually. In 1948, Collins refused to license the Reddy Kilowatt character to rural electrical co-ops, on the grounds that it would harm the reputation of the investor-owned utilities to be associated with the federally-subsidized rural programs. In response, the NRECA had a contest to design their own mascot."
"Freelance artist Andrew "Drew" McLay designed "Willie the Wired Hand", with the "birthday" of October 30, 1950. The name is a play on the phrase "hired hand", a common term for agricultural laborers."
"Collins challenged NRCEA's right to its own mascot as soon as the mascot design contest was announced, writing that he was "the originator and owner of figures symbolizing the use of electric energy". The first lawsuit was filed in 1953 in South Carolina's federal district court. This case was decided in the co-ops' favor in 1956, and Collins appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals Fourth Circuit. The three judges unanimously ruled that the lower court's decision held, dismissing the complaint on January 7, 1957. The court held that there was no trademark confusion. The opinion, written by Judge Harry E. Watkins, stated that "[t]he names Reddy Kilowatt and Willie Wiredhand are entirely different. The two figures themselves do not look alike." The NRCEA successfully countersued for their legal fees. Willie Wiredhand was granted his own trademark by the U.S. Patent Office in 1957."
I just like sporting my Reddy Kilowatt lapel pin.
I just looked at Article II Section 3 of the Constitution because I remembered something about it mandating it. Nothing in Section 3 requires a joint session of Congress; if I recall correctly, some presidents complied with Sec. 3 with a letter.
Yeah, my understanding is some have speeches but Truman made it a regular thing.
Neilsen reports 28 million watched, compared to 32 million last year. All the shit that's gone down in the past year was good for about a 10% drop in speech-watching.
I suppose I could have been paid to watch it, but no takers for $10K...
Well, it says the Prez should "give information" "from time to time."
Up until Wilson it was just a letter, but like the producers of the Tonight Show they eventually realized it was a great platform for a marketing strategy, and just like the Tonight Show that realization turned it into shit.
You're not gonna like hearing THIS but: It is literally in the Constitution that a war cannot be declared by a US president because only Congress has the duty to declare such. Whether Congress chooses to opt out is NOT on them, or so I've heard on bleaksky...
The press is full of ignorant trustfunders, the government is run by degenerate pedophiles and we are ruled by billionaires with a permanent sad because no matter how much they spend, they can't make their dick bigger or people actually like them.
That's not good!
I watched a video yesterday about Shot Towers, specifically, the one in Baltimore. The only reason I watched is because I know someone who lives in Baltimore.* It was fascinating! Are you familiar with the story behind the place, Roy?
* Some say he lives in a trailer park on the outskirts of Kingman AZ.
Summat familiar, only because I went there and heard a little speech about it. Irritating fact: visitors cannot climb to the top.
I fear the trailer park is next!
Trailer is easier to climb, is all I'm sayin'...
Sorry, private equity bought all the trailer parks. Can I interest you in "Under a bridge"?
Dunno – what's the over/under?
Sounds like a name from the early 1900s--Herman "Shot" Towers of the Baltimore Orioles.
"Shot" was a clubhouse name. His teammates were amused that Towers made a big deal of a drunken fan confronting him with a penknife after a particularly dank performance.
They may not have been around long, but the Lord Baltimores had the grander name. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baltimore_Lord_Baltimores.
Played baseball when they weren't chasin' down Butch and Sundance?
We visited Sir George's previous spread up in Newfoundland. Nice little spot on the coast (well, nice in the summer – we had a picnic on the bluff) but it all fell apart, so he absconded to Maryland and got lorded.
I once was in Baltimore, County Cork. But mainly for the ferry to Oileán Chléire (speaking of out of the way spots with some history).
"Is that allowed?" Don't know why not – everything else is aloud these days...
"There's no rule that says a dog CAN'T play basketball!" [from a movie nobody watched but everybody quotes, name some more like that for a Fun Friday prompt]
My go-to is "Gone Batty", the second of the Bobo the Elephant cartoons. Bobo is pitching, the other team complains, the umpire is shown between the two. he hits the rule book for emphasis. "There's nothing in the rule book that says an elephant can't pitch!"
(back in the early days of cricket, there was no limitation on the width of the bat on the rules. Some clever character shows up with a bat a foot wide, wider than the wicket. Nothing the other team could do, other than have the stuffing pounded out of them)
And now the Medal of Freedom is like a McDonald's Happy Meal for one lucky kid on the hockey team. At least it still had some cachet back in 2020 when the world's biggest whore hung it on the world's biggest prick, and on broadcast TV no less.
It doesn’t have to be a speech: the SOTU could be sent to congress as a document, with a lovely bow around it. Apparently it was for some years.
I think Woodrow Wilson is the one who revived the old custom of a live Staye of the Union address.
I needed this one. I subscribe (I actually pay money) to another substack. The guy is really funny, but his politics come from deep middle. And his SOTU take is “Dems fell for Trump’s trap, again.” One man’s opinion and all. But it drives me fuckin nuts. I guess I could unsubscribe, but I don't wanna go full Travolta.
https://filmthreat.com/uncategorized/the-bootleg-files-the-boy-in-the-plastic-bubble/
You're talking about Film Threat?
Ha, guess I didn't explain that too well!
SOTU thing was another guy. Going Travolta was a reference to me being in my bubble.
“Dems fell for Trump’s trap, again"
Jesus, is that kinda stuff irritating. It doesn't fuckin' matter, people, everybody will have forgotten ALL of it by Friday.
The Democrats are a political party. They run candidates for office. If enough of their candidates win Mike Johnson ain't speaker no more. That is all, don't expect more.
Oh, you want leadership, drama, excitement? Right now the people of Minneapolis and other American cities are showing us how it's done, just look to that. Why anyone would look to Democratic politicians for such things I'll never understand.
Its not even expecting Leadership, its expecting the ability to read the room, understand your opponent, and take steps necessary to win. The Democratic leadership is doing none of those things, it is playing the status quo see-saw of power game that ran from 1950-2016, while the Republicans are reenacting Sherman's March to the Sea. The party offers no evidence they understand this in the face of the SAVE act in Congress now or the siezure of ballots in Georgia or the blackmail attempt on Minnesota for the same. And the Republican party hasn't started on serious vote supression yet.
Back when I was workin' for the teachers union, people would talk a lot about all the shenanigans the bosses could pull to swing the vote their way, but what we were trained to do is keep yo eye on the ball and turn out your people, because any shit they try short of cancelling the election can be overwhelmed by superior numbers. I'd bet a month's rent that's exactly what's in the head of Dem leaders.
Now, if we're talking about Tubby sending in the army to seize the ballot boxes, I got nothin', but I sure wouldn't be lookin' to Chuck Schumer for that one.
In short, Chuck ain't Che
Maybe, but Chucky Che could be the Cuban crossover restaurant every harried parent has been looking for – dump the kids in the playpen and dig that Afro Cuban beat!
Turning out your people doesn't help if they're turned away at the poll or their ballot is disqualified. That's Republican strategy now, not working their voters.
Tubby's already sent in people to Georgia to seize voter rools, so that's one small step for a man. iIRC one of Turning Point USA's projects was recruting "poll watchers". This is one reason why Kirk's loss hit so hard, he was about the only one doing the competent ground work of setting up agent provocateurs, something the party has been historically bad at.
Yeah, Republicans have basically given up on any form of voter persuasion, "If you're not with us, fuck you" seems to be the attitude. I assume they think they don't need it. Maybe they're right about that, the bag of tricks will work instead, but they don't seem to have a firm grasp on reality, do they? Imagining that stationing ICE agents outside the polls to scare away all the illegals may not be as effective as they think.
That kind of brute force would be a last resort I think. The places they would need to do it would be inhospitable to ICE, as well as being wildly illegal. The party prefers preemptive strikes, preventing people from registering or getting them thrown off the roll, and post-facto annulment, challenging ballots and results in court. All nice and legal-like.
I can imagine some agent provocateur action that disrupts the process to invalidate votes in that polling place, but that's a really tricky con to pull off. Lotta moving parts, poll workers, observers, cops, ICE as muscle maybe. This gang just isn't that capable. If they tried it would almost certainly blow up real good. Anything more blatant than this is just canceling the election, which would light a firestorm no one could control, least of all Trump.
No, they're gonna go with the toolbox they have. I also expect a return of Dirty Tricks. What's Roger Stone up to these days?
Every day the opposition party (lol) isn’t throwing chairs and lighting the chamber on fire is a failed day, imo.
Back when the fam assembled, fired up the radio and gathered 'round the hearth to hear the President tell you what he wanted you to hear, when there wasn't 24 hour a day screeching in your face, the SOTU was a thing. It's just a pep rally anyway (LOOK AT ALL THE GOOD WE DO) and this turd has obliterated it of any purpose other than helping the opposition reinforce its points - like anything he gets his grimy little meatflaps on - but that in itself is a good thing. The alternative roundups have been really delightful, snarky, fair and encouraging. I like being reminded that I'm on the side of right by other thinking, sentient but angry beings like yourself.
Yes, but roundups requiring the ability to read will only reach a minority of voters. And they mostly know what's up.
Eh, a little more preachin' never hurt the choir.
"grimy little meatflaps" is good, if nothing else he's inspired our literary creativity.
My rage and disgust has plumbed new depths of the lexicon!
That Moneywise article about the guy in NC who lost his lumber mill (and the 50 workers who lost their livelihoods) thanks to Trump's insane tariffs is pretty good. I agree with you about the SOTU, but I don't know what anyone can do when the bullshit is so goddamned effective with certain folks:
"Wilson Jones voted for Trump — all three times.
Even after losing his business to Trump's policies, he stands by his vote: "Given the two people running, regardless of what they said on the campaign trail, I would've voted for President Trump again."
His brother Stephen agrees: "I don't think I had a choice to vote any other direction.""
And I don't know what this means, but it sounds just plain nuts:
"I voted for Trump all three times. Yep. I did," he admits. "But I literally was in the voting booth. And I rapped my knuckles and the Trump one hurt more, and that was the one that I voted for. Because it was just, it was so disgusting and, and I hate to say that, but that's literally how I made that choice."
WTF, America.
It is bananas.
Bananas be goin' "Hey now..."
"This is the thanks we get for being an excellent source of dietary Potassium!"
OOF/YOICKS!!
lumber mill people in NC deciding to vote. either the damn yankee or the Black woman. Gee, that's a tough one. thar both jes' polecats.
You know, Jim Bob, YOU DON'T HAVE TO VOTE AT ALL.
I'll tell you WTF. There's a class of Trump voters who see him as a demigod, an ideal, their avatar of all the grievance, resentment, and hate they feel for not-Real America. They will follow him over a cliff into the pit of Hell. Ol' Wilson and Steve there would rather chew off their leg than vote for some damn Demoncrap.
But they are a minority, say 27% of voters. Their influence is outsize because they are otherwise non-voters who come out for Trump, and the serious gaming of the election process the Republicans have been dedicated to since the 90s gives them extra support.
The remaining Trump voters are anything with an (R) and Trump is entertaining. Racism, grievance, and low taxes are all mixed in there too, but they are not bound to Trump the way the 27% are. But getting them to admit they were wrong is possible but a heavy lift, and it would help if Democrats pushed the idea they were conned by Trump and the Republican party. That last bit is key, you break Trump's grip by breaking the Republican party's grip.
"it would help if Democrats pushed the idea they were conned by Trump"
Can't remember who said "It's so much easier to con a man than to convince a man he's been conned."
Yeah, everybody thinks that Presidential and senatorial races are the only ones that matter which is why everyone complains about them. Meanwhile Republicans get control of statehouses and governorships to gerrymander states like North Carolina into semipermanent Republican control.
(Example is North Carolina itself, which has more Democratic voters than Republican ones, and has a Democratic governor and lieutenant governor, but thanks to successful Republican gerrymandering and voter ID laws--first started in the mid 2010s and intended to disenfranchise as many Black voters as possible [https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/court-north-carolina-voter-id-law-targeted-black-voters/]--almost all other elected state officials are Republican, as are both its Senators.)
Also, racism is why so many Southern states have off-year elections for state and local races.
The members of the prestige press are fascists, too. I feel like someone just told me the people who have been feeding me are only doing so to fatten me for the feast and I'm the turkey. AI is going to take my job. I'm going to be a redundant thing, not even human. My organs are for sale. What do I need them for, now that I'm not going to continue living?
Back on point, I tuned in for several ten to twenty second visits on the SOTU nonsense. I feel from the lack of reactions I hear in the world of my days, each ending in Y, the world I grew up in is no more. POTUS, SCOTUS, SOTU. Acronyms are supplanting words. Reality TV is more watched than news. News is no longer news. Was it ever anything but propaganda by another name?
Now someone told me the Fourth Estate loves a good goose step. I guess it is good for the gander I've been taking at the stupid stuff they've been slinging for the last ten years at least. I feel old and helpless suddenly. Why did I order those undershirts?
Hearted for the gander.
You'll feel better when the undershirts arrive
they make good bandages, but nothing agst radiation or blast shock.
You are prophetic once again! I order things to feel as if someone cares to send me things. Soon I'll be leaving love notes around for myself to find. "Remember you are lovely!" Now get back to your oar, slave!
That's how I take the whole David Lynch "give yourself a present" thing -- literally.
OTOH when the Brownshirts arrive...
Sounds like you maybe should take a break from politics for awhile, watch the sun rise and set, see the stars come out and track the phases of the moon. That’s what I do in my trailer park outside of Kingman. You can still follow what’s going on by reading REBID. The comic filter lessens the blows.
"How's it goin' this week, Michael?"
"Waning"
Oh, I think you are capable of looking that up. Or do it the old fashioned way. Go outside tonight and look up.
But will it be the same as in Kingman?
Pretty close.
"Flibberty-gibbous"
This weekend is the Big Planetary Lineup!
And next July we collide with Mars! (Can't come soon enough, IMHO)
So THAT's how Elon gets there...
Just makin' a close fly-by to offload some planetary detritus.
What a swell party it is.
Good advice for most of us, pity I can't take it.
Well, if you did we wouldn’t be able to read you, though tragic as that would be, I’d of course want you to take care of yourself first. And believe you me, there’s still a lot of ugly politics in and around the trailer parks and off grid RV folk around Kingman. It ain’t all just calming moonrises and sunsets. The speed limit in a lot of those places is about 2 grams.
In former times there obtained a distinction (now lost, like the actual meaning of “decimate”) between abbreviations and acronyms, a subset thereof: The fact that the former could be readily pronounced aloud—unlike, say, FDNY—did not suffice: the abbreviation had to constitute a recognizable word in its own right. My favorite, from decades ago: 𝗔roused 𝗖itizenry 𝗥epresenting 𝗢ppressed 𝗡ew 𝗬ork 𝗠inorities.
Everything decimalized has been superseded binarily. From now on every other person will be deaded.
That’s straight out of Orwell’s 11111000000 (a novel that most people read as a cautionary tale until a deeper textual analysis by Professor Stephen Miller revealed that it should more appropriately be understood as technical documentation).
I checked your math and damned if 1984 doesn't add up to 2^10 + 2^9 + 2^8 + 2^7 + 2^6. The stars align and all is in order with the universe.
See how easy that was? Kidz be goin' "Damn! MrB is on to something!"
The SOTU has become just another GOP wankfest and prom for media nerds. I agree with Roy: a half-empty hall would have been a better response by the Dems. Me, I took a pass and streamed "Honey Don't," an entertaining little film about a lesbian private detective in Bakersfield, CA. Much better use of the time I have left.
"let's take it to Bakersfield."
I tried to watch that and got about a half hour in, but thought it was a bit too cute and I couldn't quite suspend disbelief. Is there a payoff if you keep going?
Yep, although it was a bit pulpy; which was OK by me, so was the whole flick. Also, I like Margaret Qualley. She's a very interesting actor.
Was "Honey Don't" on the soundtrack?
Yep. A great version by Wanda Jackson.
Well now I gotta find that!
100%
The only upside was Vance and Johnson having to sit within a six foot radius of his stenchy underpants directly downrange at face level for two hours straight without being allowed even a disgusted scowl.
Yes. This is how my mind works now.
I consider it telling that in 1974, even the idea of being impeached had Richard Nixon so disgraced but he resigned. Now this clown has been impeached multiple times in addition to criminal convictions, but he's still sitting behind the Resolute Desk desk and nobody blinks a fucking eye.
Here's how it's done now: Harass and coerce one of your staff into sex, she later commits suicide, it all comes out in emails and text messages, STILL you refuse to resign.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/24/tony-gonzales-resign-affair
What they call Stay!
Was David Vitter the first one to try this? (and succeed)
I've said this before, but when the party watched Nixon board Marine 1 that last time they swore Never Again, and they meant it. That vow is part of the reason Trump so easily took over the party. They were waiting for him.