Ah...well for us veggies the wings, whether chicken or buffalo, are not top o'the mind at most moments. But I see yer point.
There's probly several other industrial enterprises that could lay claim to reichwing as a brand, if'n they'd only had the gumption. Hitler's hockey team probly had one...
No one remembers the volkswagens of the late 50's with those massive fins.
Someone in the stands at yesterday's Buffalo Bills game had a sign reading REVENGE IS A DISH BEST SERVED WITH CELERY STICKS AND BLUE CHEESE DRESSING. I thought it was funny.
“Hey we’re a republic not a democracy! Unless you use the Constitution to keep Trump off the ballot! Then we should let the people decide! Wait no--I mean the Electoral College! What I mean is Thomas Jefferson would want us to win! His will be obeyed!”
We reformed that somewhat when states gave their electoral votes to the popular vote winner, but Hoo Boy mention the unfairness of the EC to a conservative and they go full Blood and Soil in a hurry.
In 2012 (I think), there was about a 15-minute period when Romney was a little ahead in the popular vote and Obama in the electoral. During which time both Trump and Giuliani were frantically tweeting about the injustice of the EC. [Edited for correct year}
Oh, the conventional wisdom going into the 2000 election was that Bush would win the popular vote and Gore the EC. The usual suspects said it was time to burn it all down if that happened, and the other usual suspects said "Gee, you know, they might have a point."
The only chance we have of ever getting rid of the EC is if that happens. Of course Republicans will also demand that their loser be installed, and again many will nod their heads and say it's only fair.
In 2000, the EC was wildly unfair because it would be possible for someone to lose the popular vote and still be installed as president based on the EC vote. What made that wildly unfair was the fact that Al Gore might have benefited from it.
In 2016, the EC was wildly unfair because it would be possible for someone to lose the popular vote and still be installed as president based on the EC vote. What made that wildly unfair was the fact that Hillary Clinton might have benefited from it.
In 2024, the EC will be wildly unfair because it would be possible for someone to win the popular vote and win the EC vote and thus become president. What makes that wildly unfair is the fact that Joe Biden might benefit from it.
Thus do we now hear calls from the Right that state legislatures should be allowed to ignore the popular vote and simply declare a winner regardless--provided that winner is Donald Trump.
The prestige media wants Trump back in office soooo much they can almost taste his sweaty underwear. But Republicans are making it very difficult for this to happen. Ohio's reproductive referendum passed handily, yet the Republican legislature has declared that it simply will not implement it and, further, it's going to pass new even-more-restrictive anti-abortion legislation. And so on across this great land.
This forces the media into downplaying the role of reproductive rights in voter sentiment. When Roe first fell, they declared the issue settled and the states would finally get to decide. And with every new wave of voters declaring loudly they do not want Republicans but they DO want reproductive freedom, the media has assured us that this is just some passing fad like fire or the invention of the wheel.
So I'm hoping Orange Julius Seizure runs on his greatest hits and Democrats help him along with that. Trump wants credit for being the president who shot down Roe, so let's give it to him. Loudly. And repeatedly. Trump wants to do away with the Affordable Care act? Let's make sure voters know this. Trump wants to wipe out Social Security and Medicare? Let that be emblazoned across the skies!
And that's why none of us can afford to loaf this year. The upper-crust is hoping for more tax cuts while the rest of us live on crumbs. I say, let's make them toast this year!
This is interesting and true, because the establishment GOP/donor class and the legacy media are really at subtle odds. The media wants Trump back because he’s profitable for them, the donor class would like nothing better than to have Trump miraculously disappear and have someone like Hailey or DeSantis at the helm who could reliably increase *their* profits. Although some mega-donors are nutty Christian types themselves, most are probably *FURIOUS* that SCOTUS threw the Roe sop to the fundamentalists and in the process mobilized the normies and liberals.
Not wanting to make excuses for the Washington Post, but it's true that nobody took Trump seriously enough in 2016 (I sure didn't) and so the response to that is "Never Again" and let's skew every development to make Trump look ten feet tall.
Example: The Supreme Court says "no thanks" to immediately batting down his ridiculous claim of total immunity from prosecution for anything, saying the appeal needs to go through the normal process first. Media is filled with stories about "Big Win For Trump."
Don't fool yourself: It was, indeed, a big win for Trump. His only hope lies in dragging this out until he somehow gets back in power. At which point he pardons himself and everyone else from federal charges, and has Letitia James, Alvin Braggman, and Fani Wills arrested on whatever bogus charges Attorney General Stephen Miller can think up.
I look at it this way: You're on trial for murder, and the judge overrules some objection by the prosecution. Sure, I suppose that's a "win", but who would trade places with you?
When we talk about his "strategy of delay" it's important to note that delay is all he's got, because he's guilty as sin and the prosecution has built up a VERY strong case that makes an actual acquittal almost impossible for him. So his lawyers do the only thing they can do, which is file these useless - and losing - motions, which then gets laughably described as a "strategy." If you've painted yourself into a corner and there's only one thing you can do, it's not really a strategy when you do it.
That said, if he gets re-elected it's a disaster, and REVENGE will be the order of the day. But him quashing all the prosecutions against him will be the least of our problems, IMHO.
The only thing that's ever worked against Trump is 80 million people voting for Joe Biden. I think we can do that again, but if we can't, we're fucked whatever happens in the courts.
I will say this for these prosecutions, however they turn out they've succeeded in driving Trump even farther 'round the bend. When your Christmas message ends with MAY THEY ROT IN HELL you're no longer talking to normal people.
Happy New Year Roy, and thank you. Maybe sense will come to the senseless at the moment it counts most, in the ballot box. What gives me hope is the thought that the most deluded portion of the electorate will have a eureka moment when they recognize the glaring paradox underlying today's post.
Good to hear from you, Reb. I don't expect too many to solve the riddle but I do think common sense has a head start. If the herd runs the wrong way at least we're apart from them and don't have to follow.
Happy New Year, all. Another fucking election year, more anxiety. Jesus.
I agree the GOP and conservatives have given up on persuasion, and a big part of that is being beholden to their donor class. But another part is they chose to get onboard the MAGA train, and now they realize that they are in fact ON a train, not a road, there are no exit ramps. They chose to ride the tiger, and it’s a pissed off and mentally deranged tiger at that. All they can do is hold on for dear life and try to keep away from its teeth and claws. And they are afraid to let go even when the tiger charges directly toward a cliff. I have no sympathy.
Could also be that they've given up on persuasion because they're deluded enough to think that everyone already agrees with them. Because they live in a bubble of fellow-fanatics and because we've all been raised on a myth that The Real America is straight, white and rural. How can we lose when we've got The Real America behind us?
Fortunately for us, the Democratic Party is outstanding at offering its coalition of voters things they like and which motivate them to vote…. Well, I guess we can hope that along with the hectoring there is at least *some* effort to appeal to Dem voters. (To quote Airplane!, “I picked the wrong day to give up drinking.”)
“Conservative factota like Megan McArdle at the Washington Post try to explain this away as a tactical rather than a fundamental error: Anti-choice activists are being “inflexible,” McArdle says, and she claims to be surprised by this because they “used to be good at picking strategic battles”
How many here read the WP? I do, and we have a name for the obtuse, clueless “so called” conservatives at the Post; not all, but most. I can tolerate George Will because half the time he talks about baseball; so no foul there; or pun intended...:)
To even suggest the republican’s are good at picking strategic battles is hilarious on its face. Yes, wokeness, CRT, book bans, outlawing abortions and repealing the Affordable Care Act are extremely strategic; if your strategy is to rely on the Supremacist Court to bail them out and make sure the competition is forced to play with both hands tied behind their backs.
However, the tag team of Thiessen, Olsen, McArdle, and Hewitt are the epitome of the four stooges. Yes, there were four! Except, they aren’t even funny. They are hysterical, but only in the sense of the “if you can’t laugh, you cry,” scenario.
Each so oblivious to reality, they must live in a hermetically sealed cocoon. And apparently, they all like it that way.
Happy New Year to all, and let the 2024 HUNGER Games commence...:)
I’ve call Geo. Fwill “the Potomac Pecksniff” for some time: “Martin Chuzzlewit”, if something of a mess, plot-wise, should be having a moment, with its harsh criticism of the new Republic’s claims as opposed to its reality...
They're addicted to this shit that gives them a short burst of excitement and media attention, but then fades and needs to be followed by another hit of bullshit. Look at the book-banning/CRT hysteria, they milked that for all it was worth and it wasn't worth much. But never mind, we've got this "college kids are antisemitic" thing, and... What? That one's already faded from public memory? Fuck, better scare up a new one...
On to 2024. Happy to be here, happy to be anywhere (hat tip to Keith). The economy is growing but polls say it sucks, desert religions are fighting each other but yutes blame Biden, Dems quote Republican fascists but pundits say both sides to blame, Trump in court for attempted coup but MAGAs say that’s election interference, they’re still debating the role of slavery in the Civil War and when a fetus becomes the equal of a corporation, so on and so filth. A lot to look forward to the next 12 months, with Roy as our commentator.
When fetuses have the rights of full persons, can we finally demand that for corporations to be “persons” they must eventually expire? Or at least endure regular colonoscopies?
He started out as county prosecutor in the place I grew up. I know more than one person that traded a bag of cash to slip out of a drug charge. He did do the right thing last week though. I even called his office and left a positive message (except for the line about him being"not his usual craven piece of shit")
2023 was frankly a good year for me. The kids are doing great. My wife had some health challenges but those all worked out fine. I've never made more money working for somebody else than I did this year.( I had a couple great years a while back running my own company. One of those right place - right time things For a few years, it was like the sky opened up and the money rained down like water. My lifelong friend and business partner stole everything and that was that)
I'm almost done with my 8 year remodeling project here at the house and I've got some really great things planned to take up my time in the upcoming years. I got all the paperwork done to open up a nursery here at the house. I got a huge cedar tree that's fallen over in my backyard. It's going to the sawmill this spring. I'm going to use the lumber to build a modern update of a gypsy caravan/ circus wagon . The idea is to create a horse drawn RV. I am also working with my neighbor, a machine shop guy who can weld and fabricate like nobody's business, on building a dog sulky. Like this -
A cool part of all these cool things is going to be sharing it with the world on substack - and getting the world to help pay for my extravagant fun.
I hope the Nazis don't fuck that up.
I was sick over Christmas. Covid. Sick as fuck, actually. For about 9 days. Long about day four, I became convinced Trump was going to win and the world is going to shit. Now, I'm usually not quite so gloomy ( I smoke a lot of weed!) But this time, for a while there, I was seriously down in the dumps. So I was laying there, in the midst of a fever dream when suddenly, for no good reason, I just said fuck it and quit worrying. Trump might win again. If he does, it'll be just like last time. Him and his hoodlum henchmen will be too busy stealing shit for themselves to do any lasting damage. Not only are they stupid they're lazy. They will get voted clear the fuck out when it's time and we'll put in another supremely capable Democrat to fix things. Hopefully somebody younger.
Anyway - Thanks to Roy and all the rest of you folks. Look at 2024 this way - at least we won't be bored.
Sounds like you're living your life right. "My lifelong friend and business partner stole everything and that was that" is something that can happen to anyone and you seem to have processed it appropriately. Happy days!
Actually, the GOP is actually finally giving their voters what they want which is an awful backward nation to live in. See Tony W’s comment re the Xian socialism linked piece:
Their voters are also anti-democracy. The huge question then is whether there are enough actual voters who don’t want a literal hell on earth to stop the decades-long trend.
Also disagree with the term prestige media. The big problem is the media that aren’t prestige -- the mass and conservative media.
And while being pissy, I agree with Sabato’s point about extrapolating from one cycle to the next. Yes, Dems did better than expected in 2023 but those were few and local. Also -- and I might be wrong here -- the Dems didn’t do as well as the abortion referendum; they lost some of those votes. Dunno what the 2023 results say about 2024. Too, the Dems these days always outperform because electoral reporting runs the scenario that the Dems are assured of losing so of course it’s a surprise if they don’t.
As for Roy’s last graf: the Dems will not do any such thing with sufficient vigor; it would be up to a Democratic version of the Koch, Mercer, et al, operations to bomb the media with commercials to point it out. The Republicans are so vulnerable that there’s a shit ton of commercials possible that would make LBJ’s daisy commercial look like nothing.
That aside, HAPPY NEW YEAR all!! Dunno what the year’s third act so to speak will play out but the lead up will be interesting to say the least.
The current Dem leadership (sic) should make Lakoff's 'Don't Think of an Elephant' required reading immediately... but that wouldn't be democratic now, would it? Lenin said in around 1916 or so 'the Left should learn to use the tools of the Right... something to that effect. But hey, can't go around paraphrasing old VI now can we? Consolidating power is essential but the Broad Church model doesn't allow for such things.
They’re not a party, they’re an overly broad coalition. A party covering the range (approximately) AOC and Manchinema isn’t even close to a unified party. Being not-Republicans isn’t enough, duh.
Too, since the late 1980s, the rise of the DLC, and pre-presidency efforts of Clinton, the DNC decided to stop being the party of FDR and the New Deal but to copy the Republicans by serving the latter’s special interests in hope of personal enrichment. At the top, the DNC is primarily interested in making money.
Given those two handicaps or whatever, anything much is difficult. Knowing how to communicate properly isn’t terribly useful when there’s no interest in communicating properly when the party leaders have nothing much worth communicating.
Of course, that any such message would get distorted and worse by the mass media doesn’t inspire either.
The Democrats ended up being such a broad coalition because the Republicans keep alienating broad swathes of the public, and the Democrats are the only place for those people to go (sorry, Greens). So yes, it's weird to have a coalition that stretches from affluent college-educated suburbanites to the inner-city poor, but that's the coalition the Republicans handed us, and it's hardly a sign of weakness.
Having a system of government that forces coalitions to occur *before* the general election rather than when assembling a ruling majority in parliament also leads to weirdness and dysfunction.
Well, the Republicans make that job easier, you can just go with "Ten year old girls who have been raped shouldn't have to cross state lines to get an abortion" and the Republicans will say, "Sure, we'll take the opposing position on THAT!" Makes it a breeze to keep our own coalition together.
The only state abortion referendum on the ballot in 2023, that I could find, was in Ohio. I can't find a pro-life ballot initiative that has passed since Louisiana in 2020. The 2023 results indicate voting momentum, which isn't guaranteed to follow through but very often does
Our side won the WI referendum. I searched the internet and found the data at the link below. There were many legislative bills passed, but only the one referendum
The referendums did fine, ditto the WI judgeship, but as I think I said, I don’t go with the last cycle being predictive of the coming cycle. Even though how 2024 should play out...
Yeah they tried to make 60% the wining score for all (that is, this) referenda. It was the kind of plausibly-deniable trick that might have worked if Ohio voters weren't good and convinced not to back down.
And here's a question: Posting on social media a word-cloud with the words REVENGE and DICTATORSHIP, would that, in any normal universe, be considered a winning move in a Presidential campaign?
They've lost the ability to talk to normal people in a normal tone of voice about things that normal people care about, so what they do instead is Skree! as loud as they can to the most fanatical elements of their party, and the maniacal gibbering they get back in return counts as "popularity."
I'll say it now (Bookmark it libs!) Trump's heading for a fall.
Here's another one: AI-generated ad from the actual Republican party included the prediction: "Authorities forced to close the city of San Francisco [AI-generated image of soldiers, the Golden Gate Bridge, etc.] due to a wave of crime and fentanyl." Yeah, I can imagine the normies really taking to that one.
He’s literally shitposting like someone’s angry old uncle with dementia, and about 40% of the country thinks it’s awesome. Being relatively well off on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, combined with tribal allegiances and modern media/infotainment, have softened people’s brains to the consistency of overripe mangoes.
Something I've been puzzling over lately: Virtually every voter in these Republican primaries has voted for Trump before to be President, twice. So why isn't he at 100% (or at least 90%) in all the primary polling? Instead, he's at about half. Don't people like him? Did he do something to turn Republican voters off? I know if Biden gets only 50% in any of the upcoming Dem primaries, people will be calling for him to drop out.
While what could happen is potentially bad, I remind myself that my ancestors lived through slavery, the end of Reconstruction, Jim Crow and the backlash to the Civil Rights Movement. I draw strength from their memory, and resolve to keep going.
I avoid make predictions about the future – too dicey – tho my predictions about the past are, well, at least respectable on occasion. That said, I cannot shake the feeling that one of the front-runners of one of the two major parties will not be around by election day. Death, dismemberment (why not both!)...I dunno, just a feeling...
I like this idea about making predictions about the past, I'm gonna go out on a limb and say this skinny black guy from Illinois with the funny name is goin' places, just you watch and see!
"Sadists and bullies." indeed. And if there is one hard truth that what we use to call the "liberal media" simply refuse to acknowledge, it's that the only way to deter bullies is to stand up and denounce them in no uncertain terms. But since that's not part of the current media business model, it's on us to do their job for them. As usual. OK, so Happy New Year. And buckle up.
I'm officially adopting "Reichwing" into my political vocabulary.
Sounds to me like the brand name of the official nazi bicycle.
I’m thinking a beer dipped chicken wing; but that’s me...:)
Ah...well for us veggies the wings, whether chicken or buffalo, are not top o'the mind at most moments. But I see yer point.
There's probly several other industrial enterprises that could lay claim to reichwing as a brand, if'n they'd only had the gumption. Hitler's hockey team probly had one...
No one remembers the volkswagens of the late 50's with those massive fins.
Pardon me for saying this, but I still think the 1934 convertible Mercedes Benz 770 were the bomb...:)
I can't help wondering about the MPG
Also, you need to remember your history: The Beer Hall Putsch comes to mind. So beer-dipped chicken wings seemed like a slam dunk...:)
Putsch yer wings where yer mouth is!
Where I’m from chicken wings come with wilted carrots and celery sticks, so help yourself!
Someone in the stands at yesterday's Buffalo Bills game had a sign reading REVENGE IS A DISH BEST SERVED WITH CELERY STICKS AND BLUE CHEESE DRESSING. I thought it was funny.
Revenge is a dish best served cold.
Also, the best revenge is living well.
So, some day when my enemies least expect it, I will be living well.
Reichwinger's 1488 Ale
Oof. Brewers runnin' outta good names...
When folks realize they are NOT doing god's will, rather just fapping about for the benefit of the ongoing fascist program, maybe they'll...
Sorry, what was the question?
“Hey we’re a republic not a democracy! Unless you use the Constitution to keep Trump off the ballot! Then we should let the people decide! Wait no--I mean the Electoral College! What I mean is Thomas Jefferson would want us to win! His will be obeyed!”
The Deflectoral College is the tell of our nation's political history.
"Sure, vote for the next emperor all you want. But don't think it's gonna make a difference when the countin's done."
We reformed that somewhat when states gave their electoral votes to the popular vote winner, but Hoo Boy mention the unfairness of the EC to a conservative and they go full Blood and Soil in a hurry.
In 2012 (I think), there was about a 15-minute period when Romney was a little ahead in the popular vote and Obama in the electoral. During which time both Trump and Giuliani were frantically tweeting about the injustice of the EC. [Edited for correct year}
Oh, the conventional wisdom going into the 2000 election was that Bush would win the popular vote and Gore the EC. The usual suspects said it was time to burn it all down if that happened, and the other usual suspects said "Gee, you know, they might have a point."
The only chance we have of ever getting rid of the EC is if that happens. Of course Republicans will also demand that their loser be installed, and again many will nod their heads and say it's only fair.
In 2000, the EC was wildly unfair because it would be possible for someone to lose the popular vote and still be installed as president based on the EC vote. What made that wildly unfair was the fact that Al Gore might have benefited from it.
In 2016, the EC was wildly unfair because it would be possible for someone to lose the popular vote and still be installed as president based on the EC vote. What made that wildly unfair was the fact that Hillary Clinton might have benefited from it.
In 2024, the EC will be wildly unfair because it would be possible for someone to win the popular vote and win the EC vote and thus become president. What makes that wildly unfair is the fact that Joe Biden might benefit from it.
Thus do we now hear calls from the Right that state legislatures should be allowed to ignore the popular vote and simply declare a winner regardless--provided that winner is Donald Trump.
The prestige media wants Trump back in office soooo much they can almost taste his sweaty underwear. But Republicans are making it very difficult for this to happen. Ohio's reproductive referendum passed handily, yet the Republican legislature has declared that it simply will not implement it and, further, it's going to pass new even-more-restrictive anti-abortion legislation. And so on across this great land.
This forces the media into downplaying the role of reproductive rights in voter sentiment. When Roe first fell, they declared the issue settled and the states would finally get to decide. And with every new wave of voters declaring loudly they do not want Republicans but they DO want reproductive freedom, the media has assured us that this is just some passing fad like fire or the invention of the wheel.
So I'm hoping Orange Julius Seizure runs on his greatest hits and Democrats help him along with that. Trump wants credit for being the president who shot down Roe, so let's give it to him. Loudly. And repeatedly. Trump wants to do away with the Affordable Care act? Let's make sure voters know this. Trump wants to wipe out Social Security and Medicare? Let that be emblazoned across the skies!
And the first 2 marks of the year go to Derelict for fire & wheels.
The Republicans are coming for your bread slicers!
And that's why none of us can afford to loaf this year. The upper-crust is hoping for more tax cuts while the rest of us live on crumbs. I say, let's make them toast this year!
Damn, Derelict's ON FIRE this morning!
Bakers Arise!
For a Fun Friday, Roy should do one on "Odd Jobs I've Had." I've had quite a few, including baking bagels for a couple of months.
This is interesting and true, because the establishment GOP/donor class and the legacy media are really at subtle odds. The media wants Trump back because he’s profitable for them, the donor class would like nothing better than to have Trump miraculously disappear and have someone like Hailey or DeSantis at the helm who could reliably increase *their* profits. Although some mega-donors are nutty Christian types themselves, most are probably *FURIOUS* that SCOTUS threw the Roe sop to the fundamentalists and in the process mobilized the normies and liberals.
Not wanting to make excuses for the Washington Post, but it's true that nobody took Trump seriously enough in 2016 (I sure didn't) and so the response to that is "Never Again" and let's skew every development to make Trump look ten feet tall.
Example: The Supreme Court says "no thanks" to immediately batting down his ridiculous claim of total immunity from prosecution for anything, saying the appeal needs to go through the normal process first. Media is filled with stories about "Big Win For Trump."
Don't fool yourself: It was, indeed, a big win for Trump. His only hope lies in dragging this out until he somehow gets back in power. At which point he pardons himself and everyone else from federal charges, and has Letitia James, Alvin Braggman, and Fani Wills arrested on whatever bogus charges Attorney General Stephen Miller can think up.
I look at it this way: You're on trial for murder, and the judge overrules some objection by the prosecution. Sure, I suppose that's a "win", but who would trade places with you?
When we talk about his "strategy of delay" it's important to note that delay is all he's got, because he's guilty as sin and the prosecution has built up a VERY strong case that makes an actual acquittal almost impossible for him. So his lawyers do the only thing they can do, which is file these useless - and losing - motions, which then gets laughably described as a "strategy." If you've painted yourself into a corner and there's only one thing you can do, it's not really a strategy when you do it.
That said, if he gets re-elected it's a disaster, and REVENGE will be the order of the day. But him quashing all the prosecutions against him will be the least of our problems, IMHO.
The only thing that's ever worked against Trump is 80 million people voting for Joe Biden. I think we can do that again, but if we can't, we're fucked whatever happens in the courts.
I will say this for these prosecutions, however they turn out they've succeeded in driving Trump even farther 'round the bend. When your Christmas message ends with MAY THEY ROT IN HELL you're no longer talking to normal people.
Upvoted for phrases like “sweaty underwear.” Also silently downvoted with Ren & Stimpy scream echoing in my head for same.
And a Happy New Year to Roy and all the rest of this splendid and amazing commentariat!
Hey thanks!
It's the least I can do.
And never let it be said I didn't do the least I could do.
You're the bestest with the leastest!
Happy New Year Roy, and thank you. Maybe sense will come to the senseless at the moment it counts most, in the ballot box. What gives me hope is the thought that the most deluded portion of the electorate will have a eureka moment when they recognize the glaring paradox underlying today's post.
Good to hear from you, Reb. I don't expect too many to solve the riddle but I do think common sense has a head start. If the herd runs the wrong way at least we're apart from them and don't have to follow.
It will be close, if just 5% of the deluded portion of the electorate wakes up (or just sleeps in on election day) he can't win.
Happy New Year, all. Another fucking election year, more anxiety. Jesus.
I agree the GOP and conservatives have given up on persuasion, and a big part of that is being beholden to their donor class. But another part is they chose to get onboard the MAGA train, and now they realize that they are in fact ON a train, not a road, there are no exit ramps. They chose to ride the tiger, and it’s a pissed off and mentally deranged tiger at that. All they can do is hold on for dear life and try to keep away from its teeth and claws. And they are afraid to let go even when the tiger charges directly toward a cliff. I have no sympathy.
Could also be that they've given up on persuasion because they're deluded enough to think that everyone already agrees with them. Because they live in a bubble of fellow-fanatics and because we've all been raised on a myth that The Real America is straight, white and rural. How can we lose when we've got The Real America behind us?
Fortunately for us, the Democratic Party is outstanding at offering its coalition of voters things they like and which motivate them to vote…. Well, I guess we can hope that along with the hectoring there is at least *some* effort to appeal to Dem voters. (To quote Airplane!, “I picked the wrong day to give up drinking.”)
You wanted more weapons sent to Israel, right? Because if you did, have I got some good news for YOU!
“Conservative factota like Megan McArdle at the Washington Post try to explain this away as a tactical rather than a fundamental error: Anti-choice activists are being “inflexible,” McArdle says, and she claims to be surprised by this because they “used to be good at picking strategic battles”
How many here read the WP? I do, and we have a name for the obtuse, clueless “so called” conservatives at the Post; not all, but most. I can tolerate George Will because half the time he talks about baseball; so no foul there; or pun intended...:)
To even suggest the republican’s are good at picking strategic battles is hilarious on its face. Yes, wokeness, CRT, book bans, outlawing abortions and repealing the Affordable Care Act are extremely strategic; if your strategy is to rely on the Supremacist Court to bail them out and make sure the competition is forced to play with both hands tied behind their backs.
However, the tag team of Thiessen, Olsen, McArdle, and Hewitt are the epitome of the four stooges. Yes, there were four! Except, they aren’t even funny. They are hysterical, but only in the sense of the “if you can’t laugh, you cry,” scenario.
Each so oblivious to reality, they must live in a hermetically sealed cocoon. And apparently, they all like it that way.
Happy New Year to all, and let the 2024 HUNGER Games commence...:)
I'm thinking McArdle would've been Shemp. 😉
Works for me...:)
Gummo Marx.
Thermomix Marx
Or the fusty old pecksniff who hires Curly, Larry and Moe to paint her house.
That's Peggy Noonan, altho she's NYT.
WSJ!
Oops, how could I forget her stippled portrait?
She's usually stippled by 10 in the morning.
I’ve call Geo. Fwill “the Potomac Pecksniff” for some time: “Martin Chuzzlewit”, if something of a mess, plot-wise, should be having a moment, with its harsh criticism of the new Republic’s claims as opposed to its reality...
Larry, Moe, and Glibly.
They're addicted to this shit that gives them a short burst of excitement and media attention, but then fades and needs to be followed by another hit of bullshit. Look at the book-banning/CRT hysteria, they milked that for all it was worth and it wasn't worth much. But never mind, we've got this "college kids are antisemitic" thing, and... What? That one's already faded from public memory? Fuck, better scare up a new one...
Happy New Year to the Voice of Sanity. That’s you, Ray!
Like a Roy of sunshine!
Sanity Claus!
you can't fool me, there ain't no Sanity Clause
There's my argument – restrict immigration.
Hey look who it is! That reminds me, I have back issues of LL to read. It's like a New Year's present!
*mwah*!!!
Ed Rosso for emperor, 2024!
Just for one day
On to 2024. Happy to be here, happy to be anywhere (hat tip to Keith). The economy is growing but polls say it sucks, desert religions are fighting each other but yutes blame Biden, Dems quote Republican fascists but pundits say both sides to blame, Trump in court for attempted coup but MAGAs say that’s election interference, they’re still debating the role of slavery in the Civil War and when a fetus becomes the equal of a corporation, so on and so filth. A lot to look forward to the next 12 months, with Roy as our commentator.
Let the Commentations Commence!
When fetuses have the rights of full persons, can we finally demand that for corporations to be “persons” they must eventually expire? Or at least endure regular colonoscopies?
I know some shit about Mike DeWine.
He started out as county prosecutor in the place I grew up. I know more than one person that traded a bag of cash to slip out of a drug charge. He did do the right thing last week though. I even called his office and left a positive message (except for the line about him being"not his usual craven piece of shit")
2023 was frankly a good year for me. The kids are doing great. My wife had some health challenges but those all worked out fine. I've never made more money working for somebody else than I did this year.( I had a couple great years a while back running my own company. One of those right place - right time things For a few years, it was like the sky opened up and the money rained down like water. My lifelong friend and business partner stole everything and that was that)
I'm almost done with my 8 year remodeling project here at the house and I've got some really great things planned to take up my time in the upcoming years. I got all the paperwork done to open up a nursery here at the house. I got a huge cedar tree that's fallen over in my backyard. It's going to the sawmill this spring. I'm going to use the lumber to build a modern update of a gypsy caravan/ circus wagon . The idea is to create a horse drawn RV. I am also working with my neighbor, a machine shop guy who can weld and fabricate like nobody's business, on building a dog sulky. Like this -
https://youtu.be/pHkkrz6DZO0?si=wRfSTigr7mOHwPPT
https://youtu.be/pHkkrz6DZO0?si=wRfSTigr7mOHwPPT
A cool part of all these cool things is going to be sharing it with the world on substack - and getting the world to help pay for my extravagant fun.
I hope the Nazis don't fuck that up.
I was sick over Christmas. Covid. Sick as fuck, actually. For about 9 days. Long about day four, I became convinced Trump was going to win and the world is going to shit. Now, I'm usually not quite so gloomy ( I smoke a lot of weed!) But this time, for a while there, I was seriously down in the dumps. So I was laying there, in the midst of a fever dream when suddenly, for no good reason, I just said fuck it and quit worrying. Trump might win again. If he does, it'll be just like last time. Him and his hoodlum henchmen will be too busy stealing shit for themselves to do any lasting damage. Not only are they stupid they're lazy. They will get voted clear the fuck out when it's time and we'll put in another supremely capable Democrat to fix things. Hopefully somebody younger.
Anyway - Thanks to Roy and all the rest of you folks. Look at 2024 this way - at least we won't be bored.
Sounds like you're living your life right. "My lifelong friend and business partner stole everything and that was that" is something that can happen to anyone and you seem to have processed it appropriately. Happy days!
He died a while back. That made the whole thing more palatable.
Yeah, things are good! I wish I were younger . Some of this good fortune could have come in real handy when I was young.
Congratulations on the Jon Swift award !
Is there something I should know about that our host is too modest to tell me?
http://vagabondscholar.blogspot.com/2023/12/jon-swift-roundup-2023.html
Another internet tradition...
Thanks – I'd been meaning to check in on it...
did Roy not get 2, two, Swift Awards. One for REDID and 1 for alicublog
A double-dipper!
glad you beat the Covid. I assume the people that traded cash to get out of he charges were all white
It's our privilege, you know.
we--the good guys--are going to KICK ASS in 2024. and don't you forget it!
Salud!
Whoa, a show of actual confidence! I like it!
Actually, the GOP is actually finally giving their voters what they want which is an awful backward nation to live in. See Tony W’s comment re the Xian socialism linked piece:
https://real-economics.blogspot.com/2023/12/week-end-wrap-political-economy_31.html
Their voters are also anti-democracy. The huge question then is whether there are enough actual voters who don’t want a literal hell on earth to stop the decades-long trend.
Also disagree with the term prestige media. The big problem is the media that aren’t prestige -- the mass and conservative media.
And while being pissy, I agree with Sabato’s point about extrapolating from one cycle to the next. Yes, Dems did better than expected in 2023 but those were few and local. Also -- and I might be wrong here -- the Dems didn’t do as well as the abortion referendum; they lost some of those votes. Dunno what the 2023 results say about 2024. Too, the Dems these days always outperform because electoral reporting runs the scenario that the Dems are assured of losing so of course it’s a surprise if they don’t.
As for Roy’s last graf: the Dems will not do any such thing with sufficient vigor; it would be up to a Democratic version of the Koch, Mercer, et al, operations to bomb the media with commercials to point it out. The Republicans are so vulnerable that there’s a shit ton of commercials possible that would make LBJ’s daisy commercial look like nothing.
That aside, HAPPY NEW YEAR all!! Dunno what the year’s third act so to speak will play out but the lead up will be interesting to say the least.
The current Dem leadership (sic) should make Lakoff's 'Don't Think of an Elephant' required reading immediately... but that wouldn't be democratic now, would it? Lenin said in around 1916 or so 'the Left should learn to use the tools of the Right... something to that effect. But hey, can't go around paraphrasing old VI now can we? Consolidating power is essential but the Broad Church model doesn't allow for such things.
The initial problems with the Dems are:
They’re not a party, they’re an overly broad coalition. A party covering the range (approximately) AOC and Manchinema isn’t even close to a unified party. Being not-Republicans isn’t enough, duh.
Too, since the late 1980s, the rise of the DLC, and pre-presidency efforts of Clinton, the DNC decided to stop being the party of FDR and the New Deal but to copy the Republicans by serving the latter’s special interests in hope of personal enrichment. At the top, the DNC is primarily interested in making money.
Given those two handicaps or whatever, anything much is difficult. Knowing how to communicate properly isn’t terribly useful when there’s no interest in communicating properly when the party leaders have nothing much worth communicating.
Of course, that any such message would get distorted and worse by the mass media doesn’t inspire either.
The Democrats ended up being such a broad coalition because the Republicans keep alienating broad swathes of the public, and the Democrats are the only place for those people to go (sorry, Greens). So yes, it's weird to have a coalition that stretches from affluent college-educated suburbanites to the inner-city poor, but that's the coalition the Republicans handed us, and it's hardly a sign of weakness.
Having a system of government that forces coalitions to occur *before* the general election rather than when assembling a ruling majority in parliament also leads to weirdness and dysfunction.
weirdness and dysfunction, two of our three branches of government.
The third being Emoluments.
The weakness is in crafting one size fits all messages. Otherwise, sure, no problem...
Well, the Republicans make that job easier, you can just go with "Ten year old girls who have been raped shouldn't have to cross state lines to get an abortion" and the Republicans will say, "Sure, we'll take the opposing position on THAT!" Makes it a breeze to keep our own coalition together.
The only state abortion referendum on the ballot in 2023, that I could find, was in Ohio. I can't find a pro-life ballot initiative that has passed since Louisiana in 2020. The 2023 results indicate voting momentum, which isn't guaranteed to follow through but very often does
The WI judgeship IIRC was a de facto referendum. There was Ohio. One or two more but we know good my memory is...
Our side won the WI referendum. I searched the internet and found the data at the link below. There were many legislative bills passed, but only the one referendum
https://ballotpedia.org/2023_and_2024_abortion-related_ballot_measures
IIRC, the Ohio referendum involved choice but explicitly. It was complicated.
It as called the Right to Make Reproductive Decisions Including Abortion Initiative
I saw.
The referendums did fine, ditto the WI judgeship, but as I think I said, I don’t go with the last cycle being predictive of the coming cycle. Even though how 2024 should play out...
The Republicans tried to make it complicated but failed
Correct. That they failed is huge. I mean, so many voters getting a clue of some sort…
Yeah they tried to make 60% the wining score for all (that is, this) referenda. It was the kind of plausibly-deniable trick that might have worked if Ohio voters weren't good and convinced not to back down.
Thanks for this, I'm a sucker for optimism.
And here's a question: Posting on social media a word-cloud with the words REVENGE and DICTATORSHIP, would that, in any normal universe, be considered a winning move in a Presidential campaign?
They've lost the ability to talk to normal people in a normal tone of voice about things that normal people care about, so what they do instead is Skree! as loud as they can to the most fanatical elements of their party, and the maniacal gibbering they get back in return counts as "popularity."
I'll say it now (Bookmark it libs!) Trump's heading for a fall.
Here's another one: AI-generated ad from the actual Republican party included the prediction: "Authorities forced to close the city of San Francisco [AI-generated image of soldiers, the Golden Gate Bridge, etc.] due to a wave of crime and fentanyl." Yeah, I can imagine the normies really taking to that one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLMMxgtxQ1Y
How 'bout AGAIN, MERRY CHRISTMAS. Especially for those who expend a lot of energy worrying that people aren't doing Christmas correctly.
Excuse me, but the holiday traditions must be honored, you're supposed to precede that with the customary MAY THEY ROT IN HELL.
He’s literally shitposting like someone’s angry old uncle with dementia, and about 40% of the country thinks it’s awesome. Being relatively well off on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, combined with tribal allegiances and modern media/infotainment, have softened people’s brains to the consistency of overripe mangoes.
Something I've been puzzling over lately: Virtually every voter in these Republican primaries has voted for Trump before to be President, twice. So why isn't he at 100% (or at least 90%) in all the primary polling? Instead, he's at about half. Don't people like him? Did he do something to turn Republican voters off? I know if Biden gets only 50% in any of the upcoming Dem primaries, people will be calling for him to drop out.
I do believe many people have too much time on their hands and no idea what to do with it besides go mad.
Happy New Year &c.
While what could happen is potentially bad, I remind myself that my ancestors lived through slavery, the end of Reconstruction, Jim Crow and the backlash to the Civil Rights Movement. I draw strength from their memory, and resolve to keep going.
I avoid make predictions about the future – too dicey – tho my predictions about the past are, well, at least respectable on occasion. That said, I cannot shake the feeling that one of the front-runners of one of the two major parties will not be around by election day. Death, dismemberment (why not both!)...I dunno, just a feeling...
I like this idea about making predictions about the past, I'm gonna go out on a limb and say this skinny black guy from Illinois with the funny name is goin' places, just you watch and see!
You do a lotta acid, Steve, back in the hippie days?
"Sadists and bullies." indeed. And if there is one hard truth that what we use to call the "liberal media" simply refuse to acknowledge, it's that the only way to deter bullies is to stand up and denounce them in no uncertain terms. But since that's not part of the current media business model, it's on us to do their job for them. As usual. OK, so Happy New Year. And buckle up.