Where's that photo of Kavanaugh with all his basketball girls serving as photo-op props behind him at the hearings? My European spouse thought that was one of the creepiest things she'd ever seen, and couldn't believe cheerleading squads were allowed at confirmations for f-ing Supreme Court Justices.
My brother was the chairman of his county's Republican Party for a while (we don't talk politics much), and one of the things that convinced him not to run for a second term was that he couldn't even have dinner with his opposite number in the Democratic Party (a guy he liked as a person) without freaks in his own party wigging out about how any remotely human interaction with "dimocrats" meant my brother was a RINO. My brother is really partisan, but that kind of slavering, ignorant stupidity digusted even him.
Not just that, but those who *call for us* to reach across the aisle, then a) callously ignore the inevitable back-slap across the face for doing so, and b) never expect the Other Side to do the same.
The Founders didn't count on ideological hacks being appointed to the Federal judiciary. They expected the President, and the people elected to congress, to be smart and well-intentioned, and the electorate to be reasonably well-informed.
What we've got, instead, is half the electorate being fed lies and misinformation by Fox Propaganda, electing venal cretins and imbeciles to congress, and now a fucking moron in the White House. Fixing this - if it can be fixed at all - is going to be one hell of a long, slow process.
The only hope is that a couple of Rethug senators grow a conscience - or at least a healthy fear of never winning another election. So far, not so good. The only one of the lot who might have put country over party is now dead.
I saw parts of Kavanaugh's "testimony" on the TB News last night. He seemed to be saying "That's a hypothetical" a lot or "That was twenty years ago!" Why are we even considering this guy when the President who picked him is a criminal. Also, a commenter last night say it sure was surreal to see a bunch of old white men talking about women's control of their bodies, while women protesters were dragged out of the hearing room.
There was a time, these conservative assholes could go through the motions of appearing human in public, but, now, they've been indoctrinated with the Fox position that anyone who doesn't agree with them on everything isn't quite human and should be treated as such.
That photo appeared in the Wikipedia article next to this passage:
On the evening of 1 May 1945, Goebbels arranged for an SS dentist, Helmut Kunz, to inject his six children with morphine so that when they were unconscious, an ampule of cyanide could be then crushed in each of their mouths.[237] According to Kunz's later testimony, he gave the children morphine injections but it was Magda Goebbels and SS-Obersturmbannführer Ludwig Stumpfegger, Hitler's personal doctor, who administered the cyanide.
One thing I've been wondering about that now-iconic photo; why does Kavanaught's head look too big for the rest of his body? I don't want to body-shame anyone, ever, but if I was in a face-to-face conversation with that guy, I would be totally distracted (and somewhat unnerved) by the disproportionate head/body ratio.
Hmm. Maybe that's why the Federalist Society nominated him in the first place; he has an inherent tactical advantage in getting through any adversarial questioning at his confirmation hearings. Picture the scene:
KAVANO: "I would keep an open mind."
DEM SENATOR: (staring, oddly unable to look away) "Um... yeah, okay..."
Where's that photo of Kavanaugh with all his basketball girls serving as photo-op props behind him at the hearings? My European spouse thought that was one of the creepiest things she'd ever seen, and couldn't believe cheerleading squads were allowed at confirmations for f-ing Supreme Court Justices.
My brother was the chairman of his county's Republican Party for a while (we don't talk politics much), and one of the things that convinced him not to run for a second term was that he couldn't even have dinner with his opposite number in the Democratic Party (a guy he liked as a person) without freaks in his own party wigging out about how any remotely human interaction with "dimocrats" meant my brother was a RINO. My brother is really partisan, but that kind of slavering, ignorant stupidity digusted even him.
Not just that, but those who *call for us* to reach across the aisle, then a) callously ignore the inevitable back-slap across the face for doing so, and b) never expect the Other Side to do the same.
https://uploads.disquscdn.c...
Which is why I'm so sick of those us of who continue to do so. Those people need to go find a sandbox to play in.
The Founders didn't count on ideological hacks being appointed to the Federal judiciary. They expected the President, and the people elected to congress, to be smart and well-intentioned, and the electorate to be reasonably well-informed.
What we've got, instead, is half the electorate being fed lies and misinformation by Fox Propaganda, electing venal cretins and imbeciles to congress, and now a fucking moron in the White House. Fixing this - if it can be fixed at all - is going to be one hell of a long, slow process.
The only hope is that a couple of Rethug senators grow a conscience - or at least a healthy fear of never winning another election. So far, not so good. The only one of the lot who might have put country over party is now dead.
"Don't touch me, little person!"
I saw parts of Kavanaugh's "testimony" on the TB News last night. He seemed to be saying "That's a hypothetical" a lot or "That was twenty years ago!" Why are we even considering this guy when the President who picked him is a criminal. Also, a commenter last night say it sure was surreal to see a bunch of old white men talking about women's control of their bodies, while women protesters were dragged out of the hearing room.
Negotiating in bad faith? Republicans? *GASP* /clutches pearls
(and no, The Media does not help.)
If we're lucky.If we're not lucky (and also inexperienced) we get sucked into an agreement that is cancelled as soon as they get what they were after.
There was a time, these conservative assholes could go through the motions of appearing human in public, but, now, they've been indoctrinated with the Fox position that anyone who doesn't agree with them on everything isn't quite human and should be treated as such.
That photo appeared in the Wikipedia article next to this passage:
On the evening of 1 May 1945, Goebbels arranged for an SS dentist, Helmut Kunz, to inject his six children with morphine so that when they were unconscious, an ampule of cyanide could be then crushed in each of their mouths.[237] According to Kunz's later testimony, he gave the children morphine injections but it was Magda Goebbels and SS-Obersturmbannführer Ludwig Stumpfegger, Hitler's personal doctor, who administered the cyanide.
One thing I've been wondering about that now-iconic photo; why does Kavanaught's head look too big for the rest of his body? I don't want to body-shame anyone, ever, but if I was in a face-to-face conversation with that guy, I would be totally distracted (and somewhat unnerved) by the disproportionate head/body ratio.
Hmm. Maybe that's why the Federalist Society nominated him in the first place; he has an inherent tactical advantage in getting through any adversarial questioning at his confirmation hearings. Picture the scene:
KAVANO: "I would keep an open mind."
DEM SENATOR: (staring, oddly unable to look away) "Um... yeah, okay..."
What a pompous self absorbed jag.
Two Corinthians walk into a bar, yadda yadda, "That's not a Duck!"