THAT email was somehow proof of bias and the basis for recusal??? Being a considerate person with thoughts of fairness and respect for other people is unfair bias? Oh, wait. We are living in MAGAland.
Coincidentally, I am reading the autobiography of Melissa Ludtke, the Sports Illustrated reporter who successfully sued Bowie Kuhn to get access to baseball locker rooms on the same basis as male sports reporters. The judge in that case was Constance Baker Motley, the former Inc. Fund lawyer who became the U.S.'s first Black woman federal judge. Ludtke mentions a case where someone had sought to recuse Judge Motley in a race discrimination case because she would have been subject to the same discrimination. Her response was basically, "if I have to recuse, so too does every judge who was advantaged by that discrimination." In the baseball case, they didn't dare ask her to recuse because she too was a woman who had been subject to discrimination (and you can't even imagine the indiginities a Black woman lawyer coming from New York to the South in the 1930s faced).
I recommend it highly even though I'm only about a quarter of the way through. She is remarkably honest, particularly about her own limitations and failings. I wish Rutgers University Press had given her a better copy editor (referring to Justice William Brennan as "Chief Justice Brennan" is cringeworthy), but one can get past that because the story is compelling and the writing is clear and you can feel the genuineness of the emotion behind it.
It's off topic and I'm not tech savvy but I have an idea: "You voted for it" T shirts, bumper stickers and the like. I can't afford it in time but hopefully one of you do! As a Christmas gift to our family and friends that hate us. I want ten!
OMG make it stop, I just got a money beg from Jon Ossoff for the 2026 cycle. Dude, read the room, I've got you in a couple of years but we're kinda exhausted at this point. Same with the Harris fight fund, I don't see how money is going to fix this.
I got that text, too. Everyone wants money. Bob Casey wants money to continue counting votes. Don't the county elections do that? WTF good is government if we have to fund it with fucking bake sales and shit?
In some states, people have the ability to cure ballot problems for a few days after election day. Local campaigns were asking people to call voters to get them to go down to the elections office to do that, hoping that most of the ballots cured were marked for Harris/Walz.
I get it if it’s for lawyers, Marc Elias types in the event of a contested election, but I’m not hearing about any of that. I caught some mention of a suspiciously high number of “bullet ballots” in the swing states but that disappeared instantly and no searches return shit today.
He may as well. Democrats are blaming Democrats and pointing fingers everywhere. It’s as tedious as the endless fundraising texts. “BREAKING! Liz Cheney just DESTROYED Trump! Will you donate $25 to a broken political system with no real campaign finance limits?”
When Trumpers see gas is .13 cents down next week, it will be because Trump is pulling strings secretly behind the scenes. Continued reports of a strong economy? Trump did it. Any price increases or bumps in the road? Biden did it. It’s an easy way to live.
He can say that all three branches of government will be GOP majority. I'm pretty confident that this will be called out. Legacy media, ehh, to hell with them, but where people actually get their news? It'll be called out loudly.
I start feeling like I am getting my rage under control and then another thing sets me off. Geatz as AG is just fucking disgusting. I am seriously limiting my news intake to here now. And often times i'm not following links to get details. I'm afraid my head might explode and then my kitteh will eat my brains.
If you are rich, no problem. Trump has a cheeseburger in his left ventricle. He will get the very best care our taxes can buy.
Speaking of liver transplants, the older brother of one of my best childhood friends just got one. He wasn’t a drinker, he’s just obese, and has some genetics working against him. He’s also one of the biggest assholes and cruelest people I’ve ever known. He hated his younger brother for becoming an all-state star in the same sport (basketball), showing him up and stealing all the attention. He was married 4 times by the age of 35. He once bear hugged me from behind, picked me up, and dropped me on his knee, (an “Atomic Drop” he said) which I thought nearly broke my tailbone. An asshole.
I never want anyone to suffer, even a shitty guy like him. Because I’m kinder and more human. But he did receive someone’s liver. He and my former friend are both Trumpers too, so fuck em.
Agreed. Republicans are exploiting the age of misinformation better than Dems do. They convinced voters that the incredible economy that Biden helped save after Covid was crashing down, like The Great Depression. The border is “open” they convinced them. Your groceries are too high, because Biden. It’s all BS. But it worked. The internet, Twitter, FB, and the endless podcasts and ragegasm shows like McAfee and Rogan are crushing the truth. Liberal policies are responsible for all the things voters really want, like Social Security, healthcare and public education. But voters are too stupid and misinformed to know it. The only hope is that Trump fucks everything up SO badly the economy is in a free fall of inflation, healthcare collapses because too few Americans participate, and Republicans rob Social Security to find revenue for their wealthy tax heists. If Americans actually feel it, and stop believing “Blame Biden!” Maybe we can find another Obama or Harris to inspire change. But it’s going to be harder. Misinformation is real.
Our only hope at the moment lies with one or two Republicans who might possibly have a shred of a conscience. I'm not a betting man, but I know bad odds when I see them.
Does this mean I can snort Viagra and coke and have sex with teenage girls with impunity now? Lord knows there are so many teenage girls hot to party with a fat, bald 70 y/o.
Gabbled at DNI is literally paid fox guarding expensively apparatused chix coup… coop. Why we bothering w intelligence or military when our enemies just soundly defeated us w out even really engaging us?
It's not well plotted. It's standard bully tactics, confirming your power by forcing the other fellow to do something absurd or humiliating. That's not chess; it's not even checkers.
And the only reason some of us "didn't really believe the Depraved Despot would be re-elected" is because we believed White women would vote with compassion and in their own interest rather than ONLY the interests of their White husbands and sons retention of white supremacy and the unearned privileges that thereto adhere
That's why he'll keep avoiding the Senate confirmations, because something will come out on most of these so he will have to replace them, or they'll piss him off so he'll have to fire them. Like his first term. He set records for number of staffers he went through, and he'll probably break it this time, because his picks haven't improved any.
Thinking "he can't possibly do that" has done nothing but screw us repeatedly. I'm sure this time, he's going to pivot into being presidential, right NYT?
Breathless awaiting the inevitable “Everyone just relax. Tulsi Gabbard as DNI, Pete Hegseth as SecDef, and Matt Gaetz as AG isn’t as bad as it looks” hot takes.
People are all "he wouldn't make it past confirmation" like they've completely forgotten how much damage the "acting"s in Cabinet positions did from 2016-20
Only paid subscribers can like this post…
THAT email was somehow proof of bias and the basis for recusal??? Being a considerate person with thoughts of fairness and respect for other people is unfair bias? Oh, wait. We are living in MAGAland.
Coincidentally, I am reading the autobiography of Melissa Ludtke, the Sports Illustrated reporter who successfully sued Bowie Kuhn to get access to baseball locker rooms on the same basis as male sports reporters. The judge in that case was Constance Baker Motley, the former Inc. Fund lawyer who became the U.S.'s first Black woman federal judge. Ludtke mentions a case where someone had sought to recuse Judge Motley in a race discrimination case because she would have been subject to the same discrimination. Her response was basically, "if I have to recuse, so too does every judge who was advantaged by that discrimination." In the baseball case, they didn't dare ask her to recuse because she too was a woman who had been subject to discrimination (and you can't even imagine the indiginities a Black woman lawyer coming from New York to the South in the 1930s faced).
Melissa is an acquaintance of mine here in Our Less and Less Fair City. I should get a copy of her book. She's an interesting person.
I recommend it highly even though I'm only about a quarter of the way through. She is remarkably honest, particularly about her own limitations and failings. I wish Rutgers University Press had given her a better copy editor (referring to Justice William Brennan as "Chief Justice Brennan" is cringeworthy), but one can get past that because the story is compelling and the writing is clear and you can feel the genuineness of the emotion behind it.
It's off topic and I'm not tech savvy but I have an idea: "You voted for it" T shirts, bumper stickers and the like. I can't afford it in time but hopefully one of you do! As a Christmas gift to our family and friends that hate us. I want ten!
Upfist for "state-party people"
OMG make it stop, I just got a money beg from Jon Ossoff for the 2026 cycle. Dude, read the room, I've got you in a couple of years but we're kinda exhausted at this point. Same with the Harris fight fund, I don't see how money is going to fix this.
I got that text, too. Everyone wants money. Bob Casey wants money to continue counting votes. Don't the county elections do that? WTF good is government if we have to fund it with fucking bake sales and shit?
In some states, people have the ability to cure ballot problems for a few days after election day. Local campaigns were asking people to call voters to get them to go down to the elections office to do that, hoping that most of the ballots cured were marked for Harris/Walz.
I got the Casey one today, I thought of your reply as I deleted it.
He claims republicans are trying to do something, but without some specificity I’m not inclined to keep throwing money at an election that is over.
I get it if it’s for lawyers, Marc Elias types in the event of a contested election, but I’m not hearing about any of that. I caught some mention of a suspiciously high number of “bullet ballots” in the swing states but that disappeared instantly and no searches return shit today.
Marcie, for real, your writing always makes me feel good. Or at least better. And better is good.
Thank you so very much for this----I've never needed news like this as much as now!
It's pretty clear that F34 is trolling us with his cabinet appointments. Gaetz for AG? Hegseth for SecDef? Gabbard for Nat Intel? Who's he kidding?
It’s playtime in MAGAland.
Yeah, those are just incredibly bizarre picks. Even for Trump.
Susan Collins can find the good in anyone.
She knows when someone has learned their lesson too
I really wish my sense of humor would come back. Well, we had a bit of a stress break with Biden, but back to ulcers.
I don't want the stress of all of this to kill me before I have a chance to see the day that orange motherfucker kicks the bucket.
I'll stay alive until I'm 120 if I have to, to see that.
At this point I’m done screaming into the void. It’s too late. Only thing to do now is sit back and watch Trump burn it all down.
If the media isn’t begging Democrats to clean up his mess after four years then this country will be completely lost.
I think you mean "blaming the Democrats for his mess after four days ( in office )".
He may as well. Democrats are blaming Democrats and pointing fingers everywhere. It’s as tedious as the endless fundraising texts. “BREAKING! Liz Cheney just DESTROYED Trump! Will you donate $25 to a broken political system with no real campaign finance limits?”
When Trumpers see gas is .13 cents down next week, it will be because Trump is pulling strings secretly behind the scenes. Continued reports of a strong economy? Trump did it. Any price increases or bumps in the road? Biden did it. It’s an easy way to live.
He can say that all three branches of government will be GOP majority. I'm pretty confident that this will be called out. Legacy media, ehh, to hell with them, but where people actually get their news? It'll be called out loudly.
Which begs the question: if he locks up or executes all of the Democrats, who will he have to blame then?
Agreed. That seems like the likely scenario.
I start feeling like I am getting my rage under control and then another thing sets me off. Geatz as AG is just fucking disgusting. I am seriously limiting my news intake to here now. And often times i'm not following links to get details. I'm afraid my head might explode and then my kitteh will eat my brains.
I find it very unlikely he'd be able to get confirmation, even with the Senate majority. But that's definitely a disgusting choice.
Bourbon makes a good low pass filter. The clowns are in charge for the next four years. We need to ignore them.
A number of brown liquors fill the bill.
Liver transplants are going to be even harder to get once they torpedo the healthcare system, though. Pace yourself.
If you are rich, no problem. Trump has a cheeseburger in his left ventricle. He will get the very best care our taxes can buy.
Speaking of liver transplants, the older brother of one of my best childhood friends just got one. He wasn’t a drinker, he’s just obese, and has some genetics working against him. He’s also one of the biggest assholes and cruelest people I’ve ever known. He hated his younger brother for becoming an all-state star in the same sport (basketball), showing him up and stealing all the attention. He was married 4 times by the age of 35. He once bear hugged me from behind, picked me up, and dropped me on his knee, (an “Atomic Drop” he said) which I thought nearly broke my tailbone. An asshole.
I never want anyone to suffer, even a shitty guy like him. Because I’m kinder and more human. But he did receive someone’s liver. He and my former friend are both Trumpers too, so fuck em.
Ideally, they'll be asking for a cleanup at the midterms. Assuming we are allowed elections then.
Honestly, I don’t have much hope for the midterms.
It would be a damn miracle to get a razor thin majority in the Senate back. But right now that’s not looking promising.
Agreed. Republicans are exploiting the age of misinformation better than Dems do. They convinced voters that the incredible economy that Biden helped save after Covid was crashing down, like The Great Depression. The border is “open” they convinced them. Your groceries are too high, because Biden. It’s all BS. But it worked. The internet, Twitter, FB, and the endless podcasts and ragegasm shows like McAfee and Rogan are crushing the truth. Liberal policies are responsible for all the things voters really want, like Social Security, healthcare and public education. But voters are too stupid and misinformed to know it. The only hope is that Trump fucks everything up SO badly the economy is in a free fall of inflation, healthcare collapses because too few Americans participate, and Republicans rob Social Security to find revenue for their wealthy tax heists. If Americans actually feel it, and stop believing “Blame Biden!” Maybe we can find another Obama or Harris to inspire change. But it’s going to be harder. Misinformation is real.
Our only hope at the moment lies with one or two Republicans who might possibly have a shred of a conscience. I'm not a betting man, but I know bad odds when I see them.
Too late. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger were already burned at the stake by the GOP for their integrity.
Media: Hey Kamala, how do you plan to reach across the aisle to Trump voters to heal the divide? Huh? Huh? Tell me that!
Trump: I’m going to create my own personal red state army to deploy to Blue states.
Media: This is fine. We have zero questions.
Mark Wayne Mullin on CNN. Wonder if he'll get in a fist fight with Jake Tapper?
"This is a time, this is a place, I have two first names and Jake, you're a disgrace. FIGHT ME NAOW PLEASE!!"
Matt Gatz is bad but he's also an idiot. Ken Paxton would be worse.
I was expecting Paxton too, but maybe he knows better. Trump had more AGs than Hogwarts had Defense teachers.
How long do you think Gaetz will last? Plenty of time for Paxton or McPeener Toilet....
Andrew Bailey (Missouri AG) was also rumored to be on the shortlist. He is just about as bad as Paxton
Yeah, Queen Meabh has made me well aware of that guy.
Does this mean I can snort Viagra and coke and have sex with teenage girls with impunity now? Lord knows there are so many teenage girls hot to party with a fat, bald 70 y/o.
Let me ask you this: are you a Republican? Because, as always, IOKIYAR.
You might not be able to, but plenty of other men have been; is this news to you?
That was my fear.
Yeah, I really thought Paxton was a sure thing. He's crooked and a MAGA nut, so he seemed perfect.
He’ll be 47’s next AG in X scaramuccis
One wilted head of lettuce
This cabinet nomination shitshow would be pretty entertaining if it was an episode of Veep, rather than, you know, real life.
Gabbled at DNI is literally paid fox guarding expensively apparatused chix coup… coop. Why we bothering w intelligence or military when our enemies just soundly defeated us w out even really engaging us?
I guess I'm going to have to add Russian to the languages I'm trying to learn on Duolingo.
We didn't really believe that the Depraved Despot would be re-elected. Let's not be so quick to dismiss these appointments as belligerent bluffage.
And that over-sprayed abominiation doesn't have the intellectual wherewithal to be playing any sort of well plotted mulit-level chess game.
It's not well plotted. It's standard bully tactics, confirming your power by forcing the other fellow to do something absurd or humiliating. That's not chess; it's not even checkers.
"that over-sprayed abominiation doesn't have the intellectual wherewithal to be playing any sort of well plotted mulit-level chess game"
His Russian overlord does, though
https://xcancel.com/NormOrnstein/status/1856796718064353378
And the only reason some of us "didn't really believe the Depraved Despot would be re-elected" is because we believed White women would vote with compassion and in their own interest rather than ONLY the interests of their White husbands and sons retention of white supremacy and the unearned privileges that thereto adhere
https://xcancel.com/RachelBitecofer/status/1856797357737930773
https://xcancel.com/DrStaceyPatton/status/1856114072724324355
And we also believed Democrats and party leadership would actually push back on fascism rather than meekly submit
https://xcancel.com/Matt_Fleming321/status/1856101953496924301
https://xcancel.com/cherisemonet93/status/1856361333207265789
https://xcancel.com/mmpadellan/status/1856733173062775192
I thought they would push back. It's stomach turning how quickly all these fucks are complying in advance.
That's why he'll keep avoiding the Senate confirmations, because something will come out on most of these so he will have to replace them, or they'll piss him off so he'll have to fire them. Like his first term. He set records for number of staffers he went through, and he'll probably break it this time, because his picks haven't improved any.
Exactly 👆👆👆
His entire last administration was “acting”. Probably this one too.
Thinking "he can't possibly do that" has done nothing but screw us repeatedly. I'm sure this time, he's going to pivot into being presidential, right NYT?
Breathless awaiting the inevitable “Everyone just relax. Tulsi Gabbard as DNI, Pete Hegseth as SecDef, and Matt Gaetz as AG isn’t as bad as it looks” hot takes.
They're already here
I don't have the energy to post them
People are all "he wouldn't make it past confirmation" like they've completely forgotten how much damage the "acting"s in Cabinet positions did from 2016-20
Got to have been confirmed at all to be an acting.
I'm talking about Senate confirmation.
https://www.acus.gov/sites/default/files/documents/03%20Vacancies%20Act.pdf
Perhaps both of us should check our rules
Excellent point.
Don't be so sure
https://www.acus.gov/sites/default/files/documents/03%20Vacancies%20Act.pdf
If they actually sit for Senate Confirmation Hearings... It will make for good TV.