luật rút bài baccarat_casino trực tuyến uy tín_tỷ lệ kèo bóng đá hôm nay
Forget this. Joe Manchin knows as well as anyone what a joke Pompeo is as Secretary of State, this is just the dignified bullshit that he has to put out because he was successfully blackmailed by Mitch McConnell with the threat of actually spending more days doing the job they were elected to do, instead of getting the customary several months’ off to just campaign. It’s actually sort of hilarious. One presumes that these guys could have called his bluff by using the time to introduce popular bills that would remind their constituencies of just how good they are in the Senate, but apparently they’re going to Jake Gittes this bitch and do as little as possible. Great.
The reason why conservaDems are so bad is because they’re so deferred to. The theme song of the Democratic Party during the Obama years was “No Expectations” and they got what they asked for. That goes double for conservative Democrats, for whom the party will cut endless slack. (The Republicans, incidentally, don’t cut them nearly as much, and yet they continue to have plenty of blue-state members.) If anybody gets to attacking them too much someone like Jon Chait will step in and say we have to let them be because of the pressures they face. But while Manchin/Heitkamp/Donnelly/Jones are all better than nothing, the argument that they have to be allowed not to stop bad Trump nominees now so that they may stop bad Trump nominees after re-election makes zero sense, it’s little more than a con. There’s always going to be pressure, and this presumes that they’re actually interested in advancing a moderate-progressive worldview, instead of just getting onto the Armed Forces and/or Ag committees and then doing the will of the respective horrible corporations that dominate those areas, and otherwise demanding that Democrats never do anything that they don’t want them to (which amounts to most everything). It wasn’t a great idea and the results sucked, but let’s do it again, I guess.
I suppose they’ll be voting for Haskel too. And whatever Gorsuch clone Trump picks to replace Kennedy. Anybody want to take the other side of that bet?
There are enough think pieces out there about campaign books. It’s not that difficult to understand their existence: perfunctory product that makes its only statement by existing, and is purchased by the hardcore supporters of the candidate (as well as by people in politics, I suppose). I do think that it might be interesting for a 2020 candidate to play with that convention a bit, perhaps by including a less-than-airbrushed biography, or by using the book to advocate something unexpected and unusual, but that probably won’t happen. The audiences for these books have no expectations, and they get what they expect.
But other political books I don’t really get. I’m not talking about serious histories or analysis, I’m talking about Mark Steyn’s new book, Rachel Maddow’s new book, James Comey’s new book, that sort of thing. Comey’s is?au courant, and also different from the rest.?Comey doesn’t have a political apparatus like the other two have, one that buys up their books so that they can pretend that they were bestsellers (this is more a phenomenon of the right than the left as they’re obsessed with that New York Times bestseller list, but it happens on both sides), and while people in politics and normal people who buy into Comey’s bullshit mythology are the natural constituencies for the book, the former doesn’t make it a bestseller and the latter I imagine could fit comfortably into the Milwaukee Bucks’ basketball arena. So why are “normal” people buying the book? Best explanation I can come up with is the possibility of bitchy tales about Trump. But do these people not know that all the best ones will be picked over on the internet anyway? You can get all that for free, without all the self-pitying whining. I didn’t read it, but at the very least it seemed like that Michael Wolff book delivered on constant sleazy Trump tales that he promised. That’s integrity of a sort! Comey’s book is just going to be endless self-justifying pages about more in sorrow than in anger self-justifying pabulum, no matter what the “buzz” about it will be. I wonder how many people even read through it to the end.
Also, Comey is one of the great villains of this century. Can’t be said enough.
I complain enough about the guy that it seems only fair to point out when he does something good. The only reason so far as I can tell as to why marijuana legalization isn’t the default, widespread view of elected Democrats is that a lot of old white men in the Democratic Party are forever spooked over the issue. So for that reason,?this is deserving of praise.
This could be meaningful:
California billionaire Tom Steyer?endorsed state Sen. Kevin de Leon on Wednesday in his uphill?challenge to U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein.
Steyer’s backing could bring an influx of cash de Leon badly needs to increase his name recognition. But right now he has no “concrete plans” to form an independent expenditure in support of de Leon, he told?the Los Angeles Times.
Of course, it must be said that it’s hardly good for Democracy that a solitary billionaire can have a decisive impact on an election–it brings the idea of an “owned man” into a whole other level of meaning. That said, Feinstein’s main advantage has always been her access to big money–her husband’s ultrarich and (naturally) has lots of ultrarich buds, who have spent much time and money getting out this phony message that she was this feminist trailblazer. Without that,?she’s a do-nothing Senator who’s well to the right of the state and whose age makes another prospective six-year stint a pretty big gamble. Obviously she’s going to have big money, but if Steyer does actually pony up some dough, this could get interesting. If he doesn’t, well, then that nation-wrecking epidemic of drugs that look like candy may just have met its match.
My reaction to the political events of the past few years have led me in a couple of directions, one of which is to read the canon of African-American literature. It’s not that I hadn’t read anything in it, but there’s a lot that I don’t know, and considering the climate, it felt like the right time to make a concerted effort to tackle this corpus. So I’ll be hitting all the biggest stuff:?Native Son, James Baldwin,?Invisible Man, all of it. And writing about it too, though irregularly after a point after I run out of back catalogue, as I’m sort of a slow reader of books (in part because I’m always reading so many at once). So, expect that starting next Friday.
I do get that even the worst Democrat at this point in time is better than the best Republican given polarization, though Heitkamp really seems to want to set new standards for the definition of “worst.”?I get the play, but she must see that the substance of such a bad confirmation outweighs the momentary lift (if even that) that this move gets her. It’s no guarantee that Democrats win the Senate next year, but if they do, does anybody really believe that she holds the line against an anti-choice Trump nominee to replace Kennedy? This assumes a lot but, honestly, if she’s unwilling to stand up on a matter that means nothing to voters, why would she stand up to the majority of voters in her state on a matter of principle next time?
Sure, of the four Democrats who voted for Gorsuch, Manchin-Heitkamp-Donnelly are all up this year and perhaps all will survive thanks to the off-year out-party turnout dynamics. But Doug Jones wasn’t around then and he’ll be up in 2020. Perhaps Jones will give up on trying to be the Joe Manchin of Alabama and the other three will figure they won re-election so they can oppose it. Could happen! If you believe that, though, you’re much more of an optimist than me.
I suppose the brightest hope for getting affordable housing in California is that mass home ownership is doomed thanks to Baby Boomers deciding we all needed more “skin in the game” in the name of college debt that they didn’t have to pay, so a politics of sucking up to suburban homeowners is dubious if there aren’t many suburban homeowners. Then again, given how eager state legislators were to kowtow to the rich dicks at the expense of everybody else, the relative quantity may not matter at all.
Seriously, people, don’t move here. We seem to be incapable of fixing our problems. I hate everybody.
Bob Corker doesn’t regret voting for the tax bill, he regrets voting for it with the appearance that he only did it because he personally benefited from changes added specifically to bring him on board. Who knows, maybe they really didn’t have anything to do with his vote. Perhaps the ghost of ol’ Ronnie brought him back. But this is the most annoying thing politicians do. You had literally nothing to lose by voting against it, Bob, as you were retiring anyway. And you’re already rich! You’ve deserved your legacy being defined as a pile of sleaze. Onto the next one…
Sweet Tweets
- The Humiliations Will Never Stop ... Politics, Theresa May, UK Politics librarygrape.com/2019/01/the-hu…
about 16 hours ago via Facebook - The Humiliations Will Never Stop / librarygrape.com/?p=18161 ^Lev #TheresaMay #UKPolitics
about 16 hours ago via Library Grape - Is Our Democrats Learning? ... Politics, Tony Evers, Wisconsin librarygrape.com/2019/01/is-our…
about 2 days ago via Facebook - Is Our Democrats Learning? / librarygrape.com/?p=18153 ^Lev
about 2 days ago via Library Grape - First Monday Of The Year ... Politics, Democrats librarygrape.com/2019/01/first-…
about 2 days ago via Facebook - First Monday Of The Year / librarygrape.com/?p=18151 ^Lev
about 2 days ago via Library Grape - Blockchain or Bust ... Technology, Cryptocurrency, Fraud librarygrape.com/2019/01/blockc…
about 5 days ago via Facebook - Blockchain or Bust / librarygrape.com/?p=18141 ^Metavirus
about 5 days ago via Library Grape - American White Person Racism Explained Once And For All ... Politics, Donald Trump, Racism librarygrape.com/2019/01/americ…
about 5 days ago via Facebook - American White Person Racism Explained Once And For All / librarygrape.com/?p=17997 ^Lev #DonaldTrump #Racism
about 5 days ago via Library Grape
- The Humiliations Will Never Stop ... Politics, Theresa May, UK Politics librarygrape.com/2019/01/the-hu…
In-Season
- Blockchain or Bust 17 views | 2 comments
- Fox News Has a First Amendment Right to Lie – Updated 15 views | 0 comments
- Jack Welch Is An Asshole 11 views | 0 comments
- Face of the Day: Neda, A Young Girl Killed in Iran 10 views | 0 comments
- Quote of the Day: Atheist House 9 views | 0 comments
- My Debbie Downer Two Cents On Marriage (Equality) 9 views | 0 comments
- American White Person Racism Explained Once And For All 9 views | 0 comments
- Why Did Republicans Vote Against Pay-As-You-Go? 8 views | 0 comments
- Muppet Guitarist Wants You to Vote Glenn Beck in 2012 8 views | 0 comments
- Scary Muslim Names Scare Trump Supporters 8 views | 0 comments
Esteemed Wineries
- Ars Technica
- Atheist Revolution
- Balloon Juice
- Crooks and Liars
- Daniel Larison
- Emily L. Hauser
- Ezra Klein
- FrumForum
- Glenn Greenwald
- Jonathan Chait
- Kevin Drum
- League of Ordinary Gentlemen
- Little Green Footballs
- Margaret and Helen
- Pharyngula
- Radley Balko
- Right Wing Watch
- Ta-Nehisi Coates
- The A.V. Club
- TPM Muckraker
- Washington Monthly
Wine Labels
2012 Election 2016 Election Abortion Barack Obama Bullshit Bush Christianity Congress Conservatives Democrats Donald Trump Economy Fail Foreign Policy Fox News Gay Marriage Hatred Health Care Ignorance Insanity Law LGBT Issues Libertarianism Lies Media Mitt Romney Movies Music Policy Polls Quotes Racism Recession Republicans Right Wing Sarah Palin Stupidity Teabaggers Torture Truth Video War War Crimes War on Drugs War on TerrorRecent Trackbacks
- JungleMediaGroup: And lo, did Kennedy reap a whirlwind upon the land and they perished forever and ever
- Mike's Blog Round Up – Liberal View News: 30;] Library Grape notes that there might be poetic justice in...
- That Which We Have Heard & Known: An Unpreached Sermon
- Talk About Marriage: Struggling with my so called "Conservative" stance...
- Ann Coulter’s New Trump Book Is Even Worse Than You Imagined – PoliticusUSA – News Usa Online: 30;]...
Latest Varietals
Wine Cellar
- January 2019 (8)
- December 2018 (23)
- November 2018 (24)
- October 2018 (38)
- September 2018 (29)
- August 2018 (25)
- July 2018 (19)
- June 2018 (31)
- May 2018 (30)
- April 2018 (23)
- March 2018 (33)
- February 2018 (32)
- January 2018 (22)
- December 2017 (32)
- November 2017 (26)
- October 2017 (21)
- September 2017 (37)
- August 2017 (30)
- July 2017 (36)
- June 2017 (25)
- May 2017 (30)
- April 2017 (25)
- March 2017 (28)
- February 2017 (20)
- January 2017 (14)
- December 2016 (23)
- November 2016 (30)
- October 2016 (32)
- September 2016 (20)
- August 2016 (38)
- July 2016 (26)
- June 2016 (23)
- May 2016 (19)
- April 2016 (15)
- March 2016 (32)
- February 2016 (26)
- January 2016 (17)
- December 2015 (22)
- November 2015 (33)
- October 2015 (22)
- September 2015 (16)
- August 2015 (15)
- July 2015 (22)
- June 2015 (22)
- May 2015 (16)
- April 2015 (14)
- March 2015 (11)
- February 2015 (18)
- January 2015 (24)
- December 2014 (18)
- November 2014 (28)
- October 2014 (16)
- September 2014 (19)
- August 2014 (22)
- July 2014 (26)
- June 2014 (27)
- May 2014 (21)
- April 2014 (25)
- March 2014 (21)
- February 2014 (33)
- January 2014 (31)
- December 2013 (25)
- November 2013 (32)
- October 2013 (57)
- September 2013 (32)
- August 2013 (57)
- July 2013 (56)
- June 2013 (44)
- May 2013 (42)
- April 2013 (41)
- March 2013 (66)
- February 2013 (42)
- January 2013 (74)
- December 2012 (67)
- November 2012 (44)
- October 2012 (51)
- September 2012 (35)
- August 2012 (50)
- July 2012 (36)
- June 2012 (35)
- May 2012 (51)
- April 2012 (42)
- March 2012 (64)
- February 2012 (85)
- January 2012 (79)
- December 2011 (68)
- November 2011 (76)
- October 2011 (67)
- September 2011 (55)
- August 2011 (53)
- July 2011 (44)
- June 2011 (71)
- May 2011 (103)
- April 2011 (107)
- March 2011 (120)
- February 2011 (124)
- January 2011 (82)
- December 2010 (97)
- November 2010 (92)
- October 2010 (93)
- September 2010 (80)
- August 2010 (44)
- July 2010 (63)
- June 2010 (33)
- May 2010 (60)
- April 2010 (34)
- March 2010 (50)
- February 2010 (66)
- January 2010 (67)
- December 2009 (72)
- November 2009 (78)
- October 2009 (91)
- September 2009 (75)
- August 2009 (105)
- July 2009 (81)
- June 2009 (178)
- May 2009 (152)
- April 2009 (147)
- March 2009 (86)
- February 2009 (52)
- January 2009 (118)
- December 2008 (18)