Open Thread
Sept. 20 Open Thread: GOP Senators Want a Justice Who Glows in the Dark
Republicans remain committed to forcing radioactive Brett Kavanaugh on an ungrateful nation, but a few of them fret to WaPo’s Robert Costa about the political fallout of ramming through the nomination. Republican senators are basically putting their hand over the victim’s mouth and pawing at her all over again, a nice image for women to […]
Sept. 19 Open Thread: Kavanaugh or Bust
Confronted with Brett Kavanaugh’s sudden radioactivity, the GOP has decided on the only course it knows: Full speed ahead. Senators seemed to settle on a narrative by last night, to wit: This whole thing has been unfair to him. Never mind that this woman never wanted to come forward publicly, she had no right to […]
Sept. 18 Open Thread: Trump Fans So Sure of ‘Red Wave’ They See No Reason to Vote
How dumb are they? This dumb: An internal RNC poll shows a majority of Trump supporters believe his talk of a “red wave,” so they think they don’t have to bother voting in the mid-terms. This is not wishful thinking — this is their own internal polling. Gotta love those poorly educated. Trump, desperately grasping […]
Sept. 17 Open Thread: Kavanaugh Confirmation Cock-Blocked
The woman who alleges she was sexually assaulted by Brett Kavanaugh when both were in high school has come forward, setting up a Showdown in #Metoo Corral if Democrats can get a vote delayed. It appears they will: Republican member Jeff Flake says the committee should hold off on voting until it hears from the […]
Sept. 14 Open Thread: Nixon’s Not the One
Cynthia Nixon couldn’t overcome that surname. Andrew Cuomo trounced her by 30 points, about the same margin by which Tom Carper defeated Kerri Harris. But her campaign’s effect on the two-term incumbent was the same as Harris’ on Carper: [I]n losing, Ms. Nixon arguably made as much of a policy impact on New York as […]
Sept. 13 Open Thread: Thin Blue Line? More Like Thick Blue Wall
America’s latest police atrocity is playing out in Dallas, where a cop named Amber Guyger returned from her shift and entered the apartment directly above hers — supposedly thinking it was her own — and shot its occupant, Botham Jean, to death. Guyger’s shifting stories about events show something is hinky here, but despite the […]
Sept. 12 Open Thread: Surf’s Up!
All year long we’ve heard pundits warning that maybe a blue wave was just wishful thinking, that a Democratic takeover of the House might not happen because the polls could tighten. That was true. But it was just as true that the polls might widen, which is exactly what they’re doing. Democrats hold a 14-point […]
Sept. 9 Open Thread: Anonymice, a Failed State and Insubordinate Hillbillies
An anonymous White House source has outed himself. No, not the writer, the one who spoke the obvious. Mick Mulvaney, one of the sneakiest rats on the USS Trump, is the one who told donors that Ted Cruz could lose his Senate race. The notion that this is news makes sense only in GOP World, […]
Sept. 8 Open Thread: Kavanaugh Wears a Robe Because His Pants Are on Fire
The Anomynous Controversy™ has managed to obscure the most important revelation in the Brett Kavanaugh hearings: The future SCOTUS justice is a sack of shit who thinks nothing of lying under oath, which he has done repeatedly. This is prompting calls not just for denying him a Supreme Court seat but for impeaching him from […]
Sept. 5 Open Thread: Woodward Confirms What We All Know
Official Washington’s reaction to Bob Woodward’s book is exactly what you’d expect in Kabuki theater: People are shocked, shocked to learn that “the adults” in the White House have been working overtime to try to pretend that the Trump White House is operating like a real government. There’s nothing that’s been revealed so far that […]
Sept. 4 Open Thread: Woodward Details White House Bedlam
This is what they mean when they say “the institutions are working,” apparently: The Washington Post has a copy of Bob Woodward’s new book, in which former administration officials confess swiping documents off Trump’s desk to keep him from harming himself and others. In one case, an aide swiped a letter that would have withdrawn […]
Sept. 3 Open Thread: Democrats Went Soft on Financial Crime, So We Have a Financial Criminal as President
Given how permissive Democrats have been about white-collar Wall Street crime, punishing no bankers for their law-breaking around the Great Recession, how can they ever convince Republicans in Congress that Trump should be punished for money laundering? Marshall Auerback argues that they can’t, and that Democratic indifference to those crimes laid the groundwork for the […]
Sept. 2 Open Thread: The Fighter Still Remains
It was a heckuva week for funerals. Aretha Franklin’s, in Detroit, employed stirring eulogies, heartfelt performances, and more than 100 pink Cadillacs in a 10-hour celebration of her life and art. John McCain’s service, in Washington, lasted only 2 1/2 hours, but managed to bring together both his friends and foes to celebrate a bipartisan […]
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