We. Would. CRY.: US Politics, July 2022

McLaughlin writes for the National Review, which is the Chip Diller of U.S. conservatism. He says egregious shit, couched in reasonable-sounding words, all the time.

"This is not a defense of Trump" LOL Yeah, fuck you.

I miss the NRO threads.

Right now, committee Democrats are following norms and recent practices, but this is simply not sufficient to fill every judicial vacancy—and indeed, sets a path that would leave more than 60 seats open

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2022/07/why-democrats-giving-mitch-mcconnell-judges.html

I feel (reading these threads and also seeing things friends say elsewhere) like the Democratic leadership really need to sit silently in a room and let democratic voters just calmly offer some suggestions. Not an onslaught of angry activists or anything, but the elected folks need to listen and take some things to heart.

(Not that I think this would ever happen, or that they would listen.)

I can’t remember whether any of us posted this here:

https://www.politico.com/amp/news/magazine/2022/06/30/the-real-reason-washington-ignored-kavanaughs-would-be-killer-00043679

That op-ed is awful, placing non-violent protest of the left on the same scale as the literal violence imposed by the right on many people in this country on a daily basis. Fuck civility, these people want me and mine dead and I’m not going to be polite about it because they sure aren’t.

“Violence has been so normalized” excuse me but right-wingers and white supremacist conspiracy kooks started this shit, fobbing it off on leftists banging pots and pans or interrupting some sentient swastika’s dinner is intellectually lazy and dishonest

there is an “i voted” sticker competition in ulster county & i urge you to vote for this one pls https://t.co/ZYqw6ldl1W pic.twitter.com/I6XTCUdF69

— sammy maine (@sammymaine) July 5, 2022

That one's at 94% ...

Sometimes it’s an honor to have Jordan shatter a backboard on you, just to be witness to such greatness.

— (((Barak))) (@lawnerdbarak) July 6, 2022

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FW9dwi8XEAAYwqh?format=jpg&name=medium

Saw a post on reddit that has really stuck with me, paraphrasing here but essentially it said, "Joe Biden's legacy will be watching the death of American democracy without swinging a single punch to try and stop it".

C'mon man

Biden has never been a puncher.

Whatever you feel about Gavin Newsom, this op-ed piece claims he's developing a strategy that the Dem establishment could learn from:

https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/03/opinions/newsom-desantis-2024-campaign-ad-obeidallah/index.html

I mean, he IS the Dem establishment, but still

"Republican leaders are banning books, making it harder to vote, restricting speech in classrooms and even criminalizing women and doctors."

Fox News viewers: well yeah that's why we like them.

xxxpost

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-oHXE0ZhE0

This Biden-era Schoolhouse Rock reboot is very depressing pic.twitter.com/YzR07Z1g5o

— Scott Gairdner (@scottgairdner) July 1, 2022

The former Trump White House counsel Pat Cipollone is expected to testify to the House January 6 select committee on Friday after reaching an agreement over the scope of his cooperation with a subpoena compelling his testimony, according to a source familiar with the matter.

The testimony from Cipollone is expected to be a transcribed interview and recorded on camera, the source said, and the former top White House lawyer is expected to only answer questions on a narrow subset of topics and conversations with the former president.

Among the topics Cipollone could discuss include how he told Donald Trump that pressuring Mike Pence, the vice-president, to refuse to certify Joe Biden’s election win was unlawful, and Trump’s plot to coerce the justice department into falsely saying the 2020 election was corrupt.

Mr. Cipollone and the committee have agreed to limit his testimony to his views on whether the Hulk or Thor would win in a fight.

"Pleading the fifth."

fwiw gas has peaked, see https://www.gasbuddy.com/charts and https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/XB1:COM.

I've noticed the last 2 weeks it's backed off here about 40 cents/gal.

It dropped dramatically here, as much as 50 cents in some spots.

It may also signal fears of inflation.

And Lindsey Graham has already announced that he will fight the GA subpoena.

Most likely in a Foghorn Leghorn voice

I wish he'd choke on a mint julep

"On a mint julep, that is!"

https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/animaniacs/images/7/79/Foghorn_Leghorn.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20140227005921

there’s a funny story about him from his (auto?) biography (which I’ve definitely not read; i guess it went mini-viral a couple of years ago?) about growing up in his parents’ bar, walking up and down the countertop cutting up for the patrons, taking swigs or pretend puffs from unattended beer and cigs. I think it features a photo of him in a cowboy getup.

and it’s like dude, out of everything in the world, you chose to do *this*???sad.

Important detail: his nickname among the customers of that bar was "Stinkball"

People like to claim Biden has lost his faculties, but this statement is genuinely impressive. This is some ice cold shit.

JUST IN: @POTUS Biden statement on @BorisJohnson’s resignation: “the special relationship between our people remains strong and enduring. I look forward to continuing our close cooperation with the government of the United Kingdom, as well as our Allies and partners…” pic.twitter.com/sk4X6vWOxb

— Ed O'Keefe (@edokeefe) July 7, 2022

I think the Kremlin was doing a little Boris grave dancing, this is a good response

Biden is not crazy about the way the Tory government is fucking around with Northern Ireland.

Rekt

asked and answered apparently pic.twitter.com/9LcTVXZLHX

— Ryan Deto (@RyanDeto) July 7, 2022

I thought we had a centrist brainworms thread but alas

Brookings Institute flack shilling for COMPROMISE

Wow. This by @MichaelRWear is the single best piece I've read on what an abortion compromise could actually look like in practice. If you read only one thing today, make it this. Drop whatever you're doing and go. https://t.co/t9ZPWmYZtR

— Shadi Hamid (@shadihamid) July 6, 2022

The compromise in question:

A sustainable compromise would include the following elements: a federal ban on abortion post-viability with exceptions for the life of the mother, rape and incest (the ceiling); the legalization of abortion up to a certain early-stage in a pregnancy (somewhere, perhaps, between eight-fifteen weeks, depending on the makeup of the coalition to support such a bill; the floor); the codification of the Hyde Amendment; the codification of robust conscience clause protections; a prohibition of federal laws overriding state restrictions on abortion as proposed by the WHPA; and a mandate that states ensure reasonable access to a safe abortion provider.

Just a "moderate" national abortion ban that reactionaries wouldn't agree to anyway.

It's just Kabuki.

Always great to see argumentum ad temperantiam fallacies circulating by people who think they're serious thinkers

Especially after the argument's already been lost.

Lol I very rarely tweet but I felt compelled to respond to that idiocy:

"they would need to let go of their cultural goal to advance abortion as not just necessary, but a social good" This is a ridiculous statement, nobody has ever advanced abortion itself as "a social good." The "social good" is citizens having control over their own bodies.

— Jesse Mayshark (@jfmayshark) July 7, 2022

One GREAT way to advance that social good AND minimize abortion is comprehensive sex education and easy access to contraception. If anti-abortion folks ever embrace those 2 easy things, you'll know they're actually trying to reduce abortions. But they won't, because they're not.

— Jesse Mayshark (@jfmayshark) July 7, 2022

Booming posts

^^

❤️

absolutely right

North Carolina state legislators are demanding free gas pumps next to EV chargers, or the chargers will be destroyed. https://t.co/PGc9knrXMk

— Frank Luntz (@FrankLuntz) July 8, 2022

This politics-of-spite stuff is getting so old.

Bold action

Under the order, the Biden administration will take steps to protect patient privacy, including by "addressing the transfer and sales of sensitive health-related data, combatting digital surveillance related to reproductive health care services, and protecting people seeking reproductive health care from inaccurate information, fraudulent schemes, or deceptive practices," the release said. This includes enlisting the Federal Trade Commission to protect the privacy of people seeking information on abortion services, and additional steps by HHS to shield patients' health records from disclosure by doctors and insurers.

The order also authorizes the creation of an interagency task force to coordinate federal policymaking and programs, which will include the attorney general, who will "provide technical assistance to states affording legal protection to out-of-state patients as well as providers who offer legal reproductive health care," the White House said.

Sending up the Alfred signal! This email arrived in my inbox this morning — I guess they bought the mailing list of one of the Latin music publicists I get stuff from...

Note that the subject line is in English but the email itself is in Spanish.

Conservative radio star Lourdis Ubieta quits iconic Radio Mambi ahead of sale to liberal group

George Soros, socialista billonario internacional, está intentado apagar las voces conservadoras en español, con la compra de la conocida cadena Radio Mambí en Miami, entre otras estaciones.

¡Está financiando la compra de Radio Mambí y ahora quiere ocultar su participación!

¡Soros quiere detener el voto de los hispanoamericanos que votan republicano!

Esto es tan vergonzoso que Lourdes Ubieta, presentadora de Radio Mambí, renunció y se unió a Americano Media. LEA SU HISTORIA AQUÍ:

hxxps://www.foxnews.com/media/soros-takeover-conservative-radio-star-lourdes-ubieta-quits-miami-radio-mambi-ahead-sale-liberal-group.amp

Ayude a Americano Media a parar este hombre: Hacemos un llamado a la Comisión federal de Comunicaciones para frenar esta situación, por favor firmen esta petición aquí.

FIRME AQUÍ: https://americanomedia.com/fccpetition/

Dígale a los izquierdistas billonarios que no pueden comprar sus valores. ¡Soros no puede comprar su voto!

Descargue la aplicación de Americano Media AQUÍ: hxxps://blahblahbullshit y escuche gratis nuestra programación hispana original, sin la influencia económica de Soros.

It would be Soros lol