Jump to content

Ghost of LL

Burnt Ends
  • Posts

    5733
  • Joined

  • Days Won

    1

Everything posted by Ghost of LL

  1. I'm not necessarily disputing the issue-ownership theory that you lay out. I'm saying that by having a bipartisan Senate border bill, it makes the issue less salient to the independent voter. Those voters are not good at nuance, and there being a bipartisan bill introduces a lot of nuance to the issue. So on something like abortion, there's no nuance. Depending on your point of view on the issue, you think D=Good, R=Bad, or vice-versa. But with a bipartisan bill being debated, that makes that Manichean viewpoint untenable. And that means that not very many independents are going to be voting on it. . . . all of which illustrates how badly Johnson and Trump have mishandled it. If they were smart, they'd voice some displeasure and pass the bill. Make sure it's "Biden's Border Bill." And then when it doesn't succeed at keeping out every last brown person, campaign on the failure of Biden's Border Bill. "I mean, haven't you heard--as a result of BIDEN'S BORDER BILL, literally every Mexican is throwing themselves at our border." It's like a scene out of World War Z, dontchaknow?
  2. But it's far worse than all that. After they impeach Mayorkas for not doing anything about the border, the impeachment will go over to the Senate. And the Senate will have . . . wait for it . . . passed a bill to do something about the border. So Fox News is going to have wall-to-wall coverage of the impeachment trial. Because IMPEACHMENT! of a Democratic officeholder. But during that, they're going to hear a bunch of senators--including a bunch of Republicans--talk about how the Republican House isn't passing the bipartisan Senate bill to address the border. And that gives Democratic challengers a line of attack against Republican House members--"GQP Member X refuses to do anything about the Border; vote him out now!" And that's going to be consistent with what GQP voters heard on Fox News during the impeachment trial. It's an attack that is going to stick. So Republican House members are literally harming their own reelection efforts to forestall a border bill from being passed. All on the theory that this helps Trump's campaign. Whether it actually helps Trump's campaign is very questionable at this point. It has become such common knowledge that the Republicans in the House are preventing a border bill from passing to help Trump--they're so stupid that they've said so themselves--that it takes the effectiveness out of the issue entirely. Fox News viewers may still be fired up. But not a single independent is going to have his vote swayed by the issue now. And that's pretty much the definition of a cult. House members are sacrificing themselves on the alter of Trump solely because Trump asks them to. There's no obvious benefit. There's not even a non-obvious benefit. But they'll do it all the same, because the cult leader demands it.
  3. Yep--Confirmed that Cori Bush is in the crosshairs for doing something stupid.
  4. I thought I saw that it was a Democrat who was alleged to be misappropriating his security allowance.
  5. I'm sorry--are you meaning to imply that your search history is a lot more genteel or some shit? Because you and I both know that's a goddamned lie.
  6. It's not about fighting over for me. It's about dying over. Because while I don't mind shooting these traitors in the fucking face, presumably they're going to be liable to shoot back. And no--I have no interest in getting shot for this shithole state. And I say that as a 6th-generation Texan. But you know why I'm not a whatever-th generation Czech or Englishman? Because my forebearers had the good sense to leave when the time was right. And I have no intention of staying someplace when it makes a lot more sense to leave. Let these fuckfaces have fun as their own shithole country if they want. I will move to California or New York or Ontario or some other place that isn't 10,000* in the summer and where I'm not surrounded by a bunch of fucking morons.
  7. I mean, that's been my question for a while. China's economy is the one that is most at risk from yet another interruption in the global supply chain. Their inaction up to this point hasn't been consistent with the risk they face.
  8. And that's why it's smart to keep rope, duct tape, and cement on hand.
  9. I guess I don't refresh the Drudge Report frequently enough. So, . . . which wrestlers?
  10. It's literally the top story on the Washington Post website. It's the top story on the Drudge Report. It's on Fox News. It's completely everywhere. I actually kind of like that.
  11. And we'll have plenty of time to shoot them all in the fucking face after the Tuesday after the first Monday in November. But for right now, confronting this bullshit plays right into Abbott's hands.
  12. No. Today, the entire narrative is Romney and McConnell making clear to god and everyone that the Republicans are spiking a deal on border security so that Trump can run on the issue. They're making clear that the Republican cries of "border crisis" is cynical bullshit. And to the extent there is a "border crisis," the blame lies with the GQP. Why would we do anything to get in the way of that?
  13. I hate McConnell. He has destroyed the Senate as an effective deliberative body. He is a hypocrite of unbelievable proportions. He has undermined America's political culture and the ability of Congress to act as an effective branch of government. And he's done so all in furtherance of a white-christian-nationalist vision for America that is noxious to anyone with any moral code developed after the seventeenth century. But Mitch McConnell knows what he's doing. Romney's shouting it from the rooftops that "Trump is preventing a deal on the border." But what McConnell is doing is infinitely more clever. And more cynical. He's saying, "we all need to get in line and support Trump, and that prevents us from doing anything on the border because Trump wants to campaign on that." He's saying the same thing as Romney. But he's doing so from the purported position of supporting Trump. And in so doing, he gives it greater weight, credibility, and creditability. It's fucking cynical as hell. But in this instance, it works to the benefit of issue positions I favor. So I'll support it.
  14. No. Stop. Greg Abbott is doing this for a reason. And at the extreme risk (perhaps near-certainty) of stating the obvious, that reason has nothing to do with the border. Greg Abbott presides over a Texas Republican Party that is in the midst of a civil war. His attorney general is a criminal who is leading a campaign to primary most of the Republicans in the House who voted to impeach him (which is the majority of them). Meanwhile, he can't get his legislative priorities passed despite calling four special sessions because--and this is important--nobody in the Legislature gives a shit what Greg Abbott thinks is a priority. And all the while, the realization sinks in that governor is the highest office he'll ever attain. But until he leaves, nobody else can move up the ladder. So to distract from all of that--and that is a lot--he needs an outside boogeyman. And nothing fits the bill better than the feds. Look--I'm as anti-treason as anybody. I think you know that I think treason and insurrection should be met with lead and nooses. I think there should've been a whole lot more Ashley Babbitts three years ago. But let's be smart about this. Abbott is doing this to distract from his own failings, the turmoil in the Texas Republican Party, and the fact that the Republican nominee is an increasingly senile felon, insurrectionist, and rapist. Don't let him do it. Certainly don't let him do it over a stupid park in Eagle Pass. The economy is going great. And the perception of the economy is coming around to the realization that it is going great. The challenger is weak. The fundamentals all favor Biden's reelection. Let's not do anything to upset that.
  15. I don't discount anything. I said he could've done more. He could've. Maybe it would've been ineffective. Even if effective, it wouldn't have been sufficient. But he could've done more. Which is why McConnell blew the whistle on it. The Turtle knows what he's doing. By saying, "the Ukraine/Border bill is dead because we need to support Trump," he's laying the failure of the border bill at Trump's feet. And that's going to do a lot to ensure that a Ukraine/Border bill actually gets advanced.
  16. Counterpoint: having a referendum on the ballot enables suburban white women to vote for Trump, thinking that they've safeguarded abortion rights through their referendum vote. Yes and no. I think he could've done more with his executive power. Open VA hospitals and military medical facilities to civilian reproductive care. Sic CMS on any pharmacy not filling abortifacient prescriptions (I'm looking at you, Walgreens).
  17. McConnell does care about Ukraine. And he does care about the United States.* And that's why he's running to everyone from The Washington Post to Punchbowl News saying that the Border/Ukraine deal is dead because he doesn't want to hurt Trump. And that message is now gaining traction out in the world. So it perversely puts pressure on the Republicans to pass this legislation because it threatens to lay the failure on immigration on their doorstep. McConnell has just taking a lot of the steam out of Trump's attacks on immigration. And the purpose of that is to get money for Ukraine. So yeah--I'm oddly more confident of Ukraine funding today than I was 48 hours ago. * Please do not mistake this as an apologia for Mitch McConnell. His vision of the United States is a white-christian nationalist vision. It's absolutely repellant. But worse--to attain that vision, he has undermined the United States Senate as an institution and damaged American political culture, perhaps irretrievably. Mitch McConnell will go down in history as not only one of the worst politicians in American history, but as someone who imperiled the Republic for his own political benefit.
  18. And coming in the right place. Just a huge widespread rain across the highland lakes watershed.
  19. I don't think Montana is a tossup. Tester is very popular there, and the power of incumbency is very strong in small states. It's not like here, where people have heard of Ted Cruz. In Montana, most people have probably met John Tester. He's probably provided some constituent service for a significant percentage of the voters. So in a small state like that, there's got to be a good reason to toss out an incumbent. And barring an absolute red wave that I don't see forming with Trump at the top of the ballot, it's unlikely to happen. I put that as a "Lean D." Ohio's a different matter.
  20. I agree with all of this. As I've said before, Nevada is like Democratic Florida. The Republicans always think they're going to win there; they never do. It's not to say that the Dems don't need to work for it. It is to say that given a decent Democratic incumbent--and Jacky Rosen is an above-decent incumbent--the Democrats shouldn't have much trouble holding this seat. On Texas, I just don't have a feel for it yet. Cruz is wildly unpopular. But it's going to take an exceptional Democratic candidate to beat him. And even then, the presidential race is really going to dictate the outcome. If Trump is down big in the polling and Republicans are demoralized--something akin to 1996--I could see an upset. But otherwise, . . . no. In Florida, you're right about Rick Scott. But Florida has become a lot more Republican over the past six years. The Dems are probably going to have Debbie Mucarsel-Powell as their nominee and . . . yeah--I just don't know how strong a strong a candidate she is. I don't think she really lights me up.
  21. Much like Jules Winnfield, BA is in what you might call a "transition period." It was the very first to introduce lie-flat seats in its Business cabin, but those seats are now way out of date. They're now replacing those seats with the new Collins Aerospace Super Diamond reverse herringbone seats in a 1-2-1 configuration. That seat is pretty common across a lot of airlines. BA's innovation is that they have a door on those seats to create a private pod, which is very nice. Currently, those seats are on all of BA's A350-1000s, which is the equipment BA flies to AUS. So for those of us in the Austin market, the BA product is really very nice. Now, I will say that for those of us in AUS, the BA club situation at Bergstrom sucks because they use the AAdmirals Club, which is small, dark, and shitty. But that's not BA's fault; it's AA's. At LHR, I think the Galleries Lounges are above-average business class lounges. They're busy, yes. But they're also big enough to meet the demand. And they have a great view of the runway at LHR. So that's nice. That doesn't make any sense to me. I never really had that happen at DFW outside of weather, and I've flown through DFW a lot. Weird luck, I guess.
  22. Rain in all the right places to help the lakes this morning.
  23. Why the fuck does aggy have a San Antonio branch?
×
×
  • Create New...