Don't Say Gay laws are the very definition of government violating free speech and the 1st Amendment. Jeebus Kryst why can't anyone do anything about all of this batshit crazy Republinazi bullshit.

Could we get a REPO? American companies who did business with the Nazi's right up until the country joined the war are still around and pretty wealthy...looking at you Ford, IBM, GE, Chase Bank, and Coca Cola!

After Hutchinson's testimony, I've come back around to "Trump actually believed the election was stolen". His narcissism demanded it. Easier to embrace a ludicrous conspiracy than to accept failure.

Hannah Kreig tweeted today:

"anytime my body feels bad, google says it pancreatic cancer. i’m a girl?? wtf is a pancreas???

https://twitter.com/hannahkrieg/status/1542184418055360513?s=20&t=3o1oRWN9SaG7MtOjagME2Q

It’s great that the Trump supporter was defeated in the Colorado GOP Senate primary.

Unfortunately it will make for a tougher race for Democrat Michael Bennet.

Bennet’s a pretty moderate Democrat. Hopefully Progressives have learned their lesson and will enthusiastically support him.

Because O’Dea is the type of not-insane Republican who could win in Colorado.

Loosing Bennet’s seat would pretty much guarantee a GOP Senate takeover.

Also, doctors fail to prevent 100% of deaths, and my financial advisor failed to make me a millionaire. Cops are not the only ones who don’t bat 1000, but I’d rather have them around than not.

@6 "not-insane Republican"

That does not exist. Because anyone who thinks it's reasonable to still associate with that party is deranged.

@7 We're giving them more money than ever but their performance goes down. Seems like a prime object for some civil service reform to me. Society needs some sort of socialized "police" but the institution as it exists in this country today is a trash fire. We should blow it up and start from scratch.

@3,

Yeah, I've been kinda thinking that the entire time.

Like, his single and most definitive and personal characteristic is and has always been his abject fucking stupidity. Even his many other abhorrent character flaws, say his racism for example, follows first from his ignorant stupidity. And it's not hard for me to see how someone so ignorant, stupid, and shielded from any and all reality could be lead to believe otherwise completely bizarre and unrealistic claims such as that.

I've mentioned before that as infuriating as everything surrounding and about him is these days, he, and everything about him, is also every bit and quite possibly more so, just incredibly freaking sad.

@9: Then why do you expect great performance in an occupation that's vilified and hated?

@8 Keep that attitude Brent.

It might not help prevent House Speaker McCarthy and Senate Majority Leader McConnell from assuming control of Congress next January, but I’m sure it will make you feel better.

How cathartic.

@12, I've voted for moderates in every election since I was 18. Because that's usually all there fucking is to choose from. Moderates are in control of the country now. Moderates I voted for. And the country is shit and they don't really seem super keen on fighting to make it better.

So yeah, don't worry, I'll hold my nose and continue to support fence sitting and hand wringing and trying to meet nazis in the middle, because I guess I just love being gaslit into believing more moderation is what we need when fanatics are trying to burn everything to the ground.

Here's how moderates are acting in the wake of the destruction of Roe:

Pelosi keeps legitimizing the catholic church, one of the biggest anti-choice organization in history - https://www.npr.org/2022/06/29/1108548298/pelosi-vatican-communion-abortion-rights

the executive branch is scared to try something new to get around fascism - https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/28/politics/white-house-federal-lands-abortion/index.html

wow ladies, don't you just feel all the support? just a few more joe manchins and bidens are all we need and you'll be totally safe and autonomous in your personal decisions

@14: And isn't it strange that the dems put the filibuster on ice to raise the debt ceiling but not to pass abortion rights? The Biden administration only has six months left to play hard ball before the Republican take over.

"Cops Only Solve Half of All Murders"

They never did solve more than that, but before the Civil Rights Movement and other reforms, as the last resort, they could always just grab some helpless patsy and railroad him for the murder. Now they often actually need convictions in real courts, against defendants who have real lawyers, which naturally reduces the cops' success rate.

I once served as a juror in a murder trial. The physical evidence more than sufficed for a conviction, which we duly returned, but it occurred to me that if the defendant had simply been a better criminal, he might never have been caught. Instead, he wandered around the neighborhood, spreading DNA everywhere and attracting attention to himself, until someone called the police. Had he simply disappeared into the darkening night, the murder might forever have gone unsolved. (The defendant and victim had met only once before, via mutual acquaintances at a hard-drinking party, and were not involved in any criminal activities.)

@3, @5, @10: You're overthinking it. In Trump's worldview, he's a winner. (AFAIK, the only book he's ever claimed to have read is "Atlas Shrugged.") Therefore, it's simply not possible for him to have lost. There must must must have been fraud or theft or whatever.

(Note also that he followed the Failed CEO Playbook to the letter. First, call the legal department and tell them to fix it. When that doesn't work, call the branch managers and demand they make the numbers. After they refuse to commit fraud, threaten to lead a shareholder revolt.)

according to the city of tacoma's own data, their homicide clearance rate is 95%.
maybe somebody should ask them what they are doing right. idk.

@15 I think what bothers me the most is the GOP will probably not hesitate at all to eliminate the filibuster now on day one of their regaining senate control to ram through more christofacsism.

Of course they probably don't need to. Mitch McConnel seems to get his way whether he's the minority or majority leader.

@18

The Republicans don’t need to over turn the filibuster and don’t want to overturn the filibuster because it works to their advantage.

Their entire governing philosophy is to do nothing.

Budget and appropriations bills aren’t subject to the filibuster so they can pass all the tax cuts they want with a simple majority.

The GOP had both houses of Congress and the White House from Jan. 2017 to Jan 2019.
They could have nuked the filibuster and done even more damage. But they didn’t because what they really want government to do is nothing and you can accomplish a lot of nothing with the filibuster.

@13 & 14

Have you ever heard of persuasion?

Since at least the 2000 election the extreme left of the Democratic Party has given up on persuading people of the benefits of their ideas. To some degree it’s true of the whole party but the progressive wing has completely given up on trying to persuade.

They have no problem denigrating opposing political views and have no problem trying to shame people who disagree with them. But actually listening to an opponent and using persuasion to change them just isn’t in the playbook.

The whole game plan on the left has been GOTV. Just GOTV.

Bernie Sanders ran for president twice on a GOTV platform. There was no persuasion in his campaigning it was all about rallying the troops. Yet twice in a row he was unable to get even a majority of Democratic voters to actually show up and vote for him. Hell in 2020 he got an even smaller percentage of voters than he did in 2016.

That plan might work in Seattle’s 3rd Council District but it doesn’t translate to Des Moines Iowa, or the suburbs South or Northeast of Denver, or even in Washington’s 8th District.

@21 It only worked in the 3rd because she literally printed and harvested ballots on the street. Without that effort she would have lost the recall election.

@9 I would disagree with the notion we are giving the the poice more money than ever or that their performance has gone done but for brevity let's say you're right. Couldn't the same be said about the entire state government, the school districts, sound transit?

"Couldn't the same be said about the entire state government, the school districts, sound transit?"

No. Because it's not an apples to apples comparison. But of course you know that. Because you are an asshole.

And most of "state government" (which is an absurdly broad category and you can't even name all the things a state government even does in one page let alone measure it) is chronically underfunded to boot.

@21

I was referring to a regular election not a recall and Herbold, Morales, and to a lesser degree Mosqueda also benefited from it

With a small sample size in an odd year election in a politically homogeneous area a motivated GOTV effort can work.

In a Midterm or General in a politically diverse district GOTV is only so effective and persuasion becomes a bigger factor.

@22 it’s delightful that you think state government is undefunded when it’s raining money on them

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/wa-revenue-projections-see-2-7-billion-increase/?amp=1

I know, I know it’s never enough to do everything. If only we had a few more billion from (insert group you don’t like here) everything would be better. As for performance, are they not public employees like the police? Shouldn’t we expect some semblance of competence from them instead of bulshit programs like WA cares?

@20 - "They have no problem denigrating opposing political views and have no problem trying to shame people who disagree with them. But actually listening to an opponent and using persuasion to change them just isn’t in the playbook"

You can't reason with Nazis. You can't have an open exchange of ideas. You can't argue in good faith. And yes, that it what they are. And if it is denigrating to call them that, so be it.

How'd we deal with Nazis last time? It wasn't via voting, debate, or intellectual persuasion.

please tell me how you're supposed to reason with someone who looks at 50% of the population and says "you're a female, so you're second class citizen. you don't deserve rights. you're gay, you don't deserve to be married. you're a person of color, so you're proabably a criminal."

how? and why do views like that not deserve to be denigrated?

@25/26 he's not talking about republicans, he's talking about mainstream Dems. Progressives hate Republicans of course but they save most of their vitriol for their fellow libs who just aren't lib enough for their liking. It really is a circular firing squad at times and that is why they are incapable of passing significant legislation. The phrase don't make the perfect the enemy of the good is completely lost on most progressives.

@27, I think most progressives support moderates when it comes down to it, it's just a bitter pill to swallow. I have no doubt there were Bernie Bros who didn't vote for Clinton for example, but I don't think that's the majority of progressives. I understood what was at stake, and I voted accordingly, and I think most like-minded people did as well.

It's just incredibly frustrating to see moderate after moderate win elections and then watch the country slide more toward authoritarianism.

Just look at the presidency for simplicities sake. Clinton (Bill) - moderate. Obama - moderate. Biden - moderate. And all of those men thought it was more important to take an imaginary high road and work with a GOP acting in bad faith. Look where it's gotten us. You can apply the same to House and Senate Dems too.

@29 fair enough but I think Toby's point is that when progressives want moderates to support their policies they rarely try to engage them and persuade them or negotiate. It's name calling, labeling, denigrating etc which puts moderates on the defensive and shuts them down. When was the last time you saw a member of the progressive caucus actually try to build a coalition? They are too busy calling for strikes or civil unrest and vilifying members of their own party by trying to shame them into submission. The only tool in their belt is the bully pulpit and it rarely works.

@28 & @29

Not just the way progressives react to moderate Dems, but more importantly how they react to Independents.

There are voters who voted For Obama in '12, Trump in '16, and Biden in '20. Just like there are voters who in 2020 voted for Biden for President and the GOP candidate for House or Senate. Or who voted for the Democratic Representative in 2020 and are now seriously considering voting for th e GOP candidate in 2022.

Granted there aren't as many of these voters as there used to be but they do exist, and in states like PA, WI, MI, and AZ their swings can decide elections.

Looking at the Maine results there were obviously voters who voted for Biden and Susan Collins. Why? I might understand that a vote for Susan Collins is a vote for Mitch McConnell, but those voters earnestly and honestly voted for Susan Collins.

How does calling them Fascists and Nazis help? How does that do anything but drive them further to the Right.

If the GOP wins the House in 2022 it will be because people who voted for the Democrat in 2020 switched their vote to the Republican in 2022. Kelly and Warnock are examples in the Senate. If they lose re-election it will be because of people who voted for them 2 years ago changing and voting for their opponents.

Name calling will certainly not stop that.

@28: "It's just incredibly frustrating to see moderate after moderate win elections and then watch the country slide more toward authoritarianism."

I agree with you about the frustration, but the country slid towards (right-wing) authoritarianism because moderates didn't win enough elections; left-wing extremists (I won't call them "progressives") opposed moderates in key elections. In 2000, how many times did we hear left-wingers spout the lie that no difference existed between Bush and Gore, so we should cast protest votes for Nader? Result: Justice Alito writes dissents against decisions based upon Roe. In 2016, CM Sawant campaigned against Hillary Clinton. Result? Justice Alito writes the majority opinion to overturn Roe.

The reversal of Roe was engineered by right-wing extremists, but they needed the assistance of left-wing extremists to split the pro-choice majority.