Before he was in office. I’m sure when he was at SNL he did a lot of inappropriate things but not actual crimes like these abusers. I wish he hadn’t resigned. What he did was NOTHING compared to the heinous things these men have done. He broke his baby’s collarbone!! That’s a “family” matter? Sounds to me like a CPS matter.
I always liked Al Franken and thought he resigned way too soon, it was almost as though he was immediately found guilty before even getting a chance to defend his innocence (i'm not condoning sexual harassment). The Dems lost a smart, capable politician in the process.
And if you'll recall, one of the key Dem senators calling for Franken's resignation was Kirsten Gillibrand. Franken had the misfortune of having his sophomoric photo discovered just when #METOO was picking up steam.
But where is #METOO now? Not a single mention of protecting the Epstein pedophiles before Blanche's nomination escaped from the committee to a senate floor vote. Read 8/4/2026 Heather Cox Richardson's piece. Trump's taxes, money laundering, and Epstein are deeply intertwined. There's a BIG reason why he wants immunity from IRS prosecution.
This is categorically false and I am sick of rebutting this against the misogynists who keep repeating. Kirsten Gillibrand had nothing special to do with it, but a lot of Democrats need a woman to scapegoat (in certain ways, we haven't evolved as much as we need to.) I've seen this lie a thousand times and it still infuriates me.
Thirty-two Democratic senators wrote and signed a letter urging Franken to resign. They picked Gillibrand to present the letter because one of her pet issues is addressing the sexual abuse of women in the military. That was all. The letter was signed by Liz Warren and Bernie Sanders and Kamala Harris, among others, all equally "guilty" here.
Klobuchar did NOT sign. She said she wanted to talk with Franken privately because they were state mates. It's never come out but my theory is the push for him to resign was because she was up for reelection the following year — 2018 — and her polling wasn't looking good a year out. Following Trump's election in 2016, the GOP was licking its chops to steal her seat. I think Democrats were afraid Franken would be used against her. Yeah, I know — major hypocrisy. But the media lets Republicans get away with things they hang Democrats for. And she ended up winning by a lot anyway.
Ultimately, Franken resigned because Chuck Schumer told him he would strip him of his committee assignments if he didn't.
I knew the outcome of the Al Franken "Scandal" before the dust settled. But those were the silly days of the Democrats being stupid because they don't have the courage to take on anyone, the media, their shadows, an R with an attitude. Now we have Rs assaulting spouses and the only reason there is any coverage is because another R is supposedly showing moral & ethical courage. What a sad, sad political system we have. A part of me wants to just emigrate to Norway to get away from the stupid.
Registered Republicans vote three ways. To enrich themselves becuz they're rich fucks, ignorance, or they're haters. Thanks to Nixon and those that came after them, Public Education is a shambles, and the conservatives majority that once voted using logic and 'does this benefit me in the long run" have been replaced with people who don't care, don't stay informed, and vote 100% on emotion.
"...replaced with people who don't care, don't stay informed, and vote 100% on emotion."
And THAT'S WHY the GOP owns social media. Posts that generate rage and hate create audiences that stay on the platforms longer. Longer engagement = more money for Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, etc. Until voters realize that they are being manipulated by algorithms aimed precisely at them, I'm not sure how to overcome this significant but seldom discussed obstacle.
There's also the racism. There are actually people who agree with Stephen Miller that the U.S. would be paradisiacal if only we got rid of 100 million people.
Actually, resigning for sexually harassing is appropriate. Just because he modeled appropriate behavior does not mean the Republican non standard should now apply to Dems. I am in a country right now where politicians still resign because of scandals. That is not a part of the Republican party credo, where they seem to still have a seat for Mitch McConnell, even though we don't really have proof of life.
I used to handle sexual harassment cases in higher education and what Franken did (the stupid photo from way way in the past) would have resulted in an apology and being sent to sexual harassment orientation. Not being fired.
What used to happen in my life is that the women left and nothing happened to the men. This happened in my daughter's high school class. A boy raped a girl, and the school ignored it. She left because she could not bare to be there any more. It made all the girls end up hating the administrators involved, and they boycotted the performance of his class in the senior class play and anything that had to do with the class that they could avoid. His mom was a mucky muck in the school, which is part of the problem. I left 2 work situations for the same reason. Although, in both places they paid me to leave. There was absolutely no mechanism for getting rid of the guys. A boy in a fourth grade class in the same school that I taught threatened to cut off his penis and rape a girl in the class with it, and the school moved her to another class, not him. She and her 3 sisters left and went to a different school far from our neighborhood. That is they way that these things are generally being handled in the real world.
While I empathize and agree that it usually is the woman who leaves just to get away from the bullshit and move on, Franken's case was eons away from that. He's not even touching the woman, just mugging for the camera. My attitude towards such behavior is, show me someone - ANYONE - who hasn't done something that pushes the envelope in their younger years, and then narrow it down to those who actually had a picture taken of it, and I'll show you a normal human being from the era in which he/she grew up and wasn't expecting to be - and should NOT be - judged so harshly for it. Kirsten Gillibrand flipping her goddamn lid about Franken and pushing for him to resign is the poster child for the "Lighten up, Francis" meme.
Minihuni, he was a MN boy like me one of our two Senators and got hammered his freshman year by being put on lots of committees. He was smart and replaced the irreplaceable Senator Paul Wellstone if we only could have one of them back Wellstone passed in 2002 in fog in a plane in MN. He would have been there for the obscene riot and attempted murder of Mike Pence as well as others that did die on that day.
Absolutely. Franken was replaced without the benefit of any investigation with a warm do-nothing butt who knew her place. The Democratic Party panicked and lost a strong, articulate voice who was extremely energetic and informed. The leader of the Faux Me-Too oust, Sen. Gillebrand, permanently lost the trust and respect of millions, including women.
If an excellent senator like Gillibrand "lost" you over something she did not do, you need to get better informed. She was not "the leader." She was not the cause of Franken resigning, but has been assigned the role of villain by an army of misogynist Democrats. Don't be one of them, OK? It was a set-up because even many Democrats have a need to put down women.
There more allegations than just that photo. Tweeden claimed Franken forced an open mouth kiss on her. Several women claimed he had been a little too friendly in photo ops. But these allegations all paled in comparison to what had been leveled against Trump. Franken should have had a hearing. I will never forgive Gillibrand for the way she railroaded him out of the US Senate.
True, Tweeden also said Franken wrote the skit so he could kiss her. But Tweeden also humped Robin William's leg onstage, so should Williams have made a big thing out of that? The double standard between right and left, particularly because the right always screams about morality, family values, and Xtianity, is sickening.
Sigh. Once again, you better "forgive" Gillibrand right now or out yourself as another leftie misogynist. Gillibrand did not cause his resignation; Chuck Schumer did. (I mean, I hate to give people another reason to pointlessly rag on Schumer, but facts are facts. It was all on him.)
JFC what is wrong with all you misinformed people? As I said to someone else, forgive her now or you wear your ignorance like a banner. Gillibrand did NOT cause Franken to resign; she didn't "lead" anything. Thirty-two senators signed a letter urging him to resign and appointed her spokesperson to deliver it because of her powerful advocacy for women in the military who had been sexually abused. He resigned because Schumer said he would take away all his committee assignments.
I'm almost more tired of this than I am of hearing about Michael Connell's plane crash or Karl Rove's secret vote-flipping war room in Chattanooga Tennessee. Democrats can be gullible and dumb too!
And watch the Republucans laugh. There is reason why they control all branches of the government. They do not divide themselves over their differences. They speak with one voice and even if it sucks, they do it to win. And sadly it works.
There are several reasons the Republicans currently control all branches of government. Racism, misogyny, and Citizens United are at the top of the list, but the ineptitude of the Democratic leadership is right up there.
I agree. Haley Stevens was a good State Representative and won four times. Polls showed her easily beating Rogers the Republican. She lost to Sayed by less than a point.
His big plan is socialized medicine. Does he not realize the Dems have been pushing that for years. When he loses the seat to the Republican (as the polls show) he can stand on the street corner and tell people about his great plan for health care.
I bet his being a tall young man he looked good standing next to an overweight, middle age, white woman.
To be fair, *most* people don't know much, if anything, about the "Democratic Party." I do know a fair amount, but when people refer to "Democrats" or even "the Democratic Party," I usually don't know what they're talking about: People who regularly vote Democratic? People enrolled as Democrats? The Democratic *Party*? In that case, do they have any idea how many components the "Democratic Party" has, at the national, state, and local levels?
It's true, virtually all the stellar officials in elected or appointed office are Democrats, but some of them are nothing to write home about, and some Democratic organizations have a leadership problem. (I'm being polite here, and not naming names. <g>)
But if you consider that “the Democratic Party” has multiple components, I think it is happening in some places. Not with the DNC or the “inside the Beltway” Dem organizations, but the outside the Beltway outfits, like DAGA (the Dem Attorneys General Association) and DASS (Dem Association of Secretaries of State), are doing good work. So are some of the state parties, especially those in swing states.
The organizations supporting Democrats most effectively aren’t part of the Democratic Party. Indivisible, Swing Left, Color of Change, Emerge . . . The Dem organizations could learn a few things from them!
The fickleness of the Democratic voters is higher up there. Republicans understand that it is about power, and always vote for the candidate on their team even if they don't particularly like that candidate, playing the long game; while too many Democrats think voting is some kind of performance art, and get mad that candidates cater to those who vote reliably and not those who demand some purity test and announce that they cannot be counted on to show up.
No, "ineptitude of Democratic leadership" has very little to do with it. In fact almost nothing. If you want to add to your list, try a heavily biased "mainstream" media that will not report on anything Democrats do or say and hold them to a whole different standard. I think our Democrats have been pretty skillful in the face of a mountain of crap.
II tend to think that evil people make better offensive strategists than decent, honorable folks. Good defensive strategists, like Churchill and Eisenhower, don't automatically let the enemy set the rules.
That's because (and I'm convinced of this) the evil offensive strategists know how to lie so much better than anyone else. It just comes naturally for them.
No, it doesn't. It needs to live up to the structure it has. It's a mess because we have people brazenly violating the law and the constitution. And be careful: the people who want to do a complete tear down and rebuild are those behind Project 2025. They want a constitutional convention so they can destroy our rights.
Exactly. For the Democratic Party, such behavior is to be condemned. For the Republicans, it makes the candidate even better for office: as they say--it's a feature, not a bug.
Platner was out of the race 72 hours after the story broke. Bernie waited a whole 20 hours before pulling his support. That’s not instantaneous, but it’s not exactly stalling.
Ugh, Jeff. The Preacher is more concerned about protecting his razor-thin majority in the House than protecting a woman and her daughter from a confirmed serial abuser and lying misogynist. It’s so fcked up. The entire House is up for re-election in November. Time to fire every last Republican, including Holy Mike.
Never hold your breath, but you could consider donating to Brian Poindexter who had a decent shot even before this happened. The 2024 numbers were interesting — I won't go into detail but Miller won by only 8000 out of 400,000 votes. It was his race because Dennis Kucinich got in as an independent spoiler. There's nothing like this now. Poindexter is a great fit for the district and a lot of activists I know here on the other side of town in OH-11 are volunteering for his campaign (Our district is so blue that any Democrat who runs gets 80% of the vote — no help needed.)
Thanks, Anastasia. I already have Brian Poindexter on my donations list and will be giving to his campaign soon. Wishing him and your district all the luck!
P.S. I didn’t know that about Dennis Kucinich. A shame! I supported his first presidential campaign and voted for him in the Dem primary, way back in the dark ages of 2004.
Dennis went really wacky at some point. Did you know he was briefly RFK Jr's presidential campaign manager in 2024, before RFK Jr decided to throw in with Trump? There's a lot about Dennis is just don't get.
Here is the tiniest sliver of hope in this shit storm: the district Miller is in has of course been gerrymandered by the OH State Rethuglicans, but it’s not a solid red area. And there is a decent chance he will lose. Moreno has to go as well, and his attack on Fauci didn’t do him very much good either, at least in Northeast Ohio, which is solidly blue.
Don't worry the Democrats will probably run two candidates now that they split into the Democrats and the Democratic Socialists. The Republicans are laughing their asses off because they cannot believe the Democrats are really this stupid. A majority of the country gave the Republicans 3 branches of the government and half the Democratic party thinks its because they are not far left enough. Voters dont vote for a conservative candidate because the liberal candidate is not liberal enough.
Establishment Dems are center-right, and progressives are literally sick and tired of a Republican-lite party that hasn’t done jack shit for anyone except for Bibi. Get over it.
And center left Democrats who get off the couches and work their asses off for any Democratic candidate would like the whining DSA to decide if they are or are not part of the big tent, which they joined because there aren't enough of them to win on their own.
We don't need litmus tests or mudslinging. We need coworkers.
Make up your minds. I for one am tired of being forced to listen.
Who the fuck cares about Israel. I live in America. There has been fighting in the Middle East for 60 fucking years. It will NEVER end. I dont vote for someone based on what they think of Israel. Haley Stevens was a four time state rep because she got the garbage picked up and kept the lights on. That's what pols are supposed to do.
Abdul was and is absolutely the very best candidate that Michigan could ask for. And I’ll definitely return to knock on doors for him because those 15,000 votes that made all the difference, I believe, was a direct result of 40,000 doors we went to
Yeah, yeah, yeah, too bad he won't win, too bad, if he is in office, because he doesn't know how government actually works, and he has no idea how to get universal health care thru the Congress because he has never held office. ( does honestly think no one has tried that before)
But who knows, maybe he'll give each of us a pink pony as a consolation.
El-Sayed is very likely to lose. His campaign was packed with anti-Semitic tropes. He worked hard to convince people he was leading by 20 points and then barely pulled it out. The general election electorate will be less friendly. I think we should focus on other states. We have North Carolina, Maine and Ohio look good, but if we lose Michigan we're still a vote short. Let's get Talarico, Peltola and maybe Turek over the top. We need two more to have the majority, and I'm afraid it won't be El-Sayed.
As long as he welcomes support from Hasan Piker I have no use for him. (Don't worry, I don't live in Michigan.) Imagine a Republican candidate proudly proclaiming support from David Duke or Nick Fuentes.
There are no "center right" "establishment" Dems anymore. More than half the Senate and 2/3rd of the house vote ultra-progressive. Basically calling a Democrat "establishment" or "centrist' means nothing more that "I think they're boring.' Blue dogs are extinct. There's a total of one Democratic senator whose voting record is veering rapidly right and that's Fetterman. He's the exception, not the rule.
I'm a liberal Democrat, not "center-right," and I'm sick of loudmouths like Bernie Sanders -- who isn't even a Democrat -- coming in and telling us what we ought to do. We may have just blown the Michigan Senate race thanks to Bernie's candidate getting the nomination.
We need to understand that MOST of our elected members of Congress are progressives — go look at their voting records. Bernie is only #13 in the Senate. He hasn't cracked the top ten in all the time I've been following the Progressive Punch ratings, which has been years.
No, that was last time. In 2024, Matt Diemer won the Democratic primary but Dennis Kucinich jumped in as an independent (he was supporting RFK Jr for president at the time!) Added together they got just 8,000 votes less than Miller. If Diemer had not had to focus on Kucinich as well, there's a chance he would've won. Now, the primaries are long over — they were in May — and there is no other candidate.
Thank you. Truer words about the Dems were never spoken. And now the sane wing of the Party has to suck it up and support El Sayed, and they will, because they are rational adults, not children, like the DSA or the highway crowd
Except Bernie is not up for re-election. Husted's seat is open since he was appointed, not elected. Brown needs to win that instead of Husted, but I see waaay more Husted ads than Brown ad$. I am pretty $ure I know why.
Apparently no one watches tv ads anymore because Sherrod is leading the polls. I don't know, I don't have a TV, but don't most people stream and skip ads?
Depends on what poll you see. None is conclusive of how those who actually vote feel. Between that race and the governor's race, it is a s**tshow. My head hurts.
Sherrod is pulling that "Oh no, new polls shows me behind — send money" shit, but most polls show him with at least a small lead, one with a pretty large lead. Don't forget that TV ads mean less and less every cycle as there are more ways for people to block them. (Mine is I don't have a TV so I never see them.)
I'm sure Holy Brother Johnson endorses the general Rethuglican view that it's a "family matter"--which translates to, "He's got a gun, right? He can take care of this himself."
Holy Mike would never go out on a limb for any damn thing. His mantra has been, "I wasn't aware of that." Or, "I didn't see the video." So where the fuck have you been, oh holy one? Oh, now you have a new sound bite, which matches all the rest, "It's a family matter." He flat out slithers under everything.
For somebody as holy as holy Mike, he sure does a good job at breaking the ninth commandment given his constant lying. Hypocrisy at it's best. Speaking of which, i'm still hoping we'll get to see leaks from Grindr one of these days with these holy rollers on it. It would make for much needed entertainment.
Well, Mike is all about family values, which means you hide all the dirty laundry in the basement laundry room and have the family put on a happy face. Thats the Christian Way.
So back to the good old days when whatever happened behind closed doors was between a husband and wife and no one should interfere with the "sanctity" of the family.
I'm sure any number of state and local proposed laws are going to start being proposed in earnest to end laws against DV. They'll be couched in the language of the Judeo-Christian sanctity of the family, religious freedom, a right to privacy, and the governmental overreach of I truding into a home, etc.
I lived in those “good old days” growing up, and have a crooked nose to prove it. Told my teenage friends I bumped into a wall at night. Just like my friends who got hit in the face with a ball playing softball. Uh huh.
Yup...watched my mother lie to my grandmother (her own mother) that she "...ran into a door" while my younger sister (who was still home at the time) told me that Mom was lying and that my stepfather had hit her. A few years later, after that SOB had passed away, I had my mother come live with me and she told me that it was "her fault" because she had "...provoked the argument.". I immediately contacted a domestic violence awareness group and arranged for her to go to a few meetings and asked that they suggest some books about the subject that I could pick up at the library.
It took more than two years to de-program my Mom's guilt that her own actions had brought my stepfather's ire upon her and my sister. ARGH! How I despise and loathe bullies and drunkards who project their own anger, self-hatred and feelings of inadequacies by lashing out at others--especially women and children!
I grew up with that exact shit. When I was sexually assaulted by an acquaintance at 20, I did not tell anyone for over 30 years because "it was my fault for being in a place I shouldn't have been. My own fault."
Sorry that you had to endure that. It's insane that things have not appreciably improved. We have people like Moreno, his regressive party, and the patriarchy of all stripes to blame. As a man, I can say that many men suck.
Of course he is. Perhaps his porn bracelet is on the fritz? These guys practically wet themselves when Graham Platner hit the skids. Goose-gander, right? Wrong! When WE get caught it's just an "accusation."
Well, Jeff, let's rest easy. Michigan last night was fucking amazing.
So let's review the fucking tape: the establishment dumped roughly $65 million into stopping Abdul El-Sayed — AIPAC alone kicked in north of $30 million for Haley Stevens — and a former county health director who talks about rent and insulin like a normal fucking human being beat all of it. Sixty-five million dollars. You realize that's not a campaign, that's a hostage negotiation, and the hostage said fuck you. The best part, it's not a fluke. 6 days from now Wisconsin votes, and Francesca Hong — a line cook from Madison, a dues-paying democratic socialist, polling 38 percent while Tony Evers and every Serious Person in the state huddled around David Crowley — is the frontrunner for governor in the state Trump carried by less than a point, and the consultant ass fuck class has spent twenty years explaining that this can't work. turns out you just have to say Fuck you loud enough for them to hear it.
I'm not sure what other types of Democrats you think are out there, but most are extremely progressive these days, and many are more effective than the big talkers in the Democratic Socialist wing.
How much money did the Republican establishment give to El Sayed? Because his being the candidate is the only way they win. In a state wide election, the polls show Stevens, the Democrat, winning by 10 %. The same poll shows El Sayed losing.
That is a pretty Republican thing to say, RlRitt. You think because a Democratic Socialist runs that automatically means that the Democrat loses? Thats a pretty fucked up opinion to have. And Zofran Mamdani would disagree with you. But maybe you thought that he shouldnt have won the NY Mayor election.
Personal experience over the last two years is that knocking doors and having real human interactions have trumped every $ that Elon or aipac or RNC has spent to try to buy an election. So lose the negativity and get on board the grassroots express rlritt. Or just get left at the station
The state of Michigan is not NYC. Abdul's support was the financially secure, college educated parts of the state. He lost working class voters, he lost black voters. Mamdani also had the advantage of running against Cuomo, a severely damaged candidate.
Exactly. I would've voted for Mamdani against the ghastly Cuomo, although I preferred Brad Lander who I think will do a good job in Congress. He's very experienced and grounded.
Progressive Dems often do well in local elections but while i may not like it, when a state or the country is more purple a more moderate Dem may have a better chance of winning.
There are no "moderate" Dems; most have similar progressive voting records. There are a few slightly less progressive, but other than Fetterman and Angus King and the Two women from New Hampshire, everyone else is pretty progressive.
And guess what Rafael Cruz is already saying about him. If you answer that it's about things Islamist, you're right. Further, he expects us to regard them as real pejoratives.
Don't get too excited. Abdul was runnning away in the polls and just barely eked out a victory. The working class -- you know, the people the far left pretends to be doing it all for -- voted against him.
A Democratic Socialist line cook (if that is all she has done; I'm not familiar with her) would be a disaster as governor and bring on the next Scottie Walker.
I used to work for papers/cut a lot of capers/cut corners once or twice/people used to call up/to bawl me out/sometimes they were even nice/ Now I get my news from those who wear out their shoes/I've even learned a little something from VICE/ but I would rather have/a barium enema/then listen to Bari Weiss, cause she's a shonda/then listen to Bari Weiss.
Which means that that senate seat will be lost to the Republicans. It has been solidly Democrat but polling shows El Sayed loses to the Republican. Stevens would have easily beat the Republican. But for some reason the Democrats, who have held that seat for years are sick of winning. I hate to say it but I wonder how much money the Republucans are giving to split the Democratic Party vote. That's the only way we can lose after Trump.
Listen also to everything he said during the campaign, not just his acceptance speech where he's going "holy shit, I've got angry people to mollify." You can't wipe all of that out with a single pretty speech.
There were 3 candidates on the ballot: El Sayed, Stevens & McMorrow. McMorrow dropped out, but too late to have her name removed from the ballot & early voting might have already started.
El Sayed won with less than 50% of the vote/by 14,000 votes. McMorrow got 61,000 votes. If she had dropped out before the ballot deadline OR if MI had ranked-choice voting the results might have been different.
I didn't realize that. So the Democrats really got the shady. The Republicans are probably thrilled. I bet they crossed the line and gave money to Sayed
No, they donated to his campaign from an organization that does not identify as Republican. Because the Republicans know he will lose to Rogers. Michigan hasn't had a Republican senator since 2001. They'll do anything to get that seat. Because they cannot let the Democrats win the Congress.
Yeah and that is not good. But El Sayed has made some very antisemetic comments in the past. I dont think that anyone's standing on the conflict between Israel and Lebanon should be a deciding factor, but being an anti semite is not cool.
I like that Donnie Demento is standing between Patton and MacArthur: that way, they could pummel him from both sides. I suggest someone talented in AI make a short video of that.
And why are "Patton's" epaulets red? Is he in the Soviet army? From the pictures I've seen of him, that guy doesn't look like Patton to me. And notice that fatfuck outranks both of them.
Yes, and Trump is shown wearing a bazillion campaign ribbons (gag) and 4 stars, where Patton has one star on his red epaulets and MacArthur is a two star. Trump is a sick, rotted old hulk. Stealing valor that he in no way deserves is incredibly disgusting. Fucking AI slop and the fucking asses who create such repulsive images for Trump to preen and soothe himself with.
All I know is that she's a brainless little cultgirl. She's more than welcome to him. May it give her joy when she accompanies him into prison and she can have him all to herself.
And look at how he gives himself way more ribbons and awards. I didn't even know they GAVE awards for dodging STDs in NYC, the "war" Trump said he was fighting.
These fantasy images keep coming, propaganda aimed at ignorant minds. They look like movie posters. Now commander-in-cheat is trying to promote a new fleet of battleships.
I was with an 83 year old woman yesterday who is practically giddy that Republicans are winning in NE Missouri. She admitted to me that she lost her relationship with her daughter who is an attorney because this lady is for Trump. This lady is also religious (of course she is).
When this is all over, someone needs to do a psychological study on why people like her just ignore all this depraved, sick behavior. American society shows its ugly underbelly every time they ignore a murder on the street, or yet another Republican beats his wife or has gay sex.
As long as he and President Nosferatu Miller abuse the ever-loving shit out of people with brown or black skin, those religious cult members will always cheer for the GQP: the party of hate.
yeah, I'm excited. Already my SS doesn't cover the bare cost of living plus some medical bills. I'm convinced they want all us "unproductive" seniors to up and die.
Ding 🛎️. Your got it! I’ve said since about March last year that they just want us all to die. Anyone who isn’t rich, white and healthy. Pee Wee German thinks the US population should be 100 million. 👹
I am 65, disabiled and have Medicare. I can't make ends meet now. It's been getting worse each month. I have an as yet undetermined liver disorder. I may need a liver transplant. Ya think Medicare will pay for that? I'll be dying sooner rather than later. If I had money, I could pay for a transplant myself and fuck Medicare!
I agree with you, Susan, but I know some Repugs (they’re also elderly) and all they watch is Fox “News”, which means they have no idea this stuff is even happening. It’s not that they’re ignoring the sick behavior. They don’t know it exists!
I don’t accept it either, Cheri. But I’m not going to start an argument with my husband’s 85-year-old aunt, who is a sweet person otherwise, just a devout Catholic and a lifelong Repug voter. I don’t want to be responsible for her having a heart attack. When we get together with her, my husband and I know to avoid talking politics.
She may be a single issue voter, which as a Catholic is probably abortion. Single issue voters are a big reason this shit has been allowed to go on for so long.
You are correct, Doc. I don’t dare try to reason with her or tell her that R’s completely ignore the child after it’s born and won’t pay for free school lunches or health care and refuse to keep them all safe from school shootings, etc.
Precisely, Doc. The information is available, yes, but if they close their minds to it or don’t look for it at all, they’re like little kids putting their fingers in their ears.
According to Brian Stelter, FOX Noise relentless played up the "vandals cut up the reflecting pool" story, but now that it's been thoroughly debunked they barely mention that all the charges were dropped.
I think part of the reason is that their news source is fox, and they are not getting the stories we do until they blow up, like the Minnesota murders, and then they listen to fox tell them what to think. It’s really hard to understand and accept how many people fit into this category of stupid.
Yeah I just cut ties with a friend from college that I’ve known and loved for 40+ years… all because he won’t take off that goddamned MAGA hat. I blame him and all the others like him for the seemingly inescapable mess we’re in 😡😤🤬
(in a comment to Ms Nieman's comment about the giddy happiness of a religious 83 year old woman) I'm okay with men--and women--having gay sex. Having sex isn't the issue; it's the hypocrisy involved in being a gay Republican politician. Especially when it hurts their own family.
And I really hate it when they can't be or refuse to be honest about their identity (whether it be from peer or societal or political pressure--doesn't matter) and thus open themselves up to blackmail because of the hypocrisy of a party that can't publicly accept that human sexuality comes in a hundred plus flavors.
define " religious ".... in their daily life , do they humbly sacrifice many things for the good of others ? Seek to help people of good will ? Jeff calls them God botherers-totally accurate .
I sigh heavily as I agree with you, because my brother is one of those people. 😢 He’s always been unaccountably angry - even as a teen/young adult. But he has officially gone round the bend. He is unreachable and my sister and I have decided to quit trying. Which is depressing AF. 💔
And Mike 'lil' Johnson just wants to see how this all plays out, because scalding water, a gun to the head, and child abuse all mean nothing to the GOP when they have a razor thin House majority, and those tax cuts for the wealthy aren't going to extend themselves, the Epstein Trump Maxwell child trafficking files aren't going to hide themselves, and the millions of people who aren't going to kick themselves out of access to healthcare.
Calling allegations that a man held a gun to his wife’s head and fractured his baby’s collarbone a “family matter” is one hell of a way to advertise your family values. Miller is entitled to due process, but “let the family work it out” isn’t due process. It’s the language people used for generations to look away from domestic violence. Funny how the party obsessed with getting government into everyone else’s bedroom suddenly discovers the sacred right to privacy when the allegations involve one of their own.
Calling it that would be laughable if it wasn't so awful and disgusting. I call that behavior criminal, and although I am against violence and am a law-abiding citizen, if my daughter and granddaughter were hurt like that I would be looking for my baseball bat. And would need to hold my wife back first.
I would hope that my better instincts would triumph. I always marvel at the families of victims of horrific crimes who let the law and due process handle the issue, which is how it should be in a well-ordered and enlightened society.
And that's not even taking into account the charges of abuse from former Trump press secretary Stephanie Grisham, who was dating him back when he worked in the White House, or the classmate whom he pushed down the stairs in high school with lots of witnesses who said she is still traumatized. Dude has big issues.
That reminds me of the photo that I saw online of a sign that someone was holding at a No Kings rally that said, "Obama When Are You Coming Home? The Babysitter Is Weird".
Shitler demolishes the WH East Wing and the majestic front lawn to lay down an ugly helipad. Fox News and the GOP: "But Obama built a basketball court!"
OMG, like walk through the grass? Of course he's not wearing his precious Florsheims, but doesn't he do at least some walking through or on grass when he golfs??? FFS. Oh right, he's one who will drive his little golfie cart right up onto the green (VERY bad golf club manners for anyone else!!!) so he can alight and signal to have his caddy drop a ball conveniently close and then fake-win his own club trophy. No wonder Twumpy hates himself--where's the satisfaction of that non-accomplishment??? And he's had a lifetime of such non-accomplishment. Jeebus how effing sad is that?
That's why he only plays on golf courses that he owns. If he owns it, then he can do whatever he wants to do, cheat all that wants to, and no one bats an eye.
He can bury his ex-wife on his golf course, let her grave site go to hell, and no one says a word. Her children don't even complain. At least not out loud.
"It's a family matter" means I'm not going to let Miller's problem affect MY re-election. The GOP has devolved into a club for the empty and pathological. Take a good look at any photo of Miller. The eyes are dead.
Also to note that getting into every woman’s uterus is not a family affair (much less a woman’s business) but calls for rendering a legislative position, including imprisonment, by a whole platoon of men.
The GOP hates women. It's really just that simple. GOP voters and electeds have zero respect for their mothers, wives, daughters, and other female family members. The GOP makes this disgustingly obvious, especially in reference to the Epstein matter.
Todd Blanche has now assured all the GOP women-haters that he'll implement forced birth policies a la Dobbs on all fifty states.
VOTE, dear ones. Women, please VOTE. Allies who are men, please VOTE in the forthcoming midterms.
No one should be surprised: when a political party's standard bearer is an adjudicated rapist, the whole of the GOP is similarly rotten.
this just in, literally while I was in the middle of writing this post
"Mike Johnson tells Politico that he's standing behind Republican Max Miller — despite the serious domestic abuse allegations against him."
https://x.com/kylegriffin1/status/2084975238194864229
because of course he does. I'm surprised he'd even heard about it
When someone says the parties are the same, point to Salwell and Platner and the other abusers we kicked out. Compared to the opening arms of the GOP.
The Democrats forced Al Franken to resign from the Senate because he mugged for the camera in a sophomoric and inappropriate way, FFS.
Before he was in office. I’m sure when he was at SNL he did a lot of inappropriate things but not actual crimes like these abusers. I wish he hadn’t resigned. What he did was NOTHING compared to the heinous things these men have done. He broke his baby’s collarbone!! That’s a “family” matter? Sounds to me like a CPS matter.
I always liked Al Franken and thought he resigned way too soon, it was almost as though he was immediately found guilty before even getting a chance to defend his innocence (i'm not condoning sexual harassment). The Dems lost a smart, capable politician in the process.
And if you'll recall, one of the key Dem senators calling for Franken's resignation was Kirsten Gillibrand. Franken had the misfortune of having his sophomoric photo discovered just when #METOO was picking up steam.
But where is #METOO now? Not a single mention of protecting the Epstein pedophiles before Blanche's nomination escaped from the committee to a senate floor vote. Read 8/4/2026 Heather Cox Richardson's piece. Trump's taxes, money laundering, and Epstein are deeply intertwined. There's a BIG reason why he wants immunity from IRS prosecution.
This is categorically false and I am sick of rebutting this against the misogynists who keep repeating. Kirsten Gillibrand had nothing special to do with it, but a lot of Democrats need a woman to scapegoat (in certain ways, we haven't evolved as much as we need to.) I've seen this lie a thousand times and it still infuriates me.
Thirty-two Democratic senators wrote and signed a letter urging Franken to resign. They picked Gillibrand to present the letter because one of her pet issues is addressing the sexual abuse of women in the military. That was all. The letter was signed by Liz Warren and Bernie Sanders and Kamala Harris, among others, all equally "guilty" here.
Klobuchar did NOT sign. She said she wanted to talk with Franken privately because they were state mates. It's never come out but my theory is the push for him to resign was because she was up for reelection the following year — 2018 — and her polling wasn't looking good a year out. Following Trump's election in 2016, the GOP was licking its chops to steal her seat. I think Democrats were afraid Franken would be used against her. Yeah, I know — major hypocrisy. But the media lets Republicans get away with things they hang Democrats for. And she ended up winning by a lot anyway.
Ultimately, Franken resigned because Chuck Schumer told him he would strip him of his committee assignments if he didn't.
I knew the outcome of the Al Franken "Scandal" before the dust settled. But those were the silly days of the Democrats being stupid because they don't have the courage to take on anyone, the media, their shadows, an R with an attitude. Now we have Rs assaulting spouses and the only reason there is any coverage is because another R is supposedly showing moral & ethical courage. What a sad, sad political system we have. A part of me wants to just emigrate to Norway to get away from the stupid.
Glad you said "supposedly". Otherwise, you would have been giving Bernie way too much credit.
Me too.
Sounds like a "Big House" matter.
Tweeden was used by Roger Stone to torpedo Franken.
Exactly.
And I'm STILL pissed off about that. "Look how pure we are. None 'o that boys will be boys in OUR party".
Like a Republican gives a single goddamn fuck.
Registered Republicans vote three ways. To enrich themselves becuz they're rich fucks, ignorance, or they're haters. Thanks to Nixon and those that came after them, Public Education is a shambles, and the conservatives majority that once voted using logic and 'does this benefit me in the long run" have been replaced with people who don't care, don't stay informed, and vote 100% on emotion.
"...replaced with people who don't care, don't stay informed, and vote 100% on emotion."
And THAT'S WHY the GOP owns social media. Posts that generate rage and hate create audiences that stay on the platforms longer. Longer engagement = more money for Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, etc. Until voters realize that they are being manipulated by algorithms aimed precisely at them, I'm not sure how to overcome this significant but seldom discussed obstacle.
I've trained my Facebook algorithm to show me mostly Siamese cat pictures.
There's also the racism. There are actually people who agree with Stephen Miller that the U.S. would be paradisiacal if only we got rid of 100 million people.
Actually, resigning for sexually harassing is appropriate. Just because he modeled appropriate behavior does not mean the Republican non standard should now apply to Dems. I am in a country right now where politicians still resign because of scandals. That is not a part of the Republican party credo, where they seem to still have a seat for Mitch McConnell, even though we don't really have proof of life.
I used to handle sexual harassment cases in higher education and what Franken did (the stupid photo from way way in the past) would have resulted in an apology and being sent to sexual harassment orientation. Not being fired.
What used to happen in my life is that the women left and nothing happened to the men. This happened in my daughter's high school class. A boy raped a girl, and the school ignored it. She left because she could not bare to be there any more. It made all the girls end up hating the administrators involved, and they boycotted the performance of his class in the senior class play and anything that had to do with the class that they could avoid. His mom was a mucky muck in the school, which is part of the problem. I left 2 work situations for the same reason. Although, in both places they paid me to leave. There was absolutely no mechanism for getting rid of the guys. A boy in a fourth grade class in the same school that I taught threatened to cut off his penis and rape a girl in the class with it, and the school moved her to another class, not him. She and her 3 sisters left and went to a different school far from our neighborhood. That is they way that these things are generally being handled in the real world.
While I empathize and agree that it usually is the woman who leaves just to get away from the bullshit and move on, Franken's case was eons away from that. He's not even touching the woman, just mugging for the camera. My attitude towards such behavior is, show me someone - ANYONE - who hasn't done something that pushes the envelope in their younger years, and then narrow it down to those who actually had a picture taken of it, and I'll show you a normal human being from the era in which he/she grew up and wasn't expecting to be - and should NOT be - judged so harshly for it. Kirsten Gillibrand flipping her goddamn lid about Franken and pushing for him to resign is the poster child for the "Lighten up, Francis" meme.
Minihuni, he was a MN boy like me one of our two Senators and got hammered his freshman year by being put on lots of committees. He was smart and replaced the irreplaceable Senator Paul Wellstone if we only could have one of them back Wellstone passed in 2002 in fog in a plane in MN. He would have been there for the obscene riot and attempted murder of Mike Pence as well as others that did die on that day.
I know. In the dictionary of English idioms under "shoot yourself in the foot" they have a photo of the Democratic mascot.
Absolutely. Franken was replaced without the benefit of any investigation with a warm do-nothing butt who knew her place. The Democratic Party panicked and lost a strong, articulate voice who was extremely energetic and informed. The leader of the Faux Me-Too oust, Sen. Gillebrand, permanently lost the trust and respect of millions, including women.
If an excellent senator like Gillibrand "lost" you over something she did not do, you need to get better informed. She was not "the leader." She was not the cause of Franken resigning, but has been assigned the role of villain by an army of misogynist Democrats. Don't be one of them, OK? It was a set-up because even many Democrats have a need to put down women.
Absolutely. Losing Franken was the worst.
Oh please. Electing Trump was and always will be the worst.
There more allegations than just that photo. Tweeden claimed Franken forced an open mouth kiss on her. Several women claimed he had been a little too friendly in photo ops. But these allegations all paled in comparison to what had been leveled against Trump. Franken should have had a hearing. I will never forgive Gillibrand for the way she railroaded him out of the US Senate.
True, Tweeden also said Franken wrote the skit so he could kiss her. But Tweeden also humped Robin William's leg onstage, so should Williams have made a big thing out of that? The double standard between right and left, particularly because the right always screams about morality, family values, and Xtianity, is sickening.
Sigh. Once again, you better "forgive" Gillibrand right now or out yourself as another leftie misogynist. Gillibrand did not cause his resignation; Chuck Schumer did. (I mean, I hate to give people another reason to pointlessly rag on Schumer, but facts are facts. It was all on him.)
Bye
That sure feels like a million years ago
That was wrong. They should have supported him.
Donny always mugs his stupid face.
I’ll never forgive Kirsten Gillibrand for using Franken to promote her own career. I hope Franken runs again.
He’s 75 years old. His time has past. He even quit his political podcast.
JFC what is wrong with all you misinformed people? As I said to someone else, forgive her now or you wear your ignorance like a banner. Gillibrand did NOT cause Franken to resign; she didn't "lead" anything. Thirty-two senators signed a letter urging him to resign and appointed her spokesperson to deliver it because of her powerful advocacy for women in the military who had been sexually abused. He resigned because Schumer said he would take away all his committee assignments.
I'm almost more tired of this than I am of hearing about Michael Connell's plane crash or Karl Rove's secret vote-flipping war room in Chattanooga Tennessee. Democrats can be gullible and dumb too!
That still irritates me...his resigning that is.
I’m still pissed about that. K Cinema🤬
Well, she’s an idiot, so I understand your frustration. 🙄
⬆️🎯‼️‼️‼️👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
Exactly.
And watch the Republucans laugh. There is reason why they control all branches of the government. They do not divide themselves over their differences. They speak with one voice and even if it sucks, they do it to win. And sadly it works.
There are several reasons the Republicans currently control all branches of government. Racism, misogyny, and Citizens United are at the top of the list, but the ineptitude of the Democratic leadership is right up there.
You're 100% right. But the only thing we can change is improving the Democratic party, but thats clearly not happening.
Maybe if they would realize WHY we aren't donating regularly like we did before, they might begin to make positive changes. That's a big "IF".
In what way should they change?
As far as Im concerned a bad Democrat is better than any Republican.
I think you don't know anything about the Democratic Party. Who do you even follow? We've got a ton of amazing people in office.
I agree. Haley Stevens was a good State Representative and won four times. Polls showed her easily beating Rogers the Republican. She lost to Sayed by less than a point.
His big plan is socialized medicine. Does he not realize the Dems have been pushing that for years. When he loses the seat to the Republican (as the polls show) he can stand on the street corner and tell people about his great plan for health care.
I bet his being a tall young man he looked good standing next to an overweight, middle age, white woman.
To be fair, *most* people don't know much, if anything, about the "Democratic Party." I do know a fair amount, but when people refer to "Democrats" or even "the Democratic Party," I usually don't know what they're talking about: People who regularly vote Democratic? People enrolled as Democrats? The Democratic *Party*? In that case, do they have any idea how many components the "Democratic Party" has, at the national, state, and local levels?
It's true, virtually all the stellar officials in elected or appointed office are Democrats, but some of them are nothing to write home about, and some Democratic organizations have a leadership problem. (I'm being polite here, and not naming names. <g>)
But if you consider that “the Democratic Party” has multiple components, I think it is happening in some places. Not with the DNC or the “inside the Beltway” Dem organizations, but the outside the Beltway outfits, like DAGA (the Dem Attorneys General Association) and DASS (Dem Association of Secretaries of State), are doing good work. So are some of the state parties, especially those in swing states.
The organizations supporting Democrats most effectively aren’t part of the Democratic Party. Indivisible, Swing Left, Color of Change, Emerge . . . The Dem organizations could learn a few things from them!
The fickleness of the Democratic voters is higher up there. Republicans understand that it is about power, and always vote for the candidate on their team even if they don't particularly like that candidate, playing the long game; while too many Democrats think voting is some kind of performance art, and get mad that candidates cater to those who vote reliably and not those who demand some purity test and announce that they cannot be counted on to show up.
No, "ineptitude of Democratic leadership" has very little to do with it. In fact almost nothing. If you want to add to your list, try a heavily biased "mainstream" media that will not report on anything Democrats do or say and hold them to a whole different standard. I think our Democrats have been pretty skillful in the face of a mountain of crap.
II tend to think that evil people make better offensive strategists than decent, honorable folks. Good defensive strategists, like Churchill and Eisenhower, don't automatically let the enemy set the rules.
That's because (and I'm convinced of this) the evil offensive strategists know how to lie so much better than anyone else. It just comes naturally for them.
Because they're sociopaths.
Exactly.
This country needs a complete tear down and rebuild, it’s disgusting!
I hear you. Yes, that would be great. But, I've lived in other countries, and they say same thing. Everybody wants something they're not getting
No, it doesn't. It needs to live up to the structure it has. It's a mess because we have people brazenly violating the law and the constitution. And be careful: the people who want to do a complete tear down and rebuild are those behind Project 2025. They want a constitutional convention so they can destroy our rights.
Birds of a (very nasty) republican feather.
Exactly. For the Democratic Party, such behavior is to be condemned. For the Republicans, it makes the candidate even better for office: as they say--it's a feature, not a bug.
It did take the damn way too long to condemn Platner. That does not make them equal, but it also needs to be noted.
Platner was out of the race 72 hours after the story broke. Bernie waited a whole 20 hours before pulling his support. That’s not instantaneous, but it’s not exactly stalling.
Especially the sainted Vermont Jesus. He practically had to be dragged.
Jeffrey Goldberg just made this point on tonight’s Washington Week.
Ugh, Jeff. The Preacher is more concerned about protecting his razor-thin majority in the House than protecting a woman and her daughter from a confirmed serial abuser and lying misogynist. It’s so fcked up. The entire House is up for re-election in November. Time to fire every last Republican, including Holy Mike.
Exactly, and it works. Thats why they have an adjuducated rapist in the White House for a SECOND TERM! And destroying our government.
Holy Mike should be the first to go. It's only because the rest have his backing that things have gotten as bad as they are. He's evil to the core.
I hope his district has finally had enough, but not holding my breath.
At the very least he needs to be returned to the obscurity he has richly earned.
Nor am I.
Never hold your breath, but you could consider donating to Brian Poindexter who had a decent shot even before this happened. The 2024 numbers were interesting — I won't go into detail but Miller won by only 8000 out of 400,000 votes. It was his race because Dennis Kucinich got in as an independent spoiler. There's nothing like this now. Poindexter is a great fit for the district and a lot of activists I know here on the other side of town in OH-11 are volunteering for his campaign (Our district is so blue that any Democrat who runs gets 80% of the vote — no help needed.)
Thanks, Anastasia. I already have Brian Poindexter on my donations list and will be giving to his campaign soon. Wishing him and your district all the luck!
P.S. I didn’t know that about Dennis Kucinich. A shame! I supported his first presidential campaign and voted for him in the Dem primary, way back in the dark ages of 2004.
Dennis went really wacky at some point. Did you know he was briefly RFK Jr's presidential campaign manager in 2024, before RFK Jr decided to throw in with Trump? There's a lot about Dennis is just don't get.
It’s so very WCN
Here is the tiniest sliver of hope in this shit storm: the district Miller is in has of course been gerrymandered by the OH State Rethuglicans, but it’s not a solid red area. And there is a decent chance he will lose. Moreno has to go as well, and his attack on Fauci didn’t do him very much good either, at least in Northeast Ohio, which is solidly blue.
Don't worry the Democrats will probably run two candidates now that they split into the Democrats and the Democratic Socialists. The Republicans are laughing their asses off because they cannot believe the Democrats are really this stupid. A majority of the country gave the Republicans 3 branches of the government and half the Democratic party thinks its because they are not far left enough. Voters dont vote for a conservative candidate because the liberal candidate is not liberal enough.
Establishment Dems are center-right, and progressives are literally sick and tired of a Republican-lite party that hasn’t done jack shit for anyone except for Bibi. Get over it.
And center left Democrats who get off the couches and work their asses off for any Democratic candidate would like the whining DSA to decide if they are or are not part of the big tent, which they joined because there aren't enough of them to win on their own.
We don't need litmus tests or mudslinging. We need coworkers.
Make up your minds. I for one am tired of being forced to listen.
Who the fuck cares about Israel. I live in America. There has been fighting in the Middle East for 60 fucking years. It will NEVER end. I dont vote for someone based on what they think of Israel. Haley Stevens was a four time state rep because she got the garbage picked up and kept the lights on. That's what pols are supposed to do.
Abdul was and is absolutely the very best candidate that Michigan could ask for. And I’ll definitely return to knock on doors for him because those 15,000 votes that made all the difference, I believe, was a direct result of 40,000 doors we went to
Yeah, yeah, yeah, too bad he won't win, too bad, if he is in office, because he doesn't know how government actually works, and he has no idea how to get universal health care thru the Congress because he has never held office. ( does honestly think no one has tried that before)
But who knows, maybe he'll give each of us a pink pony as a consolation.
El-Sayed is very likely to lose. His campaign was packed with anti-Semitic tropes. He worked hard to convince people he was leading by 20 points and then barely pulled it out. The general election electorate will be less friendly. I think we should focus on other states. We have North Carolina, Maine and Ohio look good, but if we lose Michigan we're still a vote short. Let's get Talarico, Peltola and maybe Turek over the top. We need two more to have the majority, and I'm afraid it won't be El-Sayed.
As long as he welcomes support from Hasan Piker I have no use for him. (Don't worry, I don't live in Michigan.) Imagine a Republican candidate proudly proclaiming support from David Duke or Nick Fuentes.
He won by less than 1% and the Republicans are going to roll rght over him. Too bad, because Stevens knew how to win elections and fight Republicans.
If you lived in Israel, you’d have universal healthcare.
And free college. That we fking pay for.
And with hard working Democrats we may get that someday after our foot heals from constantly being shot.
That we pay for. Can we have it? Hell no. We have useless wars to pay for.
And most other Western economies.
Many of us care about Israel, and hope that this fall marks regime change there as we want the Democrats to reclaim Congress here.
Most voters do not rank Israel among their top ten or twenty issues.
There are no "center right" "establishment" Dems anymore. More than half the Senate and 2/3rd of the house vote ultra-progressive. Basically calling a Democrat "establishment" or "centrist' means nothing more that "I think they're boring.' Blue dogs are extinct. There's a total of one Democratic senator whose voting record is veering rapidly right and that's Fetterman. He's the exception, not the rule.
Thank you...I was going to reply but couldn't think of a polite way to refute.
I'm a liberal Democrat, not "center-right," and I'm sick of loudmouths like Bernie Sanders -- who isn't even a Democrat -- coming in and telling us what we ought to do. We may have just blown the Michigan Senate race thanks to Bernie's candidate getting the nomination.
We need to understand that MOST of our elected members of Congress are progressives — go look at their voting records. Bernie is only #13 in the Senate. He hasn't cracked the top ten in all the time I've been following the Progressive Punch ratings, which has been years.
No, that was last time. In 2024, Matt Diemer won the Democratic primary but Dennis Kucinich jumped in as an independent (he was supporting RFK Jr for president at the time!) Added together they got just 8,000 votes less than Miller. If Diemer had not had to focus on Kucinich as well, there's a chance he would've won. Now, the primaries are long over — they were in May — and there is no other candidate.
Thank you. Truer words about the Dems were never spoken. And now the sane wing of the Party has to suck it up and support El Sayed, and they will, because they are rational adults, not children, like the DSA or the highway crowd
Exactly, his obstinance will be his downfall. Here comes the blue wave.
Except Bernie is not up for re-election. Husted's seat is open since he was appointed, not elected. Brown needs to win that instead of Husted, but I see waaay more Husted ads than Brown ad$. I am pretty $ure I know why.
Apparently no one watches tv ads anymore because Sherrod is leading the polls. I don't know, I don't have a TV, but don't most people stream and skip ads?
Depends on what poll you see. None is conclusive of how those who actually vote feel. Between that race and the governor's race, it is a s**tshow. My head hurts.
Sherrod is pulling that "Oh no, new polls shows me behind — send money" shit, but most polls show him with at least a small lead, one with a pretty large lead. Don't forget that TV ads mean less and less every cycle as there are more ways for people to block them. (Mine is I don't have a TV so I never see them.)
I sure hope you are right and that it stays that way for the next 4 months.
I'm sure Holy Brother Johnson endorses the general Rethuglican view that it's a "family matter"--which translates to, "He's got a gun, right? He can take care of this himself."
Holy Mike would never go out on a limb for any damn thing. His mantra has been, "I wasn't aware of that." Or, "I didn't see the video." So where the fuck have you been, oh holy one? Oh, now you have a new sound bite, which matches all the rest, "It's a family matter." He flat out slithers under everything.
He's too busy checking his son's phone for porn.
😂
For somebody as holy as holy Mike, he sure does a good job at breaking the ninth commandment given his constant lying. Hypocrisy at it's best. Speaking of which, i'm still hoping we'll get to see leaks from Grindr one of these days with these holy rollers on it. It would make for much needed entertainment.
Mike Johnson does not want Max Miller to blackmale him about having sex with men either.
Absolutely. That guy is gay af. Being gay is not a crime, just own it and be free.
Well, Mike is all about family values, which means you hide all the dirty laundry in the basement laundry room and have the family put on a happy face. Thats the Christian Way.
💀💀💀🤯🤯🤬🤬💀💀💀
So back to the good old days when whatever happened behind closed doors was between a husband and wife and no one should interfere with the "sanctity" of the family.
I'm sure any number of state and local proposed laws are going to start being proposed in earnest to end laws against DV. They'll be couched in the language of the Judeo-Christian sanctity of the family, religious freedom, a right to privacy, and the governmental overreach of I truding into a home, etc.
I lived in those “good old days” growing up, and have a crooked nose to prove it. Told my teenage friends I bumped into a wall at night. Just like my friends who got hit in the face with a ball playing softball. Uh huh.
Yup...watched my mother lie to my grandmother (her own mother) that she "...ran into a door" while my younger sister (who was still home at the time) told me that Mom was lying and that my stepfather had hit her. A few years later, after that SOB had passed away, I had my mother come live with me and she told me that it was "her fault" because she had "...provoked the argument.". I immediately contacted a domestic violence awareness group and arranged for her to go to a few meetings and asked that they suggest some books about the subject that I could pick up at the library.
It took more than two years to de-program my Mom's guilt that her own actions had brought my stepfather's ire upon her and my sister. ARGH! How I despise and loathe bullies and drunkards who project their own anger, self-hatred and feelings of inadequacies by lashing out at others--especially women and children!
I grew up with that exact shit. When I was sexually assaulted by an acquaintance at 20, I did not tell anyone for over 30 years because "it was my fault for being in a place I shouldn't have been. My own fault."
Sorry that you had to endure that. It's insane that things have not appreciably improved. We have people like Moreno, his regressive party, and the patriarchy of all stripes to blame. As a man, I can say that many men suck.
"I'm not really familiar with those allegations"
Holier than thou micky, the devout christian, supports a wife abuser. Of fucking course😡😡😡😡😡😡
Standing behind him.
For the "leader" of the house to be unfamiliar with what's happening in his own party is both ludicrous and disingenuous.
as well as complicit and outright deceptive.
Ok, that's pretty funny
How very Christian of Holy Maggot-Mike
They are pathetic!
Sexual abusers are the Orange Creep’s favorite people, same tribe
Disgusting.
Of course he is. Perhaps his porn bracelet is on the fritz? These guys practically wet themselves when Graham Platner hit the skids. Goose-gander, right? Wrong! When WE get caught it's just an "accusation."
Of course he is.
today in Shit That Happened While I Was Busy Writing This Shit—
"Progressive Abdul El-Sayed will win Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary, CNN projects"
https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/04/politics/live-news/primary-election-michigan-virginia?post-id
Well, Jeff, let's rest easy. Michigan last night was fucking amazing.
So let's review the fucking tape: the establishment dumped roughly $65 million into stopping Abdul El-Sayed — AIPAC alone kicked in north of $30 million for Haley Stevens — and a former county health director who talks about rent and insulin like a normal fucking human being beat all of it. Sixty-five million dollars. You realize that's not a campaign, that's a hostage negotiation, and the hostage said fuck you. The best part, it's not a fluke. 6 days from now Wisconsin votes, and Francesca Hong — a line cook from Madison, a dues-paying democratic socialist, polling 38 percent while Tony Evers and every Serious Person in the state huddled around David Crowley — is the frontrunner for governor in the state Trump carried by less than a point, and the consultant ass fuck class has spent twenty years explaining that this can't work. turns out you just have to say Fuck you loud enough for them to hear it.
https://thistleandmoss.com/p/what-survives-the-morning-the-blue-wave-is-happening-for-fucking-real
I would happily vote for a democratic socialist over a fascist pedophile. Every time!
I would happily vote for a democratic socialist over other types of democrats. Every time!
Same here!
ME TOO!!!
I'm not sure what other types of Democrats you think are out there, but most are extremely progressive these days, and many are more effective than the big talkers in the Democratic Socialist wing.
For starters, any that these knuckleheads support
https://www.thirdway.org/
I LOVE your comment that starts: “Read them in a row…..” and the rest of your comments in every post!
Write on!
Every day, US Blues. Every day.
How much money did the Republican establishment give to El Sayed? Because his being the candidate is the only way they win. In a state wide election, the polls show Stevens, the Democrat, winning by 10 %. The same poll shows El Sayed losing.
That is a pretty Republican thing to say, RlRitt. You think because a Democratic Socialist runs that automatically means that the Democrat loses? Thats a pretty fucked up opinion to have. And Zofran Mamdani would disagree with you. But maybe you thought that he shouldnt have won the NY Mayor election.
Personal experience over the last two years is that knocking doors and having real human interactions have trumped every $ that Elon or aipac or RNC has spent to try to buy an election. So lose the negativity and get on board the grassroots express rlritt. Or just get left at the station
Glad I don't have to make that choice. My useless rep is Ayanna Pressley. She ousted a 10 term *progressive* who was much more effective.
The state of Michigan is not NYC. Abdul's support was the financially secure, college educated parts of the state. He lost working class voters, he lost black voters. Mamdani also had the advantage of running against Cuomo, a severely damaged candidate.
Exactly. I would've voted for Mamdani against the ghastly Cuomo, although I preferred Brad Lander who I think will do a good job in Congress. He's very experienced and grounded.
Progressive Dems often do well in local elections but while i may not like it, when a state or the country is more purple a more moderate Dem may have a better chance of winning.
There are no "moderate" Dems; most have similar progressive voting records. There are a few slightly less progressive, but other than Fetterman and Angus King and the Two women from New Hampshire, everyone else is pretty progressive.
El-Sayed is nothing like Mamdani, and Michigan is nothing like New York City.
Before you believe that, watch his acceptance speech.
And guess what Rafael Cruz is already saying about him. If you answer that it's about things Islamist, you're right. Further, he expects us to regard them as real pejoratives.
Rafael Cruz is kissing the ass of a man who called his wife ugly and suggested his father helped kill JFK. He's not a serious person.
Don't get too excited. Abdul was runnning away in the polls and just barely eked out a victory. The working class -- you know, the people the far left pretends to be doing it all for -- voted against him.
A Democratic Socialist line cook (if that is all she has done; I'm not familiar with her) would be a disaster as governor and bring on the next Scottie Walker.
"Here's ten reasons why this is bad for the Democrats"--numberless hacks, and of course The Divine Miss Bari.
Bari Weiss, what a joke
So consumed with anti-woke
That she destroyed CBS News
To stop factual views
And instead blow fascist smoke
OK, now I have to sing the Bari Weiss song:
I used to work for papers/cut a lot of capers/cut corners once or twice/people used to call up/to bawl me out/sometimes they were even nice/ Now I get my news from those who wear out their shoes/I've even learned a little something from VICE/ but I would rather have/a barium enema/then listen to Bari Weiss, cause she's a shonda/then listen to Bari Weiss.
Most excellent Sir..
McCain's Law is also Cruise Control for Cool (and Clicks!)
Love today’s pictures of Ms. Spouse and her bestie. Ladies who lunch, having a great time together. Lovely!! ❤️
Which means that that senate seat will be lost to the Republicans. It has been solidly Democrat but polling shows El Sayed loses to the Republican. Stevens would have easily beat the Republican. But for some reason the Democrats, who have held that seat for years are sick of winning. I hate to say it but I wonder how much money the Republucans are giving to split the Democratic Party vote. That's the only way we can lose after Trump.
Watch his acceptance speech before you make this judgement. He’s the real deal, not a political hack.
Listen also to everything he said during the campaign, not just his acceptance speech where he's going "holy shit, I've got angry people to mollify." You can't wipe all of that out with a single pretty speech.
There were 3 candidates on the ballot: El Sayed, Stevens & McMorrow. McMorrow dropped out, but too late to have her name removed from the ballot & early voting might have already started.
El Sayed won with less than 50% of the vote/by 14,000 votes. McMorrow got 61,000 votes. If she had dropped out before the ballot deadline OR if MI had ranked-choice voting the results might have been different.
I didn't realize that. So the Democrats really got the shady. The Republicans are probably thrilled. I bet they crossed the line and gave money to Sayed
In this case, I hope they get what they paid for.
They paid for a Mike Rogers victory in November.
No, I understand what you’re saying. What I’m saying is I hope the bastards get what they INITIALLY paid for.
Do you assume that because the Republicans "gave money to Sayed" that Sayed/his campaign eagerly accepted said money?
No, they donated to his campaign from an organization that does not identify as Republican. Because the Republicans know he will lose to Rogers. Michigan hasn't had a Republican senator since 2001. They'll do anything to get that seat. Because they cannot let the Democrats win the Congress.
And now watch AIPAC cross over and spend $50 million to elect Mike Rogers.
Yeah and that is not good. But El Sayed has made some very antisemetic comments in the past. I dont think that anyone's standing on the conflict between Israel and Lebanon should be a deciding factor, but being an anti semite is not cool.
They did.
Really?
Yeah, under various names that didn't sound Republican
I was proud to vote for him!
He was my vote, I am so glad he won, and hopefully beats Mike Rogers.
YEEAH!!!
Please be true!
Patton and MacArthur would have kicked his draft dodging ass all the way to Berlin
I like that Donnie Demento is standing between Patton and MacArthur: that way, they could pummel him from both sides. I suggest someone talented in AI make a short video of that.
And note draft dodger Trump has more battle ribbons and medals than either of them.
Isn’t this a picture of stolen valor in some way? Giving himself medals and such?
It's shameful and embarrassing. Bad enough some MAGAt cultist created it. Horrific that low IQ Trump reposted it.
Slimy motherfucker. 🤬🤬🤬
a punch to the kidneys would be nice to see
or even a hair noogie or a swirly
I'd even considered a wedgie, but that would get really stinky
Why is "MacArthur" wearing sergeant stripes on his sleeve?
And why are "Patton's" epaulets red? Is he in the Soviet army? From the pictures I've seen of him, that guy doesn't look like Patton to me. And notice that fatfuck outranks both of them.
Yes, and Trump is shown wearing a bazillion campaign ribbons (gag) and 4 stars, where Patton has one star on his red epaulets and MacArthur is a two star. Trump is a sick, rotted old hulk. Stealing valor that he in no way deserves is incredibly disgusting. Fucking AI slop and the fucking asses who create such repulsive images for Trump to preen and soothe himself with.
Natalie Harp doesn't know the difference. All she knows is that in her eyes, Trump looks heroic.
All I know is that she's a brainless little cultgirl. She's more than welcome to him. May it give her joy when she accompanies him into prison and she can have him all to herself.
Gag!
Good catch!
Patton alone could have done that...together they might have kicked his disgusting, sorry ass all the way to Tokyo and back.
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
And look at how he gives himself way more ribbons and awards. I didn't even know they GAVE awards for dodging STDs in NYC, the "war" Trump said he was fighting.
These fantasy images keep coming, propaganda aimed at ignorant minds. They look like movie posters. Now commander-in-cheat is trying to promote a new fleet of battleships.
McArthur famously smoked a corncob pipe. I doubt either general would tolerate posing with a self-aggrandizing shitheel like Trump.
They're not just crapping the bed, they're flailing their arms and legs and making shit-angels.
truth
I won’t be able to unsee that image for the rest of today. But it’s very funny!
LOL
😂😂
You won the internet today.
First thing I’ll do with my newly-won internet is kick out a bunch of Trumptrolls wailing about Sharia law. Howling like muezzins, ironically.
Ha Brilliant Richard. Shit angles indeed!
I was with an 83 year old woman yesterday who is practically giddy that Republicans are winning in NE Missouri. She admitted to me that she lost her relationship with her daughter who is an attorney because this lady is for Trump. This lady is also religious (of course she is).
When this is all over, someone needs to do a psychological study on why people like her just ignore all this depraved, sick behavior. American society shows its ugly underbelly every time they ignore a murder on the street, or yet another Republican beats his wife or has gay sex.
I hate it here.
Agree Susan…I can’t wrap my head around why all these republicans (who believe in religion) love the trump fucking liars! ….sigh……..
As long as he and President Nosferatu Miller abuse the ever-loving shit out of people with brown or black skin, those religious cult members will always cheer for the GQP: the party of hate.
It’s because religion teaches them NOT to think.
And it definitely doesnt teach them morals or decency. A big reason I'm not a fan. The hypocrisy is mind numbing.
Bingo! Complete abdication of personal responsibility is rule #2.
Authoritarians are very tribal. Very easily propagandized. Very cool with Dear Leader owning the libtards. And totally unable to think critically.
Hallelujah that the rethugs are gonna cut mah socialism securitee and medicare!
yeah, I'm excited. Already my SS doesn't cover the bare cost of living plus some medical bills. I'm convinced they want all us "unproductive" seniors to up and die.
Oligarchs' wet dream: we live and let the rest die
But who will be left to be the engine of the economy--do they think it will run on just their buying needs???
Ding 🛎️. Your got it! I’ve said since about March last year that they just want us all to die. Anyone who isn’t rich, white and healthy. Pee Wee German thinks the US population should be 100 million. 👹
I am 65, disabiled and have Medicare. I can't make ends meet now. It's been getting worse each month. I have an as yet undetermined liver disorder. I may need a liver transplant. Ya think Medicare will pay for that? I'll be dying sooner rather than later. If I had money, I could pay for a transplant myself and fuck Medicare!
Oh Kelly Ann...I'm so sorry. 😭
🥺😢
I agree with you, Susan, but I know some Repugs (they’re also elderly) and all they watch is Fox “News”, which means they have no idea this stuff is even happening. It’s not that they’re ignoring the sick behavior. They don’t know it exists!
They've chosen not to know. They choose to only watch Fox, after all.
It IS a choice. Absolutely.
The information is readily available, though. I don’t accept that excuse.
I don’t accept it either, Cheri. But I’m not going to start an argument with my husband’s 85-year-old aunt, who is a sweet person otherwise, just a devout Catholic and a lifelong Repug voter. I don’t want to be responsible for her having a heart attack. When we get together with her, my husband and I know to avoid talking politics.
She may be a single issue voter, which as a Catholic is probably abortion. Single issue voters are a big reason this shit has been allowed to go on for so long.
You are correct, Doc. I don’t dare try to reason with her or tell her that R’s completely ignore the child after it’s born and won’t pay for free school lunches or health care and refuse to keep them all safe from school shootings, etc.
Only if they look for it and open their minds
Precisely, Doc. The information is available, yes, but if they close their minds to it or don’t look for it at all, they’re like little kids putting their fingers in their ears.
According to Brian Stelter, FOX Noise relentless played up the "vandals cut up the reflecting pool" story, but now that it's been thoroughly debunked they barely mention that all the charges were dropped.
I think part of the reason is that their news source is fox, and they are not getting the stories we do until they blow up, like the Minnesota murders, and then they listen to fox tell them what to think. It’s really hard to understand and accept how many people fit into this category of stupid.
Exactly! Well said. I’ll never understand why so many Fox viewers accept every word as the gospel truth.
Yeah I just cut ties with a friend from college that I’ve known and loved for 40+ years… all because he won’t take off that goddamned MAGA hat. I blame him and all the others like him for the seemingly inescapable mess we’re in 😡😤🤬
(in a comment to Ms Nieman's comment about the giddy happiness of a religious 83 year old woman) I'm okay with men--and women--having gay sex. Having sex isn't the issue; it's the hypocrisy involved in being a gay Republican politician. Especially when it hurts their own family.
And I really hate it when they can't be or refuse to be honest about their identity (whether it be from peer or societal or political pressure--doesn't matter) and thus open themselves up to blackmail because of the hypocrisy of a party that can't publicly accept that human sexuality comes in a hundred plus flavors.
define " religious ".... in their daily life , do they humbly sacrifice many things for the good of others ? Seek to help people of good will ? Jeff calls them God botherers-totally accurate .
I sigh heavily as I agree with you, because my brother is one of those people. 😢 He’s always been unaccountably angry - even as a teen/young adult. But he has officially gone round the bend. He is unreachable and my sister and I have decided to quit trying. Which is depressing AF. 💔
She's not religious; she's "religious."
Good point.
The party of family values sure has a lot of "family issues."
Conservatives dissemble en masse
To lie without care is so crass
They defend cheaters and losers
Adulterers and abusers
"Party of family values" my ass
👏👏👏
Bravo!!!! 👏🏻 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
They always have. They view their wives and kids as property to do with as they please.
Thank you Jeff.
And Mike 'lil' Johnson just wants to see how this all plays out, because scalding water, a gun to the head, and child abuse all mean nothing to the GOP when they have a razor thin House majority, and those tax cuts for the wealthy aren't going to extend themselves, the Epstein Trump Maxwell child trafficking files aren't going to hide themselves, and the millions of people who aren't going to kick themselves out of access to healthcare.
Break a kid's collarbone: 👍
Drag-time story hour: 👎
Oof. Truth hurts.
Imagine, Bernie Moreno was silent while his daughter and grandchild were being abused because he was afraid to admit he likes hooking up with men.
That's the only part of the story that didn't fucking suck - - if consenting adults want to smoke some pork, have at it
Smoke some pork.
😂😂😂😂 👏👏👏👏
Calling allegations that a man held a gun to his wife’s head and fractured his baby’s collarbone a “family matter” is one hell of a way to advertise your family values. Miller is entitled to due process, but “let the family work it out” isn’t due process. It’s the language people used for generations to look away from domestic violence. Funny how the party obsessed with getting government into everyone else’s bedroom suddenly discovers the sacred right to privacy when the allegations involve one of their own.
Calling it that would be laughable if it wasn't so awful and disgusting. I call that behavior criminal, and although I am against violence and am a law-abiding citizen, if my daughter and granddaughter were hurt like that I would be looking for my baseball bat. And would need to hold my wife back first.
You and me both, Doc! And I’d swing for the fences!
I would hope that my better instincts would triumph. I always marvel at the families of victims of horrific crimes who let the law and due process handle the issue, which is how it should be in a well-ordered and enlightened society.
Sadly they will probably both be reelected.
And that's not even taking into account the charges of abuse from former Trump press secretary Stephanie Grisham, who was dating him back when he worked in the White House, or the classmate whom he pushed down the stairs in high school with lots of witnesses who said she is still traumatized. Dude has big issues.
Jesus. That’s profound. ✊
I miss Barak Obama. Period.
That reminds me of the photo that I saw online of a sign that someone was holding at a No Kings rally that said, "Obama When Are You Coming Home? The Babysitter Is Weird".
I love that sign.
The sign should say, "The Babysitter is a Perv!"
I love it, too!
Shitler demolishes the WH East Wing and the majestic front lawn to lay down an ugly helipad. Fox News and the GOP: "But Obama built a basketball court!"
God forbid he should do something that remotely resembles physical activity.
OMG, like walk through the grass? Of course he's not wearing his precious Florsheims, but doesn't he do at least some walking through or on grass when he golfs??? FFS. Oh right, he's one who will drive his little golfie cart right up onto the green (VERY bad golf club manners for anyone else!!!) so he can alight and signal to have his caddy drop a ball conveniently close and then fake-win his own club trophy. No wonder Twumpy hates himself--where's the satisfaction of that non-accomplishment??? And he's had a lifetime of such non-accomplishment. Jeebus how effing sad is that?
That's why he only plays on golf courses that he owns. If he owns it, then he can do whatever he wants to do, cheat all that wants to, and no one bats an eye.
He can bury his ex-wife on his golf course, let her grave site go to hell, and no one says a word. Her children don't even complain. At least not out loud.
Elections have consequences .
"It's a family matter" means I'm not going to let Miller's problem affect MY re-election. The GOP has devolved into a club for the empty and pathological. Take a good look at any photo of Miller. The eyes are dead.
Max Miller is another GOP thug
And the party reacts with a shrug
They have zero quarrels
With being shitbag immorals
For them it's a feature, not a bug
Sadly that is true. Republicans are all about winning no matter what. That's why they control the government.
As requested by Jeff T, "everybody in this story fucking sucks"
EVERYBODY IN THIS STORY FUCKING SUCKS BIG TIME!!!
Including the lying, fraudulent, racist, scumbag, grifting, con artist, piece of shit who is presently occupying our White House.
Not the Millers' two-year old daughter though. She doesn't suck yet.
Holding a gun to someone’s head is not a “family affair” it’s a criminal act called “a felony”.
So surprised Mickey Mike doesn’t know that (sic)!!
I hate these people more each and every day.
Also to note that getting into every woman’s uterus is not a family affair (much less a woman’s business) but calls for rendering a legislative position, including imprisonment, by a whole platoon of men.
The GOP hates women. It's really just that simple. GOP voters and electeds have zero respect for their mothers, wives, daughters, and other female family members. The GOP makes this disgustingly obvious, especially in reference to the Epstein matter.
Todd Blanche has now assured all the GOP women-haters that he'll implement forced birth policies a la Dobbs on all fifty states.
VOTE, dear ones. Women, please VOTE. Allies who are men, please VOTE in the forthcoming midterms.
No one should be surprised: when a political party's standard bearer is an adjudicated rapist, the whole of the GOP is similarly rotten.
I think this whole damn country hates women. It's very depressing.
“Everybody in this story fucking sucks…” except Emily Moreno.
And her daughter
And Jake Tapper.
Jake Tapper absolutely sucks!
Sorry, no.
Another morning in Fucklandia. So many abominations, so little time to process them.