Friday Open Thread

Posted on October 5, 2018 by rikyrah

TGIF, Everyone!

ICYMI

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89 Responses to Friday Open Thread

    • eliihass says:
      October 6, 2018 at 12:55 am

      “…Thomas Daffron and Susan Collins go way back, although they haven’t been married that long. According to a story on Central Maine.com, Collins first met Tom Daffron when he hired her as an intern for former Senator Bill Cohen.

      She was 21. It was 1974. The article notes that Daffron acted as Collins’s mentor both then and as her own political career began to ascend.

      Collins and Daffron married in 2012. Their marriage occurred when Collins was already a Senator.

      Collins was 59 at the time. (He, 73). Hillary Clinton held a women-only dinner at her house for Collins that The Washington Post dubbed a bachelorette party. The wedding was described by The Post as a small family wedding.

      According to Bloomberg, Thomas Daffron “served as the Chief Operating Officer of Jefferson Consulting Group, LLC since September 2006.

      He has served in numerous staff roles for politics, among them as chief of staff to William Cohen, a Republican who served in the House and Senate for Maine; to former Sen. Fred Thompson, a Tennessee Republican; and to Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a Republican from Alaska, Bloomberg reports.

      Thomas Daffron has been registered as a lobbyist. In 2012, he told The Press Herald that he didn’t do much lobbying and never of Collins..”

      https://heavy.com/news/2018/10/susan-collins-husband-thomas-daffron-married/

      Reply
  3. eliihass says:
    October 5, 2018 at 9:13 pm

    Lisa Murkowski now says she will vote ‘present’, not ‘no’ in the final vote on Saturday..

    She’ll be doing that so that she doesn’t ‘cancel out’ the Montana Senator’s vote …he’s going to be absent because his daughter is getting married on Saturday..

    Fam, this was all carefully coordinated by the repugs..

    Reply
  5. Ametia says:
    October 5, 2018 at 6:46 pm

    3 white women had all that power to send Kavanaugh a one-way ticket to the depths of HELL & you Failed!

    Reply
    • eliihass says:
      October 5, 2018 at 8:07 pm

      That forceful pull of white supremacy, and the utter sense of entitlement, power and protection …and the fear of losing any of it… or being cut off from and out of the power and money grift/economic grid that white supremacy controls, endows, owns and allots as it sees fit, is really something …

      The fear of ‘other’ overtaking their perceived sense of supremacy and entitlement, trumps all else.. and has ensnared many more than just so-called ‘conservatives’ and the agenda-driven Neocon congregation (of which these particular women are a part of).

      …so that when push comes to shove, the common denominator in opposing equality and justice for all, e.g in taking a knee, transcends the GOP …and callous, petty, soulless racist jerks like the treasonous buffoon, then exploit it for what it’s worth..

      It is that sense of supremacy and fear of losing position to ‘other’, that drives white nationalism around the world today… and has steadily even begun to re-assert itself even in former colonies …but not in the way China is self-interestedly investing in commerce and assuming control of swathes of Africa’s (and other 3rd world nations’) precious resources and positioning itself as the go-to power for building infrastructure etc

      …which while dubious on China’s part, at least has the veneer of ‘equal engagement and mutual benefit’ …even if it’s not…

      Much unlike America’s recent more aggressive white supremacist carrot-dangling, brazen, in-your-face, you better do as we say …or we will consider you not sufficiently ‘friendly’ to us and so decimate what’s left of the USAID budget..

      But only for the purposes of poor African countries exploited for land to build U.S bases, and as a backdrop in photographs and videos, and their black children as props, for the purposes of forcibly absolving, elevating, normalizing the worst racists, in photo-ops and image rehab …with the African leaders – some of whom balked at meeting with the historic FLOTUS – because ‘black’ and ‘woman’ …but now all desperate to impress for the white supremacist massa’s carrots and validation (in exchange for some of the now seriously rationed carrots -most likely headed for their own pockets), humiliatingly groveling and cowering to a lazy, vapid, uneducated, callous, Birther, imported courtesan turned 3rd wife of a conman treasonous buffoon.. servile and beholden as they lay out the red carpet, and gushingly suck-up and cater to, and address as ‘her excellency’, a know-nothing, do-nothing, plastic, surgically reconfigured, morally-bankrupt, vacuously narcissistic Eastern European woman whose mangled English – even after 20 years in the U.S – is far worse than that of even those in their villages who’ve never even seen an airport..

      Reply
  6. Liza says:
    October 5, 2018 at 5:42 pm

    So, we’re losing the Supreme Court for a generation, maybe two.

    The Democrats are going to have to take back the House, Senate and Presidency in 2020 and hold on for decades.

    Otherwise all we can hope for are some well placed aneurysms or tumors, etc…

    I never imagined this level of corruption.

    Reply
    • eliihass says:
      October 5, 2018 at 6:36 pm

      I refuse to give in or give up, Liza…

      I’m a big believer in ‘suddenlys’ ..and Karma.. and life’s twists, turns …and thrown curves..

      Even if Kavanaugh gets on the SC, I feel it in my bones that it’ll only be a temporary stint..

      And just as we could never ever have imagined or foreseen a scenario where Cosby became a jailed felon, and a well-known con man treasonous buffoon who could never have passed a basic security clearance, now sits in the people’s house with unfettered access to the most sensitive classified information, and presiding over as the final word on the world’s (formerly) greatest democracy… with control over its most awesome resources, apparatus ..

      The pendulum will swing back… I know it will …The world will turn back the right way up…

      And when it does, hopefully …many more of us will know and do better..

      Reply
      • Liza says:
        October 5, 2018 at 8:13 pm

        Thank you for this, eliihass. I’m on kind of a downer even though I fully expected BK to be confirmed as he will be tomorrow.

        The pendulum will indeed swing back the other way.

        Reply
      • Ametia says:
        October 5, 2018 at 8:52 pm

        Speak! Their goal is to wear us down to total hopelessness 😩

        Not gonna happen

        Reply
    • eliihass says:
      October 5, 2018 at 8:24 pm

      Keep the faith, Sis..

      By early next year, I assure you, things will begin to turn in our favor…

      As hard and as shocking and as depressing as it’s all been, so much has been revealed – and that genie isn’t going to be put back in the bottle.. we know who they are now…and try as they may, there will be no revisionism, no glossing over, no denials, no absolving and no forgetting..

      And even as raucous as the vile folks have been, they too know that try as they may, their reign of terror has a certain window and an expiration date..

      Reply
  7. rikyrah says:
    October 5, 2018 at 5:26 pm

    About the guilty verdict today:
    My side of the office is pretty loud. Yet, the only thing that you could hear for the half hour leading up to the verdict was people’s cellphones.
    The co-worker who sits right across from me began to cry as the verdict was being read. I understood. I thought that I had distanced myself from it. Laquan McDonald’s execution was the last police snuff film that I watched. I haven’t seen one since.
    As cynical as I am, this case smelled like a muthaphucka.😠
    The speed with which the city settled with his family.
    The fact that we only found out about this case due to the due diligence of local reporters suing for the dashcam footage.
    In many ways, McDonald’s execution signaled the beginning of the end for so much of the Chicago Law Enforcement establishment, beginning with the Police Chief, then voting out Anita Alvarez, and finally Rahm.
    I understood the sense of relief in my co-workers tears.

    Reply
  8. eliihass says:
    October 5, 2018 at 5:16 pm

    Ugh..

    I loathe Nina Totenberg..

    Reply
    • Ametia says:
      October 5, 2018 at 6:36 pm

      Tell ya why, eliihaas. School us, lady. Don’t hold back.

      Reply
      • eliihass says:
        October 5, 2018 at 6:58 pm

        She’s always been a slippery, disingenuous, desperate to be acknowledged as ‘powerful and in the know’, gossipy Becky..

        She’s very much part of that dubious blurry D.C cohort that’ll cozy up with and defend to death, the perceived powerful … to be mutually cultivated to advance self-interest…

        She’s awful..

        She’s out there today defending Koch-owned coward and hack Susan Collins as a ‘serious, honorable, informed, independent’ Senator…and praising her floor speech as ‘perfection’ …And ‘well-argued’..

        For shame …

        Reply
  14. rikyrah says:
    October 5, 2018 at 5:12 pm

    It was never about economic anxiety 😒😒

    https://twitter.com/djchefron/status/1048166951690915841

    Reply
    • eliihass says:
      October 5, 2018 at 5:35 pm

      They don’t care.. And entitled, undeserving, callous sociopath Kavanaugh is so soulless, so dishonorable and so obsessed with attaining that spot at the pinnacle of the legal profession that he’d never withdraw… not even for the sake of this country…

      He’s not and never been a patriot.. it’s always been about arreseted development Brett and his sense of entitlement and ambition..

      Besides, he and his neocon owners know that these serious accusations surrounding him also threaten his current spot on the lower court..

      And like the treasonous buffoon who has been told that as long as he’s in the People’s House, he’s ‘protected’ from indictment, punishment for his crimes …while enjoying the endless perks …and access, control and wielding of the awesome power and apparatus of the federal government …most importantly, to illegally exploit, utilize to thwart and punish and ‘reward’ as he wishes..

      Reply
    • eliihass says:
      October 5, 2018 at 6:16 pm

      Argh.. Didn’t complete my thought..

      Just like the treasonous buffoon, he’s determined to grab on … Because they believe it means ‘temporary’ protection from their crimes.. and even some warped sort of absolution, if they can keep power in corrupt repug hands..

      Reply
  22. eliihass says:
    October 5, 2018 at 3:55 pm

    Susan Collins is just one more argument against the idea that women are somehow better..

    I’ve always balked at that blanket sentiment..

    There are more than enough rotten apples in the bunch..

    The repugs have more than a fair share of those..

    However, they exist even outside that god-forsaken evil party..

    Awful, greedy, craven, self-serving, self-interested, aggrandizing, evil, cowardly women are really a thing..

    Reply
  24. eliihass says:
    October 5, 2018 at 3:15 pm

    I don’t care how ‘red’ the State it is, we need to stop fielding opportunistic, cowardly windvanes to represent us as Democrats. Particularly the craven, immoral ones who are always ripe for purchase and/or blackmail..

    In the end, with just the slightest poke – and even with nary a poke, they simply flake out … because it’s never ever about doing the right, moral thing …it’s always about political preservation, greed, keeping the sweet taxpayer gig going..

    Reply
    • eliihass says:
      October 5, 2018 at 3:24 pm

      The biggest, sh*ttiest, slimiest..

      I’ve never had any use for Manchin..

      I’ve always despised him as much as I do the repugs..

      I’ve no idea how Democrats have benefitted from having Manchin when he – even when we have a Democratic President, more often than not votes with the repugs..

      The idea that he’s ‘popular’ in W. Virginia …yet can’t effectively make a compelling case to his constituents without selling out the Democratic Party again and again, ought to give folks pause..

      We’d be better-served if we found and fielded a strong, true Democrat who isn’t craven.. It’s possible.. but as long as we pretend that slimy Manchin is it, we lose..

      Reply
  27. Liza says:
    October 5, 2018 at 2:56 pm

    I never had any hope for Collins doing the right thing.
    https://twitter.com/Sifill_LDF/status/1048299011759902722

    Reply
    • Liza says:
      October 5, 2018 at 2:32 pm

      So Van Dyke sits there stone faced while his convictions are being read. He even takes a drink of water in the middle of it.

      Reply
  36. SouthernGirl2 says:
    October 5, 2018 at 2:02 pm

    I’ve been shaking while waiting on this verdict. GUILTY #VanDykeMurderTrial #LaquanMcDonald

    Reply
  38. rikyrah says:
    October 5, 2018 at 1:58 pm

    This is why ELECTIONS MATTER.

    This case would have NEVER been brought if Anita Alvarez was still in office.

    ELECTIONS MATTER.

    GUILTY FOR EVERY SHOT.
    GUILTY.

    Reply
  39. SouthernGirl2 says:
    October 5, 2018 at 1:58 pm

    BREAKING NEWS…………..

    Jason Van Dyke has been found guilty of second degree murder in the death of Laquan McDonald.

    https://twitter.com/suerthjessica/status/1048285732203257856

    Reply
  40. rikyrah says:
    October 5, 2018 at 1:57 pm

    GUILTY=SECOND DEGREE MURDER!

    Reply
  41. SouthernGirl2 says:
    October 5, 2018 at 1:38 pm

    I’m feeling really weak waiting for the verdict in the Jason Van Dyke case. #LaquanMcDonald

    Reply
  44. SouthernGirl2 says:
    October 5, 2018 at 1:23 pm

    Breaking…… Verdict reached in police officer Jason Van Dyke case. He murdered Laquan McDonald
    https://twitter.com/ArickBuckles/status/1048275129984323584

    Reply
  45. rikyrah says:
    October 5, 2018 at 1:14 pm

    They are shutting things down in downtown Chicago. The verdict is going to be read.
    They have completely shut down 26th and California.
    There were food trucks in the plaza. They sent them away.
    I think they let him off.
    He shot that child 16 times…
    16 times…

    Reply
  46. Liza says:
    October 5, 2018 at 12:26 pm

    Well, when we drill down to the source of the problem this is it…

    The state of California (population 40 million) gets two senators but so does Wyoming (population 600K, not even close to 1 million).

    And SCOTUS appointments are for life in a time when life expectancy in the US averages almost 79 years.

    How does this work for democracy in the 21st century? Not well.

    Reply
  47. Liza says:
    October 5, 2018 at 12:17 pm

    This is what it’s like to be completely disconnected from humanity.
    https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1047527699428732928

    Reply
  55. Ametia says:
    October 5, 2018 at 9:08 am

    Word of the Day : October 5, 2018
    Peripeteia noun pair-uh-puh-TEE-uh

    Definition
    : a sudden or unexpected reversal of circumstances or situation especially in a literary work

    https://www.merriam-webster.com/word-of-the-day/peripeteia-2018-10-05?pronunciation&lang=en_us&dir=p&file=peripe02&utm_campaign=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_source=wotd&utm_content=pron

    Reply
    • Ametia says:
      October 5, 2018 at 9:10 am

      The court is already tainted with filth: LOOKING@CLARENCETHOMAS

      and the rest of the Repubs who have politicized the highest court in the land.

      Reply
    • Ametia says:
      October 5, 2018 at 9:07 am

      Susan Collins can miss me with this display of theatrical nonsense.

      She’ll vote with the GOPers. Do you, Susie, and take the consequences.

      Reply
  62. SouthernGirl2 says:
    October 5, 2018 at 8:20 am

    Sexual crimes, pedophilia means nothing to republicans. They’ll endorse for the US Senate, Supreme Court and even the Office of the presidency. There is no bottom with these mofos. #Kavanaugh

    Reply
  64. SouthernGirl2 says:
    October 5, 2018 at 8:10 am

    Good morning, everyone.

    Reply

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