Courage

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Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Michigan) supporting impeachment in a Trump district: “If you live your life only looking at polls and only living your life how to keep this job for another two years you are in it for the wrong reasons… and if that’s not what my district wants from me then I will move along.”

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40 thoughts on “Courage”

  1. NY Times:

    Moderate Democrats Back Impeachment of Trump as House Vote Nears

    Several vulnerable freshmen who had expressed reservations about the effort said they would vote to impeach President Trump, despite the political risks.

     

  2. from the above NYT link:

    “What the president did was wrong,” said Representative Ben McAdams of Utah, whose district skews Republican by 13 percentage points. “His actions warrant accountability. I cannot turn a blind eye, thereby condoning this president and future presidents, Republican or Democrat, to do the same.
    “I will vote yes, knowing full well the Senate will likely acquit the president in a display of partisan theater that Republicans and Democrats perform disturbingly well,” Mr. McAdams added in a statement that criticized how members of both parties have handled the impeachment debate.
    […]
    Representative Joe Cunningham of South Carolina, who represents a district where Republicans have a 10-point advantage, said Republicans had offered no convincing evidence to exonerate Mr. Trump, adding, “This is simply about the rule of law.”
    “If I wanted to do what was easy politically, I would just vote no and move on,” Mr. Cunningham told his hometown paper, The Post & Courier in Charleston, S.C. “But it’s about doing what’s right for our country.”
    […]
    Representative Jason Crow of Colorado, who announced his decision at a town-hall-style meeting in his district, told his constituents: “No man or woman is above the law in our country, including the president.”
    Representative Abigail Spanberger of Virginia said she would vote to impeach the president because “the world, and our children, are watching.” And Representative Andy Kim of New Jersey said in a statement that he was voting to impeach Mr. Trump to “stand up to those that abuse the power entrusted to them by the people.”

  4. the hill:

    A group of conservatives known for their criticism of President Trump, led by lawyer George Conway, is launching a super PAC aimed at stopping Trump for winning reelection.
    The Lincoln Project is made up of some of Trump’s staunchest conservative critics and represents the first formal operation for the so-called “Never Trump” movement, according to The Associated Press.
    Organizers have reportedly garnered more than $1 million in fundraising commitments, with the hopes of raising much more to spend on anti-Trump advertising in the build-up to the 2020 election.
    The group announced the launch of the super PAC in a New York Times op-ed published Tuesday, authored by Conway former John McCain adviser Steve Schmidt, former Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) adviser John Weaver and Republican operative Rick Wilson. Former New Hampshire GOP chair Jennifer Horn is also a principal founder of the group, according to the AP.
    “This effort transcends partisanship and is dedicated to nothing less than preservation of the principles that so many have fought for, on battlefields far from home and within their own communities,” read the op-ed in the Times.
    The authors wrote that their effort over the next 11 months will be to defeat Trump “and Trumpism at the ballot box and to elect those patriots who will hold the line.”
    “We do not undertake this task lightly, nor from ideological preference. We have been, and remain, broadly conservative (or classically liberal) in our politics and outlooks,” they wrote. “Our many policy differences with national Democrats remain, but our shared fidelity to the Constitution dictates a common effort.”
    Conway added in an interview with the AP that the group is open to expanding its ranks, saying it should include the unidentified Trump administration official who authored the recent book “Anonymous” book warning the public against Trump’s reelection.
    “I think the more the merrier,” Conway told the news service. “And I hope maybe he — he or she, I don’t know who Anonymous is — will come out someday and join the effort. Because everyone who believes as we do that Donald Trump is a cancer on the presidency and on the Constitution needs to help and join this effort.”
    The group reportedly plans to target disenfranchised Republicans and Republican-leaning independents in an effort to hinder Trump’s reelection and to defeat Trump-aligned GOP Senate candidates in key 2020 battleground states, including Arizona, Colorado, North Carolina, Maine and possibly Kansas and Kentucky.
    Conway, who is married to White House senior adviser Kellyanne Conway and has become one of Trump’s most vocal critics, said he plans to likely serve as a “cheerleader” for the new group.
    “I’m not a fundraiser or political consultant, but if I could help in that way and learn how to do that — even to raise a nickel or two — I’ll do it because it’s important,” he said. “For this, I think I can make an exception.”
    Weaver said the group’s ads are expected to start airing early next year.

  5. More evidence Obama is almost always right.  Women are better leaders than men.

    The world should be run by women for at least two years.

    I still think a Harris/Klobuchar ticket would be a great idea, but I’ll take Amy with Booker or Castro.  It’s better than the refugees from the old folks home and white male saviors.  Forget chasing the Bernie cult.  They helped ruin 2016 and are well on their way to ruining 2020.  

  8. It’s amazing that a regular person wouldn’t think that Trump should be impeached. The volume of crap this monster has pulled is enormous. What has he done for them lately ? Are all of these regular folks on the Kremlin’s payroll too?  Or is it that they’re so uneducated and  so dumb that they don’t see the unlawful, immoral crap he’s pulled?  They do seem to be the basket of deplorables and a sad reflection on the American educational system that hasn’t taught them how to be analytical. Are they all ID, intellectual disability people?  That means they have significant limitations in both intellectual functioning and in adaptive behavior.  Used to be called mentally retarded.  I think they must be. 
     
     
     

  9. I mentioned this before, getting into your Social Security information online if you’ve been part of an internet breech of a FICA place, ie, a credit reporting site.  SS now uses  Equifax because the others have been breeched.   I was part of one of dem hacks and had to put a thing on my accounts there. So now I have to go to my local SS office and get an actuation code in order to register online with SS. Congress, in their infinite wisdom, thought it was a good idea to verify people through the credit bureaus. And  I need the current number of years I’ve paid into SS  so that I can figure out how much my SS will be reduced by WEP., the congressional windfall elimination provision, and it’s not a windfall to me. 
     
    Government sucks.

  11. If I lived in Michigan, I’d vote for re-election of Elissa Slotkin.  Seriously… if the voters in her district wanted a Trump accolade… why the hell did they vote for her in the first place.
     
    Jamie… we keep getting calls that show up on our caller ID as “Team Bernie”.  I’ve been tempted several times to pick up the phone and tell them where they and their candidate can go.  But then, I remember it’s the Christmas season and just let it ring. 

  12. tiptoe, I don’t understand – Equifax was breached.
     
    Renee, if you do they will (a) keep calling, (b) send you mailers asking for dollars, and if they are like Judicial Watch, (c) they’ll send you a membership card.  I got one of JW’s push polls that I wrote all over, noting on about half of the questions in black sharpie (medium size, so it would not have been missed) that they were based on bullshit, lies or debunked conspiracy theories and wrote “Fuck You” over the donation block.  I put it in an envelope and thought twice about sending it, and maybe a couple weeks later it ended up in the mail – frankly I think it was an honest oversight, but hey, it was fun filling the goddamn thing out.  Anyway – about two weeks later I got a Judicial Watch membership card in the mail.  Probably blew my chance to be a DNC employee in the future (if they’re hiring people who within a couple of years will be qualified to draw full Social Security benefits).  Kinda doubtful I’d say.

  14. It has been a strange Christmas season, I got some decorations out, put up a few lights. While digging out the lights from Mrs Jacks attic closet/crafter play room. I started organizing and cleaning it out. lol 40 years of different projects in different stages of completion and extra stuff not used in some forgotten project. I feel like an archeologist at an ancient dig. 
    I freaked everybody out yesterday. I moved my bed into the back bedroom which had been Mrs Jacks closet and while she was sick her bedroom.  Brewster the dog  wasn’t certain he liked it at first but as the night went on he got used to it. But Jake the cat who usually sleeps on the bed next to Brewster said “No frickin’ way”. Cats are so conservative. 
    My goal is to get an office set up in my old bedroom and move from where it is now (in the dining room) back into the office then I can shut off the dining room and living room. dusting them for the infrequent  visitor.  I can then hide my mess behind closed doors. 
    Kinda strange though making these changes without having to argue and debate them.
    Jack

  16. Mr Pogo,
    It’d make a good yarn for a stump speech. After all, if it’s out in the open, folks won’t hold it against you, right ? Like shooting someone on Broadway (or was it 5th Avenue ?). Anywhat, I’m sure you’ll make a great governor, senator, or congressguy.

  17.  
    This is a teaser for an a Rick Wilson article that is behind the  daily beast paywall. Wilson is a never Trump Republican operative.  
    Quote of the day:

    There is no Hallmark movie ending in this story, where the low-stakes Holiday Bakeoff in Mistletoe Falls leads to a chaste kiss between star-crossed lovers on Christmas Eve. Instead, Washington is teetering over an abyss from which it will likely never emerge. The Republican Senate, led by Mitch McConnell, is now flagrantly, overtly telling America to fuck itself, hard. Oh well. It was a nice republic while we had it. 

  18. Sorry
    but what courage? Those Democrats elected from Trump districts in 2018 were elected to oppose Trump. The voters in those districts knew what they were doing.  Mr New Jersey will soon find that out. Bye bye idiot. Don’t let the door hit you in the ass.
    Jack

  19. the hill:

    Pete Buttigieg’s presidential campaign released its first statewide television ad in Nevada as the South Bend, Ind., mayor seeks to gin up support in a key caucus state.

    Buttigieg unveiled a new 30-second television ad, as well as his first Spanish radio and digital ads, in what his campaign said was a “significant media buy” in the Silver State, which has a heavily Hispanic primary electorate and is one of the early states to vote in the Democratic nomination race.

    Buttigieg hits on common themes from his campaign in the television ad, highlighting his service in Afghanistan and criticizing “corporate greed.” 

    […]

    The radio and digital ad, named “Primer DĂ­a Sin Trump,” or “First day without Trump,” will run statewide on YouTube and Spotify and on select radio stations in Las Vegas and underscores how Buttigieg would govern in the White House after President Trump leaves office.

    “I want you to picture the first day after the Donald Trump presidency. This particular brand of chaos and corruption will be over. … But these big issues, from the economy to health care, will not have disappeared,” he says. “I’m running to be the president who will turn the page and unify our very polarized country while tackling the issues that are going to be just as urgent then as they are now.”

    The ads come as Buttigieg works to break out of the middle tier in polls of Nevada.

    [continues]

  20. van drew is a goner. The twerp will be beaten in the primary, probably by some ripper who has no trump stink on him. 

  21. So XR, if yarns are lies with a little truth mixed in (or vice versa) it’s not a yarn.  More of a humorous (I like to think) anecdote.  When Mrs. P saw what I was doing in answering it she warned me against sending it in – thought it might put me on some RW crazy enemies list.  Instead, they apparently think I’m just a swell guy. And me a governor, senator or whatever? Nah, I’d be accused of being too old for the gig.

  22. Jack, I get your point, maybe not so courageous. I can imagine these Dems in swing districts would have difficulty fundraising if they oppose impeachment, and Bloomberg is promising to independently spend $10 million helping them if they vote for it. So maybe I should just call it gutsy.

  23. a little factoid ( a factoidity?) from wapo:

    In an amazing episode of “history repeats itself,” the House is expected to vote to impeach Trump on Dec. 18 — one day short of the 21st anniversary of the House voting to impeach Clinton on Dec. 19, 1998. Both arrived awkwardly in the holiday season known for “glad tidings” and “goodwill toward men.”

  30. Co-worker told me that the Dems are really out of it and will destroy the party tomorrow with the impeachment vote.  She expounded on the bribery charge as stupid and not worth breaking the Dems over it.  I sort of agreed with her, the House committees should have added some kick ass traitor and treason charges.  The republicans do not consider being a mob boss and being of  low intelligence a crime worthy of impeachment.   I found it fascinating to hear about how a republican views what SFB is doing. 
     
    Update on the color differences on the Craftsman tool cabinet and tool chests.  When Sears sold Craftsman to Stanley Black and Decker (SBD) Sears kept their sales of the line for fifteen years.  The other licenses for Craftsman, such as Lowes, SBD and Ace Hardware can have the products manufactured by other suppliers.  Sears has theirs made in China, Lowes has theirs made in Taiwan, Ace somewhere else.  The color will very depending on the specifications supplied.  My old tool chest color, bought at Sears in 2008, matches the tool cabinet I bought Saturday, at Sears.  But the tool cabinet I bought at Lowes Friday does not match those, it is the more bright red then the others.  Fascinating, but possibly of little use information brought to you by Bombay Sapphire.

  31. Cute one from Andy Ostroy on Twitter 

     
    Twas the night before impeachment, And all through the White House, A sociopath was stirring, To his complicit spouse, The manbaby cried, “It’s all so unfair!” As Flotus yelled back, “I really don’t care!” Rudy & Seany & Pence hopped in bed, As manbaby realized his legacy was dead

  32. tiptoe, I was inundated with emails from equifax after they were hacked for 76 days and had 148M customers’ data compromised.  Mrs. P was one of them.  Here’s an article on the hack. 

    Equifax Inc. failed to modernize its technology security to match the company’s aggressive growth strategy and data gathering, a shortcoming that left it open to the 2017 hack that compromised the information of 148 million people, according to a House Oversight Committee report.
     
    “Had the company taken action to address its observable security issues prior to this cyber attack, the data breach could have been prevented,” according to the report, which was released Monday and prepared by the committee’s Republican staff.
     
    (EFX) didn’t have clear “lines of authority” for ensuring digital security and failed to patch its systems when a vulnerability was publicly disclosed in 2017, according to the report. Driven by an aggressive growth campaign, Equifax began in 2005 to collect vast amounts of new data. The company did so without having an adequate plan to protect it, committee staff said.
    [As we say, article continues]

     
    SS should read the mainstream press a little more often.  Now maybe they’ve corrected ALL their management and technical problems, but anyone who can gather your data without your consent and house it in huge servers with the rest of the US financial customers of banks of all sizes and was hacked only 2 years ago is suspect as far as I’m concerned.😜

  33. That letter was NOT written by SFB – anyone who believes he would (or could) write a sentence including the word jurisprudence or that he has any idea what is and is not recognizable under any theory of Constitutional theory, interpretation or jurisprudence is as stupid as he is. The only thing he added to that letter is his stupid “signature” with his characteristically stupid sharpie. Five bucks says he hasn’t even read the whole thing.

  36. I hope the Navy keeps its promise — better than the SF Airport Commission.   They named a terminal after Harvey Milk and now they are trying to take it back.

  37. Jamie – I’d buy that, but I’m not sure he knows how to insert emojis in his stupid texts, much less a letter.  Now if half of it was in all caps followed by serial exclamation points I might start thinking it was his “work”. 

  38. tiptoe, have I ever told you that I dearly LOVE irony? I’d suggest you read the article about the Equifax breach before taking anything the TRUMP Social Security Administration says about cyber security seriously.  You know the TRUMP – Russia Hoax, Ukraine hackers, Clinton  server is in Ukraine, 400 pound guy in his mom’s basement administration.  They wouldn’t know a hack if they were the victims of one.   And remember this – Equifax was aware 2 years before the breach that their patching practices were inadequate.  That’s 2 years before Apache put out a patch to fix the open source software that was attacked at Equifax two (or four depending on the article) months before the Equifax breach occurred.  It’s now been 2 years since the 2017 breach and Equifax agreed to pay $650M to compensate consumers whose information it failed to protect. Now why in hell would I think Equifax even has a clue that it is protected now or that the SSA has a clue that Equifax is protected?  And you want to see arrogance and cluelessness?  Read this article from the McNewspaper recounting ex-Equifax CEO Richard Smith saying he’s truly sorry and takes full responsibility, but if you were a consumer affected by his feckless management of Equifax, fuck you, Equifax ain’t paying.  $700M later… well, you know.  And Experian has been hit numerous times, the last reported in 2018. As Billy would say, “So it goes.”

  39. Once the Navy puts a name on a ship it isn’t likely to change.  In fact, names get passed along to new vessels if the old one gets decommissioned.   I remember his assassination in 1978 vividly.  

     

     

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