The Seattle Chapter of Drinking Liberally will meet tonight, despite the snow, the sleet, the cold. We will not be denied our weekly forum for engaging in civic discourse, debating political philosophy and examining the democratic ideals bequeathed to us by the Founding Fathers. Some of us just need a drink.
We meet every Tuesday at the Roanoke Park Place Tavern, 2409 10th Ave E, Seattle. You’ll find us in the back room of the pub. We usually start at about 8pm.
Can’t make it to Seattle? Check out one of the 264 chapters of Living Liberally, including 22 in Washington state, eight in Oregon and three in Idaho. Find a chapter near you. Or start a new chapter for your community!
Roger Rabbit won’t attend DL tonight. He’s holed up in a warm burrow. If God wanted furry creatures to go out in this shitty weather, she wouldn’t have invented hibernation.
Trump should’ve taken the wall deal he was offered in December. He would’ve got $1.6 billion then. Now, he’s only getting $1.375 billion. And he can’t use any of it for concrete. I don’t think he’ll shut down the government again. I think he’ll sign the deal and crow to his supporters about what a great deal he won by holding out.
#artofthedeal
Alabama to lose another rural hospital
http://www.wsfa.com/2019/02/11.....-hospital/
“According to the Alabama Hospital Association, not including Georgiana Medical Center, six rural hospitals and six urban hospitals have closed in Alabama since 2011.
“Alabama hospitals see a relatively high number of uninsured patients and get a relatively low amount of compensation in return.
Just say’n. Thoughts and Prayers. Elect better people who will actually represent the voters.
Alabama’s Teacher Shortages Reach ‘Crisis’ Level
https://wbhm.org/2019/alabamas-teacher-shortages-reach-crisis-level/
In the 2017-2018 school year, there were more than 1,700 teachers in grades seven through 12 who were not certified to teach the English, math, social studies, science or special education classes they were assigned
“(The shortage) is crisis level in places, especially in rural areas,”
Mackey said postings for elementary school teaching positions used to get as many as 60 applications, but now they get five or six in some systems.
Again, the problem is worse in more remote parts of the state. Some rural superintendents have only one or two teacher applicants to choose from for positions.
Over half of the sheriffs in Alabama are financially responsible for feeding inmates in their jails. This is a long-standing state practice that has allowed sheriff’s to pocket any money leftover after buying food for inmates.
https://www.rocketcitynow.com/news/alabama-sheriffs-association-comes-up-with-food-allowance-bill/1748701299
Wow, who could imagine THAT could lead to corruption.
Kelly announced for Senate in AZ!
He’s a Space Force Hero! And his opponent is an extreme far right Trump hugging racist who giggles when she sees CBP beating up toddlers.
Treason Party will pull out all the stops and will enlist their GRU and Saudi Bone Saw backers to hack and interfere.
Exhibit 2,320,082,110 that the GOP ‘Party of Financial Reatraint’ are full of shit…
Fox and Friends are gloating about the $1.3b the President ‘scored’ in victory over Pelosi for ‘wall’. See @2
They ignore that it’s less than he had before and @2 and mention in passing it will build 50 miles of Barbed wire or slats or something.
Round it….
$1b for 50 miles.
The entire border is almost 2,000 miles.
Were the ‘Finish That Wall’ Folks to have their way, you the taxpayer and not Mexico would pay $4 Trillion to build. The entire federal budget is $4T
Moving on. Heritage Foundation pulls a number out of their Ayn Randian asses that illegal immigration costs the taxpayers $50B a year. But be generous and accept that number is balls on accurate. So once Donald’s wall is complete it will pay for itself in 80 years.
All the Donald voters who chanted build the wall and had their tax refunds lowered are still wondering why we calll them stupid.
@ 7
All the Donald voters who chanted build the wall and had their tax refunds lowered are still wondering why we calll them stupid.
Might have something to do with Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and a whole shitload of lower federal court judges, Cz-252.
Not a bad idea, really.
Tyler O’Neil
@Tyler2ONeil
16m16 minutes ago
With El Chapo being found guilty in a U.S. trial and Democrats only willing to give Trump $1 billion for the wall, now is the perfect time to revisit @tedcruz’s proposal to fund the wall by seizing El Chapo’s assets.
https://pjmedia.com/trending/2017/04/25/will-ted-cruzs-el-chapo-act-fund-trumps-border-wall/ … @PJMedia_com #Trending
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/02/12/record-million-americans-are-months-behind-their-car-payments-red-flag-economy/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.24f89b91bb4b
I’m sure they are just waiting for those HEFTY Middle Class Income tax refunds.
And right after that they, like PI, going to go find themselves some good deals on the Stock Market.
Great Economy. Great Wall
@7 2000/50 = 40; $1 billion x 40 = $40 billion, not $4 trillion.
@9 Even at $40 billion, no South American drug lord has that kind money, but grabbing El Chapo’s assets might pay for a nice moat around El Paso, although swans cost extra.
“Might have something to do with Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and a whole shitload of lower federal court judges, Cz-252.”
The Hillbillies that voted for The Hump have no idea who those people are. You Dumbfuck….they are all behind on their car payments (see above).
@10 Now that Trump has caved on both wall funding and China tariffs, Dow’s up almost 400 points, so PI should be here any minute bragging about how much money he made today. Of course, I’m doing well, too — sure beats working for Dumbfuck’s minimum wage. He may have to. Probably shorted the market this week figuring Orange Draft Dodger would stand up and fight. Sure glad I didn’t have to cohabit a foxhole in The Nam with either of them.
Choose your adventure:
-The DOJ can easily obtain $14 billion in judicial forfeiture from a global drug cartel.
-The Nucyoolar Free Korea administration can efficiently manage $14 billion.
-DHS no-bid contractors can build one thousand four hundred miles of 30 foot high concrete barrier wall through private lands in forbidding hostile terrain from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific Ocean for $14 billion.
-Ted Cruz is very popular with his Senate colleagues.
7,
“Fox and Friends are gloating…”
Doing us all a favor. Thanks to the release of his daily schedules they know all the incompetent lazy shit does most days is hide in the oval watching FOX, choking down cheeseburgers. and napping. And by now they probably realize that all he really cares about are comfortable stretchy golf pants and how he is talked about on television.
So they lie to him for all our sakes to avoid another WALL!!/CRYSSIS!!/SHITDOWN!!.
Babe In The Woods Dep’t
“Republican Sen. Susan Collins, a supporter of abortion rights who cast a critical vote to confirm Justice Brett Kavanaugh, said in an interview with CNN that despite his vote in a recent abortion access case, she did not believe Kavanaugh would ultimately vote to overturn Roe v. Wade … adding that Kavanaugh had given her assurances during his confirmation process that the landmark opinion was safe. ‘He said under oath many times, as well as to me personally many times, that he considers Roe to be “precedent upon precedent” because it had been reaffirmed in the Casey v Planned Parenthood case,’ Collins added ….”
https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/12/politics/susan-collins-brett-kavanaugh-abortion-louisiana/index.html
So if he lied under oath, and double-crosses her, will she vote to uphold his impeachment? Nah. She’ll vote with her party, as she always does.
Dumbfuck is pretty confident a high % of those appointees won’t be guilty of corruption within a few years. With all the top notch vetting team Donald has done and all.
Donald must have the smallest penis in history to keep compensating with crowd size.
First off, the building holds 6500 not 8000. And there is no fire department in the reddest of red parts of the country will allow overcrowding on such a scale. It’s their job. The occupancy level reflects how quickly an area can be cleared of all persons in the event of an emergency. No Fire Marshall is going to say, “Yeah, no way an emergency can happen tonight so we’ll just let Donald pack ’em in. What’s the worst that can happen.”
18,
What I lack in size I make up for in stimulating surface imperfections*!
MAGA!
*Yes. Some call them warts. Whatever.
Biggest loser: Evergreen Railfan.
Gov. Gavin Newsom curtails plan for High-Speed Rail, plans to only build between Merced and Bakersfield
Newsom says he wants to continue construction of the high-speed link from Merced to Bakersfield in California’s Central Valley. He says building the line could bring economic transformation to the agricultural region.
https://abc30.com/politics/california-state-of-the-state-gov-newsom-curtails-plan-for-high-speed-rail/5134386/
Not to be outdone, Jay Inslee quickly announced a high-speed light rail system between Walla Walla and Republic.
Serious journalism to our resident #MeTwat.
Katy Perry is ‘saddened’ that her shoes resemble blackface
Activist Tamika Mallory, co-president of the 2019 Women’s March, posted this snap on Instagram with the caption, “Am I losing it?”
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/katy-perry-is-saddened-that-her-shoes-resemble-blackface-2019-02-12
Sure, Tamika. Calling America’s most famous anti-Semite the Greatest Of All Time is no issue for you, but you’ve got a problem with YLB’s taste in footwear?
Presidents Hannity, Coulter, Ingraham, Meadows, and Dobbs have spoken.
“$1.3 billion? That’s not even a wall, a barrier… Any Republican that supports this garbage compromise, you will have to explain.”
“Radical Dimms refuse to protect America, their ‘Deal’ is an insult to @POTUS and the American people,”
“This conference agreement is hardly a serious attempt to secure our border or stop the flow of illegal immigration.”
“From details I have seen, the word “principle” shouldn’t be used to describe this deal.”
“When you’re president because of 78k total votes in three states, you don’t have to suffer too much base slippage for it to be fatal. If you want Trump to be re-elected, urge him to reject this cave.”
“Based on these reports, looks like congressional Republicans have caved again”
“Trump talks a good game on the border wall but it’s increasingly clear he’s afraid to fight for it.
Call this his ‘Yellow New Deal.'”
#
winningwhiningTIL my new favorite description for GOPWipeout:
“base slippage”
Lyndon LaRouche is apparently dead.
With most I’d just let them go without much to say but….
Yeah Fuck that Guy!
(Dumbfuck will be along to say he was a Democrat even though Democrats said, “The Hell you Are!” In the 1980s and Reagan Reagan welcomes his support.)
24,
Queen Elizabeth and her international drug cartel finally silenced him!
+32.41% for the period 1/1/2018 thru 2/12/2019
@21. Those are hideous tacky shoes. So was the coat. and what ever that gawdaful knit thing was. Worse, they did resemble black face.
@22. With reviews like that, do you think trump will not sign and simply steal money allotted to California and Puerto Rico and declare a national emergency?
28,
I’m not sure which would be worse for Congressional Republicans.
And since I’m not in any way dependent right now on the federal government I really don’t care.
Whichever way he goes it’s a win for Democrats. This was preordained way back before Christmas.
Either President DiaperShits blows up the negotiations and does another GOP/WALL!!/CRYSISS!!/SHITDOWN!!
Or he puts his party’s House and Senate caucus in the impossible situation of refusing to return phone calls from the largest businesses in their states and districts just as they are ramping up fund raising for 2020.
Or he rolls over on his fat ass, shows the world his pendulous man-boobs, and does yet another disgraceful and deeply humiliating CAVE!!! to AOC!!!
Nothing but blue sky.
Susan Collins is a ditsy dumb bat that talks like she is epileptic, and a fraud. She thinks with her penis, except her penis is in the form of a dollar bill half stuffed into her vag.
@24 I wondered why the air suddenly seems a little cleaner.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/12/nyregion/millionaires-tax.html
Real Patriots unlike the GOP and the lady mentioned @30.
@26 My annual Starbucks dividends are 129.7% of what I paid for the stock.
These kids would have been better of aborted or the parents sterilized.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/2-children-locked-dog-cage-2-others-malnourished-found-texas-n970826
There’s a lot of news chatter today about whether Mueller’s report will be released, or there even will be a report. As there’s no legitimate reason to conceal his findings from the public, if they’re suppressed the public will be entitled to assume guilt.
35,
We will learn of any SCO declination decisions when he:
a) dismisses the special grand jury;
b) refers any unrelated outstanding criminal investigations to other offices;
c) files any remaining indictments.
Understandably one or two things may be up in the air with Barr’s confirmation pending. Both Rosenstein and Mueller may prefer under the circumstances to delay major indictment, declination and/or referral decisions until the pending nomination is confirmed. And Rosenstein, knowing that the new AG is entitled to name his own Deputy, understands that his direct oversight role should be held in abeyance until a new AG is confirmed. Method Acting AG Whitaker is essentially irrelevant.
But Mueller is already in preliminary process of moving to extend his special grand jury. That strongly suggests that his office has more wittnesses to testify, more evidence to present, and probably more indictments to bring. Under the statute the AG (real – not method acting) is empowered to actively review those decisions. So just because they are respecting the statute and awaiting the oversight of the new AG doesn’t mean they are calling for the check.
We still haven’t seen the desert menu.
20)Not quite. The portions between San Jose and Merced, and Bakersfield to Los Angeles are on hold. The Environmental review for the whole line continues, and the electrification of the Peninsula Commute line is under construction.
https://abc7news.com/politics/gavin-newsoms-office-clarifies-high-speed-rail-comments/5135534/
Meanwhile, private entities trying to build High Speed Rail in Texas continue to be stymied, by lawsuits. The Texas Central Railway, if allowed to build, should have few problems with construction.
Ted Crud and The Hump want “el Chapo” to pay for the wall. Heck – why stop there? Maybe they can pay for the whole border patrol department and police and fire. Maybe eve pan help pay for some road projects and high speed rail?
Sounds a lot easier than probably done. And does the US government now become drug dealers and push more drugs to then recover more monies to help pay for the wall.
Bobs giving this guy a bum wrap.
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/02/12/justin-fairfax-virginia-1166298
Meanwhile, Sound Transit has reported that they are in compliance with the Positive Train Control mandate, including the section where the fatal derailment occurred. It is also operational now on Amtrak Cascades, saw that first hand last fall.(On 501, the day after Thanksgiving and with less freight interference that day, the engineer was pushing the limit a little, and the penalty brake application followed) Amtrak Cascades is waiting on the NTSB report before they return to the new line.
https://www.masstransitmag.com/rail/railroad-signals-ptc-control-systems-and-products/news/21045036/sound-transits-sounder-trains-now-fully-equipped-with-automatic-speedcontrol-technology
St. Louis Mother of Four Taken by ICE
https://www.riverfronttimes.com/newsblog/2019/02/12/st-louis-mother-of-four-taken-by-ice-as-advocates-beg-agency-to-reconsider
Guzman, originally from Honduras, has been in the United States nearly twenty years and has lived in the St. Louis metro area since 2000. Guzman has no criminal history, worked three jobs and paid taxes, her attorney says.
Guzman married a U.S. citizen last year, and her husband had filed a petition seeking permanent residency for her. That petition is pending.
After Guzman requested asylum twenty years ago, she was issued a court date without a time and date. The Supreme Court ruled last year that the practice was illegal, and that notices to appear in court must include times and dates. […] the Department of Homeland Security apparently decided to get around it by sending notices with bogus court dates.
It doesn’t seem fair but I guess she was taking three jobs away from Hard Working Real Americans(tm) so she had to go.
Why were her employers not jailed?
41,
Just keep in mind every time PorkSauce copypastas another Breitbart fable, that in seach of numbers to pacify rage-Tweeting President DiaperShits, rather than pursue fugitive warrants for violent offenders, these are who the brave GOP heroes of ICE are going after.
Every additional cent in DHS funding that isnt wasted on childish political stunts is being dumped into rounding up house cleaners and separating them from their children. ICE need lots of advanced tactical training and NVGs to raid quiet suburban homes filled with sleeping kids at 3 am. Research is badly needed to develop pain compliance techniques effective on toddlers… for officer safety.
This really is “the status quo” of Republicans from now on.
The Hump is giving in to China. Great negotiator he is!
Time for a fresh thread.
@44 I somehow foresee the subject of the next thread being about some poor slob being a horse’s ass for not meeting Carl’s standard for bus rider etiquette.
Damn Mexicans!
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/dozens-members-arkansas-white-supremacist-gang-accused-meth-trafficking-n970926
I was waiting for the response from one of the major Passenger rail advocacy groups in California to respond. A mix if support and criticism of Governor Newsom. They would prefer San Francisco to Bakersfield. They should use this delay to reopen the decision on how they enter the Bay Area, perhaps using Altamont Pass, instead.
http://www.railpac.org/2019/02.....om-speech/
@45 You stupid humans should be accustomed by now to sitting on each other’s laps inside metal tubes while hurtling across cities at 1/30th the speed of sound.
College students are the next target of GOP voter suppression. (Ever wonder why a gun permit is valid voter ID in Texas, but a student ID card at the University of Texas is not? That’s the answer.)
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/new-hampshire-aclu-lawsuit_n_5c6341a2e4b03de942968362
https://www.thedailybeast.com/republican-says-college-students-dilute-the-vote-and-he-wants-to-stop-them
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/we-shouldnt-be-making-it-harder-for-college-students-to-vote/2018/11/21/00ea7efe-ec2f-11e8-8b47-bd0975fd6199_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.79ea7a799223
https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/legislature/2017/06/18/arizona-lawmaker-bob-thorpe-students-voting-college/400725001/
Roger Rabbit Commentary: If you’re gonna ask ’em to fight for you, don’t tell ’em they can’t vote. I thought we settled that 50 years ago.
SonHow’d taking a stand in favor of racism work out?
Colorado Springs Sporting Goods store that Dropped Nike products closing.
Learn to code? WallMart could use a good guy like Martin.
“I’d ask you to go back through history and figure out, where are these contributions that have been made by these other categories of people that you’re talking about, where did any other subgroup of people contribute more to civilization?”
“Culture and demographics are our destiny. We can’t restore our civilization with somebody else’s babies.”
“White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization — how did that language become offensive?”
-Rep. Steve King (R-IA)
“Don’t worry, Steevareeno. I got your back.”
-Republican President RageTweet McDiaperNap
———————————————
“It’s all about the Benjamins baby 🎶”
-Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN)
BURN THE WITCH! BURN THE WITCH! KILL! KILL!! KIIIILLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!
–Republican President RageTweet McDiaperNap
Pretty good example of how Trump’s massive expansion of the Overton Window has deprived Republican trolls of some of their most cherished pious bleating.
See, it hardly matters if dunking on Omar’s gaff results in increased disapproval for her among a bunch of racist beer drunk pill crushers. Repeat after me: “They were never going to voter for her. Not ever.”
The way this sort of tweet-meme warfare plays out is all the Kenyan born, secret muslim, ButteryMales, Homebrew Server concern trolling shared and re-shared among all the low-info Crazy Uncle Liberties eventually leaks into the real world and is intended to raise doubts among less engaged D-lean voters and at least suppress their turnout.
But the minute the defense of “locker room banter” becomes a full time position within the GOP White House the effects of the trash talk begin to be muted and fall short. And with every single WaPo reporter cut apart with bone saws, every Tiki Torch rally to kill the Jews, every punched-out sobbing Guatemalan toddler, every C-ville GOP Kill-Car, every tile floored dog kennel filled with sobbing infants, every “Shithole countries”, every Rob Porter, every $15,000 credenza, the effects are further diminished. And in the new All Stupid, All the Time GOP the outrages come at voters so fast they lose track. It’s a fire hose of stupid.
So maybe there are some Country Club Liberal 3M execs in Minneapolis/St Paul who are bothered by Omar standing up to the AIPAC lobby. But in an era when the Dear Supreme Leader of “Conservatism” proudly brags about cheating the IRS, banging porn stars, and “getting away with” sexual assault, how bothered are they?