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Friday Night Multimedia Extravaganza!

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Stephen: Tucker-boy Carlson can’t go to restaurants anymore

Trevor: Elizabeth Warren proves her Native American heritage.

Samantha Bee: Voter suppression:

Wendover: Greece’s geography problem.

Late Show: Canada already has a pot tourism ad.

Mark Fiore: Profit now, die later.

Trevor: Global warming threatens the beer supply

Mother Jones: November could actually bring good news for voting rights

The Dotard Трамп and Other Horses Asses:

Roll Call: Congressional hits and misses.

SNL Weekend Update: U.N.’s Climate Change Report.

Full Frontal: The no-wave wave.

Jimmy Kimmel: Congressional Candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on healthcare, education & voting.

Robert Reich: Three easy fixes for Social Security and Medicare

Stephen: Here’s why white supremacists are chugging milk.

Trevor: “Cornerstore Caroline” falsely accuses a 9-year-old black boy of sexual assault.

Kingdom of Murder:

Jim Jefferies: America has a recycling problem.

Late Show: What went on inside Ted Cruz’s brain while debating Beto.

Samantha Bee: Culture Wars, Episode 69.

Late Show: Moses updates the Ten Commandments:

NASA: Science at 17,500 MPH.

Trevor: GOP voter suppression ramps up in Georgia.

Vox: How IKEA gets you to impulsively buy more.

Last week’s Friday Night Multimedia Extravaganza can be found here.

Comments

  1. 1

    So, now they have a fall guy for the murdered columnist?

    As for the supposed arms sale. If it was cancelled, the warships would probably be absorbed into the US Navy like the destroyers for Iran. Although the Ayatollah class DDGs(That was a nickname for the Kidd Class), were based on a destroyer design that was not controversial, unlike the Freedom Class Littoral Combat Ship.

    https://www.reuters.com/article/us-lockheed-saudi-warships/u-s-approves-11-25-billion-warship-sale-to-saudi-arabia-idUSKCN0SE1FD20151020

  2. 2

    I wonder if Puffy’s lynching was just done by some “rogue” killers and not any white supremacists.

  4. 4

    Ref: #3 continued:

    It’s actually a very old game. New Yorkers have known Fat Donny as a mobbed-up two-bit real estate flim flam man for decades. He’s been running this same game for most of the 40 years, at least. He learned it all from his Daddy and the underground financiers his daddy did business with. From cheeseball slumlord mafiosi renting to dirt-poor people to paper “billionaire” in a single generation.

    The only difference here is, that he’s too stupid, too vain and too greedy and selfish to understand when he’s been caught. He’s been kept immune from the Law for this long because he always had the prosecutors and relevant State Governors in his pockets.

    He paid for the campaigns of Rudy Guiliani, Chris Christie, Jeb Bush, Rick Scott etc using all sorts of proxies and in return they kept the FBI and SEC at bay for him by simply refusing to investigate, or steering the investigations into mostly harmless territory that could be written off as “minor indiscretions” or “business mistakes” that could be conveniently blamed on the Lawyers.

    He took that Russian mob money, the money he got from the Saudi Royals, certain American Banks, and probably a few Chinese government agencies and laundered it through the NRA, the World Wrestling Federation, various financial institutions like Bank of America, Chase and Goldmann-Sachs and probably several “Churches” and so far it’s paid off quite handsomely for those folks. When your spending other people’s money, all you have to do to continue the skim is make those people happy with where you’re spending it, and they’ll let you chisel off whatever you want so long as it doesn’t go outside their expected margin of loss.

    You know damn well that FD2S skimmed off a shitload of that. He’s incapable of not being able to steal. That is what he does. He’s a born thief. He was raised on the concept of theft being a legitimate business model as long as one can continue the thefts without being caught. It isn’t the acts of thievery that would bring shame on him, it would be the mere fact of being caught.

    He stole from the Government, he stole from the Russians, he stole from the Chinese and Saudi Arabians, and they were perfectly willing to overlook all that as long as he greased the right palms on their behalf.

    All so he could continue to shit in a gold-plated toilet in a gold-plated apartment and buy all the publicity he needed to show everyone how rich and important he is.

  5. 5

    @ 3

    It isn’t a very good business model in the long term.

    Neither is unemployment, ‘froggy, and yet here you still be.

  6. 6

    Back when America was Great.

    Chicago Police in action.

    Second video.

    And Jeff Sessions is still adamantly opposed to doing anything to change the Chicago Police Department. Nothing there has changed except for the tactics.

    The Republicans know damn well that once the American steel industry is supposedly restored by the tariffs, they’re going to have strikes and unionization movements again, and they’ll do anything to prevent that. Anything.

    If there is one thing the Conservatives have continued to support, is the use of the maximum level of violence by “Law” enforcement in response to any perceived recalcitrance on the part of workers. They aren’t interested in Justice, they’re interested in maintaining control that big industry has over the rule of Law. There isn’t a single company in the Nation that would hesitate to chain people to their machinery if it was legal, and beat them senseless or murder them if they started resisting.

  7. 7

    Y’all HA libbies wanted a golden shower moment in this election, amirite? Glad to oblige:

    Brent Scher✔
    @BrentScher

    A lot in this new Fox News piece on abuse claims against McCaskill’s husband, including: a) he punched ex-wife in her sore “cancer breasts” b) urinated on her c) threatened that she’d be left with nothing, end up in low income housing.
    https://fxn.ws/2q2jur9

    10:54 AM – Oct 19, 2018

    As is true with so many Democrats, the worst of his behavior isn’t what I highlighted in bold text. This guy makes Keith X’s treatment of his former bitches seem very respectful by comparison.

  8. 8

    Kyrsten Sinema calls out YLB:

    “These women who act like staying at home, leeching off their husbands or boyfriends, and just cashing the checks is some sort of feminism because they’re choosing to live that life. That’s bullshit. I mean, what the fuck are we really talking about here?”

    https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/kyrsten-sinemas-hilary-rosen-moment-and-her-persistent-verbal-flubbery-6501564?platform=hootsuite

    I wonder what Sinema would have to say about welfare moms like YLB?

    Anyway, it’s nice to see that the Democrats have gone out and found their party’s very own Todd Akin.

  11. 11

    @ 10

    Hey ‘froggy, remind me again who was ‘in charge’ the night Laquan McDonald was killed?

    http://www.chicagotribune.com/.....9-132.html

    Was it Trump? Or, maybe, Obama? How about Obama’s former chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel?

    Emanuel was mayor at the time of each shooting, after all.

    Of course you are correct, ‘froggy. It’s Trump’s fault. It’s all Trump’s fault. It’s always Trump’s fault. Pearl Harbor? Trump, natch.

    ‘froggy, this is why your side keeps losing. Please continue.

  12. 12

    @ The failed wannabe Joe Mengele @ #7:

    “Anyway, it’s nice to see that the Democrats have gone out and found their party’s very own Todd Akin.”

    At least when they get found out, we admit it. Your tubby little mushroomdick orangeman is still waiting with baited breath for those peepee tapes to be dropped on the mediasphere.

    Not to mention all the other videos of him raping those 10, 11 and 12 year olds on Epstein’s Pedo Island. I’m sure there are dozens of them, and it would thus be highly probable that the Russians have them. No wonder Putin is smiling.

  13. 13

    “It’s Trump’s fault. It’s all Trump’s fault. It’s always Trump’s fault.”

    It was the Obama administration that put the Chicago PD on a consent decree in attempt to reform it. Your fatass retarded Nazi and his little gang of thugs put the kibosh on that as soon as they got the chance.

  14. 14

    The Unemployable One is in unusually fine form this morning. Kind of a Mark Adams, but with brevity.

  15. 15

    “Pearl Harbor? Trump, natch.”

    Uh, the Republicans are still blaming Obama for 9/11.

    What’s good for the asshole, is bad for the paper.

  16. 16

    @ 15

    Uh, the Republicans are still blaming Obama for 9/11.

    ‘froggy, I will freely admit that there are Republicans out there as equally unhinged as you are, dude.

    That helps you, how?

  17. 17

    @ 14

    Funny, when a machinist with almost 30 years experience refuses to work for minimum wage, you claim that he’s unemployable. Typical Randian logic.

    I don’t live with my parents. I need to eat and pay bills, and those add up to a just a tad more than $1000 a month.

    Of course, you, being utterly devoted to the billionaire class and a worshiper of the vast wealth generated by the rentier economy, wouldn’t comprehend that, and cannot understand why anyone who actually works for a living would need any more than that.

    That’s one of the main things that shows everyone how stupid you are, Dr. Dumbfuck.

  19. 19

    @ 17

    ‘froggy, what makes you unemployable is that when you write @ 12 this shit:

    At least when they get found out, we admit it. Your tubby little mushroomdick orangeman is still waiting with baited breath for those peepee tapes to be dropped on the mediasphere.

    Not to mention all the other videos of him raping those 10, 11 and 12 year olds on Epstein’s Pedo Island. I’m sure there are dozens of them, and it would thus be highly probable that the Russians have them. No wonder Putin is smiling.

    it’s because you are all-in believing it is true. When RDR2C writes it he’s merely being a fucking asshole.

    Your opinions aren’t worth minimum wage. It’s not your machinist skills that have become valueless, ‘froggy. It’s your mindset. It’s who and what you have become.

    Thank you for pointing out that take-home salary of $1,000 per month is a living wage. May I use that in the future?

  20. 20

    “Thank you for pointing out that take-home salary of $1,000 per month is a living wage. May I use that in the future?”

    Do you have some sort of thought disorder? Or maybe you just don’t understand written English.

    Pretty sure you should lay off the Xanax and Vodka doc. That’s a bad combination.

  21. 21

    @2 Some guy who was killed in a car accident the following day, whose name was picked out of a newspaper.

  22. 22

    Nancy Pelosi got harassed while attending a restaurant in Florida. Looks like the Florida folks listened to what Maxine Waters said about getting up in politicians’ faces and acted accordingly. It’s like what an old soldier told me once: if the enemy in in range, so are you.

    I’d say it’s time for these ridiculous, spoiled brat tactics to stop.

  23. 23

    @7 As is true of all Republicans, Doctor Dumbfuck is applying a different evidence standard to Sen. McCaskill’s husband than he did to Brett Kavanaugh.

    Btw, what exactly is Sen. McCaskill guilty of?

  24. 24

    @7 As is true of all Republicans, Doctor Dumbfuck is applying a different evidentiary standard to Sen. McCaskill’s husband than he did to Brett Kavanaugh.

    Btw, what exactly is Sen. McCaskill guilty of? Having a shitty husband doesn’t count. Your wife has a shitty husband, but that doesn’t make her a bad person.

  25. 25

    @16 “I will freely admit that there are Republicans out there as equally unhinged as you are, dude.”

    And you vote for them anyway, amirite? I mean, I can’t see you voting for a Democrat under any circumstances.

  26. 26

    @19 “Your opinions aren’t worth minimum wage.”

    Just for comparison purposes, I’m curious how much Goldy is paying you for your opinions. Care to share?

  27. 27

    @22 “an old soldier told me once: if the enemy in in range, so are you”

    I’m surprised he made it to old age. He obviously didn’t know a damn thing about tactics. If the enemy’s rifle has a range of 400 meters, you get one with a range of 800 meters. That’s how the Afghan muj armed with old Enfields beat the Soviets with their AK-47s back in the ’80s.

  28. 28

    “I wonder if Puffy’s lynching was just done by some “rogue” killers and not any white supremacists.”

    Perhaps the loon (RIP) suffered an accidental fistfight death, the result of making eye contact with one of his white supremacist buddies at the wrong time. Kind of like the way Saudis have accidental fistfight deaths. Both are easily explained provided you don’t talk about how one is still hanging from a tree somewhere and the other is scattered around the Belrad forest near Instanbul.

    “Jamal Khashoggi case: Turkish police search forest”

    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-45909732

  31. 31

    @30 I recently donated $25 to HA so Goldy can keep posting Doctor Dumbfuck’s excrement. I don’t think Goldy could get him to pay for posting his poop. After all, he knows what his shit is worth. I subsidize it because this place would be boring as hell without him. He brings a certain kind of comedic content to this blog.

  32. 32

    22,
    It was a private fundraiser for Donna Shalala at a Florida restaurant attended by high net worth donors.

    And among the “protesters” were convicted narco-terrorists, and former paramilitary involved in clergy murders.

    So that’s who you’re promoting now. Nice.

  33. 33

    Looks like the Florida folks listened to what Maxine Waters said

    Like the “TeaBagger” movement never even happened.

  34. 34

    The first of the Brooklyn Proud Boy terrorists to be arrested this week has (surprise!) a history of violence.
    Last year he was honored by McInnes with elevation to “Fourth Degree Proud Boy” for…
    …wait for it…
    …beating up a woman!

    Hey Douche at 22! Proud Boys were involved in that restaurant attack too. The company you keep.

  35. 35

    @ EdMcD @ 34:

    They proudly wave their Confederate flags, and loudly proclaim themselves to be the party of Lincoln.

    That’s the reality of their strange, little world.

  36. 36

    35,
    The only thing… the only thing stopping these guys from staying home and beating it to GIFs of Kellyanne is the “No Wanks” pledge.
    It’s like “Fight Club” for extreme under achievers.

  38. 38

    Colman Dock construction has both routes using Slip 2, which means delays.Too bad Kitsap Transit put the Saturday sailings of the Fast Ferry on winter hiatus. Would have come in handy today.

  39. 39

    Mitch McConnell says it out loud: Republicans are gunning for Social Security, Medicare and Obamacare nexthttp://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-hiltzik-mcconnell-social-security-20181019-story.html

    “McConnell identified “entitlements” — that’s Washington code for Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid — as “the real drivers of the debt” and called for them to be adjusted “to the demographics of the future.””

    “Keeping in mind that much of the spending on Social Security and Medicare is covered by payroll taxes or premiums, it’s clear that the real driver of the deficit is Republican fiscal policy and its relentless payouts to the wealthy.”

    The conservatives who post here, how much of a cut to your Social Security and Medicare are you going to argue for? 30%? 50%? Really, what seems fair to you?

  40. 40

    Watching the debate between Cantwell and Hutchison. Wow. Cantwell may not be in the same league as Magnuson, but goodness gracious, Susan Hutchison is an unmitigated train wreck (sorry ERF). Sure, Eastern WA may not feel they are represented well by Cantwell, but Suzy is an embarrassment. Where the hell is Clint Didier, he was a much better candidate the Suzy.

  41. 41

    40) That’s ok. I recall how when she ran for KingCo Executive, she said she would be non-partisan, like the office was supposed to be. Also, I also remember the Times pushing to have her lawsuit against KIRO TV unsealed, and then endorsing her anyway. Surprised that has not come up yet.

  42. 42

    @40 Eastern Washington is 22% of the state’s population, and a third of them are Democrats, so Eastern Washington Republicans are, like, 14% of the state. Sure, they’re entitled to a congressman, but two seems excessive and three is grossly overreaching, and I certainly don’t see what entitles them to a senator.

  43. 43

    40,
    Isn’t that all an essential part of Teh Dumbfuck’s Trailerbilly Arm Fishings #winning?

    Republicans no longer even care if they can win a statewide election in your state (or mine). Those days are all behind them now. Ever since they nominated Pat Robertson their national party and major donors have all turned away from their freak show in embarassment.

    They come to our states only to grift the rubes. Ms. Hutchison is little more than Carol Merrill on Trailerbilly Lets Make a Deal. And Teh Dumbfuck is Jay Stewart sitting on a horse donkey behind the curtain.

  44. 44

    Bloomberg News (By Ryan Beene) is reporting that auto crashes are on the rise in states that are legalizing MJ.

    “Report: Auto crashes on rise in states legalizing recreational pot”

    Oh so it’s Religious Freedom to deny me a fucking cake, but I have to accept potential added risk of dying because you want to smoke pot. Makes sense.

  45. 45

    Looks like Yertle is getting some constituent feedback on his idea of cutting Social Security and Medicare to pay for the GOP’s billionaire tax cuts.

    https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/diner-harangues-mitch-mcconnell-over-planned-social-security-cuts_us_5bcbbc66e4b0d38b5878de61

    Roger Rabbit Commentary: Trump’s solution to the widening deficits he created? More tax cuts for the rich.*

    * Trump claims they’ll go to the “middle class,” but if you believe that, I know where you can buy a cornfield for only $2 million an acre.

  46. 46

    Republicans handed out tax gifts like candy to their billionaire donors, and now McConnell wants to make struggling seniors pay for it. Who could’ve guessed his constituents would complain?

    I thank him for reminding voters everywhere just two weeks before the midterms what a greedy, callous, and heartless gang of grifters the GOP is, so they’ll know exactly how to vote.

  47. 47

    @44 “it’s Religious Freedom to deny me a fucking cake”

    Look at it this way, by encouraging these people to hang out their “Bigot” signs, we all (heteros and gays alike) know who to avoid.

    There’s absolutely no reason for you to do business with them, and you can always buy a cake somewhere else. Not everyone is like them, and someone will be happy to sell it to you.

    I might add that encouraging bigotry is against my religion, so my refusing to do business with bigots is in accord with the right’s own professed legal doctrines.

    If you ask this capitalist, turning down business and running off customers is a stupid way to run any business.

  48. 48

    “Though a 2017 study found that the legalization of recreational weed has not increased the number of accidents involving fatalities, states that have legalized recreational use are seeing more car crashes overall”

    “Operating a vehicle under the influence of marijuana is illegal in all 50 states. ”

    “A positive test for Tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the primary psychoactive component of cannabis, doesn’t necessarily mean the driver was impaired at the time of the crash. In fact, frequent marijuana users may have positive blood tests for THC days or weeks after using the drug.

    Additionally, when drivers are tested, other drugs are often found in combination with alcohol, making it difficult to parse out the effects.

  49. 49

    Poorest states have Republican legislatures, and richest have Democratic ones
    https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/columnist/2018/10/21/midterms-poorest-states-have-republican-legislatures/1694273002/

    The comments are fascinating
    “prosperity requires a community level investment strategy that comes with risk and reward. You have to be comfortable losing money in the short term, experimenting, and fighting for principals.

    If you slash budgets, blame outsiders, and remove services the core of communities crumble, businesses leave, and the downward cycle accelerates.”

    “IMO – it is a status issue. Folks on the second or third rung of the economic ladder are deathly afraid of falling to the bottom and being associated with “those people”.”

    This is how so many liberals see conservatives. “You’re never going to convince a racist or misogynist to invest in their whole community. They’d rather suffer than pay taxes that could possibly end up helping an “outsider”.”

    “Correlation doesn’t imply causation; poor red states are red because they are poor, not vice versa. Wealth attracts immigration, immigrants tend to be liberal, immigrants tend to grow metropolitan areas, and cities tend to liberalize their inhabitants. Furthermore, liberal policy tends to favour urbanization, conservative policy tends to disfavour urbanization, and poverty tends to promote or entrench conservative values, and there you have it. Simple as that”

  50. 50

    I’m finding I-1631, the carbon tax initiative, a tough call. A couple days ago, Vox published a fairly objective assessment of the carbon tax strategy for combating climate change here:

    https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2018/7/20/17584376/carbon-tax-congress-republicans-cost-economy

    The Vox article focuses on a national tax, but its guidance has a considerable amount of applicability to I-1631. Their conclusions are:

    “1) A carbon tax can lower emissions, but it needs to be pretty damn high.”

    I-1631’s tax is at the bottom rung of Vox’s pricing scale, but rises over time, although gradually.

    “2) A carbon tax hits coal first, hardest, and, at least early on, almost exclusively.”

    As Washington is one of the least coal-dependent states, the tax can be expected to be less effective at reducing emissions here.

    “3) The macroeconomic effect of a carbon tax depends on how the revenue is spent (but it’s small).”

    Put another way, it doesn’t have much overall effect on the economy, which shoots down arguments by antis that it will hurt business and kill jobs, and the economic impacts are largely on the spending size (e.g., creating clean energy jobs).

    Under I-1631, the carbon tax proceeds would be spent on clean energy projects and projects designed to mitigate the effects of climate change (e.g., 25% is designated for “waters and forests”).

    So, it probably won’t harm the state’s economy, and is a net positive in terms of funding desirable programs and projects, but these programs and projects won’t solve the problem of climate change.

    “4) The equity of a carbon tax also depends on how the revenue is spent.”

    Vox says, “A carbon tax is … regressive. It hits the poor harder than the rich because the poor spend a larger percentage of their income on energy services. However, it also generates a lot of revenue … which can be used to offset the regressivity.”

    On a national scale, the offsets are framed in terms of reducing payroll taxes, reducing deficits, or funding rebates to households. As a state-level initiative, I-1631 does none of these things. It’s a regressive tax on the poor (especially eastern Washington farmworkers) and blue collar workers who must drive in the course of their work (e.g., carpenters, plumbers, etc.). It provides a few credits, but this doesn’t make up for the lack of equalizing rebates, and the impact on our state’s poor of yet another regressive tax should be concerning to progressives worried about economic injustice.

    “5) Carbon prices are too low everywhere they exist; they must be supplemented.”

    If you find this argument persuasive, and I do, then I-1631 is a step in the right direction by imposing higher out-of-pocket costs on fossil fuel consumption.

    Make no mistake, though, this is a tax on consumers, not energy companies. Although collected at the source, it will be passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices for gasoline and natural gas. You will pay the tax at the gas pump and in your home heating bill, even though it’s hidden in the price charged for those products.

    Moreover, its effectiveness in actually reducing emissions is debatable, as demand for those products is inflexible. People will still drive and heat their homes, although it would encourage them to do so more efficiently by such means as adding insulation and discouraging purchases of gas guzzling vehicles.

    Last week, the Seattle Times editorial board urged its readers to vote “no” on I-1631, calling it well-intentioned by flawed. The voters pamphlet “for” argument is weak; the initiative probably is somewhat better than the case they make for it. My own reaction is mixed; I’m reluctant to vote for another tax that will hurt people who can least afford it on top of our already-regressive state tax structure, and I’m somewhat skeptical of how much it will actually help in the fight against global warning. Philosophically, it’s a step in the right direction, but the devil is in the details, and I’m asking myself: Is it anything more than symbolic? If not, then the tax impacts on our rural and poor citizens is too high a price to pay for a mere gesture. I-1631 probably is more than just a gesture, but the question is, how much more?

    I haven’t decided how I will vote on this issue. I’m conflicted. But the fact we’re already a relatively energy-green state, and the exemptions I-1631 grants to our state’s largest fossil fuel polluters, are giving me pause about voting “yes.” The Seattle (Republican) Times isn’t a source I use very much for voting guidance, for obvious reasons, although I did find their editorial on I-1631 fact-based and well reasoned; the main problem with their logic is the absence of an alternative, i.e. voting “no” means doing nothing. The latter probably is the biggest reason why I still might vote “yes” — i.e., if not I-1631, then what? and I don’t feel comfortable with doing nothing about fossil fuel pollution.

  51. 51

    @50

    I too have been conflicted about I-1631. I am all for cleaning up the environment, we only have one planet. A “carbon tax” might be a good way to go about it, however I think I-1631 is well intentioned but poorly written.

    I can’t stand the Rob McKenna commercial, nor the “big oil” advertisements, they don’t sway me in the least, if anything, they get me to consider voting for it to spite them.

    We need to do something, there are just too many indicators saying our environment is at a tipping point. However, after reading the entire text of the I-1631 measure, it is appears to me to be another ST3-esque measure with not enough definitive and concrete objectives and goals other than to simply reduce our carbon footprint. While admirable, without clear and explicit targets, and the fact that there is not an elected board to answer to the citizens, it is just too much money to hand over and not enough accountability. I voted against ST3 because of that and and I will vote against I-1631 for that reason.

    We can do better, but we need better elected leadership. We can start by voting out all the science deniers of the Republican Party given that they are all just hot air gasbags that are adding the the temperature rise issue.

    Oh yeah, Suzy was touting “intelligent logging” and blamed the Democrats for all the wild fires. Hmm, who kept cutting the fire fighting budgets? Hint, it wasn’t the Democrats. “Intelligent logging,” is that her version of forestry management like “Intelligent design?”

  52. 52

    Just got a live “poll” asking me if I would be likely to support the democrat if I knew he was a RADICAL liberal, was willing to work with NANCY POLOSI and raise TAXES on middle class families when the local republican was against ALL of those things. He hung up on me when I said yes.
    The amusing thing was I had got almost the same “poll” a month ago, only that one was automated.

  53. 53

    @51 With GOP climate deniers in charge of national policy, you have to get things done at the state level (hopefully this will change after 2020), but I-1631 amounts to a choice between funding new spending on environmental projects by imposing another regressive tax on the poor, with little effect on GHG emissions, or doing nothing. It’s easy to argue this should go back to the drawing board, but this is what came off the drawing board after the last carbon initiative failed, and there’s little reason to believe a third draft will do any better. Still, it’s no answer — at least for now — to say this should be addressed on the national level, and I disbelieve there’s nothing our state can do. I’d be more willing to support this tax if the proceeds were used to reduce the sales tax. This approach sacrifices the proponents’ spending wishlist, but avoids making our state tax system more regressive, which is important to me when I make voting decisions.

    I-1361 also is insensitive to our neighbors in eastern Washington and rural areas, where people often have to drive long distances for grocery shopping or doctor visits, and need 4WD vehicles to negotiate the winters roads. I suspect even the Democrats in those areas will vote against it. And the Republicans are likely to view it as another noxious imposition on them by uncaring Seattle elites, although I don’t really care what Republicans think; they impose on us plenty.

  54. 54

    @53 “but I-1631 amounts to a choice between funding new spending on environmental projects by imposing another regressive tax on the poor, with little effect on GHG emissions, or doing nothing.”

    I disagree that it is a binary choice. You can reject I-1631 and still do something to save the environment. Sometimes doing something rather than nothing is as bad, if not worse, than actually doing nothing. I really feel that as written, I-1631 is bad policy, for some of the reason you point out, our Eastern WA folks, and the regressive nature of the tax.

    Let’s look at something a bit more regional that makes more sense for higher density populations. Maybe we retool the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency (https://www.pscleanair.org/) I’m sure our Eastern WA brethren would let our side of the state tax ourselves to oblivion. What about the auto emissions testing model, it only applies to cities/areas about a certain population. For farmers, what about a methane tax for dairy and poultry farms. How about incentivising agriculture to become carbon neutral? What about small scale nuclear power?

    I would rather skip poorly defined legislation in exchange for something hopefully better. We are doing things, maybe not on a grand scale like I-1631 claims it will do, but we are making progress and will continue to do so. As much as I loathe Trump, he does have a valid point when he says that sometimes you need to walk away from a deal. and like ST3, I think this is a deal we need to walk away from from a taxing perspective and a lack of clearly defined goals and a lack of accountability.

  55. 55

    @54 Well, you’re right, we’re doing lots of things outside of I-1631 and those will go on. One thing you didn’t mention that should happen is get Americans to stop eating beef. Cattle are bad for the environment, bad for your health, and energy-intensive. I say give our western lands back to the buffalo and wild horses. (Most domestic beef is raised east of the Mississippi anyway. Subsidizing the Cliven Bundys of the world is just supporting a lifestyle.)

  57. 57

    ” … Democrats hold an edge in both the gubernatorial and Senate contests in … Florida, according to a new CNN Poll … Andrew Gillum holds a wide 12-point edge over … Ron DeSantis in the race for governor, while … incumbent Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson [is] at 50% to Republican Gov. Rick Scott’s 45%.”

    https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/21/politics/cnn-poll-florida-senate-governor/index.html

    “Just check out what women are telling us about the … midterm election … 63% said they would be voting … Democratic … compared to 33% … Republican. … Democrats will see the biggest percentage of female voters casting ballots … for them … since … 1976.”

    https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/21/opinions/angry-moms-opinion-obeidallah/index.html

    Roger Rabbit Commentary: Two more signs Nov. 6 will be ugly for Rethugs. Our side can’t get complacent, though. We must be vigilant. They’re gonna pull out every trick they have to steal these elections.

  59. 59

    http://nymag.com/intelligencer.....cracy.html

    The discussion hit on some points I wanted to share.

    “For republicans Empathy, along with integrity, is considered a sign of weakness.
    Greed, pettiness and cruelty are the three main attributes Republican voters respect most in their leaders.”

    Another person added on…
    “those are also the attributes desired for upper management/CEO types. They want people who will think of the business first, and the effects on people second. They want ruthless pursuit of capital gain, and expansion, regardless of who is negatively affected. That’s considered “strength” for keeping the company focused on growth and a “healthy” bottom line. Who cares if it screws over the little guy, so long as it lines the pockets of those up top as much as possible.”

    “Evil, I think, is the absence of empathy.” Captain G. M. Gilbert, the Army psychologist , Nuremberg trails

  60. 60

    I’ve been thinking about myths. Like the myths that conservatives tell themselves. Like ” That they have been waiting in line for their turn at success and undeservings are cutting in line in front of them. For example, how did a mixed race kid with a poor single mother get in to Harvard and be successful, he had to have cheated and took someone deserving person’s place. He cut in line.”

    There is so much wrong with that myth… I don’t know how to find common ground with that mindset.

  61. 61

    @ RR @ 56:

    ” I wonder if Trump will now tone down his violent rhetoric against journalists? “

    No. The press is his enemy for a reason. The greater part of the appeal of his rhetoric has been based on the fact that much of the publicity he has gotten from the press over the years was either directly paid for by him and at his specific direction, or was completely free of any cost to him and merely an aspect of his obsession with getting himself on television as often as he possibly could. New Yorkers had to deal with seeing him on the tellervision box practically every single day. They know he’s a mobbed-up, lying criminal asshole and have for decades. They’ve been changing the channel away from him for a long time.

    It was always something. He just absolutely had to get himself in front of the camera in nearly every circumstance or situation. This is visible in the fact of his constantly interjecting himself into controversies in which he had no personal interest, his literally pushing people out of the way during news events or sports interviews to blab about his opinions about this, that or the other goddamn thing. He is an utter egotist.

    If it wasn’t for his alleged wealth and the fact that his crimes have been ignored for his entire life, he’d just be another fatass New York blowhard sitting on a barstool and bitching about the defensive line somewhere in Queens or Hoboken. He has no education or credential whatsoever that would make him an authority on anything except himself, and how important he thinks he should be. It’s all bluff, blather and bullshit. Hell, he said this outright in all the books he’s had written about himself.

    He has never considered himself to be anything but a “celebrity” and as such he’s never had to actually learn anything beyond what he needed to maintain that persona. He didn’t come by that status in any organic fashion, he doesn’t have any talent for acting or presentation, it was manufactured by him and his publicists, and facilitated by the network executives who are really just corporate whores who will do anything for money. As long as the bills were paid and the cash kept flowing in, why would they give a shit?

    The fact that he has been able to merely purchase that status is of no concern to them, he was paying good money for it, and it was no different to them than any other advertising account for producing toothpaste or toilet paper commercials.

    One of the reasons why he hates the New York Times so much is that after he purchased whole page advertisements to tout his bullshit opinions during the Central Park rape trials and around the Saudi attack on 9/11, they told him to go fuck himself as those advertisements generated too much heat for their legal department to want to deal with. There are other people with Lawyers in the word, and a lot of those Lawyers have as much clout as anyone they could put on retainer. In his mind, this translates for him that the Press was against him. He only likes people that do things to puff up his ego and support his public persona. If you aren’t going to tell the world how wonderful, rich and smart he is all the time, you’re an enemy who must be utterly destroyed.

    He has always been his own personality cult in his own mind. When people make fun of him or call him out on his bullshit, he turns nasty like a typical spoiled rich kid who isn’t getting that sports car for his 16th birthday or the increase in his allowance he thinks he needs, and so instead of just stomping down the hall and going to his room to pout, he goes about burning his parents business down like Martin Pang did, or poisoning his neighbors dog out of pure spite. It is only being directed at the people who hurt his widdle feelings by telling him “no” or calling him out for the liar that he can be so easily proven to be.

    I suspect that he’s somebody who didn’t get any attention until his behavior became egregious enough to embarrass his daddy when he was a kid and smacking his dumb ass around. I suspect that his daddy never really noticed him at all until after his brother had drank himself to death. He never learned how to deal with not getting what he wanted, when he wanted it, every single time. He’s always had people just throw money or toys at him when they wanted him to go away or shut the fuck up. Emotionally, he’s a two year old. Intellectually he’s a 14-year-old. He never learned how to be an adult.

    Now that it is becoming obvious to nearly everyone who knows him personally that he’s sundowning into Alzheimers or something like it, that’s all coming out in the open and the only people who cannot see it are the people who twist themselves into pretzels to ignore it, or would be be proud to be his groom of the loo in any case. Meanwhile, the people he’s surrounded himself with, who have the actual juice to get shit done are taking whatever advantage they can and fattening themselves up off the Treasury as fast as they can, the same way they did when Reagan was President.

    If it wasn’t for daddy’s money, he’d be just another inmate sitting in the SHU at the East Meadow Federal Pen, doing 25-to-life.

  62. 62

    60,
    It still just comes down to garden variety racism.
    Remove the term “mixed race” from your example, and for most Trailerbillies their objections disappear. Make the kid “white” or just omit any reference to race or ethnicity, and suddenly it becomes a heroic story of “overcomming adversity”, “resilliance”, and “determination to succeed”. Which most of the time are also myths.

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