You get what you pay for. Except teachers. Obviously we should nickle and dime the people who spend hours teaching children. That’s why we should oppose the teacher strikes: Because who needs children, what have they ever done for me?
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I’m skeptical of teacher strikes. State employees can’t strike, and they’re paid even worse than teachers. The pot of state money is relatively fixed, and historically, when teachers struck, legislators raised teacher salaries by neglecting state employees. It was a fundamentally unfair system that rewarded teachers for striking and punished state workers for not striking.
Few people would argue that Seattle teachers — who, as I understand it, typically earn about $65k-$75k a year (much less for new teachers) — are overpaid. But things are so much worse for state workers that, just last month, Seattle Weekly ran an article titled, “State Employees Can’t Afford Seattle.”
http://www.seattleweekly.com/n.....d-seattle/
There needs to be some balance and equity in how limited state resources are distributed. Also, it was not the purpose of McCleary funding to raise teacher salaries; that money is supposed to go toward the state assuming a larger share of K-12 funding to take the burden off local levies. It was not intended by either the legislature or court for teacher salary improvement per se.
Obviously, this is a difficult, contentious, and complex issue. When teachers strike, the kids are held hostage in a manner of speaking, and their parents are put in a bind. School districts have to scramble to find the money to meet their demands. On the other hand, the teachers’ demands are not without justice. But what about state employees? On average, they earn even less than teachers, and they face the same challenges of trying to live on a public salary in a region with an exploding cost of living.
@1 (continued)
Ultimately, the answer must lie in tax reform. For years, Goldy has argued that our current state system of taxation can’t support a decent level of public services and is destined to continue falling further behind, and he is right. But tax reform has been frustratingly hard to achieve in this state; we can’t even get a discussion of the topic going in the legislature or public sphere, although no less a luminary than Bill Gates Sr. has tried. The question is what to do in the meantime, and I think the answer to that is that under a system that pinches everyone working in the public sector, the hardships should be shared more or less equally. And for teachers, this may mean moderating their demands so there’s something left over for their fellow public servants working outside the education system in jobs that are also vital to our state’s prosperity and its public welfare.
Trump doesn’t like what people are writing about him. Boo-hoo. Call the WHAAAAmbulance!!
https://www.aol.com/article/news/2018/09/05/trump-calls-for-changing-libel-laws-in-response-to-woodwards-book/23517764/
You’d probably have a tough time making that argument in a court of law or a labor mediator as a means of forcing an end to a strike or justification for mass firing.
Seattle teachers came to terms with their district. As did Issaquah. Other districts are on strike.
Just by that nature, teachers are employees of their local districts which include multiple municipalities. You’d have a hard time even arguing they are city employees as school districts often cross city borders.
That they have to be certified by the state probably wouldn’t cut it either. A veterinarian and Optician and Beautician need state certification but no one would ever suggest that makes them state employees.
@1 On one point RR is wrong. While illegal state employees can strike, especially those in the state legislature. Those overpaid legislators who only work three months a year and then rush home. Of course there are other things workers can do short of a strike, and heck they can even vote.
In order for state workers to strike they all have to walk out. A very high standard. Sometimes schools try to stay open when their teachers strike. This of course ultimately upsets parents, who need the certainty that school will happen. With our brave new world of the working mother there is no one able to be at home, and even grandma is working these days.
Your argument of limited resources is true in tough times when the economy has slowed and tax coming in has slowed. Yet in times of greater resources those resources are not necessarily shared with state workers.
And as a CAPATALIST shouldn’t your argument be that all these state workers and teachers should be in the private sector where everything is just peachy keen and should own stocks like you. That way if they want a side gig like teaching they can just go do it for the enjoyment and the state need pay nothing for their dedicated service, or they can give whatever they make to charity or to the Democratic party.
And why oh why does any state employee make more than the Guvnor? Seems it says a lo about our priorities when university coaches make more that the Guvnor, and not the only state employees who do. Cutting those salaries back would strike a more proper balance, or heck giving he Guvnor a deserved pay raise. Though do not ask me about what the Guvnor has done lately, whatever it is it has not been mentioned much or at all here on Horsesass where we talk about Washington state politics, or at least we are for a day when the annual chicken race between school boards and teachers come to a head. Any of you good democrats going to be out on the line with them teachers? Maybe take them some chicken broth, better hurry as these strikes typically are over in a day or two. Parents are pretty powerful as a base.
@1 At the heart of McCleary is the state not living up to the states constitution and politicians not prioritizing enough resources for schools. Prisons and cops are a much higher priority for our state legislatures, but there is nothing in the state constitution saying the state should have a mas incarceration policy going on, in fact under the individual freedoms it should be the goal to keep people out of prison unless they have broken a law for which that is an appropriate punishment.
Clearly this states constitution calls for a education system that is more than merely adequate, so having teachers who are capable rather than mere babysitters or child sitters where those kids who are swell students do just fie, but many who are not so swell fall through the cracks, or fail to learn. Perhaps some of those it would be better they spent their days down on the farm, or on the street corner, but our constitution says we as a state owe them a decent education at the least. Which is cheaper than housing them in prison.
Very Republican statements of yours there RR, unless you are feeling some love for the southern democrat, who maybe or may have had some doings with the KKK. Always a useful took to keep those school marms in check and not to be to uppity.
@2 RR yes tax reform could happen, most likely in an economic downturn when the legislature has no where else to turn, rather like the creation of state sales taxes that were a response to the great depression.
The big elephant in the room is the state income tax, that is in large part the bailiwick of legislators, as is all taxation, of course when given the opportunity us voters may not easily go along with being asked for more of our dollars, quarters, and nickels. A courageous legislature might actually pass a constitutional amendment to be voted on by us voters. Or set up something where the Washington Supreme Court revisits the status quo. Yet when it comes to taxes legislators and judges who are voted on by voters maybe very reluctant to upset voters particularly if they like being in office or being in Olympia in winter, it is after all warmer and more pleasant than most of the state east of the Cascades, maybe we should have put the Capital in lovely Martha, Washington. Big moats and walls keeping our legislators and judges in and keeping their noses to the grindstones. Maybe being in a location with crankier weather might lead to better results, unfortunately Olympia won that battle more than a hundred years ago.
Playing one set of workers off another does not get you where you want to go.
@2 Please no one actually go out and compare say state patrol salaries to teacher salaries. Or other state employees to teachers salaries. Still those football couches deserve a mention or two.
@4 It does happen that school districts have gone to the courts to bring an end to strikes, sometimes successfully and sometimes not. Sure some reliance is made on teachers being public employees. And RR is wrong about public employees striking, they can just if the state patrol goes on strike they all have to walk out in solidarity and be plum mean when it comes to the picket lines.
The governor can fire every last one of them though first there would be threats. And promises. As actually replacing all the officers would likely not play our as well as the air traffic controllers strike did for President Reagan. Reagan gambled and used military assets to fill in the gaps. Fortunately there were no major airliner accidents with loss of life, so the Gipper won one, and used that win to the max. Governor could call out the guard, after declaring martial law.
Maybe there needs to be some “balance and equity” in how the state drives the requirements of the various professions.
For those of you who would apparently prefer that your public school districts employ glorified baby sitters may I respectfully suggest you contact your state legislators and tell them to quit promulgating a singularly unique mountain of professional technical requirements for public school teachers and public school districts.
Thanks to decades of this kind of effort today public school teaching and administration is an incredibly complex technical field. Almost every single aspect of teaching is highly regulated with standards, technical oversight, records, reporting, and technical review. The volumes of laws, regulations, codes and standards in most states far surpasses what any other state employees are subject to outside the fields of medicine. These laws, regulations, standards and requirements are all highly complex and technical. All that drives up the cost of training, monitoring, and supervising the profession. Which in turn drives up the cost of compensation. That’s just the way that sort of thing works. In every field you can name.
Only 38% of voters polled believe Brett Kavanaugh should be confirmed at this time.
One guess which 38%.
We shouldn’t make it about the nominee. Nor should we make it about the rushed process.
We need to make it about a criminal President. This President should not have a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court confirmed until Americans have answers. That’s up to him. Let the OSC finish their work. Answer their questions. Let’s see the report.
Man that White House is in disarray……Our Government has turned into less than what The Apprentice was or is.
And the people that you really have to blame are Repukes, not The Hump. They could straighten this guy out but they all fall in line, because PARTY FARTS FIRST!
Where is Puffy? Anyone?
Where is Doctor Dumbfuck? Did the racists get to him too for being a sympathizer?
What a douche.
“Prosecutors say ‘family values’ Rep. Duncan Hunter spent campaign cash on mistresses — and they have pics to prove it”
Defense attorney Gregory Vega… “While there may be evidence of infidelity, irresponsibility or alcohol dependence, once properly understood, the underlying facts do not equate to criminal activity.”
https://www.rawstory.com/2018/09/prosecutors-say-family-values-rep-duncan-hunter-spent-campaign-cash-mistresses-pics-prove/
13,
that quote from Rep. JarHead’s lawyer is absolutely priceless:
“While there may be evidence of infidelity, irresponsibility or alcohol dependence, once properly understood, the underlying facts do not equate to criminal activity,”
Awesome. Well done. Being under absolutely no legal obligation to do so, you just announced to the voters of CA-50 that your client seeking re-election in that district is an immoral, irresponsible, alcoholic.
Now I suppose this douche nozzle is going to complain that his letter to the DOJ was supposed to be “private”. Where do they find these idiots. Amazing.
The GOP needs to pull about $1 million out of soft money and invest in a retainer for a competent federal crim def atty for this creep if they hope to hold the district.
Let us take this moment to briefly pause and reflect on the fact that the GOP is doing all this shit to themselves. While many in the media continue to peddle the narrative of a “partisan” contest of accusations and smears, the simple fact is that Democrats have absolutely nothing to do with any of this shit.
From the PornAbortion payoffs, the Comey firing, the Russian spy meetings, the $15,000 desks, the coke fueled weekends in Paris on private jets, the teen groping behind the Waffle Hut, to this stain of a human being who fucks around on his wife, makes his campaign donors pay for it, and then tries to make his wife take the fall.
These are all own goals.
@13
Jeff,
You dumb southern hick. I need that seat to stay out of prison. How could you let this happen. Maybe you could see your way to letting this one go.
Or just fire all the sons of bitches on California prosecuting. If not I’ll fire you.
But this does’t mean I’m obstructing Justice.
Your Overlord and Master of The Land
Donald J Trump, Super Genius.
Wherein Alex Jones overtalks Rubio while Rubio is answering reporters’ questions, then taps Rubio on the shoulder, then gets tough-guyed by Rubio.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/05/politics/marco-rubio-alex-jones/index.html
Roger Rabbit Commentary: More popcorn, please!
More House Republican corruption and election tampering:
Judge Gregory L. Rupe of the Virginia 13th Judicial Circuit ordered the state’s board of elections to remove an independent candidate’s name from this fall’s ballot.
Judge Rupe agreed with the state Democratic Party’s lawyers that more than a quarter of the petition signatures gathered to put the candidate’s name on the ballot had been forged by campaign staffers for incumbent Republican, Scott Taylor. The lawyers had sought to put Taylor and his staffers on the stand but they pleaded the fifth. That refusal to defend their own ballot petitions and signature gathering weighed heavily in the judge’s decision, along with the expert testimony of witnesses who described the forgeries as “amateurish” and “comical”.
Taylor and his campaign sought to put the independent candidate’s name on the ballot in an effort to split the vote. No criminal investigation has been undertaken to look into the signature gathering efforts by Taylor’s staff who acknowledged through their response to subpoenas that their testimony could implicate them.
@4 I didn’t say teachers are state or city employees — they’re not. But follow the money. They’re paid with money that comes from the state, and comes from the same pot of money from which state workers are paid, and the two groups compete for that money. Teachers strike and get an outsized share of that money; state employees don’t strike and get shorted. That’s not fair. It is, as you point out, purely pragmatic. The logical lesson here for state workers is to demand better pay and walk out until they get it. If the leg has to raise taxes to meet everyone’s demands, so be it.
@5 “Your argument of limited resources is true in tough times when the economy has slowed and tax coming in has slowed. Yet in times of greater resources those resources are not necessarily shared with state workers.”
I didn’t argue that resources are limited; my argument is that state resource are limited, i.e. the amount of money available for state government to spend. Huge difference.
15,
Too soon. Not until after Kav’s nom is approved and the mid terms blood bath is behind them.
Everything is on the table from Nov. 7th to Dec. 31st. US Attorneys and FBI Assistant Directors had better wise up and get going. Their heads are on blocks. The axes begin to fall on Wed. the 7th of November.
And starting Jan 1 the recess appointments will begin replacing them. They are all fucked good and hard. If they have evidence the time to spill is now.
An anonymous OpEd in the NYT!
Instead of abandoning their journalistic standards in a feeble effort to repair some part of the horrible damage they did feeding the ButteryMales bonfire, maybe instead they could just fucking fire pinheads like David Brooks.
@6 “Clearly this states constitution calls for a education system that is more than merely adequate, so having teachers who are capable rather than mere babysitters or child sitters where those kids who are swell students do just fie, but many who are not so swell fall through the cracks, or fail to learn.”
The Washington Constitution doesn’t talk about the “adequacy” of education. It says the state’s paramount duty is to make ample provision for the education of children residing within its borders, and requires the legislature to provide for a “general and uniform system of public schools.” That makes the state, not school districts, responsible for establishing and funding public education in this state.
The McCleary court ruled the state wasn’t fulfilling that obligation because it wasn’t giving the school districts enough money, who in turn had to raise part of their basic operating expenses from local levies. While paying teachers enough to attract qualified teachers to provide quality education is a necessary part of those expenses, the McCleary case is about funding formulas, not teacher salaries or quality of education per se.
@7 “RR yes tax reform could happen, most likely in an economic downturn when the legislature has no where else to turn, rather like the creation of state sales taxes that were a response to the great depression.”
It follows that Washington reformed its tax system during the Great Recession, instead of slashing funding for public services and laying off public employees, amirite? No, that’s not what happened. The worst economic downturn since the Great Depression produced zero tax reform in this state. If anything, our tax system is even more regressive now, and the state is under progressively tighter budget constraints, as shown by how long it took to resolve McCleary.
@8 It’s perfectly reasonable to compare teacher salaries with state employee salaries, and discuss how those salaries are determined, because the money comes from the same pot. In fact, legislators can’t even discuss the state budget without discussing both of those issues, because they’re responsible for paying both of those employee groups.
It’s much more common for conservatives to claim public workers are overpaid compared to private sector workers. It’s a false equivalency. While government jobs tend to pay more, on average, than average private sector wages, the educational requirements to work in government are much higher and the responsibilities are greater. Nearly all government jobs require college degrees and many require advanced degrees. The majority of government workers are professionals in their fields. They include doctors, lawyers, engineers, accountants, tax specialists, program managers, health care professionals, scientists and researchers, and technical specialists (think code enforcement, health inspectors, safety inspectors, epidemiology and crime lab technologists, law enforcement personnel, etc.). To compare them with retail workers, truck drivers, house cleaners, laborers, or assembly workers is absurd — and dishonest.
@9 No, I am not wrong about state employee strikes. They can’t strike. Learn what “can’t” means. I’m not using the term in any physical sense. In the context of my comment @1, “can’t” means “not allowed” to strike. Everyone else understood that; why didn’t you? Or maybe you did and you’re trolling by playing semantical games. That’s what it looks like.
@10 If you start with a requirement that teachers can’t be racists or dumbfucks, that eliminates two-thirds of the potential candidate pool right there.
Seven percent of Americans believe chocolate milk comes from brown cows. That right there puts 1 of every 14 adults in the dumbfuck bin, even before you get to climate change, evolution, which continent is East Africa in, or where Obama was born.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/06/15/seven-percent-of-americans-think-chocolate-milk-comes-from-brown-cows-and-thats-not-even-the-scary-part/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.cb9415f835ca
@12 “Where is Puffy? Where is Doctor Dumbfuck?”
Where would you be if you were them? Probably in hiding. Maybe in a dugout with Nixon’s last remaining supporters and the folks who still believe Saddam had WMDs.
@13 Cute. Pilfers campaign cash to pay his mistresses and then wants his wife to take the fall. I’ll bet there’s a divorce in his future … if he lives past Christmas.
28,
At this point I’m concerned about him living through the week. The GOP can’t do anything to get this disgrace to humanity off the ballot in CA-50. If voters in the district elect him anyway and he goes to jail that will force another special election. I would assume the smart money in the party is already vetting candidates and lining up donors. But given that the party will already be spending close to 5 million on this douche, and that he’s likely to be spending a good chunk of the next biennium in prison, they might want to cut their near-term losses and invest in their future. He’s obviously not very smart. If he were he wouldn’t have hired that attorney, and he’d be looking into federal protective custody.
My initial take on the anonymous NYT op-ed purportedly written by a top administration official is that, unless it’s shown to be a fake, it’s devastating. It’s unprecedented in American history for White House officials to leak that they’re protecting the country from their president’s bad judgment and impulsive behavior. Movers and shakers on Wall Street, in corporate boardrooms, and other power centers will look at this with horror and decide Trump has to go for their own self-preservation. I believe this is the most damaging revelation so far.
From the anonymous NYT OpEd penned by a senior Trump West winger:
“But the real difference will be made by everyday citizens rising above politics, reaching across the aisle and resolving to shed the labels in favor of a single one: Americans.”
At least until the next time “Americans” elect an Islamic-Kenyan-Usurper-Whose-Wife-Has-Gorilla-Balls®.
Then be assured it will be back to our regularly scheduled programming of Christmas Tree Cock-Ring zombie lies and blood oaths to obstruct at all costs.
I think nothing is probably more disgusting than watching these sick, power-hungry, malevolent vampires pretend to be “patriotic”. They cheered as PornSweat rose to power pledging to unleash armies into our neighborhoods rounding up brown people. They cackled with glee as they peddled idiotic nonsense about BENGHAZII!!/PizzaGate conspiracies and the corporate media credulously lapped it up. They built this disgrace of a Presidency from the ground up brick by racist authoritarian corrupt brick. President PornSweat is their monster. May he consume their flesh from their living bones.
They know what is coming. That’s why we are witnessing this unprecedented shift. They know the fix is in to confirm the FedSoc Robot judges and protect the Senate after which the slaughter will be unleashed. There will be a lot of political carnage on both sides. These slithering vipers hope to escape the damage they have wrought. If they were “American”, if they still had any legitimate claim to the title, they would have quit long ago and told the truth.
@31 “A tweet by the newspaper gave a clue about the gender of the author: ‘In an anonymous Op-Ed, a senior Trump administration official says he and others are working to frustrate the president’s misguided impulses.'”
https://www.aol.com/article/news/2018/09/05/anonymous-white-house-senior-official-slams-trump-in-scathing-nyt-op-ed/23518388/
I guess that means Ivanka is safe for now.
@11 Well heads Kavanaugh wins, tails you lose. He is the next Supreme court justice bar the mans death. Guess you like holding an inside straight, guess I want to play poker with you. I have said this Kavanaugh resistance is a very poor bet for democrats, because once he takes the other of office all you folks got is an empty bag, and you look ineffective, and shrewish. Over a process that for over a hundred years there no witnesses and the nominee did not say a word to the Senate in a hearing.
@30 I’d agree with you with respect to the 2020 election, but who are they (or he/she) really kidding? All they are trying to do is avoid the blood bath that is coming in 2018. They are trying to cut their losses. They did nothing for 2 years and in actuality emboldened The Hump to what he is now. And now that the ship is sinking they are just bailing water – but it will work.
Then right before the 2020 nomination process they pull the plug on The Hump. Patiently waiting and while rubbing his cock will be Mike Piece of Shit.
The Repukes have absolutely no remorse and never intend to be apologetic. They are merely trying to save face here. They know if they continue what they are doing they will not only loose in 2018 but also 2020. And until then they probably still have better than a 50%/50% shot at it. Mark my words. Doctor Dumbfuck is just waiting for this – then he’ll be back still talking about Hillary.
@33 so, what do you expect just to go along with it…..who cares if it comes up tails. It already did come up tails.
RESIST is not about winning. It’s about losing!
“At least until the next time “Americans” elect an Islamic-Kenyan-Usurper-Whose-Wife-Has-Gorilla-Balls®.
Then be assured it will be back to our regularly scheduled programming of Christmas Tree Cock-Ring zombie lies and blood oaths to obstruct at all costs.”
Exactly!
Repukes are the Devil! Susan Collins is about as smart a rock.
@19 State resources are always limited. State employees in general wages are not traditionally paid out of county property taxes, though those funds end up in the states coffers so teachers can be paid. There are some parts of property taxes that support natural resources, and roads, nd the delineation is sometimes a bit grey. It would be simpler to make teachers fully state employees and teachers could be transferred between schools like interchangeable, but local control of schools trumps although there are all those state laws and rules administrators have to deal with.
In the end we have legislators who have to make sausage out of limited resources (that there are more of in the good years) who are reluctant to raise taxes.
The caption to this link said that “they were sick before” they even departed. But the article itself mentions nothing of this.
http://www.nydailynews.com/new.....story.html
What a great way for some terrorist to infect a large group of people. All they have to do is expose them to something that doesn’t make them sick so quickly, so that the passengers land and all go toward their final destinations to spread it even to more people.
I guess we have to wait to see what was the cause. But I guess if you could infect someone with something, a large group of people that are all headed on a plane to America, that would be a way to start some contagious epidemic.
See what I mean…I found this after commenting above.
http://www.nydailynews.com/new.....story.html
Never trust a Republican.
@22 The briefs given the court say otherwise. If you provide ample resources then adequate resources is no longer an issue. One would say to provide the state prisons ample resources, but they damn well had better be adequate. Public generally has a narrow idea on what adequate means.
@23 Could mean the downturn was not long enough or sufficiently severe to bring about change. Always the option of finding some rich capitalists and relieving them of some assets.
“Where is Puffy? Anyone?”
The poor sap decided it was a good idea to hang out with white supremacists and got himself lynched. SAD!
@33 Wherein Mark celebrates the pending ascension of a political hack to our highest court. Entirely in character for HA’s most boring troll. Doctor Dumbfuck would do it more animatedly. If Puddy were around he’d be babbling incoherently as always.
@24 State workers include nurses, janitors, secretaries, drivers, carpenters, plumbers, prison guards, state troopers, cooks ect. Salt of the earth people. It is in fact not unusual for the state HR folks to make requirements for hiring for a position higher than necessary and beyond statutory requirements in order to ensure a specific opening goes to a specific person that has all the credentials, and this often works though sometimes a more qualified candidate applies. The right thing does not always happen in this situayion.
@25 Yes the state highway patrol can’t strike until they do so, then it all depends on what tools the governor pulls out of the bag. Or if the states entire environmental department went on strike. State workers can strike if they are willing to face the consequences and have a plan for the court battles and consequences which could include loosing their jobs. A great deal of what you are inferring is the unlikely hood these folks who are conditioned for public service and safety would do so. Many would be just like Russian public sector workers during the beak up of the USR who kept working in spite of no pay for months, Many could not do that. Some went on strike. Do not pay the prison guards for six months or the state troopers for six months and we will see ow much your can’t strike means.
One of the biggest benefits in living in this state is no state income tax. Let’s not ruin that, no matter what Bill Gates, Sr. wants.
@32 What if it’s Pence?
@34 It could be Trump does not win the republican nomination for President. It’s happened before. I would not bet the farm on it now, but you may get good odds in London.
@47 probably was. That’s my bet.
He knows he’s all done in politics if he can’t be president by virtue of The Hump being forced out. But them evangelicals will certainly help him get to the clouds in the sky.
@35 And after you loose then what? How do you look team resist? How does it look to your base? Not good. Builds expectations and should you actually take the house there is going to be this expectation that you all are going to impeach Trump, and Nancy Pelosi says no. So what you all going to do? Finally replace Nancy in her moment of triumph? That is going to be very interesting if it happens. Nancy Pelosi out of political necessity is going to not go along with your demands. She is going to be Trump’s number one supporter in the House until at least 2020, it’s that concept that Obama called politics of the possible..
@50 maybe you missed my point – RESIST as in personally resist….not as in Resist as a political party. Family and friends are either with you or they are not, and if not then Fuck’em. Go down fighting. Nobody is taking me for a free ride.
Colin Kaepernick isn’t waiting for anyone to join him, although he has a lot of support and getting more. Just Do It!
My resistance is what absolutely drives you trolls nuts and are fearful of, because you know it’s the only thing that will stop you. Your use of Pelosi shit is just bullshit. If you think I am waiting for Nancy and Chuck, then you are pretty dumb.
Not about the process. Pay attention Shortbus. It’s about the legitimacy of rushing to confirm the nominees of a potential crook whose own senior staff regard him as an unstable, amoral threat to democracy.
The OSC should be permitted to respectfully question the President and issue its report before any lifetime nominee is confirmed. A Republican Senate that wilfully ignores all of those questions, all of the mounting evidence of illegal activities, and all of those troubling accusations and concerns in order to railroad through a controversial lifetime nominee with a record shrouded in secrecy may indeed look more “effective” than Democrats.
But they will also look like co-conspirators. This is your entire political party and all its senior leadership for a generation climbing aboard the Orange Crazy Train. They are staking their entire political future on being able to somehow contain and suppress this rapidly expanding criminal probe. The corruption surrounding the Trump campaign already resides in five different federal courts and three different state courts covering five seperate jurisdictions and investigations spanning more than eight countries… that we know of.
This isn’t about slowing down the Senate to argue over Roe v Wade. This is about preventing an effort to hijack democracy by a mob of crooks and perverts possibly being backed by Russian spies. If Senators like Collins, Murkowski, Paul, Heller, and Flake go along with it, that is exactly what it will look like in the aftermath. And that is what they will be remembered for.
@31
Keep in mind that when a “normal” republican urges Americans to reach across the aisle what they mean is capitulate to GOP ideas in all respects.
Federal Right to Work
No State minimum wage over Federal
Gut the EPA
Cut Corporate tax rates
Eliminate Union Bargaining
Privatize all Utilities
Eliminate Social Security
Eliminate Medicare
Enact “Health Savings Accounts” as sole health care funding
Mineral extraction in all National Parks
Deregulated Banking industry
Do all that and we pinky swear we’ll take up bills to stop vote suppression.
Can there be a more Red State story than:
Woman riding in pick-up holding her rifle while smoking a cigarette accidentally shooting herself?
She was a militia.
@47 – actually I just got a little news notification on my iphone…..from Huffington Post – said one word in the editorial leads people to believe it was Mike the Penis Pence.
Looks like we might have a new VP soon! Hahaa
@54 Awesome – one less.
My god – if the evangelicals don’t have a problem with The Hump, then they’ll literally be on their knees blowing Mike the Penis, and then 5 minutes later twirling around their ass to him, and be yelling, “Fuck me Mike, give me that small penis in my ass! Make it feel good!”
Demorat Pornstar Party Of Death News–Thank you America-hating Christian-hating NYT Demorats for showing how cowardly you are, you make it easier for otherwise peaceful Americans to purge you disgusting enemies of the people.
—————–
The Intercept co-founder and Pulitzer Prize winner Glenn Greenwald on Wednesday evening lambasted the senior White House official – who admitted in an anonymously written opinion-editorial to subverting President Donald Trump’s America First agenda – as an un-self-aware “coward,” part of an “unelected cabal.”
https://www.breitbart.com/big-journalism/2018/09/05/glenn-greenwald-white-house-coward-behind-anonymous-op-ed-part-of-unelected-cabal/
Actually Bob Ferguson issued a somewhat nuanced answer when asked about teachers and state workers striking.
https://www.atg.wa.gov/ago-opinions/right-teachers-and-other-employees-strike
Demorat Pornstar Party Of Death News–Thank you Demorats for showing us how spoiled brat losers act.
————–
Brett Kavanaugh Confirmation Hearing Video;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ns1JGHNuu1U
It’s all a charade. The Hump is in on it; this Op-Ed piece. Wake up and smell the coffee. Him winning fooled everyone and he’s fooling with you now.
A1 – you are dumber than a Dumbfuck. Go pray to jehebus.
@51 I must be much more of a stoic than you. Using your logic Al Capone was just part of the resistance to prohibition. Clearly you are not aware that this whole Senate hearing thing is tainted by racism. Witnesses were called to testify before the Senate because the nominee was Jewish.
The current nominee is a sitting Federal judge, and is there on his good behavior as none of the members of the house has even initiated impeachment against the nominee. At the end of the day he is getting sworn in and will be a supreme. It is even likely he will have some Democratic votes as the Senators from West Virginia and Indiana would like to be reelected. As far as Garland, the Republicans fucked you all good, and the President was unwilling to use the tools in the constitution there to deal with the Senate sitting on its ass,
Kapernik is not likely to be invited to the new justices oath of office, and he is likely to become a richer man from a lawsuit or other deals, but he is unlikely ever to play football in the NFL ever again.
As is likely if all your friends and family are Democrats resisting that does not amount to all that much. Trump did not get any electoral college votes from New , California or Washington, and I doubt he is counting on any in 2020, should he get the Republican nomination. I think there is a chance the Republicans could go with a different nominee, but a sitting President is likely to get his parties nomination in this modern age, last who might not have was LBJ and he bowed out.
@55 Well the President cannot fire Pence so how do you figure Pence is gone unless you are a Trump supporter and expect him to win in 2020.
@58 What if he turns out to be an elected member of the cabal?
It’s shaping up to be a very, very long September for Republicans tip toeing through a Russian mine field filled with exploding jizz filled condoms, NRA funded abortions, flying torture memos, cooperating witness agreements, and treasonous rage-Tweets.
Senate Republicans are teeing it up.
Worth it? We’ll see. It nicely sets the stage for emerging Democratic Party leadership to display their political prowess. If events unfold after the mid terms as suspected, what is said and done in the next four weeks will make or break careers and perhaps a political party.
@59 Actually Rob McKenna issued that AGO back in 2006, and you might want to research whether state law has changed since then. (I don’t know off the top of my head whether it has.) A thorough lawyer also would research whether the cases from the 1950s and 1970s to which this opinion is pinned are still viable, although I would note the federal decision cited in the AGO was later affirmed by SCOTUS.
@63 “Using your logic Al Capone was just part of the resistance to prohibition.”
Actually, you might not be very far off the mark there.
@63 “none of the members of the house has even initiated impeachment against the nominee”
That’s your criterion? You think any judge who hasn’t been impeached should be confirmed for the Supreme Court? If that’s the case, I have a couple of candidates I’d like to put forward. You probably won’t like them, but they satisfy your selection criterion.
@64 I’m wondering that myself.
@64 then you contradict yourself. You asked yourself @47 “What if it is Pence (Penis Head)?”
Well, the NYT said that they published the Op-Ed as anonymous because it would jeopardize the Author’s employment. So then if that be the case, why would you suggest it be Pence Or is the nature of the anonymity being falsely stated or reasoned by the NYT under the auspice of the Op-Ed writer?
KS-3 Roypublican, Kevin Yoder facing a tough re-election battle in a Suburban blue district was forced under pressure from Prizinint PornSweat and Mathew
GoebelsMiller to suddenly withdraw his support this week for ending Sobbing Guatemalan Toddler Torture at the southern border.Moves him to lean D. Well done.
Sinclair Corporate Media have now pushed out a total of six mandatory videos to local market television news stations owned by the media giant demanding support for President PornSweat AbortionHushMoney’s lifetime court nominees.
73 – Look on the bright side. For every Sinclair, you guys have at three CNNS or MSNBCs. Liberal progressive-leaning media outnumber conservative/libertarian media by a good margin.
Most of the media is on your side.
@74 and you have this to be boastful about.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/putins-friend-had-early-access-to-trumps-infamous-pro-russia-speech?ref=home
Baby, I’m dancing in the dark with you between my arms, barefoot on the grass, listening to our favorite song,
When you said you looked a mess, I whispered underneath my breath
But you heard it, darling, you look perfect tonight.
Ed Sheeran – “Perfect”
la, la, la, la, la.
74
“Most of the media is NOT on your side.
There is actually a big difference.
It is absolutely true that most corporate media are not on the side of Sobbing Guatemalan Toddler Torture™, Poooosey Grabpink™, and PornAbortion Payoffs with Russian Cash™.
That this feeeeeels like “unfairness” to old, liver spotted, fat, unproductive white turds like you is merely a symptom of your sense of entitlement. You are not entitled to have your every irrational fear, bias, or bigotry ratified at all times in every public venue. You are not entitled to have your breathtaking betrayal of America in 2016 ratified at all times in every public venue. Too fucking bad. Grow some.
Sinclair owns about two hundred local broadcast affiliate stations concentrated in midsize markets characterized best as ‘the “big” city in the “little” state (or county)’ – think Boise or Spokane. Overall Sinclair programming reaches about 40% of homes. And every single one of those stations is compelled by contract to run a series of segments, whether they agree with it or not. demanding confirmation of the lifetime appointments made by a President who appears to have committed serious felonies as part of his campaign for office.
You have set a new standard for absurd false equivalence. The ear piercing cries of Republicans every time any reasonable objection is offered to any of the demands of entitled old fat white guys has grown stale and cliched. You’ve pulled that well dry old man. We are coming for your Facebook accounts, your House seats, your tax cuts, your freebies, and maybe even your senior discounts at Cracker Barrel. And when you begin to whine like this, we’ll just remember how you laughed and laughed while frightened sobbing toddlers were being marched into darkened storage rooms… for FREEDUMB!
#youbuiltthat
An eight minute exchange in which the nominee forces himself to look like an imbecile in order to avoid perjuring himself on live television in front of a room filled with prosecutors.
Day two.
Only three more weeks of this.
He will be confirmed. But at what cost? And who is making them pay?
@74 Spare us your bullshit false equivalency. Sinclair force-feeds reactionary propaganda written in corporate offices to its stations. Nobody else does anything remotely like that. That isn’t journalism, it’s brainwashing — of susceptible toadies like you — and no reputable journalist will have anything to do with it. If you work for a Sinclair station, you’re not a journalist.
Here in Seattle, the Sinclair-owned TV station to avoid is KOMO.
@74 @76 Most of the media is owned by rich conservative white guys.
Of course, today’s Republicans are so far right they consider Reagan a leftist. The GOP is going full-on fascist.
@77 If he lies in his confirmation hearing, he can be impeached and removed from the court. These Republican asswipes won’t be in power forever.
If Trump harbors a fascist belief system, the best argument he has against democracy is his own supporters.
80,
A future Congress may also opt to increase the size of the Supreme Court, re-organize the circuits and districts and re-assign the judges.
No, they won’t be in power forever. But between gerrymandered districts, disproportionate Senate representation, voting right abuses, voter purges, poll closures, and wide spread media corruption there is every reason to be confident that they will be back. And when they come back they must be confronted by a federal judiciary that stands as a reliable bulwark to protect our democracy from treason and criminal corruption.
All along our nation’s southern border the “family” detention centers holding tens of thousands of infants and children are at or over capacity.
Now the Sobbing Guatemalan Toddler Torture Party™ is looking for new resources and new ideas for increasing the number of infants and children being held in cold, darkened rooms.
Sec. Nielsen has an idea.
“That strategy unnerved some activists, who worried that Democrats would waste valuable time on a process dispute when they could be pressing Kavanaugh on abortion and other weighty topics—the kinds of issues that likely represent their only chance to sway Collins and Murkowski.”
Rest assured that after the mid terms, when Kavanaugh is confirmed, sworn, and has joined the court, the House has hopefully flipped, and while President PornSweat is busy firing half his cabinet, the senior leadership of the DOJ, half the US Attorneys, and most of the FBI, and is building a great big bonfire out of the OSC evidence of corruption, the corporate media will still pretend to be shocked and confused.
Enlightened Democrats aren’t worrying about appealing to Murkowski or Collins or any other Republican anymore. The GOP have signed on to this disgrace. They’ve made enabling Trump their brand and their identity. Every single one of them.
And once any decent loyal American sees the enormity of what that means and what they are planning, they don’t want anything to do with them.
In which the Chair is forced to eat shit hand fed to him by a freshman Senator for railroading through a nomination put forward by an unhinged serial finger rapist, and then subsequently pretend that it was all “a miscommunication”.
Day three.
Still three more weeks of this.
He will be confirmed. But at what cost? And who is making them pay?
And thanks to Corey Booker frightening old white men with his enormous BBC, the double top secret confidential document floodgates have blown open and produced…
…an email from Kav admitting how he plans to fuck over Roe v. Wade and a woman’s right to a private vagina.
Let Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski explain to the voters of their states why they agreed to conceal that shit.
Still day three.
Still three more weeks of this.
He will be confirmed. But at what cost? And who is making them pay?
“Twitter has permanently banned accounts for right-wing conspiracy theorist and radio host Alex Jones and InfoWars from the platform, the company said Thursday. The accounts violated the company’s abusive behavior policies, Twitter said …. ‘We took this action based on … Tweets and videos posted yesterday that violate our abusive behavior policy, in addition to the accounts’ past violations,’ the company said ….”
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/09/06/twitter-permanently-bans-alex-jones-and-infowars-accounts.html
Roger Rabbit Commentary: No First Amendment issue here. A private company has every right to enforce its terms of service. Twitter just did. Good for them. They don’t have to let this provocateur to use their platform to spread lies, slander crime victims, or seek an audience for his uncivilized behavior.
@82 I didn’t say it would be easy. It took a world war lasting six years to purge Hitler and his murderers. Mussolini was quicker and easier. Hopefully this bunch will go quietly when their time is up.
Behold the power of the market.
Nike was trading at 50.83 on January 1, 2017
Nike was trading at 63.49 on January 1. 2018
Nike has a 52 week low of 50.35 and 52 week high of 83.68
Nike was trading at 77.54 on August 1.
Nike closed the day at 80.40
“Nike stock is getting hammered” 45
Never let actual analysis get in the way of a tweet.
(They’ve gained a bit every day since the day after the announcement. But, but but….they lost 3% after the announcement….but but but….but but but, FLAG!…but but but AMERICA!…but but but.)
Burt Reynolds died. He was 82.
https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/Philadelphia-Bound-American-Airlines-Passengers-Quarantined-After-Showing-Flu-Like-Symptoms-Customs-Officials-Say–492629321.html
More Sickness.
@89 Don’t confuse him with facts. Let him blissfully short Nike.
I’d love to see Corey Booker run for President in 2020. I’m sure he will one day, or at least I hope he would.
The death of Richard DeVos, 92, billionaire co-founder of Amway, a major donor to rightwing causes, and father-in-law of Betsy DeVos, was announced by his family today.
“Elizabeth Warren: Time to use 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office”
https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/06/politics/elizabeth-warren-25th-amendment/index.html
Another Republican congressman is under ethics investigation.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/04/politics/rod-blum-ethics-panel/
While the subject of the investigation hasn’t been disclosed, Rep. Richard Blum (R-IA) was criticized this year for not disclosing “his position as CEO of an internet company that helps companies bury any Food and Drug Administration citations below positive online search results.”
Looking out for the public interest in both business and Congress, I see. Typical Republican.
Republicans oppose regulation. But without regulation of businesses, the Stewart Parnells of the world would have a free hand to sell you contaminated and even deadly food products with no one to stop them.
Rep. Blum apparently doesn’t want you to know when greedy business owners try to sell you tainted food or ineffective drugs. He’s more than eager to help them get away with it; he profits from it.
If you’re willing to sacrifice your children’s health and lives to uphold rightwing ideology, then by all means vote Republican.
Riding home from church with your white grandma while black. What on earth was he thinking?? He could have been shot!
“Black teen detained while riding home from church with white grandma because couple thought he was robbing her”
https://www.rawstory.com/2018/09/black-teen-detained-riding-home-church-white-grandma-couple-thought-robbing/
98,
The kid is just 18.
He’ll never trust another police officer as long as he lives.
Lather. Rinse. Repeat. 500 times a day. Seven days a week. 365 days a year. Google the kid’s name. The fear and humiliation he is forced to suffer is being viewed and shared by millions.
This is why athletes kneel. And this is why police are losing this argument.
Police training, policy, and procedures must change in order to turn the corner on this. A close family member defends this stuff in court. That’s his job. And he too is the problem. He drives this shit, filling the heads of city attorneys and police administrators with a crazy mix of street fear and courtroom confidence. I’ve seen him work. His experience, expertise, familiarity with the case law, and command of the culture make him almost unstoppable. He doesn’t even realize he’s doing it. And anyway, it’s good for business. He looks like he’s doing his job. He believes he is. We pay. And he earns. I’ve long since lost track of how much the agencies he represents have paid out in settlements.
But the bills get paid. All thanks to the taxpayers.
@98 that’s my Aunt Jamima! I’m not monkeying around, honest.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAv1dHo2AdI
And Washington state and other Governors do resort to this in order to make the budget balance.
I do think RR is exaggerating the effects of teachers getting raises has prevented state workers from getting pay raises. State patrol troopers who can start at 19 and only need a high school diploma or GED. While they are taught professionalism they are not professionals. They do make after some years in the job more than the average teacher. Of course teachers are willing in spite of being in the same position as any other state employees to actually strike, and they do a job that parents and the public are going to notice, and it’s frankly not practical to fire a whole district or at least no governor here has had the political will to do so. All these teachers risk being fired though there is no statute saying what happens to them or any other state employee if they go on strike. Only they “can’t” go on strike.
@98 @99 He’d better get used to it, because this is the kind of country he lives in now.
Don’t know a ton about crowdfunding.
But I wonder if there wouldn’t be a way to raise pledged funds, dedicated to a worthy charity, to encourage a member of the Senate Judiciary committee to ask of the nominee on the final day of his confirmation hearings, to produce a notarized copy of his “long form” birth certificate?
Anybody know?
@103 Not the Marlboro man for sure. Looks like a limey. Got a limey name, too. And has that pasty continental look of someone who’s lived in fog his entire life.
@101 I’m not. Ask state workers. Compare their raises to teacher raises. Compare their salaries to teacher salaries. Until you do that, you’re just blowing smoke.
Under the last state budget, enacted in 2017, state workers will get 3% a year in each of two years — a total of 6% — on the heels of getting no colas at all for 6 years following the recession.
Under the 1-year contract just negotiated between Seattle School District and teachers, the teachers will get a 10.5% raise. On an annual basis, that’s 3 1/2 times what state workers are getting.
And that’s more or less how it’s gone for the last 40 years. It’s always been teachers first, state workers last, and still is.
Brett Kavanaugh, like any good Catholic, is not only against abortion, but against birth control, too.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/brett-kavanaugh-birth-control_us_5b917b79e4b0162f472b3cb8
Not that the Church itself has much credibility these days.
“The Trump administration announced a new rule Thursday that would allow immigrant children with their parents to be held in detention indefinitely, upending a ban on indefinite detention that has been in place for 20 years.”
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/trump-admin-plans-hold-migrant-kids-indefinitely-defying-decades-old-n907006
In other words, children fleeing from violence in their home countries will now be treated like Gitmo terrorists.
So now Trump’s Gestapo is combing through voting records looking for … whatever.
“A federal prosecutor on Thursday agreed to postpone the deadline for North Carolina election officials to turn over millions of voting records to Immigration and Customs Enforcement ….
“Federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of North Carolina, working in conjunction with ICE, subpoenaed the state and 44 counties last Friday, seeking an estimated 20 million documents.
“The subpoenas included at least five years of ballots and eight years of voter registration applications, provisional voting forms, absentee request forms, voter registration cancellations, and ‘any and all’ inquiries sent to voters asking them to confirm their citizenship.”
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/doj-agrees-delay-turnover-north-carolina-voter-records-sought-ice-n907256
Roger Rabbit Commentary: Now why would ICE be interested in citizens? Are we all illegal now in their eyes?
107,
They’ll stack ’em like cordwood and feed ’em Purina ToddlerChow!
This is really who Republicans are now.
108,
Note the postponed deadline.
They really don’t care if they ever receive the records. They don’t have the means or manpower to review millions of voter records any more than they have the means or manpower to review employer records.
This is intended to supress turnout among target demographics. Just issuing the subpoenas along with tons of splashy media coverage accomplishes their goal. If you are alarmed, and you feel compelled to pass the news along, okay. But please be sure to point out that this whole thing is a huge bluff intended to frighten legal citizens into relinquishing their right to vote.
Every time one of us shares, links, or retweets this without that disclaimer Stephen Miller’s dick grows.
Demorat Pornstar Party Of Death News–
Open Borders Demorats Protecting Women Update-
—————————-
An illegal alien who previously fled the United States after being accused of sexually assaulting a child is once again been charged with sexual battery of a child after allegedly climbing into bed with an eight-year-old Florida girl and assaulting her.
Wilibaldo Salinas Garcia, a 29-year-old illegal alien, allegedly admitted to sexually assaulting the young girl — whom he is related to — after he “digitally penetrated her and forced her to touch him,” according to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office.
While the eight-year-old girl was in her bedroom sleeping, the illegal alien allegedly crept into her room and got into bed with her. This is when authorities say Garcia forced the girl to touch him, though she tried to turn over to avoid the sexual assault. Police say Garcia was persistent and eventually, the girl left the room, saying she needed to use the bathroom.
“This is the 2nd time in 3 wks in #Polk that a man who’s here illegally has sexually battered a child. We will hold him accountable and work with ICE to make sure he is deported after he answers to these charges.” -Sheriff Judd. Click to read news release: https://t.co/nlRdFPCd6K pic.twitter.com/tYOHOb64bH
— Polk County Sheriff (@PolkCoSheriff) September 5, 2018
https://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2018/09/05/illegal-alien-accused-of-sexually-assaulting-eight-year-old-florida-girl/
111,
He’ll have to do a fuckuvalot better than that if he hopes to keep pace with the child molesters of the Sobbing Guatemalan Toddler Torture Party™
As you read this you and your beloved Serial Finger Rapist have almost three thousand infants and children locked in darkened tile lined rooms threatened daily with rape. And you are currently seeking budget authority to rape an additional 25,000.
Congratulations. Trump won. Everything has changed.
This is really who you are now.
The August jobs report:
Professional and business services +53,000
Education and health services +53,000
Construction +23,000
Wholesale trade +22,400
Transportation and warehousing +20,200
Leisure and hospitality +17,000
Other services +13,000
Financial activities +11,000
Mining and logging +6,000
Utilities +300
Manufacturing -3,000
Government -3,000
Retail trade -5,900
Information -6,000
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/09/07/heres-where-the-jobs-are-in-one-chart-august-2018.html
Whew! Manufacturing is right up there with government! And mining and logging is running away with it! Red MAGA hats everywhere!
#winning
I attribute the growth in professional services to half the population of D.C. lawyering up.
(The other half — the Democrats — don’t need lawyers.)
114,
Nuthin’ but blue sky, baby!
Even a bit player like Duncan Hunter is good for a cool million in billing.