Horrible And The Next One Will Be Worse

The basic theme of Trumpkins going forward.

President Trump has decided to remove Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, and her departure from the administration is likely to occur in the coming weeks, if not sooner, according to five current and former White House officials.

And she probably heard about this right as I did!

The Stone Zone

BREAKING: Roger Stone pal Jerome Corsi tells my colleague @annaschecter that Mueller's investigators informed Corsi about a week ago he will be indicted for perjury. "When they have your emails and phone records...they're very good at the perjury trap," he says.

— Ken Dilanian (@KenDilanianNBC) November 12, 2018

Even If They Pretended To Care, Reporters Wouldn't Pretend To Believe Them

A lot of people in politics and media over the years have, in various way, said that Democrats are just not as good at the game. If you're a journalist and not just a political hack this kind of observation should make you take a long look in the mirror and think about what you do every day. Oh, so you say it's a game, do you? And one you play a role in? Interesting.


If every Democrat and hack fanned out over cable news to suppress outrage over Trump being too lazy to go to Arlington, journalists would just roll their eyes and treat it like the fake outrage that it was. That's what they should do when Republicans do it. And yet...

Afternoon Thread

enjoy

ActBlue

So many grifters have tried to to implement "the Republican version of ActBlue."

The heart of the problem, McConnell said at the event at party headquarters on Capitol Hill, is ActBlue. The Democratic fundraising tool funneled over $700 million in small donations to House and Senate candidates over the course of the 2018 campaign. The GOP leader said Republicans were getting swamped in the hunt for online givers and that he’d charged his political team with coming up with a solution to enable them to compete in 2020.

I'm too lazy to find them all, but there was Rightroots, Slatecard, Big Red Tent, RedStormPac, ActRight...

Parliamentary Crisis

I chatted with a couple of UK journalists about this a few weeks ago and I don't think they quite had the answer. It's conventional wisdom that if May brings some sort of deal to parliament and they vote it down that it's election time. But no one seems to quite know what happens if there's just... no deal brought to a vote at all.

Senior cabinet ministers led by Brexit secretary Dominic Raab will tell Theresa May that the current deal on offer from the EU is unacceptable and she should prepare for the UK to leave with no deal if she cannot secure further concessions.

In a significant raising of the pressure on May from inside her own cabinet, the group of senior ministers will make clear to the prime minister that they could not support a deal that breaches their two red lines.

No one seems to come to terms with the idea that "no deal" will have to involve... lots of deals.

Maybe Someone Should Ask Trump About This

Every Trump twitter endorsement was basically a form tweet which went something like "Is a a great guy! Loves our law enforcement and our troops and vets, tough on crime and our border!!!"

Love the Vets.

The Department of Veterans Affairs is suffering from a series of information technology glitches that has caused GI Bill benefit payments covering education and housing to be delayed or — in the case of Roundtree — never be delivered.

"I’m about to lose everything that I own and become homeless," Roundtree said. "I don’t want to be that veteran on the street begging for change because I haven’t received what I was promised."

A Stiff Breeze

The consequences of elections are huge, of course, but I do think it's always a bit wrong to overthink What It All Means. Lots of elections are close and with a different dice roll things would be very different. Obviously electing Trump mattered quite a bit, but one problem with all the diner pieces and obsession with Trump voters is that.. he lost the popular vote and barely won the electoral college (yes numerically he won but with some very close states).

So does +40ish Dem House seats say an immense amount about the country that +25ish wouldn't have? Not so much. Sure the more the better, but I don't think the it changes what the think pieces should be all that much. Tells us something about trends in specific states and districts, but no so much about the soul of the country.

Counting Votes, How Does It Work

The people who are paid lots of money to go on your teevee and declare election results should perhaps have some idea how the election systems work (or don't) in different states.

Overnight Thread

have fun

Sunday Afternoon

Get your Sunday on.

High School History Modern American History, 2040

It occurs to me the Iraq war won't even exist.

It barely exists now.

Those of us who did our own small (very small) part trying to stop it remember how it was the most important conflict since Normandy.

And then...

Democrats Only Win In Places They Win

This is a fair thing to talk about when they are, you know, losing, but when they are actually winning it is so weird. Democrats only win in, um, blue states! Yah, ok, whatever.

It's Always Sunny

Did You Know Helicopters Can't Fly In The Rain?

Wow reporters are gullible.

Saturday Evening

Pretty sure I'm the next senator from Arizona.

Good Luck Everyone

Dentistry

I was in one of my local coffee shops a few weeks ago and the barista and a customer were having a conversation about dentists. They were both obviously not rich and lacking dental insurance, not that dental insurance means anything more than a cheap cleaning once per year. The divergence between dental care and medical care in this country is fascinating. Bad teeth can eat your brain, basically.

But they were discussing a hero dentist who while I think I caught her address I am not sure of so I can't advertise (near the Italian Market in Philly if anyone wants to share). (From what I heard) she offers a cheapish xray and cleaning, and prioritizes what you need. Like "you need 12 cavities filled but I really need to do these 2."

That people can't afford dentistry, which is probably more important than regular medical checkups, is why america is great.

The Suffering of Others

While it is a defining pleasure for conservatives, I admit it seems to be part of human nature generally.

The Little Things

I know that Obama came into office facing a crisis and managed to pass ACA, blah blah blah, and there were lots of bad Dem senators and if we pretend things couldn't be passed in reconciliation that was a big problem, but what made me a cynical asshole was... where were the little things?

I sorta thought little things could be slipped into legislation without anybody noticing. Not super important things, perhaps, but they add up. It didn't happen.

Late Night

Rock on.

Don't Mess With Me, Porkchop

Tomorrow is Saturday!