Author | Lightnews

Greer-o'-lantern 🎃 @thegreer.bsky.social · 1h

...and if Bernie weren't a catastrophically terrible judge of character he'd realize we have at least six months available to find someone without greater than Tulsi-level baggage to try and win an essential seat from an entrenched incumbent.

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Greer-o'-lantern 🎃 @thegreer.bsky.social · 2h

I'm reminded of my greatest frustration with Bernie (and which was disqualifying, imho, in his second presidential campaign): he's a catastrophically terrible judge of character.

Anyway Bernie came to Platner's defense.

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Oregon 🕎🎲 @oregonthedm.bsky.social · 8d

Been told I should add a PayPal link so for this willing thank you deeply

paypal.me/OregontheDmOR

Pay Oregon the Dm

Tap to finalize your purchase. No PayPal account? No worries.

paypal.me

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Greer-o'-lantern 🎃 @thegreer.bsky.social · 2h

New rule:

If you're a white dude running an insurgent, out-of-box Democratic campaign, your staff must include at least one middle-aged anarchist gutter or crust punk with a (minimum) 5-year sobriety coin.

They won't touch policy but will be available to answer all character and personality Qs.

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Greer-o'-lantern 🎃 @thegreer.bsky.social · 4h

You really don't have to host a daily press conference to announce that you have no clue what's going on and are uninterested in finding out.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 4h

Q: Some of your Republican colleagues have raised concerns about Trump opening up the market to Argentinian beef. What are you doing to help American beef farmers?

MIKE JOHNSON: We had some discussion on that yesterday. I don't know the latest developments.

Greer-o'-lantern 🎃 @thegreer.bsky.social · 4h

I've looked at the 8sleep covers before and they do seem great but the always-on Internet requirement (along with the eye-popping price and subscription) has kept me away.

Analog, dumb controls are great! You can build in *additional* "smart" features. But start with dumb that always works.

Greer-o'-lantern 🎃 @thegreer.bsky.social · 13h

Accidentally caught a bit of a sportscast show (playing at the restaurant I was at) and... wow, it's like 70% gambling shit now.

And, as someone who doesn't gamble, it's both not interesting and very confusing. I just want to know how the actual sports are going.

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Greer-o'-lantern 🎃 @thegreer.bsky.social · 14h

I hear that everybody the men know is just as irrelevant as everybody that I know.

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Greer-o'-lantern 🎃 @thegreer.bsky.social · 19h

Okay I'm not current on World of Darkness lore, but WHY IS THERE SO MUCH SNOW IN SEATTLE?

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BeijingPalmer @beijingpalmer.bsky.social · 1d

there's not enough video games where you get to shoot Confederates or, even better, Neo-Confederates. it's pretty much just Bioshock Infinite.

H R Pickens @hrpickens.bsky.social · 1d

Related: I'm plowing through Chernow's bio of Grant and it's got a lot in it to savor if you like reading about Confederates getting their asses kicked and their evil hopes blighted.

Sherman is just about to jump off and I can hardly wait.

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Greer-o'-lantern 🎃 @thegreer.bsky.social · 19h

I guess the real question is does Susan Collins have to get a Nazi tattoo now or risk losing the GOP base?

Greer-o'-lantern 🎃 @thegreer.bsky.social · 20h

"Wow. Holy shit, dude. I'm leaving."

"I know, I know. The tattoo. I was a stupid kid."

"Do you want me to drive you to the parlor to get a cover up *right now*? I'll chip in."

"..."

"Okay how about tomorrow?"

"..."

"Fuck off forever, then."

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Greer-o'-lantern 🎃 @thegreer.bsky.social · 20h

I feel like there's some self-sorting here.

If I had a buddy who suddenly revealed a Nazi tattoo, I would not question them about it. I would trust their intent and they would simply and immediately no longer be in my life.

Any friends who stuck around were, at least at some level, okay with it.

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Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 21h

I bet a candidate could do well with “yeah, I said some awful things online when I was younger, but I see why it was wrong, and I’m familiar with extremist spaces online, how young men get radicalized by them, and what we can do about it.”

Less good is “it’s wrong of you to care about what I said.”

Burgess Everett @burgessev.bsky.social · 21h

Graham Platner to @daveweigel.bsky.social:
"How do you expect to win back men when you go back through somebody’s Reddit history and just pull it all out and say: ‘Oh, my God, this person has no right to ever be in politics?’"

DSCC Chair Gillibrand: “It’s up to the voters of Maine to decide.”

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Kai Ryssdal @kairyssdal.bsky.social · 22h

Here's the thing I don't understand. You can't as much as sneeze near a historic site in Washington without like 14 commissions, councils, and advisory boards giving you the okay. And everybody now is like...yup, fine with us? wtf?

Chris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 22h

NEW: After The Washington Post reported Monday on the demolition of the "East Wing facade," a new picture obtained by Law Dork that was taken on Tuesday shows that a substantial portion of the entirety of the East Wing has been demolished.

Photograph of ongoing demolition of the East Wing of the White House.

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Technical appreciator @whatahellofawaytodad.com · 1d

Reminder that Violent J of Insane Clown Posse has the correct response to a lot of the shitty things he said in the early days.

STEREOGUM: People my age, we talk about how we were lucky that we didn’t have social media growing up, and there’s no record of all the dumb shit we said and did. You didn’t have social media, but everything you said and did in those years is on record, and you’ve got to live with it now. That’s tough.

VIOLENT J: And the amount of gay Juggalos out there is really surprising. I think about them doing their research and getting the old records, getting excited about it, and getting their hearts broke or something, you know? I tell my daughter, “For the rest of your life, when your friends ask why your dad said that, say it’s because your dad was a fool. Don’t defend me. Say I was a fool then, but I’m not now.” There’s no excuse. I was going with the flow, and that’s the very thing we preach against — being a sheep. And that’s what I was doing.

https://www.stereogum.com/2083804/icp-interview-juggalos/interviews/weve-got-a-file-on-you/

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Greer-o'-lantern 🎃 @thegreer.bsky.social · 1d

So apples-to-apples the closest current analog to Clinton running for office (centrist "triangulation," former governor, ethics concerns, noted sex pest, but a talented politician) is Andrew Cuomo.

And, yes, I absolutely find Cuomo's many transgressions disqualifying.

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Greer-o'-lantern 🎃 @thegreer.bsky.social · 1d

(So I know we have to fight with the army we've got, but it's okay--essential, even--to demand better than the oops Nazi tattoo guy and the soon-to-be octogenarian woman who wants to be the 51st vote to preserve the filibuster.)

Greer-o'-lantern 🎃 @thegreer.bsky.social · 1d

New baseline position added:

Abolish DHS. Prosecute ICE. Restore the White House.

Tim Onion @bencollins.bsky.social · 1d

I'm not a West Wing obsessed lib or anything but the more I see pictures of this the more fucked up I think it is. It's like he cut off one of the hands of the Lincoln memorial with an angle grinder so he could add a big gun to it.

Phil Lewis @phillewis.bsky.social · 1d

The Treasury Department instructed employees not to share to share photos of the demolition of parts of the White House’s East Wing

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Greer-o'-lantern 🎃 @thegreer.bsky.social · 1d

But, fuck, just the total disregard for the history and dignity of the White House, and its place in our democratic project, is so offensive.

What a complete Administration of assholes.

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Greer-o'-lantern 🎃 @thegreer.bsky.social · 1d

Even if somehow the ballroom isn't hideous and shoddily built--which seems very unlikely--moving forward in this way at this pace means they're gonna have to tear down the whole thing as a security risk, anyway.

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Greer-o'-lantern 🎃 @thegreer.bsky.social · 1d

Even putting aside preservation and environmental considerations, given the timeline there's just *no way* proper planning has been done for such a massive renovation on such a unique building, let alone one with *very particular* safety and security demands.

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Greer-o'-lantern 🎃 @thegreer.bsky.social · 1d

(*the allegations definitely appeared very serious and we were, of course, denied a proper investigation. Thanks, Jeff & Susan.

Point being: character is to a Supreme Court justice what athletic ability is to an Olympian. Just good enough isn't good enough.)

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Greer-o'-lantern 🎃 @thegreer.bsky.social · 1d

(This was a great secondary frustration in the Kavanaugh hearings. Like, even if all the allegations didn't amount to anything more than gross youthful misconduct*, we can do better. He's a bog standard Federalist guy. You could find dozens who wouldn't weep and shout, "I love beer," at Congress.)

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Greer-o'-lantern 🎃 @thegreer.bsky.social · 1d

I believe that redemption is available to [almost] all, if they're willing to work for it. Everyone deserves a decent life and dignity.

However.

When you get into rarified positions of public trust, we can and should demand better. A job that calls for the best of us demands a higher standard.

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 1d

yeah it is not “liberal censoriousness” to think that you shouldn’t nominate the guy without the sense to not get a nazi tattoo and then not remove it

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