competence

Not that I give a bloated goat fart in hell what the Republicans think, but does the Washington Post have to help them pass gas? Top left front page: Biden’s America: Democrats see competence, Republicans see chaos President Biden’s administration by the middle of last week was confronted with images...

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  • May 17, 2021

He’s got a new book, so a conservative Niall Ferguson appeared on TV this morning whitewashing the Trump administration’s competence, or lack thereof, as if the fault lies with more systemic faults, despite the deliberate Trump sabotage of Obama-era pandemic planning. Catastrophes of politics, in pricey Ted-like talks. As if there no...

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  • May 11, 2021

For the second time, in approximately sixteen years, President Joe Biden is part of a multicultural team pulling America back from the brink. The last time, in 2009, Mr. Biden was second in command to former President Barack Obama. This time he is in charge, with Kamala Harris as his...

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  • May 10, 2021

Mitch McConnell, like under the Obama Presidency, has spoken. And he intends to destroy Biden & Democrats. Believe him. Don’t be outsmarted by Mitch McConnell once again See full episodes here. Democrats must listen to Mitch McConnel and the Republicans. They have no desire for compromise or desire to move the...

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  • May 6, 2021

I’ll make this quick because the video speaks for itself. For four years we sat by, mouths immutably agape, as Donald Trump tossed paper towels at hurricane victims and made the COVID pandemic all about himself. But with the return of competence to the White House, we also saw a...

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  • April 24, 2021

Eric Trump appeared on Fox & Friends this morning with Steve Doocy, Ainsley Earhardt, and Brian Kilmeade. It wasn’t exactly the Algonquin Roundtable. During the conversation, they passed the lone brain cell they share together to whoever wanted to speak next—like it was the tribal conch in Lord of the...

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  • February 22, 2021

Donald Trump’s time in office was defined by death, destruction, disarray, and multiple attacks on democracy. Yet we must never forget that Trump’s legacy also includes an evil milestone, reached in 2018, when the United States, for the first time ever, ranked among the top five deadliest countries for journalists....

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  • February 6, 2021

Apparently, Sen. Marco Rubio is sitting in his office planning a strategy around selling prayer cloths. Judging from his recent spate of religiosity on his Twitter feed, do not be surprised to see Rubio wearing sandals, draped in a mantle with tassels.  His time might be better spent sewing protective...

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  • December 21, 2020

Stories do have consequences, and following Trump’s American Carnage, truth will out in the larger American narrative. This James Fallows essay is worth reading, made important by the trial balloon of making Andrew Cuomo the AG nominee. For Biden personally, as president, the best thing he can do for most of...

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  • December 13, 2020

All votes have been certified and Biden has still won. “…is this the moment when the G.O.P. abandons its belief in democracy” x My timeline: Dec 11, 12, or 13 — SCOTUS tosses Texas suit Dec 14 — EC votes for Biden 306-232 Jan 6 — Congress counts EC votes; objections...

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  • December 11, 2020

So today, Donald Trump called an impromptu press conference in order to swiftly take credit for the rising stock market. After the Dow cleared 30,000 for the first time ever, Trump rushed to gild his own lily-white ass. (I assume he doesn’t spray-tan there, but who knows? I also assumed 70...

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  • November 24, 2020

If the expected Bluewave rushes over the levee of American politics and washes away the dirt of tyranny; are we looking at a red-secession? If you listen to the massing voices of Republican discontent, war is coming. Story after story is highlighted daily of some Army-surplus-store-toy-soldiers threatening to take to the...

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  • October 30, 2020

I have written two posts about suggested questions for Nominee Barrett — here and here.  But watching a good deal of today’s confirmation hearing, and listening to her dodge way too many questions, I realize I should also have set out some suggested questions to highlight how thin are her qualifications...

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  • October 14, 2020

So many contradictions, so little time, as non-socially distanced followers are kept away from Trump by a thin white line. x What about everyone else? https://t.co/XExDwnbqOO — Abby D. Phillip (@abbydphillip) September 14, 2020 x Notice the big empty space on the right? That's where @realDonaldTrump “works” the ropeline. The...

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  • September 15, 2020

This Democratic candidate shows how it is done and it is showing in his polls. Democrats must not fear building a landslide win in 2020. Have faith that we can create the necessary landslide. x x YouTube Video Politics Done Right Live weekdays @ 3:00 PM Central Video Zoom: LINK...

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  • September 1, 2020

In 2015, writer, Ramesh Ponnuru wrote a scathing rebuke in the National Review of President Trump’s sister, then federal judge Maryanne Trump Barry. Like most who oppose partial-birth abortion, he seized upon gory detail, describing the procedure in its most medieval incarnation, all the while ignoring its medical necessity or rarity....

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  • August 24, 2020

as you can read here They have served in Republican administrations from Reagan through Trump. They have issued a joint statement that gives their very strong reasons for their actions. They begin with this stark statement: We are profoundly concerned about our nation’s security and standing in the world under...

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  • August 20, 2020

Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in the most subtle manner, did not allow MSNBC Host Craig Melvin to make Kamala Harris simply a token woman of color for the VP spot. Pelosi does not play! x x YouTube Video Watch the full episode here. Choosing Senator Kamala Harris for the Vice Presidency is in fact historic. But...

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  • August 13, 2020

The redoubtable Gabriel Sherman has a new dispatch from the Land of Make-Believe (née the White House).  Seems the current occupant, Donald John Trump, is feeling a bit like a gimpy gazelle flushed into one of Marlin Perkins’ nets. (According to Sherman, Trump, sensing electoral Armageddon, recently called Fox News’ Tucker...

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  • July 2, 2020

US record for new COVID cases yesterday: 42,158 x New daily coronavirus cases are rising in 27 states, an NPR analysis shows. Here's the percent change compared to 2 weeks ago: Oklahoma: +255%Idaho: +176%Florida: +173%Arizona: +173%Texas: +169%https://t.co/EnrxwdSqtO— NPR (@NPR) June 25, 2020 x The pandemic is accelerating and is being...

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  • June 25, 2020

Trump got stuck dealing with his approval of Uighar concentration camps while also signing their condemnation in the Uighur Human Rights Policy Act. Another screw up like Bunker Boy’s street-clearing stunt, and Trump as usual attacks to divert attention. An angry Trump has spent a number of tweets attacking John Bolton. x...

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  • June 18, 2020

Received this e-mail yesterday from former Presidential candidate, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D. MA), in support of Joe Biden’s presidential candidate: This is a time of tremendous crisis for our nation.   Across the country, Americans are flooding the streets protesting the injustice of police brutality and affirming the unshakable...

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  • June 18, 2020

All those commencement events made Trump all Pomp & Circumstance. Or perhaps it was the TV ratings that set Trump off. x 90,000 Americans are dead because of a pandemic that Trump was unprepared for and has thrown in the towel on mitigating https://t.co/qvnz5vGc5J — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 17,...

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  • May 17, 2020

Received this e-mail yesterday from Hillary Clinton in support of  Christy Smith’s (D. CA-25) congressional campaign in the special election next week to fill Katie Hill’s (D. CA-25) seat: I hope you and your loved ones are safe and well during this time. There's a key special election coming up...

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  • May 7, 2020

Received this e-mail today from Rep. Adam Schiff (D. CA-28) in support of Joe Biden’s presidential campaign: There are two paths before us this November. One path is the one we are already on, with a degradation of our democracy and the rule of law, the devastation of our health...

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  • April 29, 2020

I never liked Jennifer Rubin’s columns during the Obama era. She came across as automatically opposed to everything President Obama did, and in 2012 she practically worshiped the ground Mitt Romney walked on. But ever since Trump came on the scene, I’ve watched her shift from all-out Republican shill to...

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  • April 20, 2020

Some big news in the upcoming special election to fill Katie Hill’s (D. CA-25) vacant seat. Councilwoman Christy Smith (D. CA-25) just picked up the Los Angeles Times endorsement: There’s no question which candidate is better prepared to step into the debate and help shape smart policy. That’s state Assemblywoman Christy Smith,...

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  • April 19, 2020

Thank you: Joe Biden on Wednesday accused President Donald Trump of throwing “temper tantrums” rather than showing concern for those affected by the coronavirus pandemic, escalating his criticism of Trump following a series of exceedingly contentious White House briefings over the past few weeks. “He likes to say he’s a...

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  • April 15, 2020

Matthew Yglesias from Vox has a great piece out covering Joe Biden’s recent interview on Meet The Press with Chuck Todd. It was a sobering reminder of what a real leader looks like in a time of crisis. This particular part really sticks out: x As president, I will always...

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  • March 30, 2020

The vogue phrase to use about the coronavirus or mass shootings, especially by conservatives, is—let’s not politicize this. If you check a thesaurus a few of the words that substitute for politicizing are—debate, discuss and raise awareness of.  Maybe I am so isolated from reality that I have missed something...

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  • March 16, 2020

As Joe Biden lets us know the kind of president we could have if we do our due diligence and GOTV, Hillary Clinton is giving us a glimpse at the compassion, caring, and above all, competence we missed out on. x I know this is all hard for you, @realdonaldtrump, so let me...

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  • March 12, 2020

At the Democratic Presidential debate Wednesday night, former NY City Mayor Michael Bloomberg reacted as if Sen. Elizabeth Warren brought a nice chianti and fava beans to the event; she ate him alive.  Ms. Warren chewed through Mr. Bloomberg’s political and moral résumé like Hannibal Lecter. There were moments made...

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  • February 21, 2020

Latest tweet from IMPOTUS: California and New York must do something about their TREMENDOUS Homeless problems. They are setting records! If their Governors can’t handle the situation, which they should be able to do very easily, they must call and “politely” ask for help. Would be so easy with competence!...

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  • December 28, 2019

2020 will continue Trump’s lying and incessant touting about an economy that has underperformed with the growth given him by PBO. Numbers artificially propped up by deficits and tax cuts will result in a potentially catastrophic and looming recession. Trump’s “trade war” has contributed to global slowing. With the new year...

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  • December 28, 2019

Here’s some big news today out of Alaska courtesy of the DSCC: Senator Catherine Cortez Masto, Chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, issued the following statement endorsing Dr. Al Gross in the Alaska U.S. Senate race: “Dr. Al Gross is a lifelong Alaskan who understands the unique needs of...

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  • December 3, 2019

My takeaway from the opening of the Congressional Impeachment hearings this morning was that we do not need an average John in the Oval Office. For years and years, primarily men, have slapped themselves on their backs sitting on a diner stool, in front of water coolers at work, and...

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  • November 13, 2019

I’ve had bosses before who always seemed to do everything they could to disrupt our team’s progress, either through interjecting nonsense or making decisions that impacted the project without thinking things through. In the end, if we still managed to pull it off, the guy would humbly try to take all of the...

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  • October 27, 2019

Today’s impeachment hearing featuring Corey Lewandowski was an utter embarrassment for Democrats, and destroyed any notion that the Democratic leadership possesses even the semblance of competence that would be required to impeach President Trump. Believe me, I wish this weren’t true. But as an adult, I have to face facts.  Nadler et al. we’re unfocused,...

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  • September 17, 2019

Believe me, I wish I could sleep through the Trump years, too — and I don’t even work at the White House. But if you’re a cabinet member, maybe you should stay awake for this? I mean, at any moment Trump could unilaterally declare that we’re switching from the dollar...

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  • July 22, 2019

Okay, he didn’t say “shitcan.” I said “shitcan.” Charlie Sykes is a good, decent Wisconsin boy, and I’m a pissed-off, half-rabid, raging Badger who’s had more than enough of the overt criminal enterprise that’s been implausibly passing itself off as an “administration.” I grew up in Wisconsin and lived most of my life...

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  • November 20, 2018

Here’s the latest news out of Florida courtesy of UNF’s latest poll: The Public Opinion Research Lab at the University of North Florida has a new poll of likely voters that reveals Andrew Gillum in the lead for the upcoming gubernatorial election in Florida, with Ron DeSantis close behind and...

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  • October 30, 2018

Received a few e-mails from Khizr Khan in support for Democratic Veterans running for Congress. First, for Amy McGrath (D. KY-06): I know what service looks like. My son joined the Army in the spirit of service and gratitude to our great country, which has provided us opportunities I couldn't...

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  • August 29, 2018

AUTHOR’S NOTE: North Dakota is one of two states, the other being Minnesota, in which the state chapter of the Democratic Party operates under a different name. While most of the attention on North Dakota’s 2018 elections has focused on the U.S. Senate race in North Dakota, where U.S. Senator...

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  • July 13, 2018

I believe it was Andrew Sullivan who coined  the phrase “Cold Civil War” to describe the current state of our Republican-Democrat divide, with the geography and ideology of our current dystopia uncannily matching the Mason-Dixon line that characterized our previous Civil War.  As Sullivan wrote a few years ago:  This, then, remains a...

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  • November 3, 2017

Republican leaders in Congress may not be ready to abandon Donald Trump, but there’s little doubt about their growing discomfort with the president of the United States. Supposedly shocked by Trump’s coddling of white supremacists in the wake of the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker questioned Trump’s ability to...

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  • August 27, 2017

Al Jazeera gets it right !! Bottom of this diary. – – – First the obvious: negotiations with Iran are a multinational process. This is not an American treaty. No way, no how. The five Permanent Members of the United Nations Security Council — the United States, Russia, China, United...

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  • March 11, 2015

First the obvious: Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) The NPT is a landmark international treaty whose objective is to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and weapons technology, to promote cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy and to further the goal of achieving nuclear disarmament...

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  • March 10, 2015