Morning Reads for Monday, January 14, 2019
Today feels a little surreal. Even as spouse. And I know I can’t be the only one feeling that way. You work for months and months, you go to every meeting imaginable (and unimaginable), you put signs up, you take signs down, you wave signs, you make call after call. And then election day is here. It’s pretty much the longest day of your life. If you are lucky enough to make it through the Primary, you suffer through the second longest day of your life MANY MONTHS later. And then you win. Or you don’t.
But, if you do win, you get to a surreal Monday morning in January. And you wake up feeling grateful. And humbled. And nervous. And excited. And grateful. And humbled.
- You can watch today’s swearing-in festivities on live stream here.
- The winter storm hitting the east coast is a deadly one.
- A Delta passenger headed from Atlanta to Tokyo managed to get through security with a gun and board his plane.
- My ignorance has to be obvious on this subject, but how are we still deciding whether or not Brexit will even happen? What happened to “there’s no way out now”?
- What you need to know about Governor Kemp’s inauguration and the 2019 session.
- And this weird story about a calico lobster named Eve who might come to Atlanta.
- A Columbus, Georgia school is helping a Florida school devastated by Hurricane Michael to the tune of $700,000.
- For the first time in U.S. history, a leading cause of deaths, vehicle crashes, has been surpassed in likelihood by opioid overdoses, according to a new report on preventable deaths from the National Safety Council.
About Author
Theresa Garcia Robertson
Wife. Mama. Foodie. Political Junkie. Southern Enthusiast. Taco Lover.
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Has anyone heard any reason as to why we would want or need a barcode on a ballot?
I haven’t (yet).
Every ballot should be free of any “code”. We need assurance at this point that they reflect exactly how they were marked. Any trust lent to our officials has been spent, including by the guy who is being inaugurated today after overseeing his own election. As his assurances while SoS were proven to be worth the proverbial warm bucket. I have already emailed my rep and senator and urge others to do the same.
I e-mailed Speaker Ralston, Rep Barry Fleming and Senator Bruce Thompson in addition to my Rep and Senator machine marked ballots.
They shouldn’t even be considered until the cause of the 100,000 ballot undercount in November 2016 is determined and made public. Election officials that can’t or won’t figure out what went wrong with 16 year old election machine candidate selection technology should not be specifying 2019 technology.
Same as any business, for easy reference. A unique ballot identifier in a machine-readable format.
“Unique ballot identifier”. That’s probably not appropriate for a ballot.
County and precinct ID, a number, maybe how and when delivered. Bookkeeping stuff.
All of which could be handled just as easily with OCR if need be.
If that makes you feel more secure, fine.
So the controlling party can fix the vote outcome.
“The Kremlin has long denied that it had anything to do with the infiltration of the NRA and the broader American conservative movement. A U.S. intelligence report reviewed by The Daily Beast tells a different story.”
https://www.thedailybeast.com/kremlin-blessed-russias-nra-operation-us-intel-report-says
If true, **** the NRA. Maybe “NRA” stands for National Russian Agency?
Also this,
“President Trump has gone to extraordinary lengths to conceal details of his conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin, including on at least one occasion taking possession of the notes of his own interpreter and instructing the linguist not to discuss what had transpired with other administration officials, current and former U.S. officials said.
Trump did so after a meeting with Putin in 2017 in Hamburg that was also attended by then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. U.S. officials learned of Trump’s actions when a White House adviser and a senior State Department official sought information from the interpreter beyond a readout shared by Tillerson.
The constraints that Trump imposed are part of a broader pattern by the president of shielding his communications with Putin from public scrutiny and preventing even high-ranking officials in his own administration from fully knowing what he has told one of the United States’ main adversaries.
As a result, U.S. officials said there is no detailed record, even in classified files, of Trump’s face-to-face interactions with the Russian leader at five locations over the past two years. Such a gap would be unusual in any presidency, let alone one that Russia sought to install through what U.S. intelligence agencies have described as an unprecedented campaign of election interference.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trump-has-concealed-details-of-his-face-to-face-encounters-with-putin-from-senior-officials-in-administration/2019/01/12/65f6686c-1434-11e9-b6ad-9cfd62dbb0a8_story.html?utm_term=.69770cb11076
An art of the deal is keeping it secret from suckers.
Let me get this straight. This goes for news in the liberal media….Folks that are pro gun rights in the US are somehow siding with the Russians. I just want to cry horsesh– once again. Sure Russians want the US armed to the teeth. Remember the liberal dweebs hated Reagan worse than the Russians and LOVED Gorabchev. Reagan was the problem we were told….Gosh this gets tiresome…Here they go again.
If I want a gun and support the NRA that is somehow pro Russia and a blow against Trump. Hogwash.
Try to get a handle of this one… Is this more liberal headspinning— so warped that only a liberal can dream it up? We know the libs HATE THE NRA! PERIOD. Does anyone disagree with that? So lets discredit it. And here is the latest effort to do so. Ding, ding ding!
Does anyone disagree. Don’t the libs fund raise with their anti NRA gibberish? Yep. So now the NRA is in bed with Russians. Who did the FBI and Hillary pay to plant fake evidence to try and frame Trump? Russians… Now you are getting warm!
Well gun owners like me like the NRA if for no other reason to keep the liberal peckerwood gun grabbers, that are trampling on our freedoms and our ability to protect ourselves from the liberal “chuds”. So if the Ruskies want us armed and the libs don’t, well how about a vodka shot paid for by me for the Comrades! They seem to be more American than the liberal position on the 2nd amendment…Again, warped but go figure.
Why would Russia want the US well armed? They don’t. Wouldn’t they want a feckless US military, no arms, weak ass US economy and the US to relinquish their global energy leadership like the ATROCIOUS POLICIES OF THE LEFT ACTIVELY SEEKS? If that is what the Russians want for America, AND IT ISN’T, then it is a better vision than the libs.
How many folks died from illegal alien crimes, car crashes, alcohol, drugs and the lovefest liberals have with abortion? And they don’t want to do anything about that.
There are more deaths in the US from the above annually than any of the worst years in the Civil War much less World War II. How more backward can a group of Bozos be?
Again, how many have died from global warming in the history of the world yet these clowns will waste trillions on it! Of your money! Arm yourself, protect yourself and enjoy the freedoms and and opportunities this county offers. I wish the libs would be be the DO NOTHING DEMOCRATS when it comes to 2nd amendment—just like they are when it comes to illegal immigrations, growth policies and lower taxes.
AWWWWWWWW NAWWWWWWWWWWW!
LMAO! DTM strikes again!!
Yes, we see that you can manipulate the thumbs. So what. I could as well if I felt inadequate with words, and likely other areas.
The only thumbs manipulation I can envision involves you and The BABB Boys!
Could you say the DO NOTHING DEMOCRATS are basically guilty of THUMB MANIPULATION?! It appears right on target!.
Noway, your extremely witty and popular post now has a bunch of haters on it! Looks like they hate YOU more than ME! Can you BLEVE dat?!
Is yo’ feelin’s hurt bro!? Shake it off, shake it off like that good little liberal Taylor Swift says! Go tell the folks at Myrtles ’bout dis one!
That is the most work the snowflakes have done in a year! Let yo’ fangers do de’ walkin’ little buddies!! Hey watch out for those thumbs!! Speakin’g of bunch of clueless “chuds”!!!
Aaaaawwwweeeee NNNNNNaaaawwww
Ol’ Noway takes a break and comes back to find The BABB Boys have all gotten together and “Thumbed” their way into an apparent frenzy! LMAO!! Take a break, Boys! Carpel Tunnel awaits otherwise! Ben Gay stock just shot up in futures!!
If they keep the liberals from destroying the NRA I welcome their help! Vodka is on me boys!
That would be 1.6 billion dollars of state money down the drain. I suggest we spray paint “Taint right!” on the turf.
Saints, Pats, meteor game.
You call this a Goverment shutdown in Washington? Mother Nature says “hold my beer”.
It will be interesting to see where the shutdown goes as Trump migrates further down the approval polls:
https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/trump-approval-ratings
Even Rasmussen now has him at 43% with the aggregate heading down to the political Mendosa line of 40%. Now the bravado of “I will own the shutdown” has devolved to: “Nancy and Cryin’ Chuck can end the Shutdown in 15 minutes. At this point it has become their, and the Democrats, fault!” It appears the attention span of the American people may exceed Warhol’s 15 minute mark after all.
Trump is not playing to an audience of the American public. His audience is the MAGA zombies. His approval rating in zombieland is well over 90%. Even when the shutdown starts to really hurt, Trump’s supporters won’t turn on him. He’s immune from public opinion.
However, there are several Republican senators who are not immune because they have to run in two years. The only way this shutdown ends is for maximum pr damage to be done to the vulnerable senators.
Gregs, great post. 90% approval among the non socialists!! So who are the zombies!!??
This is like shooting ducks on a liberal pond!
Oh thanks to the 2nd amendment for that! Oh, and a shout out to Joe Biden. Remember Biden said we should all arm ourselves with shotguns. Remember that wizardry!? Here you go! All you liberals go get that double barrel much less an automatic.
By the way, shoot a shotgun into a crowd with buckshot and you will wish the perp had a rifle…go figure.
Remember how pure the FBI was under J Edgar? Folks lived in fear of the guy for 40 years. Ask MLK how he liked the FBI and if they treated him fairly. How about the great liberal McGovern……so you think these guys are so honest? How about Roosevelt’s VP Henry Wallace!?
Now why was the FBI almost always targeting liberals back then? They were always the communist sympathizers….Does anyone want to dispute those facts?
Remember every darn one of you liberals was on the other side of this FBI abuse for 50 years…Oh until now….Now the libs love a crooked FBI. And this FBI fired 25 jerks and many should be prosecuted. Does anyone remember 25 FBI agents and upper level guys fired under good ole J Edgar? Does this hypocrisy make anyone sick yet?
https://theintercept.com/2019/01/14/the-fbis-investigation-of-trump-as-a-national-security-threat-is-itself-a-serious-danger-but-j-edgar-hoover-pioneered-the-tactic/
Many snowflakes probably have no clue this is our honest FBI! Why did Mueller already scrub Page and Strok’s phones? Damn, he is quicker than Hillary and her Bleach Bit.
Andrew, go watch that Biden video again. It makes me feel safer and warmer knowing that guys like that have our back.
And believe me he is not nearly liberal enough to keep the snowflakes and the radical leftists happy, is he? Do you notice, this identity politics thingy here….being so important…he is old, I mean a REALLY OLD, a moldy old white guy. Isnt that a no- no these days? He cant help it….
He does tend to smile a little too much and blink a little too much when the cameras are on. And ole Joe never met a camera he wouldn’t run to get in front of…
Does anyone remember how he described Obama for one of the first times he ever met him? Even David Duke cringed at that description!
Have a good one! Peace out.
Looks like Polosi better come up with some mula. http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/current_events/immigration/january_2019/voters_want_strong_borders_say_wall_is_not_immoral “Most voters continue to favor strongly controlled borders and reject House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s charge that it is immoral for the United States to build a border wall.“
Almost every poll shows that most Americans don’t support the wall or the shutdown,
https://www.washingtonpost.com/page/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2019/01/13/National-Politics/Polling/question_21046.xml?uuid=OrCUSBbwEemreTDNT3km8g
More evidence from Fox News
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-doubles-down-on-border-wall-as-polls-show-voters-turning-against-his-shutdown-strategy.amp
Immoral is the last thing to attach to this. Try fiscally irresponsible, better alternatives available for security, and “You ain’t ever gonna get all that land from AMERICAN landowners you stupid, tantrum throwing toddler.”
Yes, the best argument is that it’s a waste of money, like the bridge to Nowhere, and that we can spend that money in ways that actually solve the problems, not fulfill an oversimplified campaign fantasy. Simple version: It’s Money for Nothing.
But now it’s also the Wall vs. All of Government. Which is why the polls are shifting. It’s easy for people to see that no one thing is worth a collapse of our government. And that’s what people are starting to see and fear. Actual weak governance. And of course it will be easier (and more accurate) to blame the President, because he’s a singular figure, and because he’s the one who bragged about being the best. So every day that he fails to make a deal is another day most people see a failure of the Pres.
“Immoral” also doesn’t work well because people’s closely-held beliefs, like “right” and “wrong”, are virtually immutable. So you don’t confront those beliefs, you raise competing beliefs that you know they believe in (like fiscal responsibility, or keeping all of our government strong).
Like I pointed out before, all the “chuds” here point to this poll or that poll. Not one talks about HELPING SOLVE THE PROBLEM do they? Not a one. There you go. It is all political for the libs. Just like taking knee or screaming racism or Nazi every day.
It is all about, how can they gain an ounce of power and not do a damn thing to help the country….
Calm as all the democratic congressmen down in Puerto Rico enjoying sun this week while the rest of the country is working and doing their jobs! Many of which are not getting paid!
Where can “chuds” like us find lobbyists to pay for our lavish lifestyle like those hard working democrats? Pass the sunscreen Nancy! To be honest, Pelosi’s pad in Hawaii last week was even nicer! Nice optics for sure!
Is that what raising everyone’s taxes and doing nothing gets you? Sign me up! Did they purchase carbon credits for the fuel guzzling luxury jet?
Those dudes looks like they have thumb manipulation down pat, almost as well as the BABB boys!
Ang, little buddy, try another reply.
You can see I am very calm. I heve get worked up and hurl the racist, Nazi bilge like so many I know. I try to keep things on the up and up and just enjoy the glaring idiocy and hypocisiy that is so fertile on these pages and in liberal DC. It is like shooting ducks on a pond with Uncle Joe’s scatter gun.
Only Trump can fix it. And he’ll do it with one word. Capitulation.
Why would a Republican Senator who has rallied against socialized medicine go to country where they practice what he defines as socialized medicine to have a medical procedure?
https://nypost.com/2019/01/14/rand-paul-heading-to-canada-for-hernia-surgery/
Because He’s a Libertarian, LOL… and his neighbor is probably paying for it as a settlement to their little spat over lawn care.
Because it’s a privately run hospital.
What so you, Libs?!
https://www.wsj.com/articles/p-g-challenges-men-to-shave-their-toxic-masculinity-in-gillette-ad-11547467200
Andrew, this idiocy does not demand a diatribe at all does it?
Why are you so sensitive little buddy? You represent today’s modern liberal better than anyone I know! Congratulations. You help me understand the younger generation and the challenges the country faces.
In all seriousness, do liberals want all men to turn gay? Maybe get automatic hormone treatments so we can all be snowflakes?….I wonder what the Greatest Generation must be thinking…
We could put something in the formula of male babies or something…We could sing lullabies with anti -toxic- masculinity subliminal messages! Now grant you this is ALL DONE from the liberal perspective. I don’t know ANY conservatives buying into this nonsense, do any of you?
Oh well at least society can look forward to the younger generation’s musical contributions to the world. I was just checking the pop charts as I often do and guess what is #1?
Its ” A Boogie wit de’ Hoody!”….I am not making this up. 83 MILLION downloads…
https://sg.news.yahoo.com/ny-rapper-tops-charts-less-1-000-sales-002417838.html
And please don’t listen to this because of the foul language, use of the N word and Lord knows what else… This is sheer talent though.
I know folks like me were shortchanged and old fashioned growing up with Elvis, The Beatles, Stones, Zepplin, Motown and Hank Williams, but listen to what the snowflakes are listening to….
Hell we had to suffer through Lil’ Wayne at the National Championship halftime show….Geez Maneeze!! ( I do like some of Lil’s beats but some are just horrible. I guess he wanted to make sure he promoted the ones that sucked the other night!)
Most of us back then didn’t get Participation Trophy’s and there was a fair amount of bullying on the playground so you had to grow up quick…
You know I am the most optimistic poster on this blog. I think the US is the best country on earth by a country mile and we are on the planet at the most exciting time in history as we solve many of life’s mysteries in science and the cosmos, but there are some challenges.
I encourage folks not to sit around and DO NOTHING LIKE SO MANY advocate. Get out there and be a good role model. Get involved. Help add some sanity to what the kids are exposed to these days.
Well if nothing else if anyone of us gets laid off, there is always a songwriting gig that we can fall back on and make a bundle.
I am hoping some of the young snowflakes like Andrew can help us all understand the younger generation!
It’s hard to understand your point DTM, because your posts are like a junk drawer.
But you did say this: ” Get out there and be a good role model. Get involved. Help add some sanity to what the kids are exposed to these days.”
I think that is exactly what the ad was saying.
As long as you don’t have a beard.
Balance I think you understand them just fine! They are not too subtle.
I hope that was what is was saying! Great point Balance. Just shave. What about tattoos and piercings? Manbuns and skinny jeans too?
Great reply Ang. Limp indeed. Now there are certain blue pills you could take to help your toxic masculinity and your pitiful defense of so much liberal idiocy.
Listen, I couldn’t defend this BS either but I figured YOU of all folks would try.
When there are serious problems in the world today and we have dillweedss fretting over “toxic freaking masculinity”. Same folks say the immigration system is just great. No problems. Don’t change a thing!!
How do you deal with folks like that?
Don’t disagree them…you will be branded a racist or Nazi..
You are lying little buddy! Maybe you can use those thumbs to keep your nose from growing.
What say you, Noway?
Are you just offended by “toxic”?
The reason I linked to the story in the first place because it’s utterly ridiculous…
Ridiculous because…
Don’t pass up on the opportunity to show intellectual depth…
No Balance, the article is asburd. You show us your brilliance okay? You have done such a great job on so many other occasions!
There is nothing at all absurd about saying, We, Gillette, believe that men have a responsibility to teach and help each other, and our children, not to bully, or assault women, etc.
That’s a positive message that many need to hear, actually.
If you think that absurd, then there is something wrong with you. And I would not even entertain an anonymous Internet chat with you.
What y’all are offended by is the way it’s framed, as “toxic masculinity”. Because somehow it offends what you perceive as masculinity? Is bullying or assault part of what you consider masculine?
But, I do think the message is off. I think the message would get more mileage if it was just framed as Being the Best the Man Can Get, and talk about lines that should not be crossed. Lines that are criminal, antisocial, or disrespectful.
But just saying it’s ridiculous or absurd doesn’t show an ounce of intellectual depth that looks past the surface, and uses the intellectual rigor of a real man, and the strength of a real man to enunciate, and use words to state exactly what they think is right or wrong.
Any response should first address whether “masculinity” includes bullying and assault.
Fine, I like dollar shave club. Its pandering. Its embarrassing.
It’s embarrassing because….
This, my boy, is how I raise MY son…
Now that is some toxic masculinity!
Senate feels threatened by consequences of past poor behavior, and moves to insulate the already powerful from said consequences: https://www.ajc.com/news/state–regional-govt–politics/georgia-senate-limits-window-for-bringing-sexual-harassment-claims/xHrsi0ijDXgb9UdMba5tXP/
They learned the wrong lesson from Kavanaugh.
No the lesson from Kav is that it doesn’t matter if it true or not or even if it was 40 years ago. If you are accused of something and are a conservative, you are guilty.
If you are Bill Clinton, any Kennedy, Keith Ellison, Farrakhan or a liberal member of Congress, we have your back!
Thanks you Andrew! I wish I were as wealthy as Rush and as entertaining while he makes fun of the liberal snowflakes and socialist agenda.
You don’t know what a COMPLIMENT you have given me, Noway and others trying to keep America afloat!
I’m attaching this…again. The fact that Our Libs here can write such lengthy and seemingly soul searching tomes is genuinely sad. There is absolutely nothing wrong with masculinity. Real men don’t engage in the kind of behavior being described by Sniv and the Gang.
Please read and absorb…Seriously. Yall need this. Badly.
http://www.peggynoonan.com/tpeggy/156/
In a more humorous mindset, think of MASH, Hot Lips always secretly wanted to bone Col. Flagg but was stuck with that ninny Frank Burns! (today’s shining example of what the media says men should be!) LOL! Hell, Klinger was way more of a masculine guy than Frank ever was!
You think I was talking negativity about men being pro-active with helping out with rsising their kids? Of course not. To clarify, Real Men don’t harrass women and the other negative qualities this topic has illuminated.
So, the ad was “ridiculous” or “absurd” because…
Seems like self-importance is the depth of your intellectual and emotional rigor.
Well, certainly delusions of grandeur with statements that he is smarter than 97% of the world’s published climatologists, his professed expertise in economics, political acumen including claims of clairsentient empathy of the “lib’s” mind… However this is all leavened with an unexplained amount of acute paranoia.