The checkbook is closed

The DGA had the audacity to call me and ask for money yesterday.

If we still had landlines, the wires would have melted.

I was non-plussed, first at the sheer audacity. I wanted to ask him how he manages to walk with balls that size. I mean, they must be enormous. I live in Missouri. Chris Koster was a dream candidate…a former Republican county prosecutor and state senator who switched parties because the Missouri GOP is batshit crazy…a conservative Democrat with the endorsement of the NRA, all the ag organizations and up against a novice whose only entry on his resume was “Navy Seal who likes big gunz” – and the gun nut won even though he didn’t have the NRA’s backing?

The DGA made a hash out of 2016. The DNC made a hash out of 2016. The DSCC and DCCC made a hash out of it. All the Democratic organizations were a hot fucking mess. I wish I had every penny I donated last cycle back, because it was all just pissed away, apparently. Not one fucking candidate or cause I supported won. That is bad messaging from the people at the top, and the people at the top won’t have my money to play with any more.

The guy on the phone sounded shocked when I told him I was done, that I lived in a city that is big enough to take care of itself and its own and it does, and my efforts are here.

I don’t know exactly when the “Show Me” state became the “Show You” state, but it did. I don’t like it, and I don’t live there. I live in Kansas City.  I don’t like the people there, I resent that my taxes fix their roads, that they vote to spite me then run to the city the minute they need a really good doctor and that Medicaid picks up the bill….but they hate social programs because social programs benefit “those people” in the cities.  

I grew up with those assholes, with their casual racism, with their white privilege (“if you cain’t be better’n a n****r you cain’t be better’n nobody” – don’t you fucking dare try to tell me white trash doesn’t have their own brand of white privilege. It’s probably the most vicious and malignant form out there.)

When I say we’re big enough to take care of ourselves and our own, I mean that in 2005 we decided that our county would have universal healthcare through the UMKC/Truman Medical Centers and Children’s Mercy Hospital. When our state became a laughing stock because one of the Jesters of the Lege – who happens to be an M.D. – said about joining the rest of the country in preventing prescription drug overdoses by establishing a state database that if they want to OD and take themselves out of the genepool, it’s not his business to stop them. (I guess he forgot that “First, do no harm” part.) Anyway, our county went ahead and did it on our own.

If you are a Kansas City politician, I will host a fundraiser for you in my Coleman Highlands home.

If you’re a Jackson County politician, I will host a fundraiser for you in my Coleman Highlands home.

If you represent KC or Jackson County in the state lege, same deal.

If your name is Claire McCaskill or Emanuel Cleaver, I will crawl over broken glass for you and then host a fundraiser in my Coleman Highlands home.

Otherwise, I’m tapping out until I see competence.

Oh, Is That So?

Donald Trump's (Jewish Kapo) son-in-law owns a newspaper. In his newspaper, he published an op-ed by Austin Bay, the best reason parents have to not send their kids to the University of Texas at Austin, that is essentially urging the FBI to become the secret police and investigate any and all anti-Trump activities, protesters, vote-recount-demanders, George Soros and general malcontents of the hard left.

I guess it's a good thing this is a big house and I already have a reputation as one of "those" Catholics...I don't just warm a pew for an hour a week. If there's trouble to be made in the name of the cross, you'll find me making it. I'm a liberation theology Catholic who tried to run away from home when I was a Senior in high school to join a mission in El Salvador within six hours of the assassination of Archbishop Romero. 

I was 17 then and I'm 54 now, and I have not mellowed with age. 

I've gotten smarter and savvier and shrewder and crankier and, when the occasion calls for it, meaner.

I've gotten nastier and more impatient and less forgiving of stupidity. I've gotten bolder and brasher and braver and more outspoken, and I was born a Meyers-Briggs ENTJ. I'm the ENTJ-est ENTJ ever. I've been taking over groups since Romper Room and you ain't seen nuthin' yet.

This is a big house, four floors if you count the basement.

If the stormclouds that are gathering do not dissipate, I will hide you.

It all comes down to November

This is serious people.

Our country is at stake.

Our rights are at stake.

Everything is on the line and this is where we get put to the test. Are we the land of the free and the home of the brave, or are we the Fourth Reich?

Count Your Blessings

I used to work with another Lab scientist who was from Nigeria. Every time someone would show up with something new or talk about buying a new car or making a home improvement...you know, normal grown-up shit that costs money and you bitch about to your co-workers -- Walle would hoot and say "Oh you must be a very rich (wo)man to afford that!"

Eventually it was my turn. He did not know that I have been outside the US and the comforts of home and seen real, grinding poverty and slept under mosquito netting -- or tried to -- and Surprize! there is rebel activity in this sector after all...

When he said to me that I must be a very rich woman I turned around in the doorway (I was leaving, our shifts overlapped by an hour) and looked him in the eye and said "I am. I might be clinging to middle class by my fingernails in this country, but globally? I am very, very rich indeed." This caught him unawares...he was not expecting the whitest woman in the world to give that answer. He was silent for several seconds. The whole lab was. It was really kinda weird. Then he said "That's right. You are," and he turned and walked into the blood bank.

He never made the "rich woman" joke at my expense again. And Johnson County dumbasses that they were, even though they knew they answer that would shut him up, when he razzed them, they weren't smart enough, or more likely just couldn't bring themselves to, copy off the Liberal's paper.

Then you have me...These are just the shoes, and the rack is full. And there is a closet in another bedroom full of boots. And we aren't even going to talk about purses. Or laptop cases. Or umbrellas. I don't drive! When I get caught in the rain I do what any New Yorker i.e. normal person would do. I buy a fockin' umbrella.

You yelled to take back our country, so we are. Happy?

By @BGinKC

By the time the day was over, my voice was hoarse from phonebanking to GOTV right up to a half hour before the polls closed, and the sign-garden in my yard will stay put, because all of the people I supported in the primaries won their races.

Some damn fool challenged Emanuel Cleaver and lost by an embarrassing 60+ points, and on the Republican side, Jacob Turk just won’t stay throwed. I can tell you right now how that race will turn out… Turk 38 +/- 4  Cleaver 62 +/- 4.  On the bright side, after this loss, Turk will have enough of ‘em under his belt to turn pro.

Jason Kander and Chris Koster were a fordrawn conclusion, as was Carnahan. Everyone knew they were going to be the winners of their primary races for Senator, Governor, and Lt. Governor, respectively. The first two are statewide officeholders already, and the third is a Carnahan. Kander is an Afghanistan combat vet, and that matters outstate. He’s been running against Roy Blunt, not his primary opponents, all along. But the three that made my heart sing were the Democratic primary races for Secretary of State, Treasurer and Attorney General. All of those races were won by friends of mine. Judy Baker will make a great Treasurer, and Teresa Hensley, who is already a prosecutor of one of our ex-urban counties, will be one damn fine Attorney General. But Robin Smith, a woman of color, will protect voting rights in this state like a lioness protects her cubs.

Oh, but my children! The people I wanted to win didn’t just emerge victorious – every single Sinquefield sycophant who had an opponent lost, and lost big. You know what keeps me making $25 donations through Act Blue? The fact that he throws away over ten million bucks – to no effect – every cycle, and my puny donations usually go to winners.

Catherine Hanaway took more than $4.5 million from Sinquefield and his various political action committees and ended up finishing fourth in a four-way gubernatorial primary.

Kurt Schaefer got $3.5 million from Sinquefield and was defeated by University of Missouri law professor Josh Hawley by nearly 30 points in the attorney general primary.

Bev Randles got $2.5 million of Sinquefield donations but still lost to Mike Parson in the lieutenant governor primary.

Will Kraus, who only received $120,000 from Sinquefield, was soundly defeated by Jay Ashcroft in the race for secretary of state.

The only statewide candidate to receive significant support from Sinquefield who will be on the ballot this fall will be Eric Schmitt, who was unopposed in the Republican primary for state treasurer

You spend eleven million bucks, you kinda want to get more names on the ballot in November than one guy, who ran uncontested, and who is probably going to lose because even though he didn’t have an opponent, a lot of people didn’t bother filling in the oval by his name.

Missouri has no limits on campaign contributions, per Rex Sinquefield’s request. We used to have the toughest campaign contribution laws in the nation, but Rex didn’t like them, he wanted to write checks with lots of zeros, not just two, so the Republican state legislature happily, gleefully even, with dollar-signs in their eyes, skipped into their respective chambers and put a pricetag on politics.

Apparently this offended the folks of Missouri who work for a living, because Sinquefield money seems to be the kiss of death for statewide candidates. They do not do well. He keeps writing checks, and his candidates keep losing. This bothers me not one little bit.

Meanwhile, four blocks away in Kansas, the Earth shook under the feet of the Worst. Governor. Ever. as moderate challengers to the ultra-conservative Brownback Brigade that allowed him to drive Kansas into the ground lost to primary challengers right and left; and the worst congresscritter this side of Louie Gohmert, Tim Huelskamp, lost huge, by more than 10 points,  to political neophyte Roger Marshall, who will probably win because he is a Republican and they don’t call it the Big, Red One for nuthin.’ It sprawls over 63 counties and cows outnumber people exponentially. He won’t even face a Democrat. An Independent and a Libertarian have filed, but if there is a Democrat in Liberal, KS they are gassing up on their way to Colorado.

No matter what, the people have spoken, and they don’t like extremism or its practitioners. If Kansas in August is indicative of the way America is going to go in November, we’re not in as much trouble as some people are invested in making you believe we are.

This could be problematic...

By BGinKC

By now you have probably heard about the old prick who stepped out in the aisle and sucker-punched a protester who was being escorted out of a Donald Trump rally, probably for the crime of having dark skin. The hateful old fucker ("Greatest Generation" my ass. I can't wait until the last one falls over dead, and you can quote me on that) followed up his sucker-punch with the comment "we may have to kill him next time."

Now Donald Trump is broadcasting his intention to pay the old bastard's legal fees:

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said Sunday that he has instructed his team to look into paying the legal fees of the man who sucker punched a black protester. 

Trump said he doesn't condone violence.

 "But I want to see. The man got carried away, he was 78 years old, he obviously loves his country, and maybe he doesn't like seeing what's happening to the country," Trump said.

NBC "Meet the Press" host Chuck Todd asked him to clarify if that meant he would pay for the legal fees.

"Well, I'm going to look at it. I'm going to see, you know, what was behind this because it was a strange event," Trump said. "I've actually instructed my people to look into it, yes." 

John McGraw, 78, was arrested and charged last week with assault and battery and disorderly conduct after allegedly punching a protester in the face at a rally in North Carolina as the protester was being escorted out of the building.

Which one of his staffers will do the time, I wonder? Or will the Donald who inflamed such rancid emotion with his vulgar rhetoric serve the time?

I don't care if the son-of-a-bitch says he doesn't condone violence, he sure as hell incites it. He has said that "in the old days" protesters would "be carried out on a stretcher."

The man is a rank fascist, a racist, a misogynist, and a liar of the first order. He wouldn't know the truth if it snatched that dead weasel off his head and beat him to death with it.

He must be stopped, because if he wins the Presidency, the American experiment is over.

So Long, Facebook

It has been a long time coming, but I’m finally there.

It was great at first. It was a way to keep in touch with friends and relatives who are not in close proximity. It let me keep up with the day-to-day lives of people I care about who are scattered all over the globe.  It let me be there for my niece’s prom even though I was 500 miles away. It let me be there for the wedding of one of my bonus-kids even though I was over a thousand miles away. It let me chat with former colleagues and neighbors almost as if we still shared a backyard fence.

Then a couple of years ago I started noticing that there was a harsh and unforgiving side to the medium. I would share a meme, and no matter what I said about it, I would get attacked, or, even worse, be on the receiving end of some passive-aggressive bullshit that would make me want to reach through the screen and slap the taste out of some jerk’s mouth.

Over the weekend it happened again…I shared a meme about Colin Powell reaffirming that Hillary didn’t do anything wrong when she set up a private server, because he had followed the same protocol when he was the Secretary of State, and I made the observation that he would of course feel that way, because stating otherwise would put him in the jackpot because he did the same thing. I believe I also said something about stopped clocks being right twice a day.

If you only read the comments, specifically those of one individual, you could be forgiven for thinking I had gone completely over to the dark side and placed a Presidential Medal of Freedom around his neck my damned self. When I pointed out that I didn’t make the meme, I just shared it, well you would have thought I had zealously defended Satan himself in a courtroom at Vatican City.

That was the final straw.

Anyone interested in what I have to say can read it here. I haven’t deleted the account, because I have to be the Facebook smartass for the Washington Monthly on the weekends, but I can almost guarantee you won’t see me over there posting as myself. Besides, I got tired of pictures of food and LOL cats a long time ago.

The Nightowl Newswrap

by @BGinKC

Way to keep it classy  I'm not sure what's worse, that the NRSC would tweet that Rep. Tammy Duckworth -- who left both of her legs on the battlefield in Iraq -- "Doesn't stand for Veterans" --  or that the craven cowards deleted it.

Karma's a bitch, pt.1  A Florida woman who has been very bold on social media saying things like "my right to protect my child with my gun takes precedence over your fear of it," and posting pictures of herself with her child and her .45.  Well, guess what? Junior got hold of the gun and shot her in the back. Somehow I doubt she managed to learn a damned thing from the experience, or if she did, it was most certainly the wrong thing.

Karma's a bitch, pt.2  A group of West Virginia lawmakers celebrated passing a piece of "protect the right or morons to be morons" legislation celebrated the passage of said legislation by drinking some of the raw milk their bill protected...and they all got sick from a milk-borne pathogens. Of course, in true wingnut fashion, the wingnut who sponsored it blamed the government, saying the capitol is a den of iniquity, plague, pestilence and disease. The only problem with his hypothesis is that the raw-milk drinkers were the only ones who got sick.

This ought to be as much a death-knell for Ted Cruz as it was Hewlett Packard  Carly Fiorina is backing him. Bless her heart, she thinks he's a "constitutional conservative." Poor thing, she just doesn't even suspect that he is not a conservative, constitutional or otherwise. But especially not "constitutional."

But that's just Carly Fiorina, and she always bets on the nag Not one GOP Senator has endorsed Cruz.  That would be because they hate the SOB.

More of this, please One former Minnesota Senator and one sitting one -- Dave Durenberger (R) and Al Franken (D) -- penned a joint op-ed calling on the Senate to do their damn jobs and meet with the President's Supreme Court nominee.

So long as the violent extremist stays dead, I really don't care how many bullets took him down.  The FBI and the Oregon State Police have issued the final report on the shooting death of Lavoy Finicum and it reveals that two previously unreported shots were fired at the domestic terrorist when he was pulled over on a rural stretch of Oregon highway. Whatever. I don't care. As far as I'm concerned the FBI needs to treat white, Christian terrorists like they would Muslim extremists. Goose, gander, all that...their goals are the same: theocracy and the subjugation of women. You know what they say..."A rose by any other name..."

Laughing my ass off over here at Ammon Bundy, who is whining that jail was the hardest thing he's ever had to do. You know why I'm a free woman and able to point at him and laugh? I don't break the law, and I sure as hell don't rally up a band of morons and try to overthrow the government. It's really easy. Basically, I do nothing more strenuous than a new yoga pose; yet my liberty is just fine, my rights are still intact, I haven't been asked to quarter soldiers, although I do have extra room, and I can now take my guns (yes, I have guns) into national parks -- a right Obama gave me. I'm pretty damned vigilant about my personal liberties, and I can't think of one I've lost, but then I never espoused white supremacists, because I realized at a very young age that the idiots who did espouse such idiocy weren't superior to anyone.

I know why you're really here...and I won't let you down...so without further ado, let me announce the return of Midnight Music:

It's. Not. About. You.

Show Me Progress file photo by Michael Bersin

Let's get something out of the way right from Jump Street...I could not possibly care less about your feelings, unless I'm mocking them, and if you don't get that, what the fuck are you doing reading this blog any-damn-way?

There comes a time when we must put away childish things. This is that time and your wittle fee-fees are the childish things you either have to put away or risk being emotionally traumatized for the rest of your life, because I don't just not care about your feelings, I hold them in contempt.

When Nino Scalia shuffled off this mortal coil over the weekend, it brought into sharp, clear focus just what is at stake with this presidential election. This will be the third appointment for President Obama.

Fearful of losing their advantage on the high court, the right wing "constitutionalists" (maybe they should stop waving it in the air, break the binding and give it a read) are whining that the seat should remain vacant until the next president (they're banking on the next president being a republican) is sworn in.

Never mind that it doesn't work that way, and if they had ever read the document that they claim fealty to they would know it.  It is the role of the Senate to "advise and consent" not to "hector and obstruct," although if you only started paying attention to politics in the Obama era, you may think it's the latter, and that things have always been done this way. It isn't. In fact, it's unrecognizable to those of us old enough to have taken Civics in school.

Here's the deal...I don't give one hair on a rat's furry ass who you're supporting in the primary. I don't care if you're a Bernie Bro, so long as you're not a Hillary Hater. I also don't care if you're a Hillary backer, so long as you're not a Bernie Basher.

I am so god-damn sick of Democrats those who fall left-of-center on the political bell curve sneering at one another and vowing they will sit out the election if their candidate doesn't get the nomination. Because...Purity. Grow the fuck up. IT. ISN'T. ABOUT. YOU.

It's about the federal bench and the Supreme Court. It's about whether or not our republic is for sale to the highest bidder. It's about whether or not the public lands that belong to all of us can be exploited by private interests. It's about whether or not you will have breathable air or whether or not your local river catches on fire. It's about whether or not you can buy health insurance. It's about whether or not the women in your life have a right to reproductive healthcare and choices.

I'm not the only one who thinks so either. It's a good day when I wake up in complete agreement with Paul Krugman.

"But simply pointing to rising partisanship as the source of our crisis, while not exactly wrong, can be deeply misleading. First, decrying partisanship can make it seem as if we’re just talking about bad manners, when we’re really looking at huge differences on substance. Second, it’s really important not to engage in false symmetry: only one of our two major political parties has gone off the deep end. 

On the substantive divide between the parties: I still encounter people on the left (although never on the right) who claim that there’s no big difference between Republicans and Democrats, or at any rate “establishment” Democrats. But that’s nonsense. Even if you’re disappointed in what President Obama accomplished, he substantially raised taxes on the rich and dramatically expanded the social safety net; significantly tightened financial regulation; encouraged and oversaw a surge in renewable energy; moved forward on diplomacy with Iran. 

Any Republican would undo all of that, and move sharply in the opposite direction. If anything, the consensus among the presidential candidates seems to be that George W. Bush didn’t cut taxes on the rich nearly enough, and should have made more use of torture."

Get it yet? It isn't about you. It's about the country and the future and the world our children and grandchildren will have to navigate as adults and our place in the world and the history that is yet to be written. So vote your preference in the primary, then vote for the Democrat in November. It's that simple, and if you don't get that, so are you.

We aren't the Mississippi of the Midwest...We're the Louisiana

Are you fucking kidding me? Nope...this is the KC Star not "The Onion." Can we get rid of these republican clowns, outstaters? Oh, that's right...Roy Temple and the Missouri Democratic Party don't bother putting up candidates n those races. So we get this...we're the fucking Louisiana of the Midwest.This is what I mean when I say it's hard to be from here sometimes. 

"Lobbyists who have sex with a Missouri lawmaker or a member of a lawmaker’s staff would have to disclose it to the Missouri Ethics Commission under a bill introduced Wednesday in the Missouri House.

The bill, sponsored by Rep. Bart Korman, a Montgomery County Republican, defines sex between lobbyists and legislators as a gift. As such, sexual relations would have to be included on monthly lobbyist gift disclosure forms."

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/the-buzz/article53468660.html#storylink=cpy

Lobbyists who have sex with a Missouri lawmaker or a member of a lawmaker’s staff would have to disclose it to the Missouri Ethics Commission under a bill introduced Wednesday in the Missouri House.
The bill, sponsored by Rep. Bart Korman, a Montgomery County Republican, defines sex between lobbyists and legislators as a gift. As such, sexual relations would have to be included on monthly lobbyist gift disclosure forms.
Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/the-buzz/article53468660.html#storylink=cpy

“For purposes of subdivision (2) of this subsection, the term ‘gift’ shall include sexual relations between a registered lobbyist and a member of the general assembly or his or her staff. Relations between married persons or between persons who entered into a relationship prior to the registration of the lobbyist, the election of the member to the general assembly, or the employment of the staff person shall not be reportable under this subdivision. The reporting of sexual relations for purposes of this subdivision shall not require a dollar valuation.”

The 2016 legislative session began Wednesday with a focus on legislative ethics laws. That focus comes after a year that saw two Missouri lawmakers forced to resign over scandals involving interns.

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/the-buzz/article53468660.html#storylink=cpy

I give thanks every day for the handful of Missouri House Dems who are willing to wade into that snake pit every January. When they were in charge important shit like keeping for-profit prisons out of the state got passed. Not prurient nonsense like this.