Political Randomness

[Max Peck]

Various news outlets are reporting that Mitch McConnell fell down the stairs today while leaving a senate meeting.

Was Vance standing behind him?

[WYBaugh]

Various news outlets are reporting that Mitch McConnell fell down the stairs today while leaving a senate meeting.

Was Vance standing behind him?

It's the new window

[Holman]

Apparently he fell down a second time later in the afternoon. He was seen leaving the building in a wheelchair.

[Smoove_B]

[Max Peck]

Apparently he fell down a second time later in the afternoon. He was seen leaving the building in a wheelchair.

According to Reuters he first fell down in the Senate chambers, then the fall on the stairs was after that.

[Holman]

McConnell went out of his way the other day to call J6 an insurrection again.

I wonder if his conscience is getting to him because he knows doesn't have long.

[Unagi]

I wonder if his conscience

lol
yeah, right.

Oh wait, you were being serious.

[hepcat]

If so, it's too little, too late. He made this happen.

[Pyperkub]

If so, it's too little, too late. He made this happen.

It started long before he was in charge (as soon as the Cold War was over, the GOP in Newt, et al charged down this path, IMHO, disregarding any moral qualms about the quest for a power monopoly and party over country, but yeah, he did a very, very good job of ensuring this outcome.

The final straw was, of course, not whipping for the January 6th Impeachment.

[hepcat]

In my opinion (as wrong or right as it may be), I see the real turning point being McConnell's obstinate approach to government. His refusal to work with Obama and Dems on just about everything established a baseline that the far right latched onto. Then it became the norm under his tenure. And now we're here.

[Holman]

In my opinion (as wrong or right as it may be), I see the real turning point being McConnell's obstinate approach to government. His refusal to work with Obama and Dems on just about everything established a baseline that the far right latched onto. Then it became the norm under his tenure. And now we're here.

He thought he was laying the ground for permanent rule by an establishment GOP. He didn't expect that that party would be swallowed whole by MAGA fascism.

[Blackhawk]

He still provided the gun to the toddler.

[Blackhawk]

I don't know how it works in the rest of the world, but Indiana is now (likely) passing a bill to make school board members follow the partisan nomination process used for other political offices. Gotta know who has an (R) by their name on the ballot so you can make sure they're in charge! Otherwise a (D) might slip in and suggest icky things like litter boxes and sex ed via Pornhub!

[Holman]

Otherwise a (D) might slip in and suggest icky things like litter boxes and sex ed via Pornhub!

Pornhub is probably the most comprehensive and effective sex education program in human history.

[LawBeefaroni]

No idea where to put this but it has Peter Theil and SBF money, that murdered border patrol officer in Vermont, psychopathy worship....


A 'death cult' on the run: The Bay Area fringe group terrorizing America.

[Alefroth]

I'm sure vegan and transgender is all most people will see.

[Blackhawk]

"See? They regret their choices... and now they're coming for our cucumbers!"

[LawBeefaroni]

I see technocratic worship of psychopathy. For people in that crowd being transgender is just the most outwardly visible signal of commitment to a philosophy of transhumanism. Rising above gender identity as part of rising above being human. Not an effort to find their true gender identity.

[Smoove_B]

USPS faces bipartisan pushback as it ramps up consolidation efforts

So weird that shortly after Trump officially takes over, DeJoy announces his resignation:

The US postmaster general, Louis DeJoy, said on Tuesday he had asked the US Postal Service (USPS) governing board to identify his successor.

In November, DeJoy warned that the post office, which has lost more than $100bn since 2007, must continue to cut costs or will remain on the path to either a “government bailout or the end of this great organization as we know it”.

Also, remember when we were told Biden couldn't just get rid of DeJoy? Hilarious.

[Isgrimnur]

Nice precedent that Biden set. Oh, wait.

Trump says he has instructed DOJ to terminate all remaining Biden-era US attorneys

[LawBeefaroni]

Nice precedent that Biden set. Oh, wait.

Trump says he has instructed DOJ to terminate all remaining Biden-era US attorneys

"America’s Golden Age" has a really reichy ring to it.

[Zarathud]

Elon has been playing Civ.

[Holman]

Elon has been playing Civ.

Or paying someone to play it.

[Jaymann]

Elon has been playing Civ.

Or paying someone to play it.

[Smoove_B]

I was going to start a dedicated thread, but then I thought - fuck that guy.

Mitch McConnell annouces retirement

Longtime Sen. Mitch McConnell's (R-Ky.) announcement Thursday that he will not seek reelection in 2026 has set off a furious scramble for the state's first vacant Senate seat in 15 years.

...

McConnell, the longest serving Senate party leader in U.S. history, said in a floor speech that his "current term in the Senate will be my last."

"Regardless of the political storms that may wash over this chamber ... I assure our colleagues that I will depart with great hope for the endurance of the Senate as an institution," he said.

The Kentuckian made no public indication of who he may support to replace him — though his endorsement may not help in Trump's GOP.

As America crumbles (as a result of what he's absolutely been doing), he's finally cashing in his chips.

[Holman]

Fuck that guy.

He'll be dead in a year anyway.

[LordMortis]

Dead before he sees the effects of the monster he created. But at least he'll be gone. I'll join the chorus of fuck that guy. He didn't do all of the damage but he opened the gates and invited all of them to party and in spite of all of the shit he let in, as the gate keeper he remain the worst American of my lifetime IMO.

[Alefroth]

I thought he already had. Oh well, Fuck Mitch McConnell.

[Holman]

When he dies, we'll all be treated to a state funeral and a narrative of McConnell as a great American statesman.

Eventually we'll know where he's actually buried, so get your piss ready. Make it rank.

[LawBeefaroni]

He probaby got the hint when his sister-in-law got stuck in her Model X and drowned after it backed into a pond and locked. I bet he was shown the cabin camera footage. Probaby what he's seeing when he freezes up.

Not polite to wish ill on him.so I'll just shut up.

[Jaymann]

I don't think the history books (at least the ones written in other countries) will be kind to ol' turtle neck. If American democracy crumbles, he will be seen as the instigator.

[Kraken]

Yeah, Mitch recently sprouted a conscience and will surely give his MAGAt successors some stern words before he dies, but it's way too little, way too late. We have McConnell to thank for the rogue SCOTUS and for trump not being convicted. He had two chances to end trump and he declined both times. I hope he lives just long enough to watch the fascists win, because that's on him.

[LordMortis]

Multiple people on my FB feed link to a page called "Fear and Loathing: Closer to the Edge", a scathing editorial page. This one is making the rounds.

Well, well, well—if it isn’t the Grim Reaper of the Senate finally shuffling off into the abyss, his shell cracked, his soul long since pawned off for one last round of tax cuts and judicial hijackings. Mitch McConnell, America’s favorite political corpse, has finally decided to retire—not because of some grand epiphany, not because the weight of his sins finally crushed him, but because gravity and basic bodily function caught up with him first.
It’s been quite a run, Mitch. Five decades of sucking the life force out of democracy like some kind of turtle-faced Nosferatu, leeching every last drop of decency from the American political system until all that remained was a gangrenous husk of partisan hackery and corporate handouts. You were never a visionary, never a leader—just a slithering, backroom dealmaker with the charisma of a tax audit and the moral compass of a used car salesman running a Ponzi scheme out of a strip mall.
And yet, somehow, against all odds, you became the most powerful man in Washington. A political crypt keeper, embalming progress, cackling over the filibuster like some deranged museum curator protecting a pile of dinosaur bones. Your greatest achievement? Turning the Senate into a nursing home for bad ideas, where legislation goes to die and decency is left to rot in the hallway like an unclaimed corpse.
But now, after a series of public malfunctions that made Joe Biden’s verbal misfires look like Shakespearean soliloquies, you’ve decided to hang up your cloak and scythe. And not a moment too soon, Mitch. America has been watching you glitch out like a broken animatronic at Chuck E. Cheese, freezing mid-sentence at press conferences, tumbling down stairs, and getting that haunted “blue screen of death” look in your eyes every time a reporter asks if you plan to run in 2026. Spoiler alert: No, you don’t. You’ll be lucky if you make it to 2026 without turning into a cautionary tale about why we shouldn’t let octogenarians run the country.
But let’s talk about your legacy, Mitch, because that’s what really matters. What will history say about you? That you were a master strategist? A political genius? No, Mitch, history will remember you as the smirking, soulless little gremlin who sold the country down the river one judicial appointment at a time. You thought you were playing four-dimensional chess, but in the end, you were just a pawn in Donald Trump’s undersized, greasy hands—a miserable little footnote in the great tragedy of American democracy.
You could have stopped Trump. You could have buried him after January 6, when you had the chance. But instead, you did what you do best—nothing. You let the orange buffoon off the hook, muttering something about "criminal justice" handling him later, as if the court system you rigged in his favor was ever going to hold him accountable. And now look at you: retiring in disgrace while Trump rides high, surrounded by bootlickers and lunatics, reshaping the GOP into something so grotesque even Richard Nixon would be clawing at the lid of his coffin trying to escape.
You spent your whole life consolidating power, only to end up a punchline—a broken-down, malfunctioning fossil, mumbling your way through press conferences while Trump calls you “Old Crow” and mocks your wife with racist slurs. That’s the best part, Mitch: he never even respected you. You did everything for him, debased yourself, torched every bridge to reality, and he still treated you like a dented can of expired soup taking up space in his cupboard.
But hey, enjoy retirement! Maybe take up painting, like Bush. Maybe shuffle around Kentucky’s bourbon distilleries, sipping Old Crow, wondering if it was all worth it. Because here’s the thing, Mitch—history doesn’t care about "legislative genius" or "tactical brilliance" when it comes at the cost of the country. You’ll be remembered not as a mastermind, but as a political cockroach—scurrying in the dark, surviving, outlasting your enemies, but never actually winning.
So, farewell, Mitch. May your retirement be long, humiliating, and filled with endless reminders that despite all your efforts, your greatest achievement was being the guy who enabled Trump, only to be discarded like a used napkin.
Happy retirement, you withered old bastard. History will write your obituary in ink as cold as your heart.

[LordMortis]

Two books I loved and really need to remember right now to help keep me positive and grounded are Illusions and Ishmael. As I get older my memory for both these books has very much faded. The problem first is my eyes (and comprehension for that matter) don't tolerate reading books like they once did. I haven't read a book in years because of this. The problem second is that I loved both of those books so much that I gave them away for others to enjoy.

[Unagi]

Multiple people on my FB feed link to a page called "Fear and Loathing: Closer to the Edge", a scathing editorial page. This one is making the rounds.

Well, well, well—if it isn’t the Grim Reaper of the Senate finally shuffling off into the abyss, his shell cracked, his soul long since pawned off for one last round of tax cuts and judicial hijackings. Mitch McConnell, America’s favorite political corpse, has finally decided to retire—not because of some grand epiphany, not because the weight of his sins finally crushed him, but because gravity and basic bodily function caught up with him first.
It’s been quite a run, Mitch. Five decades of sucking the life force out of democracy like some kind of turtle-faced Nosferatu, leeching every last drop of decency from the American political system until all that remained was a gangrenous husk of partisan hackery and corporate handouts. You were never a visionary, never a leader—just a slithering, backroom dealmaker with the charisma of a tax audit and the moral compass of a used car salesman running a Ponzi scheme out of a strip mall.
And yet, somehow, against all odds, you became the most powerful man in Washington. A political crypt keeper, embalming progress, cackling over the filibuster like some deranged museum curator protecting a pile of dinosaur bones. Your greatest achievement? Turning the Senate into a nursing home for bad ideas, where legislation goes to die and decency is left to rot in the hallway like an unclaimed corpse.
But now, after a series of public malfunctions that made Joe Biden’s verbal misfires look like Shakespearean soliloquies, you’ve decided to hang up your cloak and scythe. And not a moment too soon, Mitch. America has been watching you glitch out like a broken animatronic at Chuck E. Cheese, freezing mid-sentence at press conferences, tumbling down stairs, and getting that haunted “blue screen of death” look in your eyes every time a reporter asks if you plan to run in 2026. Spoiler alert: No, you don’t. You’ll be lucky if you make it to 2026 without turning into a cautionary tale about why we shouldn’t let octogenarians run the country.
But let’s talk about your legacy, Mitch, because that’s what really matters. What will history say about you? That you were a master strategist? A political genius? No, Mitch, history will remember you as the smirking, soulless little gremlin who sold the country down the river one judicial appointment at a time. You thought you were playing four-dimensional chess, but in the end, you were just a pawn in Donald Trump’s undersized, greasy hands—a miserable little footnote in the great tragedy of American democracy.
You could have stopped Trump. You could have buried him after January 6, when you had the chance. But instead, you did what you do best—nothing. You let the orange buffoon off the hook, muttering something about "criminal justice" handling him later, as if the court system you rigged in his favor was ever going to hold him accountable. And now look at you: retiring in disgrace while Trump rides high, surrounded by bootlickers and lunatics, reshaping the GOP into something so grotesque even Richard Nixon would be clawing at the lid of his coffin trying to escape.
You spent your whole life consolidating power, only to end up a punchline—a broken-down, malfunctioning fossil, mumbling your way through press conferences while Trump calls you “Old Crow” and mocks your wife with racist slurs. That’s the best part, Mitch: he never even respected you. You did everything for him, debased yourself, torched every bridge to reality, and he still treated you like a dented can of expired soup taking up space in his cupboard.
But hey, enjoy retirement! Maybe take up painting, like Bush. Maybe shuffle around Kentucky’s bourbon distilleries, sipping Old Crow, wondering if it was all worth it. Because here’s the thing, Mitch—history doesn’t care about "legislative genius" or "tactical brilliance" when it comes at the cost of the country. You’ll be remembered not as a mastermind, but as a political cockroach—scurrying in the dark, surviving, outlasting your enemies, but never actually winning.
So, farewell, Mitch. May your retirement be long, humiliating, and filled with endless reminders that despite all your efforts, your greatest achievement was being the guy who enabled Trump, only to be discarded like a used napkin.
Happy retirement, you withered old bastard. History will write your obituary in ink as cold as your heart.

That felt good.

[Rumpy]

I don't think the history books (at least the ones written in other countries) will be kind to ol' turtle neck. If American democracy crumbles, he will be seen as the instigator.

Yep, exactly what I'm hoping, and I know Canadian history books tend to be rather intricate.

[Kraken]

That felt good.

Yep, nicely written.

[Daehawk]

Trump is a dumb evil orange son of a bitch and bastard.

[Kraken]

News at 11.

[Smoove_B]

Once again, Ohio:

As every Ohio schoolkid learns, the Founding Fathers convened in 1787 to create the U.S. Constitution, which lays out the fundamental governmental and political structure of the United States.

Now, 238 years later, there’s a nationwide effort – including in the Ohio legislature – to hold a second constitutional convention, with the goal of passing amendments that rein in the power of the federal government.

So far, 19 state legislatures have passed resolutions calling for such a convention, and similar legislation has been introduced in 15 additional states, including Ohio. If all 15 of those states pass the resolution, it would meet the constitutional threshold needed to convene a convention.

...

What would the convention be about?

The Convention of the States initiative, a nonpartisan group founded in 2013 by conservative attorneys Michael Farris and Mark Meckler, has spent the past 12 years pushing state legislatures to pass identically worded resolutions calling for amendments on three topics:

Term limits for members of Congress and other federal officials
Imposing “fiscal restraints on the federal government”
Limiting “the power and jurisdiction of the federal government”

The Convention of the States picked those three topics because “they’re the ones that are not going to come out of Washington, DC, plain and simple,” said Diane Telles, the organization’s communication coordinator for Ohio.

The topics are broadly worded on purpose, as it will be up to the convention delegates to decide exactly what proposed amendments they want to send to the states for ratification, Telles said.

I'm sure they wouldn't talk about anything related to Trump, so we're all good.