https://www.emptywheel.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Fridays-with-Nicole-Sandler_1500pxw1000pxh.jpg10001500emptywheelhttps://www.emptywheel.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Logo-Web.pngemptywheel2024-07-05 17:23:572024-07-05 17:23:57Fridays with Nicole Sandler
40replies
dopefish says:
Historian Timothy Snyder, author of the book “On Tyranny”, has this youtube playlist of short videos explaining the 20 lessons from his book. Lesson 1 is “Do Not Obey In Advance”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tocssf3w80
JanAnderson says:
Indeed, and #5 – Recall professional ethics is up there.
It is hard to break a rule-of-law state without (willing) lawyers. It is hard to have show trials without (willing) judges.
JanAnderson says:
Whoa, only clicked afterwards to discover TS discussing his 20 lessons.
I’ve read them but it’s good to hear him explaining them. He’s discussing them in 2021 – where did the years go? :-)
JanAnderson says:
And indeed Trump has been normalized, which means – we’ve Obeyed in Advance – that which Snyder warned about 3 yrs ago. There’s no truer proof of this today than that everyone losing their minds over Biden’s age – and not the lunatic that’s been right in front of their eyes and ears for 8 years.
I don’t whether to laugh or cry.
“If the Lord Almighty came down and said, ‘Joe, get out of the race,’ I’d get out of the race, but the Lord Almighty’s not coming down,” he said
Whattabout
Demacle’s Sword?
Biden could be a legend if he passed the sword to Kamala
Rayne says:
Not you, too. Have you not thought at all what the consequences would be?
gruntfuttock says:
The sword of Damocles is not like the Power of Greyskull.
Should I feel old?
Bay State Librul says:
I have.
Kamala becomes the first women president, she will take Roe vs Wade to all women voters, she is articulate and will nail Trump
In other words, she will energize the most important election since Abe.
Oops sorry I misspelled Damocles
ExRacerX says:
It’s the Sword of Damocles, but that sword doesn’t get passed; it hangs by a thread above our Republic, with Trump et al doing their level bests to cut that thread.
It’s an easy choice: Joe or a plunge into the abyss. It’s too late to change candidates.
earlofhuntingdon says:
No precedent or process, no easy way to allocate money Joe has to an alternative. It would unleash a maelstrom ageism, misogyny, racism, and resentment. And nominating conventions are no longer geared toward such things. It would energize Trump, who would take sole credit for it, and would be a feast for Trumpists and the press, who would allege Dems had succumbed to his fearmongering and dominance posture.
The only winners would be the media, and the consultant industry, which only knows how to sell the latest, new, improved brand of detergent.
The Democratic Party does have an age problem. The House and Senate are full of people who should have retired long ago, but resist empowering a younger generation or passing the torch to them. But replacing Biden now woudn’t fix it. It would probably make it worse.
mainsailset says:
FYI, I have tried 2x to post this on FB, both times it got removed. First time I wrote a one liner about Biden pardons and that was declared spam, 2nd time I just posted link here and that was removed as spam.
Rayne says:
If you tried to publish a comment containing an active link here I don’t see it in Pending/Spam/Trash.
mainsailset says:
No, I tried, now several times as have facebook friends to publish this interview on facebook. Every time EmptyWheel is now marked as spam and the post is rejected on facebook.
David Brooks says:
I’ve seen multiple confirmations that FB and Insta are refusing links to Democracy Docket and Democratic Underground. Not known is whether they are doing the same to RW equivalents (is Redstate still a thing?).
harpie says:
Dear Marcy,
I’d like to THANK YOU for this photo of Room with a view. #Ballinskelligs
It literally centers me each time I scroll by it in my tabs.
[And in two and a half weeks, that’s a lot of scroll bys.]
Trump is also simultaneously taking credit for Dobbs, and distancing himself from it.
Excerpt from Alex Morris’ Rolling Stone interview with VP Harris, June 11, 2024:
Morris: So you think the waffling is just political expediency? [re Trump’s attempt to appear ‘moderate’ on abortion now]
Kamala Harris: I think it’s gaslighting.
[snip]
Kamala Harris: It really does highlight that there’s so much at stake. And that there’s something perverse that has happened over the last several years in our country that suggests that the measure of the strength of a leader is based on who you beat down and not who you lift up.
It’s an informative interview that touches on a myriad of issues, complete with a call-to-action, that I hope people will read.
(1) the debate is two months from next Tuesday. Do you want JOE Biden participating in it?
(2) Do you want a story, the lead story, or the only story every day between now and the debate to be some form of: How does the president seem?
Hmmmm
Long long time
Rayne says:
Which is why it’s fucking incumbent on us to hold the media accountable for its bullshit replay of 2016. You seem very uncomfortable with doing that.
I don’t recall what you did when the media went all “But Her Emails” and “But She’s Sick.” You’d best believe your magic sparkle pony replacement candidate you’re bucking for will be subjected to that AND LAWFARE contesting their legitimacy as a candidate.
Bay State Librul says:
Holding the media
accountable is next to impossible, in my view.
Good luck to you, and as they used to say around here, The Boston Red Sox
Rayne says:
Reply to Bay State Librul
July 6, 2024 3:42 pm
So long as people continue not to do that while amplifying rightwing propaganda, yeah, next to impossible.
Krisy Gosney says:
‘Hmmmmm’. Can you put that into actual words? Say your point and defend it?
Clare Kelly says:
Replying to
ExRacerX
says:
July 6, 2024 at 9:32 am
“It’s an easy choice: Joe or a plunge into the abyss. It’s too late to change candidates.”
The abyss?
As Marcy noted in “Fridays with”, this is likely to shake out over the next few weeks, regardless.
In November, I stopped contributing to Biden/Harris 2024 over the humanitarian failure in Gaza and began petitioning my government to change course.
After *the debate* I resumed my contributions.
I don’t consider VP Harris “the abyss”.
I will continue my GOTV efforts, and I will vote for Biden/Harris, just as I would vote for Harris/Whitmer. *
Despite insistence in the press, I highly doubt my competent, pragmatic, and compassionate Governor (Newsom) would have anything to do with bypassing VP Harris.
*I’m not suggesting Joe Biden drop out of the race. Yet, the notion of two competent prosecutors running against a criminal gave me a little spring in my step when I read Julian Zelizer’s CNN opinion piece this morning:
—
“If President Joe Biden decides to withdraw from the election, Democrats need not fear — they have a ticket in front of them that can still defeat presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump.
Not only would a ticket with Kamala Harris as president and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer as her running mate have the best odds of getting the party through this moment of crisis, but also the potential to excite voters and produce a historic outcome.” https://www.cnn.com/profiles/julian-zelizer
[Clare — slow down with your comments and check your username/email fields. You’ve had two comments held up today because of typos in your email address. I’ve fixed them but your comments would post immediately without my help if typos weren’t there. /~Rayne]
Clare Kelly says:
I’m so sorry, Rayne.
Making more work for you is the last thing I wish to do.
The “abyss” comment had me all ‘up in my nightie’, as it were: A sure sign that I mos def need to slow my roll.
Thanks for all you do.
Rayne says:
Oh, I hear you. I’m chasing a Brian Stelter comment now from 2018 and I can’t even recall why, only that I’m still infuriated with it years later.
Clare Kelly says:
I really needed that laugh.
Ty
Rayne says:
Reply to Clare Kelly
July 6, 2024 6:36 pm
Ugh. Finally found a copy. Freshly furious all over again.
Women warned all along Trump was bad news. But “We are not ‘a few steps from The Handmaids Tale.‘” -___-
Clare Kelly says:
Argh.
I hope I didn’t just do it again.
It’s time to for me to unplug today.
Thanks again.
Savage Librarian says:
In the Meantime
Proud of Harris in the meantime
Proud of Harris, such a pol
Proud of Harris
She’s a winner
And she’s civil
Proud of Harris,
She’s a stunner
She won’t shrivel
Proud of Harris, she’s so cogent
She’s so cogent, she’s so clear
Proud of Harris
Why, oh why, so proud of Harris
She’s smart and perseveres
I thought the concern over Biden’s age was really more of a concern that we might, maybe, could end up with a Black Woman as President. IIRC one of the main reasons Biden became the Dem nominee in 2020 was to give the Never Trumpers and Independents and Undecideds someone to vote for because they were never going to vote for a woman or a black man or a gay man or a progressive. Has that calculus changed? It certainly sounds like Zelizer thinks so.
His thesis is predicated on the David Axelrod quote “Voters rarely seek the replica of what they have. They almost always seek the remedy, the candidate who has the personal qualities the public finds lacking in the departing executive.” What the actual fuck?
1. Zelizer and Axelrod remember the 2016 election very differently from what I remember.
2. They both are conveniently forgetting that Clinton actually won the popular vote.
3. And I thought I had a low opinion of the general voting public but seriously? These guys think that after 8 years of a competent Black man as President, the general voting public looked at the radical decision of voting for a competent woman for President and thought “Nah. We’d rather have the old white amoral ethics-free chaos monkey.” Zelizer and Axelrod think the public found those “personal qualities” lacking in Obama and Clinton and said “fuck it, we want the chaos monkey”? And if so, why wouldn’t that happen this time? Race and Gender didn’t seem to factor into the “personal qualities” that would separate Obama from Clinton, according to Axelrod and Zelizer. Why would Race and Gender be the “personal qualities” the voting public would decide needs changing in the Presidency in 2024? Trump is the polar opposite of either Biden or Harris. So if “voters rarely seek the replica of what they have”, wouldn’t the remedy be Trump, again, as prescribed by Axelrod?
Don’t get me wrong. I, too, love the idea of a Harris/Whitmer ticket. I just don’t know if that’s the world we live in right now.
bird of passage says:
Coming here is like opening a window and soaking in the fresh air.
Yes, I know that’s a cliche. It applies. Thank you all.
Clare Kelly says:
Replying to chocolateislove
July 6, 2024 at 11:21 pm
I don’t share Zelizer’s assessment that Axlerod is “brilliant”.
I believe he is referring to the antithesis of ‘Biden is old, don’t you know’ and “a Republican campaign that has revolved around strength defined by toxic masculinity.”
Clare Kelly says:
Replying to Rayne
July 6, 2024 at 7:04 pm
Reply to Clare Kelly
July 6, 2024 6:36 pm
OK. That IS a stunning Stelter Tweet.
I trust you will remind him of Dobbs and what we now know about Trump’s egregious immigration action.
Jim Jordan Publishes Intelligence Analysis of Trump’s Authoritarian T... Memory Lane: Did You Forget about the Golf? 
Historian Timothy Snyder, author of the book “On Tyranny”, has this youtube playlist of short videos explaining the 20 lessons from his book. Lesson 1 is “Do Not Obey In Advance”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tocssf3w80
Indeed, and #5 – Recall professional ethics is up there.
It is hard to break a rule-of-law state without (willing) lawyers. It is hard to have show trials without (willing) judges.
Whoa, only clicked afterwards to discover TS discussing his 20 lessons.
I’ve read them but it’s good to hear him explaining them. He’s discussing them in 2021 – where did the years go? :-)
And indeed Trump has been normalized, which means – we’ve Obeyed in Advance – that which Snyder warned about 3 yrs ago. There’s no truer proof of this today than that everyone losing their minds over Biden’s age – and not the lunatic that’s been right in front of their eyes and ears for 8 years.
I don’t whether to laugh or cry.
Thanks for linking it.
Really worth watching.
He did a new version this week as well.
From TS’ substack yesterday:
https://snyder.substack.com/p/how-to-stop-fascism
“If the Lord Almighty came down and said, ‘Joe, get out of the race,’ I’d get out of the race, but the Lord Almighty’s not coming down,” he said
Whattabout
Demacle’s Sword?
Biden could be a legend if he passed the sword to Kamala
Not you, too. Have you not thought at all what the consequences would be?
The sword of Damocles is not like the Power of Greyskull.
Should I feel old?
I have.
Kamala becomes the first women president, she will take Roe vs Wade to all women voters, she is articulate and will nail Trump
In other words, she will energize the most important election since Abe.
Oops sorry I misspelled Damocles
It’s the Sword of Damocles, but that sword doesn’t get passed; it hangs by a thread above our Republic, with Trump et al doing their level bests to cut that thread.
It’s an easy choice: Joe or a plunge into the abyss. It’s too late to change candidates.
No precedent or process, no easy way to allocate money Joe has to an alternative. It would unleash a maelstrom ageism, misogyny, racism, and resentment. And nominating conventions are no longer geared toward such things. It would energize Trump, who would take sole credit for it, and would be a feast for Trumpists and the press, who would allege Dems had succumbed to his fearmongering and dominance posture.
The only winners would be the media, and the consultant industry, which only knows how to sell the latest, new, improved brand of detergent.
The Democratic Party does have an age problem. The House and Senate are full of people who should have retired long ago, but resist empowering a younger generation or passing the torch to them. But replacing Biden now woudn’t fix it. It would probably make it worse.
FYI, I have tried 2x to post this on FB, both times it got removed. First time I wrote a one liner about Biden pardons and that was declared spam, 2nd time I just posted link here and that was removed as spam.
If you tried to publish a comment containing an active link here I don’t see it in Pending/Spam/Trash.
No, I tried, now several times as have facebook friends to publish this interview on facebook. Every time EmptyWheel is now marked as spam and the post is rejected on facebook.
I’ve seen multiple confirmations that FB and Insta are refusing links to Democracy Docket and Democratic Underground. Not known is whether they are doing the same to RW equivalents (is Redstate still a thing?).
Dear Marcy,
I’d like to THANK YOU for this photo of
Room with a view. #Ballinskelligs
It literally centers me each time I scroll by it in my tabs.
[And in two and a half weeks, that’s a lot of scroll bys.]
<3 harpie
https://bsky.app/profile/emptywheel.bsky.social/post/3kv537vzkjh2q
Jun 17, 2024 at 12:17 PM
Beautiful. If you or Marcy are ever lucky enough to come to the Moray Firth, I think you’d like it.
If my parents were alive they’d have offered you home-made shortbread and tattie scones, maybe some Cullin Skink.
And Mum’s tablet. It’s a Scottish speciality: sugar plus more sugar. Healthy, it is not!
I’m not much of a chef but, if you are ever in these parts, you are very welcome to come and visit :-)
lolNYT:
/ s
Idea h/t: https://bsky.app/profile/walmsley.bsky.social/post/3kwlhgoqzqt2y
we were so much older then, heh.
Damn entropy ;-)
Among other things, thanks for mentioning:
Amanda Marcott
Salon
July 5, 2024
https://www.salon.com/2024/07/05/project-2025-was-supposed-to-boost-donald-campaign–but-it-may-be-backfiring-instead/
Trump is also simultaneously taking credit for Dobbs, and distancing himself from it.
Excerpt from Alex Morris’ Rolling Stone interview with VP Harris, June 11, 2024:
Morris: So you think the waffling is just political expediency? [re Trump’s attempt to appear ‘moderate’ on abortion now]
Kamala Harris: I think it’s gaslighting.
[snip]
Kamala Harris: It really does highlight that there’s so much at stake. And that there’s something perverse that has happened over the last several years in our country that suggests that the measure of the strength of a leader is based on who you beat down and not who you lift up.
It’s an informative interview that touches on a myriad of issues, complete with a call-to-action, that I hope people will read.
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/kamala-harris-trump-abortion-israel-hamas-war-1235034796/
And just this morning:
https://bsky.app/profile/emptywheel.bsky.social/post/3kwm77sm2o72b
Jul 6, 2024 at 6:03 AM
Holy hell, indeed! That’s quite a screenshot.
added Rayne now has a post up about the media and more.
Thank you, harpie!
I’m still off *the socials*, including my former methadone of the WaPo comment section, because I know myself too well re the agita.
However, I do very much miss Marcy’s pithy, spot-on posts.
While I have mixed feelings about Raw Story, Sarah K. Burris covered yesterday’s Ball of Thread:
“ ‘Don’t want Trump to win’: Security expert pinpoints origin of ex-president’s victim gripe”
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-russia-2668691602/
Two vital questions that KO poses
(1) the debate is two months from next Tuesday. Do you want JOE Biden participating in it?
(2) Do you want a story, the lead story, or the only story every day between now and the debate to be some form of: How does the president seem?
Hmmmm
Long long time
Which is why it’s fucking incumbent on us to hold the media accountable for its bullshit replay of 2016. You seem very uncomfortable with doing that.
I don’t recall what you did when the media went all “But Her Emails” and “But She’s Sick.” You’d best believe your magic sparkle pony replacement candidate you’re bucking for will be subjected to that AND LAWFARE contesting their legitimacy as a candidate.
Holding the media
accountable is next to impossible, in my view.
Good luck to you, and as they used to say around here, The Boston Red Sox
Reply to Bay State Librul
July 6, 2024 3:42 pm
So long as people continue not to do that while amplifying rightwing propaganda, yeah, next to impossible.
‘Hmmmmm’. Can you put that into actual words? Say your point and defend it?
Replying to
ExRacerX
says:
July 6, 2024 at 9:32 am
“It’s an easy choice: Joe or a plunge into the abyss. It’s too late to change candidates.”
The abyss?
As Marcy noted in “Fridays with”, this is likely to shake out over the next few weeks, regardless.
In November, I stopped contributing to Biden/Harris 2024 over the humanitarian failure in Gaza and began petitioning my government to change course.
After *the debate* I resumed my contributions.
I don’t consider VP Harris “the abyss”.
I will continue my GOTV efforts, and I will vote for Biden/Harris, just as I would vote for Harris/Whitmer. *
Despite insistence in the press, I highly doubt my competent, pragmatic, and compassionate Governor (Newsom) would have anything to do with bypassing VP Harris.
*I’m not suggesting Joe Biden drop out of the race. Yet, the notion of two competent prosecutors running against a criminal gave me a little spring in my step when I read Julian Zelizer’s CNN opinion piece this morning:
—
“If President Joe Biden decides to withdraw from the election, Democrats need not fear — they have a ticket in front of them that can still defeat presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump.
Not only would a ticket with Kamala Harris as president and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer as her running mate have the best odds of getting the party through this moment of crisis, but also the potential to excite voters and produce a historic outcome.”
https://www.cnn.com/profiles/julian-zelizer
[Clare — slow down with your comments and check your username/email fields. You’ve had two comments held up today because of typos in your email address. I’ve fixed them but your comments would post immediately without my help if typos weren’t there. /~Rayne]
I’m so sorry, Rayne.
Making more work for you is the last thing I wish to do.
The “abyss” comment had me all ‘up in my nightie’, as it were: A sure sign that I mos def need to slow my roll.
Thanks for all you do.
Oh, I hear you. I’m chasing a Brian Stelter comment now from 2018 and I can’t even recall why, only that I’m still infuriated with it years later.
I really needed that laugh.
Ty
Reply to Clare Kelly
July 6, 2024 6:36 pm
Ugh. Finally found a copy. Freshly furious all over again.
Women warned all along Trump was bad news. But “We are not ‘a few steps from The Handmaids Tale.‘” -___-
Argh.
I hope I didn’t just do it again.
It’s time to for me to unplug today.
Thanks again.
In the Meantime
Proud of Harris in the meantime
Proud of Harris, such a pol
Proud of Harris
She’s a winner
And she’s civil
Proud of Harris,
She’s a stunner
She won’t shrivel
Proud of Harris, she’s so cogent
She’s so cogent, she’s so clear
Proud of Harris
Why, oh why, so proud of Harris
She’s smart and perseveres
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caExf8y_GVE
“I Love Paris – Paul Mauriat”
I thought the concern over Biden’s age was really more of a concern that we might, maybe, could end up with a Black Woman as President. IIRC one of the main reasons Biden became the Dem nominee in 2020 was to give the Never Trumpers and Independents and Undecideds someone to vote for because they were never going to vote for a woman or a black man or a gay man or a progressive. Has that calculus changed? It certainly sounds like Zelizer thinks so.
His thesis is predicated on the David Axelrod quote “Voters rarely seek the replica of what they have. They almost always seek the remedy, the candidate who has the personal qualities the public finds lacking in the departing executive.” What the actual fuck?
1. Zelizer and Axelrod remember the 2016 election very differently from what I remember.
2. They both are conveniently forgetting that Clinton actually won the popular vote.
3. And I thought I had a low opinion of the general voting public but seriously? These guys think that after 8 years of a competent Black man as President, the general voting public looked at the radical decision of voting for a competent woman for President and thought “Nah. We’d rather have the old white amoral ethics-free chaos monkey.” Zelizer and Axelrod think the public found those “personal qualities” lacking in Obama and Clinton and said “fuck it, we want the chaos monkey”? And if so, why wouldn’t that happen this time? Race and Gender didn’t seem to factor into the “personal qualities” that would separate Obama from Clinton, according to Axelrod and Zelizer. Why would Race and Gender be the “personal qualities” the voting public would decide needs changing in the Presidency in 2024? Trump is the polar opposite of either Biden or Harris. So if “voters rarely seek the replica of what they have”, wouldn’t the remedy be Trump, again, as prescribed by Axelrod?
Don’t get me wrong. I, too, love the idea of a Harris/Whitmer ticket. I just don’t know if that’s the world we live in right now.
Coming here is like opening a window and soaking in the fresh air.
Yes, I know that’s a cliche. It applies. Thank you all.
Replying to chocolateislove
July 6, 2024 at 11:21 pm
I don’t share Zelizer’s assessment that Axlerod is “brilliant”.
I believe he is referring to the antithesis of ‘Biden is old, don’t you know’ and “a Republican campaign that has revolved around strength defined by toxic masculinity.”
Replying to Rayne
July 6, 2024 at 7:04 pm
Reply to Clare Kelly
July 6, 2024 6:36 pm
OK. That IS a stunning Stelter Tweet.
I trust you will remind him of Dobbs and what we now know about Trump’s egregious immigration action.
Too funny.