Chatting With Fish About Water

When is something that looks like "reflexive partisanship" actually a reflection of the viewer? Ah, well. Here is James Hohmann of the WaPo, April 11:

The Daily 202: Reflexive partisanship drives polling lurch on Syria strikes

THE BIG IDEA: More Americans than ever view the news through red-colored glasses.

In 2013, when Barack Obama was president, a Washington Post-ABC News poll found that only 22 percent of Republicans supported the U.S. launching missile strikes against Syria in response to Bashar al-Assad using chemical weapons against civilians.

A new Post-ABC poll finds that 86 percent of Republicans support Donald Trump’s decision to launch strikes on Syria for the same reason. Only 11 percent are opposed.

-- Overall, a bare 51 percent majority of U.S. adults support the president’s action in our new poll. In 2013, just 30 percent supported strikes. That swing is driven primarily by GOP partisans. For context, 37 percent of Democrats back Trump’s missile strikes. In 2013, 38 percent of Democrats supported Obama’s plan. That is well within the margin of error.

Independents are split evenly, with 46 percent backing Trump’s decision and 45 percent opposing it.

Har de har, those partisan rubes on the Republican side! Joining in the merriment and self-congratulatory backslapping were Kevin Drum and Steve Benen at MSNBC. Benen:

On Syria, ‘reflexive partisanship’ doesn’t apply to both parties

And Drum:

Republicans Love Bombing, But Only When a Republican Does It

Each delivers a deep data dive by, hmm, recycling the same info presented in the WaPo. Here is Benen's thoughtful analysis of the Republican swing from 22% supporting strikes to 86%:

That’s an astounding shift in attitudes, and partisan instincts almost certainly explain the rapid change. Republican voters opposed Obama, so they had no use for his plan to attack the Assad regime, and Republican voters generally back Trump, so they support last week’s strikes.

But look a little closer at the details, and the asymmetry between the parties becomes more obvious: four years ago, 38% of Democratic voters backed Obama’s proposed strikes in Syria, and now, 37% of Democratic voters support Trump doing the same thing. In other words, there’s been effectively no change.

No change in their views even though we have a new President Democrats have vowed to resist and the Obama deal with Putin on Syria has collapsed? That's not counterintuitive and worthy of explanation?

Well, there's no attempted explanation from Benen. Meanwhile, Drum was just enjoying a Friday morning imagining the Democrats as the party of sweet reason unruffled by partisan passion so he provides nothing more.

However! I have been enjoying a Saturday morning. But before I vex anyone with tedious facts or cursory research, could I just note an obvious alternative explanation that acknowledges partisan behavior on both sides? 

Brace yourself! In 2013 and today, Dems are the antiwar party. Their raw, baseline support for military action against Syria under an unspecified leader might have been, say, 25% in 2013. Add in the fact that they trust their guy Obama and the poll number gets a 12% boost to 37%.

Republicans have more of a history of favoring military action, so let's say that in 2013 their baseline support for striking Syria might have been 40%. But they don't trust Obama to see anything through to a conclusion so they apply a 20% discount, bringing Republican support down to 20%.

Flash forward three and a half years. Assad has obviously cheated on his chemical deal, Syrian refugees are straining the EU, Russia is newly assertive and empowered in the Middle East - even Democrats will admit that maybe Obama's red-line waffling in 2013 was less than a triumph. A NY Times snippet from April 9 2017:

Even before last week’s chemical attack, many veterans of Mr. Obama’s team considered his handling of Syria his biggest failing and expressed regret that their administration did not stop a war that has left more than 400,000 dead and millions displaced.

Many of them even praised President Trump for taking the very action that Mr. Obama refused to take four years ago, by ordering a cruise missile strike against Syria. “Donald Trump has done the right thing on Syria,” Anne-Marie Slaughter, the director of policy planning in Mr. Obama’s State Department, wrote on Twitter. “Finally!! After years of useless handwringing in the face of hideous atrocities.”

Well, then. Hypothetically, maybe the now-chastened Democrats have a newfound (or newly re-discovered) respect for quick cruise missile strikes. Under an unspecified leader, maybe their support for strikes against Syria would be 50%. Put Hillary in charge and that number could rise to 60%! But she's not in charge - Trump is, so a 12% "Resist" discount brings Dem support down to 38%, as published.

Of course, I am only guessing at what support might look like if Hillary were in charge. But are Benen and Drum really arguing that nothing of consequence has changed in Syria and that, although Democrats have vowed to "Resist" Trump on everything else, on matters of war and peace they are focused calmly on the facts and remain indifferent to whether our leadership is provided by Obama, Clinton or Trump? C'mon - who else believes that?

OK, I don't. Obviously, the anti-war movement shifted quite a bit after Jan 20, 2009.

But pressing on: for the Republican side, if baseline Dems today are at 50% support for a strike on Syria then baseline Republicans ought to be higher, so let's say around 70%. But now, instead of subtracting an Obama discount of 20% we add a Trump Bump of 16%. Et voila, after adjusting for the partisan shading on each side, we get the published result of 86% Republican support. The Republican surge in support combines a shift in circumstances in Syria plus a big boost from dropping the Obama discount and adding the Trump Bump; the Dems coincidentally march in place by offsetting a grim sense of reality in Syria with a grim sense of reality in the White House. Mistaking that offsetting coincidence for non-partisan wisdom is, well, not wise. Hence the chat with fish about whether they are aware of water and know how it feels.

But hey, I am just making up numbers and I promised some cursory research. So here we go! Spoiler alert - this gets ugly. Lots of 'oopsies'.

 Back in 2013 the Syrian chemical attacks took place on Aug 21. Early reports came out a few days later and there was a week of handwringing in Washington and global capitals. The British Parliament balked, the Russians stalled UN action, and on Aug 30 Obama delivered a speech calling for military action if backed by a Congressional vote.

Believe it or not - the WaPo's James Hohmann missed this, as did his echo chamber - the WaPo polled promptly. Their results, published Sept 3, do not show "reflexive partisanship" at all. Ooops.

Q: The United States says it has determined that the Syrian government has used chemical weapons in the civil war there. Given this, do you support or oppose the United States launching missile strikes against the Syrian government?

Dems were 42/54 on the Support/Oppose line;

Reps were 43/55;

Indys were 30/66.

A week passed. Intermediate polling published Sept 9 is accompanied by this headline:

Opposition to Syria airstrikes rises as Republicans shift sharply against action

That is a precursor to the poll that actually caught James Hohmann's canny eye, which was published Sept 17 with this headline:

Poll: Americans strongly back diplomatic solution on Syria but give Obama low marks

Oh, well then - after Kerry's "unbelievably small" sales job for a military strike got booed off, Obama and Kerry worked the chemical weapons deal with Putin, the wreckage of which we see today. Here was the party breakdown several weeks in:

Dems: 38/50 Support/Oppose a military strike

Reps: 22/67

Indys: 30/64. (My goodness, do these independents read and react to the news at all?)

In any case, the "reflexive partisanship" in 2013 followed two weeks of failed salesmanship by Obama and Kerry. The anti-war President of the anti-war party could not deliver a Democratic majority so Republicans ran for cover. No kidding. Does this result really surprise Drum, Benen, Hohmann or anyone else?

Let's close with one more "Oops" moment and note that the 2017 version of the question names the President (possibly prompting partisan puffery) and surely prompts a bit more outrage and martial ardor by citing civilian targets:

Q: Do you support or oppose President Trump’s decision to launch a missile strike on a Syrian air base in retaliation for the Syrian government using chemical weapons against civilians?

Dems: 37/59 Support/Oppose

Reps: 86/11

Mods: 46/45

Contrast that with the 2013 question, where the victims are unspecified and Obama is not mentioned:

Q: The United States says it has determined that the Syrian government has used chemical weapons in the civil war there. Given this, do you support or oppose the United States launching missile strikes against the Syrian government?

To belabor the obvious - the 2017 poll did not occur after three weeks of discussion and public handwringing.

So - comparing a quick reaction 2017 poll phrased differently from a 2013 poll that followed three weeks of debate and denunciation may not be sound social science. The increase of support by independents from 30% to 46% from 2013 to 2017 might have served as a bit of a tip that something other than partisan posturing was in play, if Mr. Hohmann had remembered to publish the 2013 data point. Ooops again.

Or, Democrats Rule, Republicans Drool! People who talk about confirmation bias are just selling something, amirite?

DO enjoy the weekend. Please.

Comments

[Threadkiller]

My bet is a California based Federal Judge steps in by tomorrow to order the Auburn police to stand down from ordering the unmasking of the Antifa thugs as a violation of their Civil Rights.

Any bets?

If that happens maybe UAL low-level button-pushers can order some mall cops to code red any masked thug.

#FinePrintIsTheLaw

[Momto2]

My bet is a California based Federal Judge steps in by tomorrow to order the Auburn police to stand down from ordering the unmasking of the Antifa thugs as a violation of their Civil Rights.

Any bets?

I might bet on that, daddy. Those salt of the earth Alabama boys don't take that ##**## lying down! ( I need BOE here to agree with me. )

How many places have been targeted by these jerks? Why did it take Alabama cops to use common sense, pull off their stupid masks, and threaten to throw the in jail? Surprise! They decided they didn't want to sit in the pokey in Alabama!

IF law enforcement would do its job, 90% of this would stop. Look at how it's working with our wonderful Mr Sessions (from Alabama I might add) and immigration.

[Frau Die werden sich schon wundern]

"The Shep Factor..."

And if you catch it, see a doctor and get rid of it.

[Jim Eagle]

Slaap lekker, tot morgen. Need to rest up for discharge tomorrow and Mrs. JiB driving us back up Island to home.

[henry]

Sleep well JiB.

[narciso]

Sleep well jib

[daddy]

"The Shep Factor..."

Ughh:( I'd prefer Roger Ailes previous suggestion, made to Paula Zahn when she got fired after secret negotiations with CNN:

Ailes: "I could have put a dead raccoon on the air this year and got a better rating than last year," Ailes told the New York Times.

"The No Spin Nose-Pin Zone?"
I like it!

[narciso]

Yes whatever happened to zahn;

http://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/793953/Foreign-Aid-Theresa-May-David-Cameron-General-Election-2017

[Captain Hate]

Speaking of Ailes, how bad does it look that Rupert and his brats have jettisoned two high exposure people over thinly sourced sexual allegations without either being proven? I doubt that I'm the only person taking note of this shabby behavior.

[Gentlejim]

My bet is a California based Federal Judge steps in by tomorrow to order the Auburn police to stand down from ordering the unmasking of the Antifa thugs as a violation of their Civil Rights.

Any bets?

Posted by: daddy on IPhone7 | April 19, 2017 at 06:31 PM

I believe they'd have to find a judge from the 11th Circuit for that.

Happy to see JiB is recovering nicely.

[lyle]

666th circuit.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

Paula Zahn:

The night of the Bush vs. Gore Supreme Court decision, she and another gal whose name escapes me since she has left Fox several years ago, came out and read the DISSENT and were SO happy because they thought Trump had won. Brit Hume had to send out Steve Centani to correct them. I told my son that if I had had a heart attack he should sue Fox!

Anyway, about 6 months later, Zahn left for CNN. It was only when she appeared on CNN that I realized that the Fox make-up gals are NOT overpaid. Zahn looked 10 years older, with circles under her eyes.

Don't know what happened to her. I lost track because I don't watch CNN anymore.

[jimmyk]

A great story about a Hillary campaign screwup. She wanted a friendly interview via the usual MSM nepotism but got the wrong person.

http://www.businessinsider.com/hillary-clinton-brianna-keilar-cnn-interview-huma-abedin-2017-4

Guaranteed to bring a smile.

[narciso]

Relatively few do watch Rupert pumpkin but this cable set up has that along with MSNBC and the entrails of air America, what fresh hell!

[narciso]

Here's the rest of the story:
http://ww.nydailynews.com/entertainment/gossip/off-again-paula-zahn-again-tale-article-1.362785

[Captain Hate]

Guaranteed to bring a smile.

Especially satisfying because it involves that Palmieri witch who was such a snotty skeezer to Kellyanne Conway in defeat. Nice attention to detail, Jen; the closest you'll get to a major campaign in the future will be delivering pizzas to a regional office. Loser.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

--The night of the Bush vs. Gore Supreme Court decision, she and another gal whose name escapes me since she has left Fox several years ago, came out and read the DISSENT and were SO happy because they thought Trump had won.--

That must have been when Teh Donald was still a Dem.
Plotting with Putin even then when he wasn't even on the ballot. Impeachment now!

[narciso]

Her, two disastrous electronic communications, my theory about witch doctors seeking revenge seems more apt.

[daddy]

Here's Wendy Walsh, the latest gal to accuse Bill O'Reilly of getting even with her for refusing his proposition she alleges he made to her at some bar 4 years ago:

"That year, Walsh wrote to one of O’Reilly’s producers in mid-April, asking him for further promotional help. “Please, please, pretty please, can we do a segment on my book on the 25th???” according to an email written by Walsh and shared with the Post."

Yet the press dumps on Mike Pence for refusing to have dinner alone with a women other than his wife.

[narciso]

This is the kind of cracker jack operation that 1.2 billion dollars buys you, btim, it came out of a cracker jack box.

[lyle]

Who are you quoting @ 9:36, Ig?

[Captain Hate]

On Wednesday’s Mark Levin show, Bill O’Reilly is out at Fox News after 20 years at the news network. He became a target of the leftist media including the New York Times, CNN, and Media Matters. The same news media for the longest time was dismissive and protective of Bill Clinton’s sexual misconduct. This is we have to rely on alternative conservative outlets for informative like talk radio, websites and CRTV. Also, neither win in the Georgia and Kansas special elections boasted numbers that should make anyone in the GOP feel comfortable. Congressional leadership deserves the blame for squandering the bicameral majority the party garnered in November 2016. Instead of keeping their campaign promises, Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell were lacking in vigor and resolve and have been dragging their feet, kowtowing to the party’s liberal wing, and falling short of their campaign promises to the American people. If they continue on this path, without heeding the warning signs of a dramatically-closed margin of victory in Kansas and Jon Ossoff taking almost half the vote in Georgia, it’s worth asking if the Republican party is capable of surviving. The only way you can correct course is to accept reality, to be sober about what’s going on. Also, UC Berkeley has cancelled Ann Coulter’s appearance and speech. President Trump should federalize the California National Guard and get AG Jeff Sessions to walk Coulter on stage. It’s time to put down the violence. Enough is enough.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

Another great article on the Free Market Bull and Fearless Girl.
Check out the most popular comment. :)

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

MM @ 9:23, lyle.

[Threadkiller]

From Jimmy's 9:24:

But Clinton had actually said "Bianna," in reference to Bianna Golodryga of Yahoo News. Golodryga is married to Peter Orszag, who worked for the Clinton administration before going on to become President Barack Obama's budget director.

Another media/government partnership?

How many are we up to?

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

Ignatz,

Of course I meant BUSH had won.

I had trouble typing "Trump" when he was first elected because my fingers had been trained to type "President Bush."

Obviously, my fingers have been reprogrammed.

[Threadkiller]

I should also point out the different last name phenomenon is present.

[lyle]

Priceless best comment on that link.

[narciso]

It was a typo,

I could have sworn I've seen her on the factor quite a few times after 2013,her atty is Alred's spawn, whose catalog of category error about Sanford will be made into a film.

[Threadkiller]

CBS nightly crapola made good use of Ernst's cowardly convention. They segued into Chafed-Putz calling it quits.

The video of him saying he is done with politics should be viewed by one of the body-language pros.

#Blackmail

[Gentlejim]

Democrats and MFM = incestuous ineptitude

[daddy]

Here's a working link for Narciso's Paula Zahn story: An off-again, Paula Zahn-again tale, and in it we learn once again why Mike Pence is a genius for only having dinner with his wife.

TV news princess Paula Zahn risked everything when she surrendered to a passionate affair with Paul Fribourg, billionaire friend of her husband, Richard Cohen. But things have turned out a little differently than any of them may have expected.

Zahn found herself at the center of a summer scandal in 2007 when we revealed that the gorgeous former CNN anchor had been spilling her innermost feelings for the married Fribourg into a secret journal. Cohen was crushed when he discovered what came to be known as Zahn’s “love diary.” Friends of Cohen, who’d been married to Zahn for 20 years, branded her confessions “shocking” and “lurid.”

etc...

[Captain Hate]

Str8 from the RINO mouth, TK:

http://www.marklevinshow.com/news/jason-chaffetz-suggests-trumps-washington-is-no-home-for-ambitious-politicians/

[narciso]

And a further follow-up:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2077693/Paula-Zahns-tycoon-ex-wooing-dumping-stream-women-Match-com.html

[Maya has a tramp stamp]

Wouldn't you say that the LIBTARDS making up SHIT about TRUMP and RUSSIA and actually saying on TEEVEE that TRUMP is being investigated by the F.B.I. with ZERO MOTHERFUCKING evidence, would be.............INTERFERING with our DEMOCRACY?

[Threadkiller]

I hope they punt the fruitcake down to the bottom of the House Oversight Committee ASAP.

He has had "short timer" disease since he first pranced onto the stage.

[daddy]

Also, UC Berkeley has cancelled Ann Coulter’s appearance and speech. President Trump should federalize the California National Guard and get AG Jeff Sessions to walk Coulter on stage. It’s time to put down the violence. Enough is enough.

Thanks for that Captain. I missed it.

Berkeley cancels Ann Coulter’s visit fearing violent protests

I saw Anne back shortly before the election when she came up to give a speech in Anchorage in support of Trump. I thought she was really excellent in person and very sharp and well informed responding to questions from a packed audience. Later I was able to stand in line and have her autograph her latest book for me, and she was quite gracious and very friendly to me for our brief 45 seconds of exchanged thank you's, and "Atta-girl, Annie, keep up the good fight!"

[daddy]

Iggy, is this the comment?

Swagman • 19 hours ago
They should simply re-position the bull so as to render the stupid little girl meaningless - just flip it 180 and put a big bronze pile of BS at her feet.

[Janet 🚬]

Instead of keeping their campaign promises, Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell were lacking in vigor and resolve and have been dragging their feet, kowtowing to the party’s liberal wing, and falling short of their campaign promises to the American people.

On my 'On This Day' feature on FB, from last year -

--a quote & a comment - "Conservative intellectuals helped build the GOP’s basic modern platform—low taxes, small government, fewer regulations, toughness on crime, and traditional values—and, more deeply, helped the party craft its image as the “party of ideas,” the one whose policy goals have largely defined the American conversation since Reagan’s presidency." ~ Tevi Troy, "How GOP Intellectuals’ Feud With the Base Is Remaking U.S. Politics"

Ignatz wrote - "That paragraph encapsulates the problem and is why the divorce action was filed by the base not by the intellectualoids.
We keep hiring these brilliant idiots to implement the job description above and by the time they leave office, overall taxes are the same or higher, government is bigger, regulations have grown exponentially, now they're being talked out of the policies that brought about the massive decline in crime; and traditional values? We have conservative intellectuals like Ted Olson and Anthony Kennedy leading the charge against them.

Reagan famously said "I didn't leave the Democrat Party. It left me."
There are a whole lot of Republicans ready to say the same thing.
The Top Men can hardly be surprised, when they make so little effort to implement their supposed ideals, that;
1. A guy representing different ideals makes inroads, and;
2. Nobody listens to their pitiful pleas to just give 'em one more chance to NOT implement those ideals again.

To paraphrase Clausewitz; politics is an extension of war by other means. We're sick to death of hiring McClellens and Burnsides when what we need is a Grant and so we're doing what Lincoln did, firing the guys who won't fight. There is one certainty in war; if you won't even fight you will never win. The perception, right or wrong, is that Trump and Cruz, as Lincoln said of Grant, can't be spared; they fight!
Is that too frickin' much to ask of the generals we hire?"

Amen. --

*
*
*

President Trump is doing great...but Republicans in Congress need to get going NOW.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

Does this mean it's too late for me to buy some of that Factor Gear I've been meaning to get all these years?

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

Dat's da one, daddy-o.

[narciso]

This does illustrate a point many including rush have made, the left want no opposition, and the right seemingly think offering token obeissance will make them stop, rush, beck and no o'reilly.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

BTW, I hope this doesn't make me a beastly chump but I laughed pretty hard at that last poor little dead racoon as it relates to the birdbrain Zahn.

[narciso]

By the end bruni needed smelling salts

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2017/04/19/camile_paglia_trump_already_headed_towards_reelection_democrats_have_overplayed_their_hand.html

Yes going for doc brown, then the other ditz doesn't make sense.

[daddy]

Utah Rep. Jason Chaffetz: Voter's, give us the House so we can get things done.

Voters: OK, done.

Utah Rep. Jason Chaffetz: Voter's, we need the Senate so we can get things done.

Voters: OK, done.

Utah Rep. Jason Chaffetz: Voter's, we need the Presidency so we can get things done.

Voters: OK, done.

Utah Rep. Jason Chaffetz: I'm quitting.
----------------------------

From the Captain's link:

Here’s what we know then: Chaffetz never viewed himself as a House lifer. He came to the realization he didn’t want to be in the Senate. He would like to be governor...Chaffetz decided that the best way for him to get elected governor in three years time is to get the heck out of Washington as soon as possible.

[narciso]

She's not far wrong,

https://www.yahoo.com/news/le-pens-fn-party-calls-eu-flag-oligarchic-111730685.html

[narciso]

Just flip a coin, it will work out better:

https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2017-04-19/french-election-shocker-pollsters-baffled-by-four-way-contest

[daddy]

and the right seemingly think offering token obeissance will make them stop

That's why I am heartened with Sean Spicer ignoring certain calls for him to resign from both sides. He blew them off, kept plugging away at his job, and 48 hours later they've all shut up. Great job, Sean!

Wish Nunes had done the same, just like Newt Gingrich advised, but oh well, here we are. All the Left wants is scalps, and today, via Team Rupert, they claimed Officer O'Reilly's.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

Nytol!

[Clarice Feldman]

I think pollsters are having a bad year. Maybe the press should turn its attention toward issues, instead of these clowns.

[Clarice Feldman]

Nytol

[narciso]

I wonder how long it is before these sorts of allegations are made here:

http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2017/04/18/philippines-president-rodrigo-duterte-trump-is-a-realist-a-pragmatic-thinker

[daddy]

French Election Shocker: Pollsters Baffled by Four-Way Race

Too bad they can't sacrifice a goat and read it's entrails.

And if you'll excuse me...KayyyyyyyyRooooo.

(Momma says the bears are out, so I have to start my anti-bear hollering for the next 6 months)

[Texas Liberty Gal]

Unbelievable but not surprising....

http://dailycaller.com/2017/04/19/fbi-says-no-need-for-top-official-to-recuse-himself-from-trump-russia-probe/

[narciso]

Yes that's about right:

http://legalinsurrection.com/2017/04/heres-why-rush-survived-pressure-on-advertisers-while-oreilly-didnt/#more-209430

They had Jeffrey 'creepy' toobin, and some other tool, discussing o'reilly's departure.

[narciso]

So 24 legacy went halfway to homeland, but got lost, in its meandering way.

[lyle]

The dead raccoon pix are killin me, daddy.

[narciso]

He's not dead, he's just pining for the fjords'

http://www.weaselzippers.us/334900-pence-accused-of-xenophobia-by-fellow-alumni-notre-dame-students

[narciso]

The problem is pollsters are against restriction on immigration, for the EU, and probably piketty level confiscatory tax

[JimNorCal]

Emocrats in action.
No, really.

http://www.truthrevolt.org/news/man-dies-peacefully-upon-hearing-fake-news-trumps-impeachment
Man Dies Peacefully Upon Hearing Fake News of Trump's Impeachment
THe age-old adage "ignorance is bliss" was confirmed recently when a 75-year-old man's ex-wife lied to him on his deathbed by making up a story that President Trump had been impeached. This apparently paved the way for the man's peaceful transition into the afterlife

[Porchlight]

If the allegations are untrue, O'Reilly should sue the pants off Fox. So to speak.

[JimNorCal]

Just to confirm it's still tottering. Pres Trump, can you throw Congress onto ObamaCare? Make our dream come true!

https://mishtalk.com/2017/04/19/no-obamacare-in-most-of-iowa-and-major-portions-of-tennessee-what-happens-fallback-plans/

No Obamacare in Most of Iowa and Major Portions of Tennessee? What Happens? Fallback Plans?
Nearly the entire state of Tennessee has a single Obamacare provider. In sixteen counties, none of this year’s providers want to do business.

Mississippi, Alabama, South Carolina, Oklahoma, Alaska, and Wyoming are states where there is only a single provider for the entire state. Iowa is likely to be covered by a single provider next year. Most of North Carolina, Florida, Missouri, and Arizona are also in a single-provider situation.

[Gentlejim]

Narc,
Regarding the article at your 1059, I thought white boards were the tools of evil because they can be used to trigger so many bad feelings. I suppose that's only the case if non-progtards use them.

[caro]

Daddy, no Kimball Hotel still exists in Park City but tomorrow I will go up to the town history museum to find out where Mark Twain slept.

[narciso]

Red squaw is like that Steve martin joke from the jerk isn't she:
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/04/18/exclusive-sarah-palin-shreds-liz-warren-for-ripping-off-her-fight-like-a-girl-quote

[narciso]

Rush sometimes is unsubtle:
https://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2017/04/19/congratulations-to-pajama-boy-on-his-victory-for-the-ages/

[Dave (in MA)]

Carlson asked some Ossoff-loving twit, "where do you pick up the participation trophy?"

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

Progs use all-the-colors-of-the-rainbow boards, GJ.
White boards stubbornly refuse to acknowledge their privilege and, worse, appropriate blackness when someone writes on them.
Next thing you know they'll be wearing dreadlocks.

[narciso]

A possible explanation:

http://libertyunyielding.com/2017/04/19/iran-great-korea-carrier-caper-trump-not-idiot

[narciso]

Our dear leader noted this:

https://mobile.twitter.com/seanmdav/status/854802276988440576?p=v

Used to be only the huntress could generate such. Concentrated storefronts of crazy

[Gentlejim]

Iggy,
I think I'll have to find "Message boards for Dummies" so I can use the proper medium for displaying meaningless little sayings so as not to trigger any progs. I hope all is well for you.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

I suggest a message in a bottle, GJ.
A thick, heavy bottle, like SJWs in Berkeley use.

[Gentlejim]

I like it Iggy. The El Kabong method.

[Momto2]

Here's a bit more from the Auburn protest last night. These "protesters" don't have a clue what they are doing. Notice when challenged he looks for a way out! (Warning: language alert)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UL4bdHzVFso&feature=youtu.be

[peter]

don't worry jimnorcal@ 11:15; he'll still vote in the next election.

[daddy]

Anne Coulter throws down the gauntlet: Ann Coulter Vows to Speak at Berkeley After University Cancels Her Appearance

"Yes, it was officially banned," said the political commentator and author. "But they can't stop me. I'm an American. I have constitutional rights."

Coulter told THR that before they canceled her, Berkeley administrators insisted that she agree to a list of demands prior to her engagement, and that she accepted their terms.

"I've acceded to all their silly demands, which they thought would end it. When I said, 'yes, yes, yes,' they canceled anyway. No more clear-cut proof that taxpayer-supported universities will not allow conservative speakers," Coulter told THR.

"Meanwhile, corrupt banana republic leaders like Vicente Fox have the red carpet rolled out for them on the taxpayer's dime."

Fox, the former president of Mexico, spoke in Berkeley this week.

[daddy]

.

[Buckeye]

Hope Anne shows up at Berkeley on the back of a Bikers for Trump Harley.

Altamont Rev. 2.0.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/19/world/americas/venezuela-caracas-maduro-protests.html?smid=tw-nytimesworld&smtyp=cur

[Buckeye]

Wonder how many of the paid tax day protestors, the ones who want to look for "irregularities" in DJT's returns, are claiming the money Soros is paying them?

[Captain Hate]

You don't have to like AC or BOR to realize how badly they're both being treated.

[Buckeye]

But CH, Fox trotted Dana Perino out last night to say nice things about BOR.

[Jack is Back! (Overlooking the East River and Roosevelt Island)]

That bigly talking, body pierced momma's boy at Momto2's 1::11 video looked like he was about to shit a brick when confronted by the home boy. Priceless.

I am not one to promote violence but I thin it has become time that the left knows stifling the free expression of speech has consequences and they hurt like hell.

[Buckeye]

Jack

Hope all goes well and Mrs. JiB can spring you from the joint today.

[Jack is Back! (Overlooking the East River and Roosevelt Island)]

Foggy day on the East River today. A good day for those idiot Murdoch sons to kill the golden goose. Unbelievable.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

Janet pointed out several months ago that one of the things we CAN do is speak up. When we don't speak up, the leftists get emboldened and the result is what we are seeing now.

When we do speak up, it creates a climate where more speak up, and these jerks will begin to realize they are the minority, and a small one at that.

I don't like confrontation or calling attention to myself, but I have started calmly sticking up for Trump and his policies. Did it with a friend of mine the other day.

What we see with these Antifa people is similar to the results of Obama foreign policy. The world thought we would not react to whatever they were doing, so the bad actors did all sorts of stuff. Antifa thinks we are weak, so they keep bullying and intimidating people.

I don't like instigated violence, which is what I think happened in Berkley, but Auburn shows us that when police and the pro-Trump people stand firm and remove the Antifa masks, they pretty much are toothless.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

Today I am going down to Social Security to get my status changed. Since my divorce is final, I am entitled to divorced spouse benefits, which will increase my monthly check bigly.

This is, of course, one of those places where worlds collide, and every strange person in the city is in the waiting room with you.

My sister is going with me and when we finish we are going to the huge Indianapolis Public Library where I can now get a card since I live within the city limits.

This is one of my favorite buildings in Indianapolis. The older, front part is very grand with hardwood bookcases, chandeliers, and Egyptian temple type carvings and trim. \It has been added onto with a very modern structure with glass and arches which I am not as fond of, but going in the front door always makes me happy that they didn't tear the older structure down but instead added to it.

Here's an older shot of the front interior:

https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=Gndxmj4J&id=8835AAFB40D052D62A67EFBC508F6555E7FB41C3&thid=OIP.Gndxmj4JVeJmbmNcbIyvRgEsDH&q=Indianapolis+Public+Library&simid=608003938467384128&selectedIndex=1&ajaxhist=0

[James D]

Democrats and MFM = incestuous ineptitude

I'd love to see President Trump reseat the White House Press Corps with this in mind. Reporters who worked for a Dem or in a Dem administration in the past, or have a spouse/sibling/child currently working for one on the left side of the room. Reporters who worked for a Rep, etc on the right side.

That, and maybe have Sean Spicer identify the reporter's Democrat connection with every question he takes from them.

[Buckeye]

Today I am going down to Social Security to get my status changed. Since my divorce is final, I am entitled to divorced spouse benefits, which will increase my monthly check bigly.

This is, of course, one of those places where worlds collide, and every strange person in the city is in the waiting room with you.

My first interaction with SSA was when I was a freshman in college. Had to go downtown C'lumbus to get my SS card replaced.

Showed up first thing in the morning. When I walked in the ladies were painting their fingernails. They literally told me to sit down and STFU until they were finished.

First time it dawned on me that I was paying for this kind of treatment.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

Buckeye,

I will probably get aggravated. On the other hand, I will get to see President Donald J. Trump's picture on the wall, so there's that.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4428142/Afghan-leaders-praise-Mother-bombs-strike.html

[Jack is Back! (Overlooking the East River and Roosevelt Island)]

Buckeye,

Leaving between 10 and 1130. Will be. First time Mrs. JiB. Has driven in the City. No biggie since all we have to do is go down FDR to the QMT and head home on the LIE. I get to navigate and sit up front, seat pulled back, legs stretched out. But it is very foggy and doesn't bode well for driving on the island.

All in all it's gone really well and the hospital and staff are superb. If you need Ortho surgery of any kind, cannot recommend more highly.

[Marlene]

Good Morning! Ann Coulter told Tucker last night that is she is going to speak at Berkeley. I see that daddy posted about it @5:17. She said that the college republicans and another non-partisan organization invited her to speak. She's determined to speak. I noticed she doesn't seem to be as snarky,at least she wasn't while on with Tucker.

[Janet 🚬]

This is good - http://thedeclination.com/the-weight-of-the-world/

[Old Lurker]

So I wonder. If you subtract about 1,000 posts eliminated by Kill File, is the current 1795 posts a JOM record or not?

[Old Lurker]

So Janet. Before I go read your link, I wonder if the answer to that question is from the POV of the top turtle on the stack, or the bottom one? Is there a bottom turtle?

Oh the mind explodes.

[Buckeye]

OL

The way I look at it, the amount of troll traffic is a strong indicator of DJT effectiveness.

Libtards are clearly sweating bullets:)

[Old Lurker]

Buckeye, I kid you not. WaPo today (I know, I know subscription gets canceled at the end of May when we head up north)...had a story about a recent election that signalled the end of the Trump era. Thinking it a prewritten story assuming Jkoff would win in GA, I read it only to see that a county clerk somewhere in VA won the election which sent the headlined signal.

Who knew?

[narciso]

It turtles all the way down, ol.

[henry]

Oh boy, Ryan says Congress is close to a new Health Care bill. Oh boy.