Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

GOP baffled that ‘we don’t care if you die’ is not a winning slogan.

This country desperately needs a functioning Fourth Estate.

Republicans firmly believe having an abortion is a very personal, very private decision between a woman and J.D. Vance.

Be a traveling stable for those who can’t find room at the inn.

People are complicated. Love is not.

There’s always a light at the end of the frog.

My right to basic bodily autonomy is not on the table. that’s the new deal.

Conservatism: there are people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

In after Baud. Damn.

I know this must be bad for Joe Biden, I just don’t know how.

Dead end MAGA boomers crying about Talyor Swift being a Dem is my kind of music. Turn it up.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

“Loving your country does not mean lying about it’s history.”

We’re not going back!

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

“I never thought they’d lock HIM up,” sobbed a distraught member of the Lock Her Up Party.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

You can’t love your country only when you win.

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Reader Interactions

175Comments

  3. 3.

    amk

    Not much seems to be going on

    Oh, I don’t know. donnie dick ‘appealed’ to black voters in a ‘bold’ way today.

  4. 4.

    Mike in NC

    Dating myself but I think Second City TV used to regularly mock Gordon Lightfoot as all his songs sounded more or less the same.

  5. 5.

    BruceFromOhio

    Gaia help me, every single one of you back your shit up now. MrsFromOhio had an aging HP 6990 laptop that kept giving her crap. I picked up a lightly-used 8440 and built it with Win10, plugged in the basics and was gently nudging into moving her stuff.. too late. The damned 6990 BSOD’d out, thank Gaia the Kaspersky rescue disk was able to retrieve the goods off the dead disc, port it over to the new one. A bazillion driver installs later and the ‘new’ 8440 is ready for a shakedown cruise. The scary moment was trying to determine if two years of My Documents had gone the way of the buffalo. Fortunately the death throes didn’t claim the high-value sectors on the old disc, and it seems to all be there. We’ll see in the morning when the shakedown officially begins. Right now, bourbon. Lots of bourbon.

  10. 10.

    Schlemazel

    @efgoldman:
    Do you think the commissars have given up on Trump & that is why he brought in the actual brown shirts from Dimbart to run his campaign?

  11. 11.

    dmsilev

    @amk: Even “better”, check out what a Trump surrogate had to say about his outreach:

    KEILAR: He’s polling right now at 2 percent with African-American voters. Is that the right way to attract a voting block that obviously favors Hillary Clinton much more than him?

    JACK KINGSTON: Well first of all, our internal poll show us doing better than 2 percent, but the reality is he’s going there and he’s taking it to them. He’s giving them a proposal. He’s saying, “You know what? I’m interested, I went to Milwaukee, I’m here tonight, I want to talk to you.” And one of the things he actually said last night in North Carolina that kind of went uncovered, but he says “I don’t want to preside over another generation of children who are left out of the American dream.”

    KEILAR: I have to stop you because you said he’s going there. He’s not, he’s in Diamondale, which is 93 percent white. When he was in Milwaukee the other day, it was part of Milwaukee that wasn’t dealing — I mean he, it’s —

    KINGSTON: Well yeah, but Brianna he went —

    KEILAR: It’s almost completely white.

    KINGSTON: I mean, maybe it would have been nice if he went and had a backdrop with a burning car, but the reality is —

    KEILAR: No no no no no, I’m not talking about a burning car. I’m talking about meeting with black voters.

    First off, I assume “our internal polls show better than 2 percent” means “3 percent”. Secondly, note how Kingston equates “speak in a neighborhood where even a few black people actually live” with “had a backdrop with a burning car”.

    Edit:

    KINGSTON: Well, he met with David Clarke, who as you know is the African-American Sheriff of Milwaukee, and he’s engaged with him. And his rallies are open to the public. Last night in North Carolina, we saw a lot of African-Americans. I wasn’t sure about the crowd content tonight, but the reality is —

    KEILAR: It’s white. We checked.

    Ms. Keilar has been having quite the week with the Trump surrogates that she’s interviewed.

  12. 12.

    Emma

    @BruceFromOhio: External hard drives. One for documents, two for photos (duplicates of each other). Every two years, one drive is replaced with newer model and the old one turned to “play stuff.” Will backup again on Sunday.

  13. 13.

    the Conster, la Citoyenne

    Noticed today that the days are definitely getting shorter. Still summer hot here, but in New England, summer is clearly waning. Corn and tomatoes are next level. My teacher daughter is my back to school bellwether. I’ve always thought that September 1 should be the real New Year’s day.

  14. 14.

    Prescott Cactus

    @Mike in NC: Isn’t dating yourself in North Carolina illegal ?

    ETA: A federal judge said Friday that he will refer Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio to the U.S. Attorney’s Office to be charged with criminal contempt of court.

    The decision comes after U.S. District Judge G. Murray Snow found that Arpaio intentionally violated various orders rooted in an 8-year-old racial-profiling case.

    The ruling additionally refers Chief Deputy Jerry Sheridan, Arpaio’s former defense attorney Michele Iafrate, and Capt. Steve Bailey for criminal contempt prosecution as well.

  15. 15.

    lamh36

    Damn, I get his disappointment. Ya kinda forget that for all the big name sponsored athletes, you have those who dont’ have the endorsements, but who miss a great part of their lives dedicated to a sport they love…

    Jordan Burroughs on Olympic loss: ‘I let my family down’

    “I feel like I let my family down, my kids,” you said. “I missed a lot of important milestones in my children’s lives to pursue this sport. I didn’t see my son walk for the first time. I’ve left my wife at home with two kids for long periods of time to go to training camps, to foreign countries. She did that joyfully, not begrudgingly, because she knew on days like these I always fulfilled my end. Now I feel like I let her down. I let her down, I let my family down. This is supposed to be my year. This is supposed to be my breakthrough performance that cemented me as a legend in the sport. And it almost retracted my position in the sport. It hurts me. It hurts a lot, man. It hurts.”

  16. 16.

    Schlemazel

    @Eric:
    Smithers: Will you be donating that million dollars now, sir?
    Mr. Burns: Hmm, no I’d still prefer not.

  18. 18.

    lamh36

    Donald Trump is speaking to my white coworker, who doesn’t see the problem with the Confederate flag and spends their time watching Fox News and reading forwarded emails about conspiracy theories and wonders why”them” folks can’t just speak English…

    Hmmm

  21. 21.

    I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet

    @dmsilev: They really seem to have no idea how anyone who isn’t a middle-age, upper-middle-class, conservative “Christian”, white, male actually lives and thinks. It’s factorial echo chambers all the way down. It’s astounding.

    Thanks.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  22. 22.

    the Conster, la Citoyenne

    @dmsilev:

    Yeah, Jack Kingston whitesplainin’ to blacks how ghetto they all are and how they need Jack Kingston’s guidance in how to view Trump will definitely get the blacks to 95% voting for him. WTF over. That’s your pivot, MSM.

  23. 23.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Schlemazel: No. The reporting by Ken Vogel this evening on TV was that Manafort approached Trump last week, having gotten wind of the Politico, Fusion, and NY Times reporting that was scheduled to drop this week, and advised him to bring in more bodies at the top as a fire break to get ahead of issues. And that Manafort had expected to weather the storm. Instead once Bannon and Conway got in, Trump dropped him like a hot potato. Other reporting indicates that the push out came as the result of Jared Kushner pushing for Manafort to be dumped and Lewandowski also pushing Trump in that direction.

  25. 25.

    Adam L Silverman

    @dmsilev: Should have seen Joy Ann Reid try to deal with the (former Georgia Congressman) same guy the Trump campaign sent to be on. That was a disaster.

  26. 26.

    dmsilev

    @BruceFromOhio: Off-site backups are a good idea as well. An external hard drive on your desk or whatever will save you from dataloss from a crashed drive, but won’t help much in case of a house fire or similar disaster.

    Various ways to do it. If you’re punctual and reliable, stashing a drive at a friend’s house or a bank safe-deposit box will work; just be sure to remember to swap it with your live backup every month or so. Cloud storage is another option; there are backup services that will run continuously on your machine and hold the data in a server farm somewhere. Costs money of course, and there’s always the worry about things like data privacy (though a lot of the services will allow encryption).

  27. 27.

    lamh36

    Also, notice that the areas with flood victims that Trump visited here in Louisiana are primarily ALL WHITE! That way he can talk about his concerns, sit back and let those white flood victims, who likely already blame PBO for Katrina and everything Jindal did, disrespect PBO.

    he ain’t fooling no body

  31. 31.

    Adam L Silverman

    @I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet: Its not that they don’t understand, its that they don’t care. And Bannon not only doesn’t care, he’s got a fully articulated alternative explanation for how they live and why they shouldn’t be allowed to.

  32. 32.

    dmsilev

    @Adam L Silverman: Interesting. Wasn’t it Kushner along with Trump’s kids who advocated pushing out Lewandowski in favor of Manafort back in the more innocent days of May and June?

  35. 35.

    Schlemazel

    The Mdewakanton’s Wacipi got rained out pretty good tonight. We were really looking forward to it & tomorrow is not looking any better, rain predicted for most of the day.

    I supported the community by dropping $20 into the video poker machines, a lot less satisfying.

  38. 38.

    BruceFromOhio

    @Emma: Yes! The house server has all of the photos and music, and runs incrementals weekly. It’s about due to graduate from a 1tb to a 2tb, all the iPhones generate phat files (panoramas, video clips) that make me crazy, though “disk is cheap” has been my mantra. We’re good against all but a massive CME, as none of the laptops can ‘see’ the backup drive, and only the server knows where it is, network-wise. The laptops are supposed to point to a server-based filespace for storing good stuff, somehow the 6990 was pointing locally… bad admin, BAD ADMIN, GET OFF THE COUCH … so after the hangover dissipates tomorrow, everyone gets a health check and confirmation of settings.

    Simultaneously, the KidsFromOhio are soon to be hitting the road for long duration, perhaps for good – one to college, the other to EU. Both go with iColud and 1tb USB backups. They will operate beyond the domain of the admin, so it remains to be seen if they follow protocol. The programs and software can be replaced, its the photos, video, and documents that are the crown jewels, and cats in a handbag how quickly that shit piles up.

  39. 39.

    dmsilev

    @Tissue Thin Pseudonym: He claimed he would be so indescribably awesome as President that in four years, he’d get 95% of the African-American vote. I assume we can read this as under President Trump, elections will have all thee integrity and honesty we associate with North Korea.

  40. 40.

    Adam L Silverman

    @dmsilev: Yes, Kushner is clearly angling to be the power behind the thrown. He’s married to the favorite child and like his father in law, he’s taken what he got from his dad and built on it/expanded it. I think Trump probably looks at him as his real son.

  41. 41.

    Schlemazel

    Aw crap! comment & moderation & it is my own damn fault
    The Mdewakanton’s Wacipi got rained out pretty good tonight. We were really looking forward to it & tomorrow is not looking any better, rain predicted for most of the day.

    I supported the community by dropping $20 into the video poker machines, a lot less satisfying.

  42. 42.

    Miss Bianca

    @dmsilev: Where the hell was I reading that becoming Trump’s campaign manager was kind of like being the #3 man in Al-Quaeda?

    ETA: Or maybe it was the drummer in Spinal Tap. Or both.

  43. 43.

    Prescott Cactus

    @efgoldman: It’s been amazing close with Paul Penzone as a very decent Dem opponent. First elected in 1992 he should have been voted out long ago. Old gray & white is his power base.

    The times they are a changing.

  44. 44.

    khead

    It’s not classic Gordon Lightfoot unless you ordered the album from a TBS commercial sometime in the 70’s or 80’s.

  46. 46.

    BruceFromOhio

    @dmsilev: My sole criticism of web backups is that they are soul-crushingly slow. Totally worth the price, and so easy to set and forget, it just runs in background until you need it. Off-sites are great if you have the discipline to be punctual and follow the protocol; that one weekend you stayed at your buddy’s place to do bongs until 4am playing Halo will be the one instance the Russians loose a flaming shitball of CryptoLocker on your fortress because somebody clicked on a payloaded PDF, and all you are left with is last months’ disc… which is better than nothing, of course.

    The 6990 incident was a simple matter of a shortcut pointing to a local space, rather than the proper network space, a simple mistake that could have proved costly. Lesson learned!

  47. 47.

    dmsilev

    @Miss Bianca: I’d love to think that there will be yet another shakeup, but I sort of doubt it. This crew is coming in with the mantra of “let Trump be Trump” and the principle that the more mud the better, both of which suits Trump perfectly. The only way they could get pushed out is if the RNC instead on “professional” management, and I think the RNC is shifting into triage mode at this point. Besides, insisting on “professional” management is what got them Manafort.

  48. 48.

    Adam L Silverman

    @debbie: What he’s done is head fake. This is Bannon’s strategy. He used it with the Clinton Cash stuff. Get a hook into something mainstream and perceived to be liberal, then double down on the nasty. The former throws everyone off. What Trump was really signaling last night with the regret remarks wasn’t what most people have taken away. He followed the regret and caused pain remarks by then waving it off with, and I’m paraphrasing, “things are too important to focus on this”. That was the beginning of the double down. When he goes complete, frothing, angry white man at the debates, he’s now got his “I told you it was too important for me to speak carefully”. And his appeals to African Americans, and his descriptions of their lives and who and who doesn’t care, are straight out of how the all white and angry commenters at Breitbart and Free Republic and Gateway Pundit and National Review and all the firearms sites that have comments and report on actual news, not just which caliber size is best, and StormFront, and the Daily Stormer, etc describe African Americans, their lives, and who does and doesn’t care about them. One of the sources cited in the new Trumo TV ad that started airing today is one of John Tanton’s institutes – the Center for Immigration Studies.
    https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2015/10/09/anti-immigrant-center-immigration-studies-continues-associate-white-nationalists

  51. 51.

    Emma

    @BruceFromOhio: I learned the hard way what happens when things crash. Thank God, not me personally, but at work about twenty years ago. Also, what happens when you save once and the technology dies on you and you’re left with shelves full of fancy bookends because you were too cheap to convert on time. Memory’s cheap has been my mantra since then.

  52. 52.

    hovercraft

    @efgoldman:
    Well of course Obama’s corrupt justice department will indict. He is shielding Hillary but will indict Manaford because the system is rigged, and they want to embarrass Trump. Hillary gave Russia and the Chinese America’s secrets and she is allowed to run for president. The media is writing these negative Manafort to help her win, everyone is in on this.

  53. 53.

    dmsilev

    @BruceFromOhio: Yeah, sending several hundred gigabytes through a slow connection can be …tedious. Still, if it takes a month or two for the main backup to complete, not that big a deal long-term and the incrementals are a lot more manageable size-wise.

    I used to use Mozy until they dropped their unlimited plan (I have well north of 100 GB of photos…), and now I’m using CrashPlan and haven’t had any real complains about it. I use Time Machine (OS X’s built-in backup system) as well for a local copy.

  55. 55.

    Miss Bianca

    @khead: @Mike in NC: Hey, don’t be making too much fun of Gordon Lightfoot. I grew up a stones throw from Canada where he is revered as a god. I actually used to go to services sometimes at Mariner’s Church in Detroit, which gets a shout-out in “The Wreck of The Edmund Fitzgerald”. And he wrote one of my all time favorite songs, “The Way I Feel”.

    That being said, of course we all made fun of him, too.

  62. 62.

    divF

    @Schlemazel:

    Mdewakanton’s Wacipi

    That looked like line noise, or autocorrect gone insane. But then I Googled it and everything made sense. Including dropping $20 on video poker.

    ETA:Thanks for taking me out of moderation so quickly !

  67. 67.

    hovercraft

    @amk:
    I heard that Kellyanne Conway is an absolute star, she’s the next, James Carville, the new David Axelrod, the new Karl Rove. It is the greatest turnaround of a campaign in the history of campaigns, Trump will be tied or ahead by Labor Day. Hugh Hewitt has spoken.

  68. 68.

    Amir Khalid

    @Emma:
    if you count non-African-American voters who are offended by his racist talk, he probably is in those negative numbers.

  69. 69.

    Truegster

    Also, a holocaust denier was added to the campaign. His dad was a Bircher, his sister is Mary Kay Letourneau..I’m going to start dropping acid until this campaign ends so that shit gets back to normal.

  70. 70.

    Bruuuuce

    Gordon Lightfoot has his moments (both good and bad). He’s arguably Canada’s second-best storyteller as a singer/songwriter ever (though still light-years behind the late great Stan Rogers). “Canadian Railroad Trilogy” is an absolute classic.

    But oh, does he murder his cover of Leroy Van Dyke’s “The Auctioneer”. Just too smooth and gentle for the demands of the song, IMNSHO. (For a comparison, here’s Steve Goodman’s far superior version.)

  71. 71.

    the Conster, la Citoyenne

    @hovercraft:

    I can say this as a woman of a certain age, but Kellyanne Conway looks like she’s been ridden hard and put away wet.

  72. 72.

    Feathers

    @dmsilev: The guy earlier in the week who was going on about the weekly call with one hundred black preachers – I was betting even money on whether or not they were just feckin’ with him. “Yes, Reverend Ben Jackinhoff, a great friend to the campaign, spoke with him just last night.” A girl can dream can’t she?

  73. 73.

    Adam L Silverman

    @debbie: They worked on the Clinton Cash thing to a point. It got the NY Times imprimatur. After the mainstream print media started digging in, it got debunked pretty quickly, but it got a lot of press and did a number on Clinton’s unfavorables for about 4 to 6 weeks.

  77. 77.

    BruceFromOhio

    @the Conster, la Citoyenne: MrsFromOhio and I call it ‘horse racing weather’. Crawford, Indiana, Erie, Stoneboro, York, closes with Bloomsburg at the end of September -Pennsylvania harness racing really heats up as the season winds down – the shadows get longer, the sun sets earlier, and the mornings at the fairgrounds get cool.

    I could go crazy on a night like tonight
    When summer’s beginning to give up her fight

    Rest in peace, “Boots”, you will be missed. Crawford County will never be the same.

  82. 82.

    hovercraft

    @the Conster, la Citoyenne:
    I was born the same year as her, but damn she looks bad. Even if I do say so myself I do not look nearly that old. And I’m a fat smoker. I know I have the whole ‘black don’t crack’ thing going for me, but sheesh.

  86. 86.

    divF

    @the Conster, la Citoyenne: I looked for Ms. Conway on the web, and found that she is a board member of the Claire Booth Luce Policy Institute (“Preparing and Promoting Conservative Women Leaders”).

    Didn’t probe further, the name is enough to put me off my evening.

  87. 87.

    Woodrowfan

    @Truegster: hell, his dad was kicked out of the Birchers for being too crazy reactionary! That’s like the KKK kicking you out for being too much a racist redneck.

  90. 90.

    Adam L Silverman

    @efgoldman: She was hired because she’s the PR guru for the Mercer family. And the Mercer’s are the largest financial/equity backers of Bannon and where he’s taken Breitbart. She also ran the polling and PR for Pence’s gubernatorial run. And she’s had paid consulting contracts with all the major news networks to appear as a Republican campaign specialist/strategist. So she knows all the on air talent and is on, at least, polite terms with them.
    http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/08/donald-trump-mercers-stephen-bannon

  96. 96.

    divF

    @Adam L Silverman: Yes, she’s a pro. Slimy and detestable, but a pro nonetheless.

    ETA: Her patron, Mercer, is the Co-CEO of Renaissance Technologies, the hedge fund founded by the mathematician James Simons. Simons is a hard-core Democrat. Go figure.

  97. 97.

    hovercraft

    @efgoldman:
    I found it really odd last night when she was talking to Tweety, she kept saying that Trump never mentioned to her that she was a woman, and it didn’t occur to her that she was the first woman to run a GOP presidential campaign. Did she not know she’s a woman? Seeing as she’s been his pollster, who I assume has been telling him he has a woman problem, wouldn’t it occur to her that elevating her might help him with GOP women? She is getting a lot of compliments from the media for being a focused attack dog. It reminds me of Carly back during the primary, the media thought she was a very effective attack dog against Clinton who couldn’t be accused of being a misogynist. That worked out really well, right?

  103. 103.

    the Conster, la Citoyenne

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    She’s prevailing though, which proves she has more balls and spine than everyone out there. It’s breaking her way, but no complacency allowed.

  104. 104.

    Adam L Silverman

    @divF: The Mercers fund all sorts of nutty folks. The doctor that set up the alternate medical association out in Arizona. The PhD in Oregon who is collecting thousands of urine samples in order to develop a diagnostic to test for all diseases. Same guy thinks if we disburse small amounts of radioactive waste over people’s homes and in the water supply it will fortify their immune systems. It is amazing the crazy stuff that ultra wealthy people believe and will throw their money away on.

  107. 107.

    ruemara

    Sitting here, drinking a kava. I keep swinging from ok to depressed very fast. Sometimes this helps, sometimes it doesn’t. But I don’t want to go messing with meds now that I have my other meds about balanced. I’m wondering if the problem is a delayed reaction to a constant flow of crappy things and now that things in general aren’t so crappy my body is at super low tolerance for anything. i thought music and some non-alcoholic beverage would be a nice option than sitting at home.

  110. 110.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @ruemara: Did you have the interview today? Sometimes deflation is a response to getting through a high stress situation.

  112. 112.

    lamh36

    Alright, alright, alright…

    Today was my last day of work before a 4 day “weekend” break. I had planned that trip to LA, but that fell through (don’t ask, I’m still pissed about it. let’s just say the heart wants what the pocketbook can’t handle).

    My plan is to couch potato is for the next 4 days (well, not completely, I will have to leave the house for some stuff). Looking forward to not having wake up early for work. Also too, 4 days to clear my head and clear my mind from the past week, which have been a bit of a downer week for me…

  113. 113.

    Bess

    A couple of high capacity hard drives (not at all expensive these days) with one kept in the house and one at a different location is a great way to hang on to our files and photos.

    Use Google for one more layer of security. If you allow Google Photo to resize your photos they will store an unlimited number for free. Sure, you want have the detail need to make a highly detailed 16 x 20 inch print. But do you do that anyway? And if lightning happens to strike both locations where your hard drives are located you can still watch screen filling images, all your memories will be protected.

    Google Drive works great for storing files. Much/all of your document and spreadsheet stuff can be done on their applications and they will store that for free. Stuff like tax forms can be stored, just strip off Social Security numbers and any bank/credit card numbers before uploading.

    Nice thing is, you can get to those files from any online computer from anywhere in the world. Buy a new computer. Log in to your Gmail account. Bingo! you can start using your stuff immediately.

    Worst case, someone hacks Google and copies your Granny’s recipe for applesauce cake.

    Once in awhile update your hard drives.

  114. 114.

    Anoniminous

    @BruceFromOhio:

    Like most such things, it’s not that hard to make. Need the lab and the precursors and the liquid flows out the other end.

    There’s a documentary out on Sand and Scully.

    Which blows my mind.

  115. 115.

    workworkwork

    @BruceFromOhio: I do my work in Google Drive, then export it to DropBox when I’m ready to submit it.

    Also, I have two disk arrays with automatic backup software.

    So, yes, definitely keep your data safe, kids.

  116. 116.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Omnes Omnibus: O/T: This is part of that mens rea reform thing from the other night, just saw a reference to it on a very right wing site:
    https://www.amazon.com/Three-Felonies-Day-Target-Innocent/dp/1594035229?tag=viglink27494-20
    Three Felonies A Day: How the Feds Target the Innocent Paperback – June 7, 2011
    by Harvey Silverglate (Author), Alan M. Dershowitz (Foreword)

    The average professional in this country wakes up in the morning, goes to work, comes home, eats dinner, and then goes to sleep, unaware that he or she has likely committed several federal crimes that day. Why? The answer lies in the very nature of modern federal criminal laws, which have exploded in number but also become impossibly broad and vague. In Three Felonies a Day, Harvey A. Silverglate reveals how federal criminal laws have become dangerously disconnected from the English common law tradition and how prosecutors can pin arguable federal crimes on any one of us, for even the most seemingly innocuous behavior. The volume of federal crimes in recent decades has increased well beyond the statute books and into the morass of the Code of Federal Regulations, handing federal prosecutors an additional trove of vague and exceedingly complex and technical prohibitions to stick on their hapless targets. The dangers spelled out in Three Felonies a Day do not apply solely to “white collar criminals,” state and local politicians, and professionals. No social class or profession is safe from this troubling form of social control by the executive branch, and nothing less than the integrity of our constitutional democracy hangs in the balance.

  117. 117.

    dww44

    @efgoldman: Well, on the other side of the political divide, I am being inundated with anti-Hillary and Bill emails and the gleeful I told you so’s about the insurance company withdrawals from the health exchanges and how that’s a sure sign that the ACA was a liberal pipe dream that’s gonna go down.

    The latest email tonight from the brother that links articles from the Washington Examiner ad infinitum reports that a federal judge (a Bill Clinton appointee) has ruled that HRC must respond, in writing, to a Judicial Watch (a national treasure per another close relative) civil suit about her use of a private e-mail server. Even the liberal NY Times says that this is not good news for her political campaign.

    Being almost the lone liberal in a large extended family, or, at least the only one who pushes back against the constant onslaught of anti Democratic email, I am genuinely not sure that I can last till November. At least during the last Clinton era I was dutifully employed and much too busy to engage with all the conservatives around me.

  119. 119.

    BR

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Adam, could you send your observations about this bait and switch to Josh Marshall and others like him? I don’t want your insight to get lost in late night comments here…

  120. 120.

    Emma

    @dww44: I would have exploded already. In fact, I did. Someone said something about being happy that the ACA was failing and I said “I’m so glad you’re celebrating millions of people being sick or dying and do you plan a one-on-one confession this weekend when you go play good Christian?” Not a single peep out of this person. I’m told third hand she’s looking for a way not to invite me to her wedding. Which I would never have attended anyway, since I hate over-the-top bacchanalia and we’ve never been that close.

  121. 121.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @BR: Mayhew’s stuff from here is getting high profile notice. Adam’s stuff can get it from here as well.

  122. 122.

    Adam L Silverman

    @BR: Its not actually mine, but it echoes my thinking. Its actually Steve M’s from No More Mister Nice Blog

    http://nomoremister.blogspot.com/2016/08/trump-apology-anchor-left-pivot-right.html

    Also, I have no contact/connection with Josh Marshall or anyone at his site. Never met the guy.

    ETA: this part is my takeaway, but its influenced by commentary I saw on Joy Ann Reid’s standing in at All In last night. And Maddow is the one that highlighted the Tanton connection in the add.

  123. 123.

    hovercraft

    @amk:
    Fro the latest Monmouth poll.

    The main factor behind the current GOP nominee’s underperformance among white voters is his lack of support among white women with a college degree. Trump holds sizable leads among white men without a college degree (31 points; 56% to 25%), white men with a college degree (11 points; 45% to 34%), and white women without a college degree (17 points; 49% to 32%). These point spreads are similar to how Romney did with these groups in 2012 when he won white men without a college degree by 31 points (64% to 33%), white men with a college degree by 21 points (59% to 38%), and white women without a college degree by 20 points (59% to 39%). Among white women with a college degree, though, Trump is actually trailing Clinton by 30 points (27% to 57%). Romney narrowly won this group by 6 points in 2012 (52% to 46%).

    Many of those white women with college degrees are the republican women who are offended by him. I don’t know the percentage but even if he’s losing only 30% that’s too far below what Mitt got considering he lost.

  126. 126.

    ruemara

    Oh, I think the interview went well. It’s up my alley, so to speak. I do good talky things with translating technical to human. From legislation to social programs to animal behavior and positive training. This would be green building with a focus on lighting. I’d being charge of converting engineering to normal dude. What’s cool is I know the establishment and I can pretty much get fascinated by anything science. If this doesn’t happen, I have a much better film resume, 3 other application out in the ether and I’m considering providing social media and project management expertise on a contractual basis in the region. I’ve looked at what other vendors are doing and they all seem a bit lacking. I just can’t do much more with the constant isolation that’s part of being in this region. It compounds with the whole ” survived everything, now I can react to everything I outlasted” thing.

  127. 127.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @efgoldman: I know he only did the intro; the fact that he did the intro was a tell for me. And I know he went nuts a while ago. I bought his book Shouting Fire when it came out and found it to be unreadable anti-First Amendment claptrap from an allegedly liberal side.

  128. 128.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Omnes Omnibus: I’m not sure he was ever that tightly tethered to begin with. I met him once when I was a post-doc at UF. One of the centers my post-doc was through brought him in to give a talk, so I got introduced because I was the Fellow. And got to have breakfast and lunch with him. Smart guy, personally engaging and charming. Didn’t talk on anything too controversial – I can’t even recall the topic of his talk.

  130. 130.

    Adam L Silverman

    @BR: I appreciate that and no worries. But I can’t take credit for parts of it. I live on information overload (its kind of part of part of my job description). I basically soak up everything I can from everywhere on topics I’m tracking and then let it sort itself until I think I’ve got the right handle on it. In this case I’ve got a piece of analysis from Steve M., a piece that Maddow reported out, a piece of commentary from someone Joy Ann Reid had on last night and I’ve combined that with what I’ve observed at a variety of right wing sites in their comment threads.

  132. 132.

    amk

    @hovercraft:

    Trump also has a gender problem. Whereas Mitt Romney won more than 90% of Republican women in 2012, polls have suggested that only around 70% of Republican women are prepared to vote for Trump.

    Wonder how much percentage of republican women form out of the total electorate. 15 to 20%?

  134. 134.

    Jeffro

    Just got in a bit ago after seeing Rusted Root – everyone remember them? They were opening for Toad the Wet Sprocket, and it sure would have been nice to see them as well but RR came on late and just. kept. playing. Mrs. Fro and I had to call it a night.

    Ah well. No more shows on the horizon until early October rolls around – Descendents!!

  135. 135.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Jeffro: How very ’90s. RR are just the kind of band to go on forever. Never been a jam band fan. I would have gone to see Toad though.

  136. 136.

    dww44

    @Emma: Wow, I need your ability to push back with such gusto and succinctness . I did reply to the gleeful “Obamacare is failing” emails as in one of them my brother made specific reference to his naive sister who believes that people should have access to affordable health care. Since he had copied mostly other conservative relatives in this email, I rebutted that one, thanks in large part to Richard Mayhew’s posts about same. And argued that it was all about money, power, and pay back on the part of Aetna’s CEO. I also did ask them why conservatives and the GOP were so opposed to people in the bottom half of the economic ladder having access to affordable health insurance. Anyways, I’ve gotten no pushback of my rebuttal.

    Though I am seriously considering asking two of them, a cousin and my brother, just not to share any more of their emails. It can really have a negative impact on family relationships and I just don’t have the energy or time (it’s a lot of work to rebut with facts and links) to deal with it all anymore.

  137. 137.

    Prescott Cactus

    Oh dear, the Sheboygan Higginbotham’s or the Cleveland Higginbotham’s . .. What a coincidence !

  138. 138.

    Jeffro

    @Omnes Omnibus: There’s ‘jam’ and then there’s ‘jjjjjjaaaaaammmmmmmm’…holy cow, it just went on forever…

    Have to catch Toad some other time, that’s for sure.

  139. 139.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Jeffro: For me, the difference between ‘jam” and ‘jjjjjjaaaaaammmmmmmm’ blurs very quickly. In any case, no opening act should go on too long for people to see the headliners.

  140. 140.

    Anoniminous

    @amk:

    GOP women were ~23% and change in 2012. Obama won the women vote by 11 points getting 55% which works out to ~29% of overall vote.

  142. 142.

    Bruuuuce

    @Smiling Mortician: I like him lots. I could make a case for him at #2 instead of Lightfoot. But I am more or less unshakable in my conviction that in the particular niche of storytellers, Stan Rogers was the primo Canadian (especially given the tragically early end to his life).

  145. 145.

    Lizzy L

    I am very grateful that my brother and I see eye to eye on politics; he’s my closest relative, and it would be truly painful if he were a conservative, or supporting Trump. Instead, like me, he’s a steady Democrat, and hoping for a landslide for Clinton and that we flip the Senate. (He’d also like Joe Arpaio to lose his job. He lives in Phoenix, so….) I admire those of you who keep the communications open with RWNJ family members. Not sure I could do it.

  146. 146.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Lizzy L: I also have been lucky in that the family that I deal with on any semi-regular occasion are politically sensible – even the Bernie-curious were realists about him.

  147. 147.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Adam L Silverman: Mercer has been financing every last one of Art Robinson’s (the PhD you mentioned) runs at Peter DeFazio, who is a major advocate of transaction taxes which would deny the parasite Mercers some of their swag.

    Fuck him.

  149. 149.

    Gemina13

    Aw, man. Gordon Lightfoot was part of my childhood’s soundtrack, especially “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.” Every schoolkid in a Great Lakes state knew that song in the ’70s (I was born in Chicago). And my favorite one of Lightfoot’s is this thread’s video, “Sundown.” Nifty bit of trivia: The woman Lightfoot is singing about in this song was his girlfriend at the time, Cathy Smith, who was later convicted in the manslaughter death of John Belushi.

    The one song of his I can’t stand is “Carefree Highway”; it’s the perfect song to commit suicide to, in my opinion. I’ve driven down the actual Carefree Highway in Arizona; it’s a pretty boring stretch of road unless you like looking at scrub and cactus for miles on end. My brother used to cruise along it on his motorcycle with a good buddy of his in the late ’70s/early 80s, and told me of watching a guy cut ahead of them on a Kawasaki. Said guy overshot the spot he was aiming for in traffic, and smacked into a truck. It took his head off, and his body and bike went under the truck. My brother said he and his friend had to pull over and stay put for a few hours after seeing that. I got told that story when that song came up on the car stereo one evening just as we were driving down, you guessed it . . .

  152. 152.

    Omnes Omnibus

    Okay, Adam, in the video you posted, the model/actress shows a Parachute Badge tattoo multiple times. Why?

    /Conspiracy Theory nut (jumping out of perfectly good airplanes is really fun,)

  157. 157.

    Miss Bianca

    @Steeplejack: You might have liked the version my band The Bitter Pills came up with – only we retitled it as “The Rec Room of the Edmund Fitzgerald”. There were a lot fewer verses.

    Yes, it’s a dirge in all senses of the word. But maybe just growing up on the Great Lakes was enough to make me appreciate it.

  160. 160.

    Bruuuuce

    @Adam L Silverman: I’d go to the one open late (IIRC) in Manhattan and send it to you, but I’m still recovering from foot surgery at the beginning of July. Healing well, and almost off the home IV antibiotic infusions (the PICC line gets pulled midweek). I hope to be back at work mid-September, having missed all of summer (two hospitalizations beginning in May), At least this has taught me the importance of keeping my blood sugar under control.

    Maybe I’ll start saving for a trip to the 2017 World Science Fiction Convention, which was awarded today to San Jose, Puerto Rico. I’ve never been, and with any luck, they’ll have a better handle on their economy by then (assuming the Republican mofos in Congress don’t make life worse for the island).

  164. 164.

    Bruuuuce

    @Adam L Silverman: Thanks.

    @Omnes Omnibus: I spent many a childhood summer at a bungalow colony across from Monticello Racetrack in NY’s Catskills, and we loved to go watch practices. Yes, two gaits, two names. We only ever saw one gate, though, the motor vehicle that brought the horses up to speed. and took off.

  166. 166.

    Miss Bianca

    @Adam L Silverman: Gentleman’s choice.

    ETA: But that reminds me, I have a date with a red-headed Thoroughbred on the morrow, and a little bit of honey on the bit might be just what he needs to stop fussing about it. Have to get out early enough to get to the store…

  167. 167.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Miss Bianca: Once upon a time, I had riding lessons. I learned to walk, trot, gallop, and jump over things. Weirdly, the instructors tried to pair me with a mellow mare, I did much better on the “spirited” mare. I want to be gentle with my heels.

  168. 168.

    Miss Bianca

    @Omnes Omnibus: Mares are funny creatures – they can be a nightmare (so to speak), but they can also be wonderful. It depends on whether or not, and how well, you bond with them. Geldings tends to be a little more predictable. I like ’em big and stupid, myself. ; )

  169. 169.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Miss Bianca: When I rode, temperamental mares were my thing. It isn’t control, it’s partnership. She trusts you or she doesn’t. You let her know that you trust her and are just giving advice.

  175. 175.

    Mark

    Trivia: This song is about Cathy Smith, the girl who injected John Belushi with the fatal speedball. Gord knew she was bad news years before.

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