Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

This really is a full service blog.

Republicans choose power over democracy, every day.

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

I’m pretty sure there’s only one Jack Smith.

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

Let’s finish the job.

When do the post office & the dmv weigh in on the wuhan virus?

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

You are so fucked. Still, I wish you the best of luck.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

If you are still in the GOP, you are an extremist.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

It’s time for the GOP to dust off that post-2012 autopsy, completely ignore it, and light the party on fire again.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / GOTV – Joss Whedon/Chris Pine Style + Bonus POTUS Halloween Video

GOTV – Joss Whedon/Chris Pine Style + Bonus POTUS Halloween Video

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Joss Whedon got together with his friends again and the results are…hilariously scary.

And here is the Obamas celebrating their last Halloween at the Whitehouse in case you missed it. My two favorites were Pres. Obama singing Purple Rain and of course the Lame Duck – probably the best and ballsiest costume of the day.

Open thread.

Reader Interactions

178Comments

  1. 1.

    D58826

    Trump verbally attacks MSNBC’s Katy Tur at a rally today. Because of crowd reaction Secret Service is providing protection.

  5. 5.

    lol chikinburd

    Marquette Law poll of WI: Clinton up 6 among likelies; Feingold up only 1.

    ETA: Early voters big for D’s. Still, disconcerting Senate may be within county clerk theft range.

  6. 6.

    WereBear

    This is a heartwarming blog post about a family who said goodbye to their 22 year old cat.

    Goodbye, Dexter

    Kicker is they only had him for two years. He was about 20 when they got him.

    It’s not the quantity. It’s the quality.

  7. 7.

    Lolis

    I love the Joss Whedon video. I took my coworker to early vote last week in Texas. She hadn’t voted since 2008. She is a Latina born on the border of Mexico and the US, so I didn’t need to ask which way she voted. She was proud that she voted and sent pictures of her sticker to her family so maybe it will inspire some of them to vote as well. I’m going to find a couple other people who would not be included in a likely voter poll, and nudge them to vote.

  10. 10.

    delk

    Voted this morning for Hillary and Tammy Duckworth. Waited in line about two minutes. They hand out ‘I Voted’ paper wrist bands but I just spent a week in the hospital wearing three of them and really didn’t feel like putting one back on.

  11. 11.

    bluehill

    Still can’t believe that there’s even a small possibility that Trump could succeed Obama. Can’t make up someone that could be the exact opposite of Obama in almost every way. Hate is a powerful thing, I guess.

  15. 15.

    Corner Stone

    Talk about commercials bringing the ultimate in whiteness. These ads for the Peloton riding/exercise machine just scream privileged white people.

  17. 17.

    Hal

    MULawPoll – ‏@MULawPoll

    On Weds and Thurs, 47% favored Clinton, 36% Trump. On Fri, Trump 48%, Clinton 40%. Sat-Mon, Clinton 46%, Trump 40%. #mulawpoll
    10:32 AM – 2 Nov 2016

    So maybe a blip of damage?

  19. 19.

    ThresherK (GPad)

    @WereBear: My wife took my suggestion of Dexter Haven for the tabby over white she adopted. He’s the first cat I raised who’s lived to 10, and no end in sight after 10 1/2 years.

    Sweet story.

  20. 20.

    Corner Stone

    Chris Pine nails his portrayal of your average R congressperson.
    I especially like the reference to his base of support as voter/future employer, the guy who is an obvious arsonist.

  23. 23.

    Keith G

    @Hal: If there is any damage, it is likely indecipherable from the predicted tightening of the race. Sam Wang’s place show little change in the last few days, but there was some tightening which began about a week and a half ago.

  26. 26.

    The Moar You Know

    It’s not the quantity. It’s the quality.

    @WereBear: Can’t say it enough. I’ve had two senior animals. They both knew what I’d given them. I didn’t want their gratitude, I had plenty and they were more than welcome to share. But they were SO grateful. If you can ever give an old cat or dog a home, even if it’s for a few weeks before they die, it matters. More than anything else you’ll ever do with your life.

    And now I am crying my eyes out because I miss my old girls.

  27. 27.

    tobie

    Just saw on The Guardian website that Special Forces have entered some ISIS held neighborhoods in Mosul. Not a peep about this in the New York Times, as far as I can tell from my iphone. (Am in a cafe right now sans laptop.) Yet more evidence of the patience and competence of the Obama administration.

  29. 29.

    Jeffro

    @Keith G: What a great president and what an even better human being. I hope Superman’s parents remember to save that video too!

  30. 30.

    Mike in dc

    @tobie:
    Last I heard, Baghdadi and other senior leaders of ISIL were believed to still be in Mosul. Obviously his death or apprehension would be a really big deal.

  33. 33.

    Tilda Swinton's Bald Cap

    logo

    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

    WOMAN WHO SUED DONALD TRUMP FOR CHILD RAPE WILL APPEAR FOR THE FIRST TIME AND SPEAK OUT WITH HER NEW ATTORNEY LISA BLOOM TODAY

    Today 1500 PT

  34. 34.

    Mary G

    60 photos of Obama with kids

    Business Insider has this batch of photos, plus the best photos of Barack and Michelle and others. I looked them up to pick up my spirits, remembered he would want me to GOTV and made 10 phone calls to Florida. I am going to do some chores and errands, then work however I can from Thursday to Tuesday. No TV but the Series tonight, it makes me crazy.

  35. 35.

    NorthLeft12

    I read Digby’s post on sexism today. http://digbysblog.blogspot.ca/2016/11/sexism-what-sexism.html

    I have to admit to being more than a little flummoxed by this post. I wondered if she was being snarky or if I was being dense. Of course sexism is a huge part of this campaign. It was from the minute it became apparent that Hillary was going to be the Dem candidate for President. For many men, and a lot of women too, a woman is always their second pick for a leadership role. The fact is that due to Deadbeat Donald and his deplorable followers, the sexism has been even more overt than anyone could have predicted. And this has been reported on a regular basis. The open and ongoing denigration of women, in general and specifically, by Trump and his family, staff, and followers has been steadily driving most women and a lot of men away or ensuring they stayed firmly in Hillary’s camp.
    I think you could make a much better case that the Trump campaign’s open hostility to Muslims and their “platform”/ideas to deal with them got incredibly short shrift and in the end will cost him very little while encouraging a large number of people to support him.

  37. 37.

    Patricia Kayden

    @D58826: So stupid question but why doesn’t the media boycott Trump for making threats against the press? It’s as if he can insult and threaten them and get away with it. In fact, many of them pander to him and follow his ever fart and burp religiously.

  38. 38.

    opiejeanne

    @WereBear: It must be a little dusty in here. Thank you for posting that. He looks like two different cats entirely, from his first day to the later photos, and certainly doesn’t look 20 at that point.

  39. 39.

    JMG

    Just finished making 20 calls to Ohio. Three people answered who’d already early voted for Clinton, 15 not homes, one wrong number, one disconnected. It’s like fishing, you hear a voice after all the answering machines and it’s exciting, even if they can’t to tell you, yes, I voted, please go away.
    PS: fivethirtyeight is getting weird. Thee polls showing Clinton leading by 4, 4, and 2 in Pennsylvania and a poll showing her leading in Florida and her win percentage goes down.

  42. 42.

    Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class

    @Patricia Kayden:

    Same reason why Ernie Pyle and Walter Cronkite were war correspondents, why Murrow covered the Blitz, why Shirer hung around in Berlin when it became genuinely dangerous for him to remain – courage, and a nose for the story.

    Shame that the courage of the reporting winds up twisted later by the hack talking heads.

  45. 45.

    hovercraft

    @glory b:
    That cracked me up too. Love both of those videos. POTUS is like a big kid having the time of his life. Look at this one Michelle, look at the cool plane.
    I can’t picture the orange shitgibbon interacting with kids like that.

  50. 50.

    Feathers

    @schrodinger’s cat: Isn’t it funny how people seem to keep writing essays about why are there no sympathetic articles, ignoring the fact that many, many reporters have gone out to write articles about Trump supporters, and do seem to have some empathy for them, but the supporters themselves always seem to turn out to be complete and utter racist, misogynist assholes. That’s the real problem. Josh Marshall just kept linking to the Onion classic: Why Do All These Homosexuals Keep …. (truncated to avoid filters). The problem isn’t the lack of sympathy, the problem is the voters themselves, duncehead.

  53. 53.

    GrandJury

    @lol chikinburd: I have learned to ignore all that early voting exit poll bull crap. Very unreliable. I think they made it look bad for Obama in 2012 and good for Dems in 2014 and we all know how that turned out.

  55. 55.

    hovercraft

    @schrodinger’s cat:
    But they keep telling us to be sympathetic to their plight. Do you for a moment think that if our positions were reversed, (polls showing a shitgibbon victory), there would be stories telling Attilla’s hordes to be gentle with us? Or would they be telling us that America has spoken and decided to go in a different direction, and we should get on board or shut up. The policy proscriptions of the left benefit all of us and yet we are supposed to act as if their trickle down nonsense makes sense, f**kem.

  56. 56.

    The Moar You Know

    Empathy for Trump voters.

    @Tilda Swinton’s Bald Cap: Fucking unreal. The prize:

    What Hochschild discovered, and then wrote about in her book, “Strangers in Their Own Land” — a National Book Award finalist this year — is that neither side makes an effort to understand the other, but especially progressives, she said.

    Oh yeah. WE don’t try hard enough? Fuck this idiot and her stupid-ass book. I tried understanding these people for years. And I succeeded, I do understand them very well. They are driven by fear, hate and rage and almost all of them, if subjected to an impartial psychiatric exam, would be proscribed treatment for anger and depression. Which they would never take, because they’d rather be angry than face the absolute catastrophic mess that most of their lives are.

    ETA: not possible to have empathy for people who have expressed publicly that it’d be a great idea for me and those like me to be put in a cattle car and gassed/shot/burned alive. You don’t hear that shit from progressives, awful as some of them can be. You just don’t.

  57. 57.

    WereBear

    @schrodinger’s cat: I am tired of reading the nth story about Trump voters, where n—>infinity.

    I was discussing this issue with Mr WereBear, about the very informative article front-paged the other day, and how I bought the book referenced in it (Inside the Sacrifice Zone.) We discussed the whys and wherefores a bit before I said, “But you know what? At the end of the day, they are wrong. I can’t get past that.”

  58. 58.

    Kropadope

    @Major Major Major Major:

    Everybody Knows there are no Clinton supporters, only people disgusted enough by Trump to vote for the lying bitch.

    You mean illegal immigrants voting 5000 times each.

    @hovercraft:

    Trump Tells Florida Voters He Wants Them To Pretend He’s Down In The Polls,

    Seems redundant.

  59. 59.

    Aleta

    Despite the horror, today I’ve felt happy that so many print journalists are writing hard about how FBI actions threaten democracy instead of protect it. Some things I didn’t know, from a piece by Adam Serwer at Atlantic.

    One of Woodward’s key sources for Watergate stories was W. Mark Felt, a.k.a Deep Throat, the number two official at the Federal Bureau of Investigation who had been passed over for the top role after J. Edgar Hoover’s death. The job went instead to a hapless Nixon crony, L. Patrick Gray III, who later resigned after admitting to destroying documents related to the break-in.

    Many in the Bureau took Nixon’s decision personally, according to Timothy Weiner’s Enemies: A History of the FBI, objecting that “Felt was Hoover’s rightful heir.”

    “It hurt all of us deeply,” Charles Bolz, the former chief of the FBI’s accounting and fraud division told Weiner. “Felt was the one that would have been the Director’s first pick. But the Director died. And Mark Felt should have moved up right there and then. And that’s what got him into the act. He was going to find out what was going on in there. And, boy, he really did.”

    The Watergate Scandal is the story of political corruption at the highest levels of the American government, and of the journalistic crusade that brought it to light. But it’s also a story of bureaucratic revenge, of what happens when the most powerful political leaders in the country antagonize officials in its premiere domestic intelligence agency. The latter part of the story is typically elided in retellings, precisely because of its disturbing implication that Nixon’s corrupt presidency might have survived had he read the politics of the FBI better.

    FBI Director James Comey’s decision … and the subsequent leaks from Bureau sources … do more than threaten the Bureau’s reputation. They threaten American democracy as much as any of Trump’s authoritarian proposals.

    Felt has gone down in history as an idealist lawman radicalized by Nixon’s lawlessness rather than a disgruntled federal official, but it’s possible he was simply both. Felt joined the FBI in 1942, and so was present for the Bureau’s worst illegal excesses …. None of this bothered Felt––he considered Hoover a hero, even defending the FBI Director’s decision to spy on and attempt to blackmail Martin Luther King Jr. with the details of King’s extramarital affairs.

    It’s no coincidence that several of the men who engineered the break-in were former Hoover-era FBI agents––they had the necessary experience in black bag jobs. “You are either going to have an FBI that tries to stop violence before it happens or you are not,” Felt told Face the Nation in 1976, defending his authorization of warrantless break-ins against the Weather Underground. “I don’t say it’s not legal, I say it’s extra-legal,” he explained.

    Two years later, Felt and his deputy Ed Miller were under indictment for their involvement in “extra-legal” actions, swept up the post-Watergate and post-Vietnam backlash against unrestrained executive power. He was later pardoned, along with the Watergate burglars, by President Ronald Reagan, who argued that “America was at war in 1972.” Although the Vietnam War would rage until 1975, as Weiner notes, “the FBI’s targets were not agents of foreign powers.” The pardon was warranted simply on the grounds that Felt had described in 1976: The FBI was trying to protect the country, and so anything it did was justified.

    The backlash against Nixon’s lawlessness helped lead to new and crucial restraints on the powers of the federal agencies charged with national security. But in recent years, technological advances, political shifts and the popular reaction to transnational Islamist terrorism have rendered many of those restraints obsolete.

  60. 60.

    Patricia Kayden

    @bluehill: Could but won’t. I’m confident that Secretary Clinton has the electoral vote wrapped up. It’s now a question as to whether she’ll get a Senate which is Democratically controlled.

  61. 61.

    Elmo

    @The Moar You Know: My wife picked up a decrepit, partially paralyzed, ancient geriatric hound she found on the side of the road a few years back. The poor animal was half-starved, incredibly filthy, and had fouled his own hindquarters because his rear legs did not work properly. Nearly all of his teeth were rotten.

    She took him to the vet for a medicated bath and treatment of infections, and then brought him home where she fed him warm ground chicken and rice with molasses. He died on our kitchen floor two nights later. She still gets weepy thinking about him.

  62. 62.

    Patricia Kayden

    @Tilda Swinton’s Bald Cap: Empathy for White Supremacists and alt-righters? Really? What about empathy for Native Americans fighting for their water rights in North Dakota or Blacks being shot down by the police or Mexicans being demonized by Trump?

  63. 63.

    Tilda Swinton's Bald Cap

    @The Moar You Know: Not that it really makes any difference but the article is getting scorched by Jamelle Bouie’s twitter feed. But yeah, they’re just stone cold racists, nothing more.

  65. 65.

    Patricia Kayden

    @Elmo: You’re really trying to break me down, huh? That is so sad but at least the poor dog died in a home instead of on the streets. Sigh.

  66. 66.

    Kropadope

    @Major Major Major Major: I also read a recent Megan McArticle that argued that while it’s tryue a substantial portion of the GOP is making their cases built on lies and fantasy, they still aren’t being treated fairly in the media.

    Apparently, it’s not enough that the media gives obvious Republican lies undue credence, it is now the job of those in the media with a liberal outlook to make the Republicans’ cases for them because they can’t for themselves.

  72. 72.

    daverave

    @WereBear:

    Speaking of kitties, on Monday we got back from our 8 week trip across country in our little camper from Sacramento to Maine to Florida and back. That’s a very long way to go in that short amount of time.

    Our 15 y.o. Buddy did amazingly well considering he landed in a new place virtually every day. It was usually the case that there were significant problems figuring out who was really in charge on any given day. If Buddy could drive, feed himself and clean his litter box, he would definitely get the nod. We finally fully realized that cats are nocturnal animals because while we often had him disrupt our sleep patterns, he had no problem sleeping all day long, no matter what we were doing.

    When we left Sacto the day after Labor Day, I thought I would do the old counting yard signs thing to figure out the pulse of the country. (For the most part we stayed off of the Interstate highway system in part because the roadways are in generally poor condition.) Amazingly we got all the way to Duluth with the score at Trump 7, Hillary 4. Apparently the middle of the country was not obsessing about the election the way the BJ commentariat has been for, what, 2 years? Beyond Duluth on the north shore of Superior, the tide became full on Trump. After a blissful 6 days in Ontario we returned to the US in upstate NY and from then on it was all Trump, all the time. I would wager that as we headed through New England (ex-Vermont) that the ratio became 50-1 for Trump. The same through most of the Carolinas, Florida, the South, Texas of course, and back to CA. There did seem to be a correlation between rural, obviously well-off homeowners and Trump support. I will say that not being in constant contact with the media’s election horserace narrative was a blessing. I may have to do the same thing every four years.

  73. 73.

    FlipYrWhig

    @The Moar You Know: I don’t want to understand them. They are terrible people who believe terrible things. They should stop. I want them to submit. Not to suffer, but to submit.

  75. 75.

    debit

    @Elmo: Now I’m crying at work. That poor dog. Bless you and your wife for showing him love and kindness at the end.

  78. 78.

    Elmo

    @Patricia Kayden: It makes me weepy too, but in a generally good way. Dogs are very much creatures of the “now.” When he was in our home, he was warm, safe, well fed, and happy. Two days or two years, those days were good ones.

    The hound was in 2010 or so. We took in a geriatric German Shepherd in 2012 – matted to the skin, full of ticks, 20 pounds underweight, and incredibly shy – and in a few months time had him clean, short-coated (we had to shave him down to get rid of the mats), clear-eyed, filling out, and starting to tentatively figure out what “toys” were and how to play with them. We called him “Win Some,” because in the rescue biz you win some and you lose some. He lived for about ten months after we took him in.

    He’s buried under a Japanese maple in my backyard. I dug the grave myself.

  86. 86.

    Aleta

    @Aleta: Same article, which to me describes what will continue to be at stake beyond this election. It’s depressing, but at least I’m glad that the FBI leaks are bringing attention from white US citizens who have not been personally affected before.

    Fifteen years of war have eroded America’s civic culture, its incomplete commitment to religious and racial pluralism, and its concern for civil liberties. The Central Intelligence Agency tortured terrorism suspects, and not one official of any rank was held accountable, and not one court decision has determined their behavior was illegal. When the Senate investigated its actions, the CIA spied on Senate aides and then lied about doing so. The National Security Agency was revealed to have engaged in a massive warrantless spying operation that included surveillance on American citizens. But changes to NSA surveillance powers have been meager. Unarmed black men are killed in disproportionate numbers by police officers who are shielded by a legal standard that exonerates police officers who say they feared for their lives, no matter how absurd the circumstances.

    All of these decisions are the result of effective political maneuvering by these entities themselves. It is common for Americans to treat law-enforcement officials as apolitical, the reality is that they represent political entities with institutional interests that sometimes clash with those of the citizenry they are empowered to serve.

    Normal politics however, are distorted by the currents of wartime nationalism, which can make any criticism of the excesses of security officials seem disloyal if not seditious. National-security officials themselves, from the nation’s top spies to the most modest beat cop, warn that any effort to hold authorities accountable will lead to death and chaos––and they frequently retain popular support in doing so. Torture, warrantless spying, and murder might be against the law, but America’s security services are often above the law. It’s the only way they can protect you.

  88. 88.

    hovercraft

    Louis CK on Conan, enthusiastically endorses Hillary. He says Trump can’t take criticism, Hillary on the other hand can take abuse, we’ve been hounding her and holding her down and abusing her, and she just gets up and says children need healthcare and gets on with it, she just gets shit done.
    If you vote or Clinton you’re a grownup.
    If you vote for Trump you’re a sucker.
    If you don’t vote for anyone you’re an asshole.
    He throws in some stuff about her being a bitch and unlikable, but says that doesn’t matter because that’s what we need not a friend. I don’t think calling her names is helpful, but maybe it works on the Berniebros and the youngsters who watch Conan.
    Maybe I’m an old fuddy duddy?

  90. 90.

    hovercraft

    Jamelle Bouie Retweeted
    Kyle Griffin ‏@kylegriffin1 16m16 minutes ago

    New @QuinnipiacPoll swing state polls:

    FL: Clinton 46—Trump 45
    NC: Clinton 47—Trump 44
    OH: Trump 46—Clinton 41
    PA: Clinton 48—Trump 43
    0 replies 287 retweets 310 likes

  92. 92.

    debit

    @Elmo: It really is. Every elderly animal deserves comfort, love and care at the end of their life. I love puppies and kittens but I’ll always adopt an older animal.

  98. 98.

    JMG

    Clinton will be back in Cleveland twice before Tuesday. Their staff must see something others don’t (doesn’t make ’em right. I was mildly surprised they had me making calls there. They haven’t given up.

  99. 99.

    Elizabelle

    @Elmo: Old dogs are the best. Good on you for providing that sad little hound a safe and comfortable end, and a good year for the shepherd.

  102. 102.

    Elizabelle

    Link to local TV coverage: President Obama due up soon at UNC Chapel Hill. Has been about a half hour since James Taylor left the stage.

    Linky: http://www.wxii12.com/article/300-live-stream-obama-campaigns-for-clinton-at-unc/8100276

    Raleigh paper today: Richard Burr up less than 1 point over Dem Deborah Ross; Hillary and Roy Cooper have steady leads.

    Let’s get them all over the finish line, and your Democratic Senators too. Obama to finish campaign 2016 in New Hampshire? Take that, role model Kelly Ayotte.

  103. 103.

    trollhattan

    @hovercraft:

    I can’t picture the orange shitgibbon interacting with kids like that.

    I can.
    President Trump: “I’ll be dating you in ten years!”
    Twelfth handler: “Okay folks, photo-op’s over. Let’s move on to the Treaty Room.”

  108. 108.

    Keith G

    @hovercraft:

    don’t think calling her names is helpful, but maybe it works on the Berniebros and the youngsters who watch Conan.
    Maybe I’m an old fuddy duddy?

    No offense, but….yeah, possibly.

    That was a great bit. Pure Louis CK. The names were just building blocks in service to the greater structure.

  109. 109.

    hovercraft

    @Elizabelle:
    I’m not sure that I would ever let my Dad live down his taking her older sister to Grant Park on election night 2008. That would always be my ace in the hole. You know dad you did take her, and I had to stay home and watch on TV.

  111. 111.

    bystander

    @GrandJury:

    Hmm, I guess it is for real…or an elaborate hoax.

    If the accuser is a 13 year old with blond hair wearing a hat, heavy veil and a pantsuit, expect Andrea Mitchell to blow the lid off that one.

    I only recently learned that Lisa Bloom is Gloria Allred’s daughter.

  112. 112.

    hovercraft

    @Keith G:
    I just turned 49, I thought I had a little more time. Oh well, she shuffles off into her dotage.
    You are affirming what I hear at home from the younglings. Sign

  113. 113.

    Elizabelle

    @hovercraft: Yeah.

    PBO talking “badness.”

    And describing a rather bad businessman, at the moment.

    No tax returns: “maybe because he’s not as rich as he says he is.”

    List of all things D. Trump is not funding with taxes.

  114. 114.

    Aleta

    @The Moar You Know: (Many years ago) Brought in a very old cat who’d been out on the street acting desperate for some time, in the winter, every day when we walked by. I asked a neighbor, who told me she’d been thrown out of her house and was at least 20, based on her former cats’ ages. Carried her home to our bathroom and went back to ask the old guy at her former home. He turned out to be barely hanging on in his home himself. He said she was no longer using her box, and he couldn’t manage her any more even with help.

    She had a kidney issue that then improved, and she had lots of teeth out, and after that food and water plumped her right out. We had other cats, but she more than held her space. She just passed through theirs like a scrawny sunbeam with the certainty of a tank. Would toddle out every day to sit in the sun for hours, then back inside in the evening to her shelf in the bathroom. After 1.5 years she had a stroke (at night, and a long boat trip away from a vet). But recovered the next day, and walked with a tilt for another year. Very happy cat with a kind of spiritual vibe that affected everyone. She just had a glow. I still remember the awareness of life’s warmth that she brought us. It was amazing what she brought. Like immigrants (or newcomers anywhere) she took nothing away, only brought.

  115. 115.

    hovercraft

    @bystander:

    I only recently learned that Lisa Bloom is Gloria Allred’s daughter.

    Me too, they wrote a book together not too long ago, and as soon as you see them side by side the resemblance is uncanny, I just never made the connection.

  116. 116.

    PaulWartenberg2016

    Obama giving out Halloween candy to kids.

    Recognizing most of the costumes.

    Basically being the nerdy cool dad.

    GODDAMMIT I WANT HIM TO STAY IN OFFICE FOR ANOTHER EIGHT YEARS.

    I WILL CHARGE HELL ITSELF FOR THAT MAN.

  117. 117.

    The Moar You Know

    The suspect for double police homicide in Iowa had complained his rights were “trampled on” after being thrown out of a high school football game for waving a Confederate flag at “people of color.”

    @jacy: These are the people we’re being lectured that we owe “empathy” to. I think not.

    And yeah, his “right” to be a racist asshole was trampled on, and I will gleefully trample on those “rights” for the rest of my life. Perhaps he should go to that part of town where “those people of color” live and wave his flag there. No law against it. Wonder why he didn’t do that? Oh that’s right, I forgot, he’s a back-shooting chickenshit motherfucker

  119. 119.

    hovercraft

    Trump’s Nevada GOTV operation is first notch!

    Chris Miller
    ‏@ChrisMillerNV

    Got a call from Trump camp in NV. ME! Chair of the Clark Co DEMS! And I ALREADY VOTED! Said I’ll nvr vote for that Putin-loving tax evader.

    3:21 PM – 1 Nov 2016

  120. 120.

    The Moar You Know

    Some of you on this thread are very, very good people. Even if the best thing you can do for them is give them a merciful death, far better that than just walking on by.

    I don’t have much use for my fellow humans but our fellow animals…they didn’t ask for this. We owe them a debt that can’t be repaid. I pay what I can as opportunities present themselves.

  121. 121.

    dmsilev

    @hovercraft: What a waste. He should have told them that he was thinking of voting for Trump, but needed more persuasion and some help getting a ride to the polls.

  122. 122.

    hovercraft

    Florida!

    Keith Gaddie @GaddieWindage

    We’ve hit peak #FloridaMan: driving home from strip club, falls out of truck, runs himself over, truck hits house. miamiherald.com
    8:05 AM – 29 Oct 2016
    Photo published for Florida man driving home from strip club falls out of truck and runs himself over
    Florida man driving home from strip club falls out of truck and runs himself over

    On his way home from a strip club, a Florida man fell out of his truck, ran himself over and then ran off, troopers say. The Orlando Sentinel reported the 28-year-old Casselberry man left Dancers…
    miamiherald.com

    ETA: I’m sure if asked, he would say he wants to make America great again.
    Just saying.

  125. 125.

    Woodrowfan

    @debit: the good union jobs decreased, the cities shrank, and the rural areas and exburbs full of scared white people gained power.

  126. 126.

    Gelfling 545

    My niece was facebooking all in a fluster yesterday. Her 10 year old’s teacher had sent home a notice about the cheesy fake Native American activitoes the class would be doing this month. She muttered darkly but didn’t hit full-blown offended rage until she came to the part where the kids were supposed to make up fake iNative American type names. Now her kids have Native American ancestry on their dad’s side although, being not unaccustomed to these types of foolishness, he wasn’t as upset as she – just the eye roll. It got kicked around a bit on FB with a lot of us saying “Contact the school; tell them it’s offensive. ” A few of us suggested that, since we live in the Six Nations area, there would be an abundance of folks to call upon for advice if they wanted to learn about an actual culture. My niece is a rather intro erted type who doesn’t really like to draw attention to herself, but she made the effort and the upshot is that the activity has been canceled and some folks from the Tuscarora tribe will be advising the school on more appropriate learning activities. So nice that at least in a small way one timid young woman made a difference.

  128. 128.

    Elizabelle

    PBO: “What? Only Republican presidents are allowed to appoint Supreme Court justices? I used to teach Constitutional Law ….

    Gridlock is not some mysterious fog that descends on Washington. It’s not some apparition ….”

    Using Congressional inaction to stick it to Richard Burr. Laughing at their promise to impeach Hillary and she’s not even elected yet.

  131. 131.

    Elizabelle

    PBO: “You can elect a leader who has spent her whole life …”

    Her.

    “it’s not often you can move the arc of history. Don’t let that chance slip away.”

    Cautions them against cynicism. They’re not all the same. Brings up NC vote suppression. Great speech.

    I hope a lot of those wonderful college students come out and canvass with us this week and weekend and Tuesday.

    Talking more about voter suppression. Not back in the 1960s. Now. Talking about Trump’s call to have his supporters monitor voting places …

  134. 134.

    Elizabelle

    Talking about when blacks had to guess the number of jelly beans in a jar to vote.

    Talking about a centenarian — Grace Bell Harrison — who was stricken from the voter rolls. She’s back on. But talking about all the efforts to keep minorities and young people from voting.

  135. 135.

    Chet Murthy

    @Botsplainer, Cryptofascist Tool of the Oppressor Class:

    Maybe a different way of asking the question is:

    If Katie and her peers are getting this sort of pressure and threats, why aren’t they and their peers (and, frankly, the talking heads) doing “man bites dog” stories about Trump and his supporters? I mean, you’d think that they’d close ranks to protect their own. As you say, reporters work from war zones, on the front lines. But they don’t humanize and empathize with the enemy. And even if it’s not trumpeted daily, hasn’t Trump declared Tur and CNN (and WaPo and others) as the enemy?

    I don’t understand why the people who RUN these news orgs can’t figure out how to paint him as the devil, while still getting ratings. You’d think it wouldn’t be that hard.

  137. 137.

    jl

    @Kropadope:

    ” I also read a recent Megan McArticle that argued that while it’s tryue a substantial portion of the GOP is making their cases built on lies and fantasy, they still aren’t being treated fairly in the media. ”

    Wow. For once I totally agree with McArdle. The lies and fantasy,are not being refuted explicitly and nearly often enough.
    Though.. wait a minute, maybe I better go to the link and check what she is trying to say first…. on second thought… never mind.

  138. 138.

    GrandJury

    @JMG: Well it is Ohio. Traditionally the most important swing state. You throw everything you got there no matter what. Still winnable but definitely the WTF state this year if the polls are accurate.

  139. 139.

    Comrade Scrutinizer

    @Chet Murthy: Generally it’s not the reporters who are on the front lines at the Trump rallies writing these sob pieces about empathizing with White Supremacists. They aren’t the ones making the editorial decisions to pimp the poor abused racists. Most of the reporters at the rallies are reporting what is said, if only on Twitter—and most of them are getting scared, and still doing their job. There’s something admirable about that.

  140. 140.

    amygdala

    Just watched PBO stumping for Hillary in NC. The man was on fire. Shaking hands with the crowd with The Boss’ Land of Hope and Dreams over the speakers.

    Off to drop my ballot off in the mail (#$%* California ballot measures…).

  142. 142.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    MSNBC correspondent makes, apparently unwittingly, the best argument for voting Dem: people had to leave Obama rally because of the heat. On November 2.

    quoted Obama line that I missed: “Trump says he has a good brain… that’s debatable”. Trump’s twitter thumb is itching whether he knows why or not.

  145. 145.

    Elizabelle

    @amygdala:

    Yeah. It was a terrific speech.

    “Choose hope.”

    Reject cynicism and the past. That is still with us (voting suppression, etc.)

    The students loved it.

    Off to do some door to door canvassing in this lovely late summer weather. Have learned Tarheels do not like answering the door after about 8:00 p, and they start complaining by 8:15. (At least in subdivisions; I think apartment dwellers are more the night owl set.)

  146. 146.

    bemused

    @jl:

    Didn’t read Megan but it’s amusing to hear her and others such as Frum trying to insert a little reality into the party when they still have a few rightwing fantasies of their own to examine. Anyway, they are whistling into the wind and have to know it’s futile.

  149. 149.

    FlipYrWhig

    @Elizabelle:

    Cautions them against cynicism.

    I don’t think he’s ever given a speech that didn’t riff on cynics and cynicism. It’s kind of his thing.

  150. 150.

    JJ

    @Chet Murthy: I’ve read one, possibly two articles about their experiences on the trail. They, particularly the women, are borderline traumatized. Also, rule number one is don’t interject yourself into the story. Clearly it’s different when you are the story.

  152. 152.

    Comrade Scrutinizer

    @JJ: @Chet Murthy: Read Sopan Deb, or Katy Tur, or Holly Bailey on Twitter. Those are just three examples of good reporting, most of which is not getting past their editors (although WaPo is letting a lot of Deb’s stuff through). I wouldn’t call those people “soulless media” as one person just did.

  153. 153.

    Corner Stone

    @FlipYrWhig:

    Whatever happened to Just Some Fuckhead, anyway?

    I’m not sure I am really supposed to be saying anything about this, as it was really limited distribution. But I just can’t resist a story about love long denied and finally allowed to blossom.
    A little while back JSF had a moment and clued in to what Morning Joe was talking about. He realized that if Joe and Mika could fight through the headwaters, dead interns and other obstacles to be together, then by damn, he owed it to himself and his true love to at least make the fight also. Long since over his time with Cole and mescaline on the mountain top now that Cole has pledged his life to sobriety and ice cream, JSF took a good look around at what made him happy.
    Anyhoo, JSF and eemom both quietly divorced their SO’s and moved together to Colorado. He’s running a distribution network of storefronts for artisanal pot and eemom runs the grow fields. It’s really a kind of feelgood love story when you think about it. Once you get past the thought of anyone actually wanting to bone eemom, I mean.

  156. 156.

    Patricia Kayden

    @Corner Stone:

    Anyhoo, JSF and eemom both quietly divorced their SO’s and moved together to Colorado.

    Lovely!! Wishing them many happy years together.

    P.S. I’m a sucker for a love story so I’m assuming this is all true and that you’re not pulling our legs.

  162. 162.

    D58826

    @Aleta: I’ve seen a few right wing tweets about this. They have convinced themselves that it was a liberal coup designed to thwart the will of the people. I guess some Rick Little type impersonator slipped into the Oval Office and made all those tapes.

    And on a different topic but still related. The young woman involved in the rape law suit is giving a press conference tonight ( 6p PT I believe). Should be interesting to see if it gets any media coverage, esp. after all of the Clinton ‘ladies’ had their 15 minutes of retreaded fame over the past couple of months.

    Sorry that is 6pm ET

  163. 163.

    1,000 Flouncing Lurkers (was fidelioscabinet)

    When we complain about the media, it’s important to remember that reporters do not, in general, assign themselves to stories, and do not decide which stories to publish and which to hold back, or how those stories will be edited or what headline they will run under.

    We need to consider not only the work done by the reporters but also the editorial policies and preferences, as well as the institutional blind spots of the various media outlets.

    Then we should show up outside their offices with torches and pitchforks (or any other suitable agricultural implements handy– a good sharp warren hoe can do some damage…)

  164. 164.

    Botsplainer

    @Corner Stone:

    Once you get past the thought of anyone actually wanting to bone eemom, I mean.

    She always says REALLY nice things about you – I assumed an unrequited crush.

  165. 165.

    Lizzy L

    Since this is an open thread, and we’re talking about animals, I would like to report some good personal news. I took my 13 1/2 year old dog Theo to the vet yesterday for his yearly exam and blood panel. I know what’s wrong with him: low thyroid (under control with medication) bad teeth, arthritis (can’t take anti-inflammatory drugs, but tolerates Tramadol when he hurts. Last year’s panel showed some kidney deterioration, and I’ve noticed that he’s drinking more water — not a huge amount more, but more.

    Got the bloodwork back today. His kidney values are better. Woot! Everything else is stable. He’s an old boy, so things can change quickly, but you can bet, I’m smiling today!

  166. 166.

    Boussinesque

    Made the mistake of reading some of the comments at the McArgleBargle article…think I’d go over my LD50 for exposure to crazy if I kept going.
    I read “What Liberal Media?” by Eric Altman over 10 years ago, and it’s just really depressing how durable the myth of the liberal media is, in the face of mountains of evidence to the contrary. And it’s only gotten worse in the intervening decade…I mean, what do we even do to start fixing this?

  168. 168.

    The Moar You Know

    I read “What Liberal Media?” by Eric Altman over 10 years ago, and it’s just really depressing how durable the myth of the liberal media is, in the face of mountains of evidence to the contrary. And it’s only gotten worse in the intervening decade…I mean, what do we even do to start fixing this?

    @Boussinesque: It’s not fixable. Right wing movements in other nations (e.g. Nazi Germany) have always had the same mythos. They are always the victims of liberals and outsiders. And I might point out the irony of Christians, the group that has dished out the bloodiest and most horrific punishment to non-believers ever seen on this planet (and plenty of believers in the bargain) maintaining from day one that they were persecuted victims. That’s a myth that’s lasted over 2000 years and it’s stronger than ever. So, to borrow a term from engineers, we need a workaround as the problem itself is not solvable.

  169. 169.

    Boussinesque

    @The Moar You Know: I was afraid of that. Having to come to terms with a similar prospect for dealing with my conspiracy-theory-obsessed cousin. I suppose the old adage “One cannot, through use of logic, persuade a man to abandon a position they didn’t arrive at through use of logic” is instructive in this case.

    If we’re taking ideas for possible workarounds, I hear Venus is nice this time of year. Perhaps they’d like an all-expense-paid vacation?

  170. 170.

    Kropadope

    @The Moar You Know:

    It’s not fixable. Right wing movements in other nations (e.g. Nazi Germany) have always had the same mythos. They are always the victims of liberals and outsiders.

    It’s a little hard to convince people like my parents that the media isn’t biased in favor of liberals when they’re under the impression that Fox is only slightly biased in favor of liberals.

  171. 171.

    Lizzy L

    FYWP just ate my post. I have no idea why. It was a good and happy post, all about how my 13 1/2 year old dog does NOT appear to have advancing kidney disease. Happy dog, happy person. FYWP.

  172. 172.

    carolineblue

    I had tickets to see Obama at UNC in Chapel Hill today, but decided not to go because I have an exam tomorrow that I needed to study for. Think I made the right decision as my friend who went informed me the line was well over a mile when she got there 3 hours before the doors opened. Heard Chris Jansing on MSNBC say kids started camping out yesterday afternoon at 4:30. Would loved to have seen him, but I’m too old for that crap. But, Chapel Hill is Obama Country!

  175. 175.

    J R in WV

    @Patricia Kayden:

    That’s right, your old rescued dog was warm, fed, dry, in a home. Way better than beside the road. Absolutely the right thing to do. More power to you for doing it.

    Our first dog was living on hot dog ends at DQ when I picked her up. The next day we took her to the vet, asked about a bath, he said she couldn’t survive a bath. She lived with us for 10 or 12 years, as happy as a dog could be. Went everywhere with us, to my parents, friends, walking in the deep woods.

    Then one day, she went out to walk the ridges, and never came home. We’ve lost several dogs that way, they’re free to come and go as they ask in and out. Some of them feel like going out for their ending, alone on the ridge top. Not a bad way to go, either. Others make a last drive to the vets, and go on our laps, they have a special office just for that, with quilts and rugs.

    Dexter the cat was quite a guy, too. So glad he had a great couple of years with a big family of kids and dogs!

  176. 176.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    @Corner Stone:

    Leave eemom alone! I like her. She has an occasional spittle-flecked rant, but it’s usually late at night, after the kids have gone to bed.

    She’s the Zatarain’s crab boil of the Balloon Juice spice cabinet.

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