Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

I didn’t have alien invasion on my 2023 BINGO card.

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

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

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

An almost top 10,000 blog!

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

Despite his magical powers, I don’t think Trump is thinking this through, to be honest.

You cannot shame the shameless.

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

We still have time to mess this up!

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

White supremacy is terrorism.

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

Today’s GOP: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

T R E 4 5 O N

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

You are here: Home / Past Elections / 2020 Elections / Finally, A Uniter for President

Reader Interactions

174Comments

  3. 3.

    The Moar You Know

    He’s got my vote. God knows he’d be better than the current occupant of the position.

    OT: was in 7-11 getting my morning coffee and heard a radio ad: CIA is hiring combat veterans, combat experience required, for “paramilitary operations”. What the fuck are these morons up to now?

  6. 6.

    Mary G

    The website is real!

    WHO WE ARE

    We are the guardians of the living room rug. The avengers of hallway carpeting. The brave souls willing to bite the crap out of any vacuum cleaner we see. We stand vigilant in the face of HEPA filters and self-retracting cords.

    We are the Vacuum Cleaner Defense League.

    While millions of lives are threatened daily, our work will never end. No one is safe until we say NO to clean floors.

  7. 7.

    ant

    John I’m not sure if you saw this in a different comment I did a few weeks back….

    But we have the same CRV as you, and had an issue with a stretched timing chain.

    It comes from using the maintenance minder for oil change intervals, and not checking the oil in between oil changes. It gets low, and causes the timing chain to get too hot.

    You can not go 10-20 thousand miles with out adding some oil in between.

    Make sure you check your oil when you add fuel.

  10. 10.

    Alain the site fixer

    Making some CDN enhancements but things may be bumpy off an on next couple of hours. But the result will be better performance for all!

  11. 11.

    OzarkHillbilly

    He’s got my vote. One of the many ways I know my wife loves me is the fact that she does not vacuum while I am in the house.

  12. 12.

    Mary G

    @Mary G: There’s a hilarious blog, too.

    THERE CANNOT BE ONE GRAND SOLUTION BECAUSE LIFE IS NOT LIVED IN GRAND SWEEPING GESTURES. LIFE IS SMALL AND PERSONAL, LIVED MINUTE BY MINUTE. HUMBLE ACTS DONE ONE AT A TIME, BUILDING UP ON EACH OTHER TO CREATE THE FUTURE.

    EVEN NUTSY, THE SQUIRREL THAT LIVES ACROSS THE FENCE, KNOWS THIS AS TRUE.

    HE DOES NOT SET OUT TO PLANT A FOREST (ESPECIALLY NOT IN MY YARD.) HIS GOAL IS ONLY TO BURY A FEW ACORNS FOR THE WINTER.

    THOUGH HIS GOAL IS SMALL, HE IS PERSISTENT. AND BY ACHIEVING HIS TINY GOAL ON A DAILY BASIS, THAT TWITCHY LITTLE VERMIN WILL PLANT A FOREST FULL OF TREES OVER THE COURSE OF HIS LIFE (AGAIN, NUTSY, I AM VERY SERIOUS ABOUT THIS NOT BEING IN MY YARD.)

    Except it’s in all-caps.

  13. 13.

    Just One More Canuck

    @Roger Moore: When I was a kid, one of our cats loved the feel of the vacuum against his skin.

    Our current feline overlord eyes the vacuum with great suspicion. When we run the Roomba, she just watches it from the landing above it

  14. 14.

    schrodingers_cat

    Sacred Games had flaws but one thing I loved about it was its protagonist’s disdain for organized religion. Quite a feat in a country where many wear their religiosity on their sleeve.

    Its opening line:

    God does not give a fuck.

  16. 16.

    eric

    @schrodingers_cat: i enjoyed the show very much. one of the fun parts for me is that I used the English subtitles because sometimes the sound mix made the dialogue hard to follow precisely. So, in one scene, one of the characters refers to someone as an “asshole,” while the subtitles used the term “fuckwit.” There is so much i love about that.

  17. 17.

    Alain the site fixer

    @The Moar You Know: I’m exploring the edit issue and we still need that save box on the mobile site, but thanks to Majorx4, it’s live on the desktop site. Little victories!

  18. 18.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @schrodingers_cat: I have long been a member of the Church of God the Almighty and the Utterly Indifferent (he built the world in 6 days and on the 7th he said, “It’s your problem now.)

  20. 20.

    schrodingers_cat

    @eric: The sound was not that great in the first episode, it seemed to improve afterwards. I had the subtitles in Hindi on. I am going to do a review soon. I was wondering if I can talk to you about it. You can contact me at my bloggy email [email protected].

    RL is stranger than fiction part elebenty: the RL gangster that Gaitonde is based on is married to a Muslim woman.

  23. 23.

    mad citizen

    @OzarkHillbilly: You are a lucky man, OH. It’s a pet peeve of mine but my wife is not so kind. We must have 4 or 5 vacuums now, just got a cordless Dyson. It is quieter than the others.

  24. 24.

    RepubAnon

    @Roger Moore: Cats make better presidents than apricot hellbeasts:
    * They don’t pick fights with trading partners
    * They don’t listen to Fox News
    * They don’t care about, race, creed, color, or place of national origin – only about the state of their food bowl.

  26. 26.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Alain the site fixer: It’s lost my nym and addy twice this morn. Not sure what happened the first time but the 2nd I think had to do with leaving the AM thread and then coming here. Not a big deal for me but thought you might be interested in it.

  27. 27.

    Ohio Mom

    There was a long period of time when Ohio Son could have been a charter member of the Vacuum Cleaner Defense League but thankfully he mastered that particular anxiety. There are plenty of others left (looking at you, onions) but at least I don’t have to time cleaning to his schedule anymore.

  28. 28.

    Amir Khalid

    Could Thor Michaelson wind up dividing support for the Baud/Poco ticket? Political watchers want to know …

  31. 31.

    Gex

    My pup Casey likes what he’s hearing, but he is concerned about where Thor may stand on the issue of thunder.

  32. 32.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @mad citizen: Yeah, after years of screaming powertools I have more than a touch of tinnitus and certain pitches just cut right thru me. If I hear sirens coming I have to pull off the road and plug my ears.

  33. 33.

    Gravenstone

    Okay, just tried clicking on the link in OH’s reply to Alain so that I could reply directly to Alain myself about the disappearance of the saved nym data when moving between threads. The screen shifted briefly to the linked comment, then dropped back to the original OH post. So no link permanency at the moment.

    eta: and no sooner do I post about the impermanence, I tested both the original OH link and several others and all worked.

    Oh, and edit is back!

  34. 34.

    Alain the site fixer

    @OzarkHillbilly: I’ve wiped the cache a few times while getting this CDN stuff all working, so I wonder if it’s a side-effect of that. If so, sorry!

    Anyway, except for the mobile site edits, my efforts today, when real life/estate duties allow, will be on developing new stuff as I think we’ve put out the fires for now. I can’t wait to see a big event and see how the new caching/CDN combo won’t even wobble.

  35. 35.

    Alain the site fixer

    @Gravenstone: Let’s see how things settle down. Each change or tweak, I had to delete the cache and I expect that was some of it. I’d hoped that one setting wouldn’t stomp on the Edit Comments function anymore, but I fear that was incorrect. I’ll make a post this afternoon to see how things are going with folks. For now, it’s estate duties time.

  36. 36.

    Sister Golden Bear

    OT: Only a week left before I return home from Thailand (where I went for genital reassignment surgery), so today I went to the local pharmacy to stock up on supplies — including 120 tubes of lube.

    That, plus six dilators, plus a bag of Schedule IV pain killers,* should make for an interesting “items to declare” form.

    The surgeon here in Thailand does provide written prescriptions for all the drugs he sends you home with, so actually that should be the least of my worries.

    Why 120 tubes of lube? Post-surgery you need to dilate three times a day for three months (and lesser amounts for up to year), and the local lube, initially supplied by the clinic, is the best one for dilating — and not available in the States.

    Unfortunately, it’s not considered “medical supplies” so the clinic provide additional lube beyond your recovery period in Thailand. So I’m bringing back enough to cover the initial three months, after which people usually switch to other alternates. (Coconut oil is popular follow-on choice, since it aids in healing.)

    I’m annoyed that the dilators have to go in my checked bag — apparently they’ll get confiscated if they’re in your carry-on because they’re considered potential weapons…

    BTW, I belated congratulations to our glorious blogmeister. Well done, sir.

  37. 37.

    Alain the site fixer

    @Gravenstone: Oh, and now the clicking on someone’s reply link and then going back using browser button works fine now, at least for me.

  39. 39.

    Alain the site fixer

    @Sister Golden Bear: Glad to hear you’re coming home soon, and I do have your pics from when you toured, as I recall. I’ll run them soon, once the On The Road series restarts, which will be soon. Travel well and keep healing up!

  40. 40.

    Jim Parish

    One concern that I haven’t seen voiced: the RSS feed seems not to be working. (I get “Live Bookmark feed failed to load”.)

  43. 43.

    LAO

    Thor and Maggie are clearly related. Especially the part about hats — which is weird but she no like hats.

  44. 44.

    Alain the site fixer

    @Jim Parish: thanks for the reminder, I have an email on that. Since M4 is taking care of something for me, I’ll try to nail that down.
    Folks, I turned off the old Edit Comments plugin in hopes this alternate will suffice for now.

  46. 46.

    feebog

    Thor is a handsome boy. Another day approaching 100 degrees here in SoCal. Hoping our heroic firefighters can get a handle on the Holy Fire, it has turned into a monster. Hope everyone has a pleasant weekend.

  48. 48.

    Doug R

    @Alain the site fixer:

    Making some CDN enhancements but things may be bumpy off an on next couple of hours. But the result will be better performance for all!

    Anything Canadian is usually an enhancement, IMHO.

  50. 50.

    Alain the site fixer

    @Doug R: Sorry, that was likely Greek to many.
    CDN is a Content Delivery Network. It mirrors BJ files and content, and is a network, so there are copies of all this stuff in multiple places throughout the country and world. The result is that most of what you see is coming very quickly from one of these local mirrors, making the page load much faster while greatly reducing server load on the actual BJ server. Thus ends your lesson in core Internet tech for today.

  51. 51.

    clay

    @RepubAnon:

    Cats make better presidents than apricot hellbeasts:
    * They don’t pick fights with trading partners

    I dunno. Our cat trades me purrs for food, and she picks a fight with me all the time.

  52. 52.

    Alain the site fixer

    FYI, RSS feed seems ok now. I expect was also suffering from the multiple cache purges. Since that’s behind us for now, things should even out.
    And with that, I am logging off.

  55. 55.

    Doug R

    Wonder how Thor feels about bicycles?
    We lived next door to the sweetest collie who was so well behaved, except when a cat was on top of the fence or a motorcycle went by.

  59. 59.

    chris

    @Gravenstone:

    The screen shifted briefly to the linked comment, then dropped back to the original OH post. So no link permanency at the moment.

    That happens to me too when I allow ads on the site. That and the ads continually grinding away trying to load.

    Linux mint 18, Chrome

  60. 60.

    JCJ

    @Amir Khalid:

    Could Thor Michaelson wind up dividing support for the Baud/Poco ticket? Political watchers want to know

    See, that is the kind of inquisitive journalism that is lacking in American politics. I imagine Malaysian politicians quiver at the name “Amir Khalid.”

  61. 61.

    Gin & Tonic

    All of the self-congratulation about the saving of nyms is a bit premature. Chrome on Windows, desktop.

  62. 62.

    tobie

    What’s wrong with vacuums? I like seeing my canister vac suck up dust, dirt, hair, cooking debris, etc. Does this make me a member of the evil right? Does it mean I have no tolerance of difference?

  65. 65.

    The Moar You Know

    Thor and Maggie are clearly related. Especially the part about hats — which is weird but she no like hats.

    @LAO: A LOT of dogs don’t. Anything that changes the look of people is an issue for them. Sunglasses are often a problem. And if you’re dog isn’t exposed to folks of different races when young, they’ll sometimes flip out about that too.

  66. 66.

    chris

    @feebog: Here’s a long thread from JJ McNab on the guy who may have started the Holy fire. Complete nutbar.

    The So Cal Holy Fire is burning out of control in Orange County. 10,000+ acres have burned, and it's only 5% contained. The sheriff has arrested Forrest Clark, 51, on suspicion of arson. He threatened to burn everything down in a message to the sheriff a week earlier. pic.twitter.com/dWP4k1cIhe— JJ MacNab (@jjmacnab) 10 August 2018

  67. 67.

    Mel

    @Doug R: Ah, Collies and bicycles.

    My Collie, a mellow therapy dog who worked with kids with behavioral disabilities and visited nursing homes, was utterly unflappable – until a bicyclist would ride past the fence. He would immediately start hurling himself into the air, yodelling and howling, and running in circles.

    Once the bike had moved a foot past our fence, he’d be back to calmly sitting down, gazing cheerfully around as if nothing had ever happened.

    The weirdest part was that I could walk him on the local bike trail with no problem whatsoever.

  68. 68.

    The Dangerman

    I don’t know about Thor 2020. He would probably want two scoops of kibble every night.

    ETA: I can edit!

    ETA2: Yes, I’m easily amused on limited caffeine on a Friday.

  69. 69.

    The Moar You Know

    Hoping our heroic firefighters can get a handle on the Holy Fire, it has turned into a monster.

    @feebog: It sure is. Probably fifty miles from me here in San Diego, but the skies look like they have clouds (they’re not clouds!) and the light outside looks really weird. Cherry red sunrises for the last two days. Beautiful if you ignore the cause.

    Half of SoCal’s radio comms traffic goes through Santiago Peak, which is very near if not in the middle of this blaze by now.

  71. 71.

    nwerner

    Looks like the sign says the Vacuum Cleaner Defense League of Shoreline so I am guessing that Thor is located in the suburb north of Seattle with the same name unless there are other cities with the same name. Sadly I don’t think Shoreline is part of any of my voting districts but I can probably still canvas for him.

  73. 73.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Major Major Major Major: I haven’t done detailed testing, but the last day or two it’s remembered my nym for an hour or two. I’ve done plenty of hard resets and browser reloads. The ads that never finish loading don’t help.

  77. 77.

    M4

    Testing for mobile edit

    ETA edit is only on desktop but works so maybe just click desktop version if you want to edit. It is basically the exact same website.

  78. 78.

    Martin

    @Mel: Our corgi is a bit like that. Go anywhere near the front door and he goes bananas. Break into the house through the backyard and he’ll sheepishly look at you for pets or food.

  80. 80.

    scav

    @tobie: I don’t know. My mother is of that cleanliness tribe (and a terror for dusting all the upright dowels on Danish furniture as well as all chair legs without fail) but is otherwise a solid and consistent D vote. My cousin’s kid Ollie actually needed! the vacuum cleaning noise to fall asleep to when he had chronic acid reflux. We may need to petition for medical exceptions for vacuum use, as well as limited personal recreational consumption.

  82. 82.

    Major Major Major Major

    @Gin & Tonic: ok, well, then it’s a wordpress problem, or something to do with your machine(s) and not other people’s (and how they interact with… WordPress).

    ETA given that ‘edit’ is javascript it could also have something to do with the fucked ads.

  83. 83.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Raven: I posted downstairs, but you’d left. Local forecast says “light and variable.” Bring a rain jacket, though.

  84. 84.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    Borked edit workaround:

    Open “Click to Edit” in a new tab. (Right-click, then choose appropriate option.)

    Tested on desktop site, Win10, Firefox.

  85. 85.

    Doug R

    @nwerner:

    Looks like the sign says the Vacuum Cleaner Defense League of Shoreline so I am guessing that Thor is located in the suburb north of Seattle with the same name unless there are other cities with the same name. Sadly I don’t think Shoreline is part of any of my voting districts but I can probably still canvas for him.

    Just don’t park at Freddy’s and canvas elsewhere…..

  91. 91.

    satby

    @M4: I switch to desktop if I want to avoid naked links, but as a Kindle Fire tablet user the mobile version is much less cluttered and aggravating to use.
    Looking forward to the mobile version being as fully functional as the desktop version. Thanks to you and Alain for all the work KTLO.

  94. 94.

    The Midnight Lurker

    @Major Major Major Major:Well… you can never get this dog on record, but in private, some of the things he’s said about cats… whooo-weee! And especially the Havana Browns and Somalis. Yikes!

  98. 98.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    IANAL, but…

    [Breaking: Judge holds Roger Stone associate in contempt for refusing to testify before grand jury in Russia investigation. Andrew Miller, a former aide to longtime Trump confidant Stone, had fought and lost a court battle to quash a subpoena from special counsel Robert S. Mueller III to testify to the grand jury. Earlier this month, a judge issued a 93-page opinion saying Miller must testify. But prosecutors told the court Friday that Miller still refused to comply. This is a developing story and will be updated.]

    emptywheel Retweeted Devlin Barrett
    This is the third time Miller has just blown off a grand jury subpoena.
    At some point this clearly reaches the level of contempt.

    … I woulda thunk blowing off a grand jury subpoena once would be a case of the judge actually banging the gavel and issuing a writ of “Seize him!” like in a cartoon. Really surprised to see this requires (generates) a 93 page opinion

  100. 100.

    The Midnight Lurker

    My edit button is working just fine this morning for any of you out there who gives a hoot. Slow though… like it’s teasing me. Maybe I’ll perform your edit, but then…

  103. 103.

    J R in WV

    @Sister Golden Bear:

    So glad you’re doing well. I hope you feel well enough to eat out, get massage, mani-pedi (or did you already do that? is that something you do every 2 weeks or is a month good?)
    and enjoy being in an exotic place a little bit before heading home.

    Best wishes for a happy homecoming, also, too!!!!

    Testing that edit widget…..

    WOW, what an improvement, bigger works too.

  105. 105.

    J R in WV

    @Major Major Major Major:

    I am in semi debilitating pain from the PT I did last night. Hopefully it’s gonna help!

    Lifted too heavy a bucket of bits, no doubt. Gentle stretching will help.

    I use Naproxen, aka Aleve for muscular pain, unless you have kidney issues as it’s handled by the kidneys rather than the liver. My PT informed me of that issue, not my doctor or pharmacist.

  110. 110.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @Just One More Canuck: And yet there’s a whole YouTube genre of cats not only unfraid of, but actually riding around on Roomba’s.

    Speaking of cats, I announced here that our beloved (if a bit grudgingly from yours truly) 17-year-old black long hair had quietly died during our vacation.

    We came back on Friday, around midnight.

    On Saturday we were cleaning up her things and agreeing that we would be pet free for at least a month while we thought about what pets we wanted and when.

    Today it is Friday again. We aren’t even home a week. The new 3-month-old kitten is getting acclimated in her private apartment in our laundry room, and we’re checking out doggies at the shelter this afternoon. So much for resolving to be pet free.

    We’ve been married 38 years. I know we were petless for our first year. I’m not sure if there has been a pet-free period since then.

  113. 113.

    burnspbesq

    @chris:

    Long story in one of the local papers yesterday. That guy had a lot of issues.

    Wind must have shifted overnight. There was ash on the car this morning, in Orange.

  114. 114.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @The Midnight Lurker: If it’s feeling especially playful, you get the edit window, but then when you try to save you get “you don’t have permission to edit this comment.”

    I’m not going to bother cataloging my WP symptoms. I know the team is working the whack-a-mole game hard and the bugs will doubtless change hourly.

  116. 116.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    I woulda thunk blowing off a grand jury subpoena once would be a case of the judge actually banging the gavel and issuing a writ of “Seize him!” like in a cartoon. Really surprised to see this requires (generates) a 93 page opinion

    Well, let’s see. Page 1 is “Seize him!” in legalese. Page 2 would be “Fwow him to the fwoor!” IANAL so I don’t know what goes on the other 91 pages, but I think they involve lots of footnotes.

  117. 117.

    debit

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: So sorry for your loss and congratulations on your new kitten. At one point in my life I was down to one elderly cat and that was going to be it. No more pets after he passed. I now have two dogs and four cats. So I understand what you’re going through.

  121. 121.

    Calouste

    @chris: Considering the damage nutters do (arsonists, shooters, Republicans, etc.), investing in mental health care must have a massive return on investment in the current US economy.

  122. 122.

    debit

    @LAO: I was hoping someone would bring that up. Do you suppose someone was talking to the jurors about stuff on the tables?

  123. 123.

    LAO

    @debit: No — not a juror but the press maybe. I really don’t know just there seems to have been some sort of security breach (in a public trial????)

  124. 124.

    debit

    @LAO: Weird. I am also dying to know how Ellis is going to respond to the new motion to have him admit he was wrong a second time.

  125. 125.

    LAO

    @debit: Well, he was wrong (although TBH, I wish — for the sake of my practice — that he was right.) Everyone (not here) made such a big deal about Ellis’ apology when, frankly it was half ass. I might have been wrong… might. So totally lame.

  126. 126.

    debit

    @LAO: Yeah. It may have lost something in translation if he said it in a self deprecating manner, but it sure didn’t sound that way.

  127. 127.

    Platonailedit

    @LAO:

    He has been antagonistic towards the prosecution from get go. Not feeling great about this. If fucking manafort gets away with this, rw media noise against Mueller will be unbearable.

  129. 129.

    LAO

    @Platonailedit: Judges, especially federal judges, run tight courtrooms and can be very kurt. I don’t think he’s been as horrible as the Media makes out.

  131. 131.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @debit: @Gex: Thank you.

    Kitten is a grey tabby with a little brown/orange spot on the top of her head that looks like a dab of peanut butter. Hence, her new name, which we both arrived at independently, of Peanut Butter or PB. That brown spot is apparently enough to classify her as a tortoise / tabby or “torti”.

  132. 132.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    @Gin & Tonic:

    On the desktop version of the site, after you create a comment and post it, it is then displayed with (just below it) little prompts for “click to edit” and “request deletion.”

    Currently they do not appear on the mobile version of the site.

  133. 133.

    Just One More Canuck

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym Our previous cat (Scully) was 17 when she left us – she was the sweetest, gentlest cat, and looked after our daughter when she was born. I was a mess for a while, but then we found Elsa the wonder nut (thanks to someone here who suggested petfinder.com) – she’s 100 pounds of charm and goof in a 10 pound cat

    And you made me watch the biggus dickus scene from Life of Brian

  135. 135.

    Roger Moore

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    I woulda thunk blowing off a grand jury subpoena once would be a case of the judge actually banging the gavel and issuing a writ of “Seize him!” like in a cartoon. Really surprised to see this requires (generates) a 93 page opinion

    They aren’t going to haul you in and make you testify while you’re working through your legal excuses for not complying, e.g. you’ve filed a motion to quash. It’s only when you refuse to comply after exhausting your legal remedies that they’re going to get really angry.

  136. 136.

    Mnemosyne

    @chris:

    What a shock, he’s a sovereign citizen. ?

    We need to get SovCits added to the next revision of the DSM as a specific sign of severe mental illness, because at this point it clearly is one.

  137. 137.

    Platonailedit

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    Kamenar said he believes Miller’s challenge could ultimately rise to the Supreme Court.

    “None of these questions are easy,” the lawyer said, adding that the appeal was designed to challenge the constitutionality of Mueller’s appointment, not slow or obstruct the investigation.

    That’s why the traitorous turd is pushing hard for his bagman in SC.

  138. 138.

    Hoodie

    @LAO: I was thinking more along the lines of incipient dementia. Hard to imagine he couldn’t remember granting that motion on the expert unless something’s going on in the memory department. Nothing severe, but a trial like this may be a bit too demanding and disorienting.

  139. 139.

    tobie

    @LAO: Should we be reading anything into the fact that the entire prosecution team went into the Judge’s chambers, whereas only part of Manafort’s defense team went in? Or is this just tea-leaf reading? Seems the only discernible clue thus far is that the judge gave the jurors stricter instructions than usual not to discuss the case with anyone and to maintain an open mind.

  140. 140.

    Roger Moore

    @LAO:

    Judges, especially federal judges, run tight courtrooms and can be very kurt. I don’t think he’s been as horrible as the Media makes out.

    That’s the feeling I’ve gotten from lawyers discussing the case. The one exception is the thing with the prosecution keeping a witness in court. He gave them permission to do so, forgot about it, chastised them for it in front of the jury, and then gave a mealy-mouthed not really apology when the error was pointed out. That seems like a serious mistake.

  141. 141.

    LAO

    @tobie: I wouldn’t read anything into the fact that the only part of the defense team went into chambers. It’s typical.

    @Roger Moore: I thought the clarifying instruction was weak and generally not a real apology but who knows what the effect will be. Honestly, if the judge’s jury instructions are strong, that what the jury’s going to remember. (I wonder if Ellis lets them take a copy of the instructions into the jury room, most federal judges do and the government always asks for that).

    @Hoodie: I don’t want to sound dismissive — but it happens in virtually every trial. Some of this decisions are made months in advance of trial.

  142. 142.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Steeplejack (phone):

    On the desktop version of the site, after you create a comment and post it, it is then displayed with (just below it) little prompts for “click to edit” and “request deletion.”

    That “you” is doing a lot of work. I am familiar with those and where they used to appear. Now they do not. Latest Chrome on Windows 7.

    And my nym is gone again, too.

  144. 144.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    @Gin & Tonic:

    Are you using the desktop or mobile version of the site? A critical distinction that most people seem to omit when detailing their setup.

  145. 145.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    @Steeplejack (phone):

    I guess with Windows 7 you are probably using the desktop version of the site. I don’t know what your particular problem is. I just offered a general observation that might help some people.

  147. 147.

    Mike J

    Dr Sarah Taber @SarahTaber_bww 1h
    very important farm beef update

    CA farmers are filing to keep Devin Nunes from calling himself a “farmer” on the ballot because he is not a farmer

    he’s a limited partner in two Napa Valley & SLO wineries, which is the bougiest shit I have ever heard

    https://www.fresnobee.com/news/politics-government/politics-columns-blogs/political-notebook/article216371730.html

    also can I just add that OF COURSE it’s an orchard farmer filing

    Nunes keeps selling himself as a dairy guy, & there’s sooooo much beef btwn produce farms & dairies in the central valley

    does he even know what hell he brought on himself by pretending to be a dairy farmer

    Thread:https://twitter.com/SarahTaber_bww/status/1027956580178776064

    (and where are the formatting buttons?)

  148. 148.

    The Moar You Know

    We need to get SovCits added to the next revision of the DSM as a specific sign of severe mental illness, because at this point it clearly is one.

    @Mnemosyne: OCRegister did some great reporting on the guy, considering how little time they had to put something together. The SovCit thing is the least of his issues. The volunteer fire marshal for the area had a restraining order against the guy and refused to go near the area where he was living for the last couple of decades, as the guy has (not kidding) been constantly threatening to kill him. Did so again right before he started burning shit.

    I do not understand how you can threaten to murder someone repeatedly and not end up in jail. Pretty sure that’s a felony and a serious one at that.

  150. 150.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    @tobie: Seeing as (guessing) that the defense team probably numbers in the tens of lawyers (from senior to mid level to junior to interns) my thought would be that they wouldn’t have room for the entire defense team in chambers. One thing you can guarantee, if a law firm has a high profile client with deep pockets, them billable hours will run into the millions.

  151. 151.

    TenguPhule

    @Mnemosyne:

    We need to get SovCits added to the next revision of the DSM as a specific sign of severe mental illness, because at this point it clearly is one.

    We’d end up classifying almost the entire Republican party as mentally insane then.

    Sovcits are GOP beliefs boiled down to the essential “IGMFY”

    Unfortunately they’re also often armed and high risk to confront in any capacity.

  153. 153.

    Mnemosyne

    @TenguPhule:

    We’d end up classifying almost the entire Republican party as mentally insane then.

    Yes, and … ?

    Sovcits are GOP beliefs boiled down to the essential “IGMFY”

    Well, sort of. It’s more that the sovcits don’t recognize any government that enforces racial equality. The basis of it is extremely racist, though a lot of the current crazy people (which include some people of color) seem to either not realize that or gloss over it.

    Bottom line: if you’re driving around with a piece of cardboard as your license plate because you don’t believe in the legitimacy of the DMV, you should be taken to the nearest hospital for a psych evaluation, not given a ticket or taken to jail.

  154. 154.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Litlebritdifrnt:

    them billable hours will run into the millions.

    Can Manafort pay the lawyers with that money he’s got stashed in Cyprus? If it’s part of the case, and the lawyers presumably know where the money is coming from, can they take it? Cause otherwise I don’t think he’s very liquid right now.

  155. 155.

    EBT

    @Sister Golden Bear: Yup, I can tell you that if you get those first three months done right, you can fumble the rest of the first year hard and it’ll only suck for a well endowed partner to use it. (Instead of being something that requires touch up surgery)

  156. 156.

    JWL

    A campaign slogan: “Thor Gets Things Done Because He’s A Good Boy! Oh Yes He Is Oh Yes He Is”.*

    * (slogan heavily influenced by the dog loving writers at Deadspin).

  158. 158.

    jl

    @JCJ: Looks bad for Baud 2020! Baud has been running as the dog in the race, and now a real dog jumps in. Sad. Loser. Can’t get a break.

  161. 161.

    Alex

    @Mary G: Our dog has a solution to the forest-planting ambitions of the squirrels—she digs up the walnuts, cracks them with her teeth, and eats them. So far she’s eaten at least 3 of the squirrels, too.

  166. 166.

    Ruckus

    @burnspbesq:
    Had ash on my vehicle in Covina when I left work yesterday.
    Also the sky looks like it’s 1966 in LA again. And that ain’t good.

  167. 167.

    Sister Golden Bear

    Thanks all!

    @J R in WV:

    I hope you feel well enough to eat out, get massage, mani-pedi (or did you already do that? is that something you do every 2 weeks or is a month good?)
    and enjoy being in an exotic place a little bit before heading home.

    I’ve been eating out, although the selection is a bit limited. Mostly the Thai restaurant a block away from the hotel (popular because it’s short walk, and also they have a version of the menu in English). But had some excellent pad thai tonight, from a stall outside the 7-11. I keep wanting to get something from the satay stand but never seem to time it right (either they’re firing up the coals or they’ve run out). I may head over to the (Western style) mall tomorrow because they’ve got a different selection there — for some reason there’s a lot of Japanese restaurant there. Go figure…

    Had a mani/pedi a few days after I got back from the hospital. Really did wonders for feeling feminine again after having to have the nails stripped bare for surgery. At home I do manis every two weeks and pedis every four. Fingernails are still really short and brittle, so it’ll take some time for them to grow back once I can do gels at home again.

    Done two Thai massages so far, which were exquisite (albiet ouchy at times), but just what my body needed. Planning to get another one tomorrow and again next week, since a two-hour session only costs about US$18.

    Unfortunately, Chon Buri is a gritty industrial city that’s well off the path of Western tourists. We patients are pretty much the only farangs (foreigners) you’ll see here. But the people are lovely, and as a woman who’s out on her own a bit, it feels completely safe even at night, which is refreshing.

    @Alain the site fixer: I’ve got some more photos from the Chinese temple here in Chon Buri (the biggest in Thailand) that I need to submit. Very different than the Thai temples.

  170. 170.

    MoxieM

    Murphy (the magical wonder dog) knows damned well that vacuums are the devil’s hand tools. And doorbells–well, those are of Satan as well (no offense to Satanists). Being mostly Great Pyr (allegedly) she defends her turf and her flock (me) to the death. Ha HA. Take that. Very effective for warding off sellers of God and whatnot, since she often sleeps on the tile just near the front door. If they make the mistake of ringing that Satanic doorbell, all 90 lbs of her leaps into the air, snarling and gnashing her teeth. They usually don’t look back. heh.

  172. 172.

    Elizabelle

    I find Thor Michaelson more appealing than most of what’s been in the news.

    Moar Thor!

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