Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

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

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

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

The most dangerous place for a black man in America is in a white man’s imagination.

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

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

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

I did not have this on my fuck 2022 bingo card.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

You cannot shame the shameless.

Don’t expect peaches from an apple tree.

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

Stop using mental illness to avoid talking about armed white supremacy.

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

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

Fuck the extremist election deniers. What’s money for if not for keeping them out of office?

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Wednesday Afternoon Open Thread: It is Wednesday, Right?

Wednesday Afternoon Open Thread: It is Wednesday, Right?

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So this did not happen on my phone. Does this mean I’ve been elected to lead the resistance in my neighborhood since I’m clearly untraceable?

I’m trying to focus on work, as it is piled high on my desk, but wishing I was outside in the 88 degree, sunny afternoon. I did get the dogs out for a walk this a.m., which made us all feel better.

Open thread.

Reader Interactions

191Comments

  4. 4.

    Mary G

    I was just happy they didn’t put Twitler’s name on it. Yet. And why do we need a nationwide alert anyway?

  5. 5.

    JGabriel

    Tamara:

    So this did not happen on my phone. Does this mean I’ve been elected to lead the resistance in my neighborhood since I’m clearly untraceable?

    I suspect it means the test failed, because didn’t we all expect that from the Trump adminstration?

  6. 6.

    Mj_Oregon

    I turned my phone off. I can’t afford a new one just because I threw this one against the wall when this “emergency alert” came in.

  7. 7.

    Ohio Mom

    I hope that all the deplorables found that satisfying. Even though I knew it was coming, I could not help but jump out of my skin a bit. Bah!

  9. 9.

    Corner Stone

    I got an alert but mine said:
    THIS IS A BUST OUT of the National Infrastructure & Institutions. Fuck you, pay me.

  10. 10.

    MobileForkbeard

    Sadly, there’s only the option to respond to the alert by accepting it, instead of sending a big middle finger back or donating to a sexual assault support hotline, etc.

  11. 11.

    Gin & Tonic

    Does this mean I’ve been elected to lead the resistance

    “Dear subscriber: you are registered as a participant in a mass disturbance.”

  13. 13.

    Leto

    My co-worker got the notification and asked me, “Did you just get this presidential notice?” I explained what the whole thing was about, said nope as I had my phone turned off for that specific reason. We both laughed and kept on doing mundane tasks. The more I can avoid the carrot colored colluder, the happier I’ll be.

  14. 14.

    FlyingToaster

    I airplane-moded the iPhone; put DND on the WIFI iPad, and had the laptop closed at 2:18. So Far, so Good. And left all of the televisions in the house off.

    I understand the need to test the system; however, I don’t want to receive these damn messages, and there’s no way to opt-out, so I’m opting-OFF. FEMA should go clean up the concentration camps they’re keeping migrant children in, and leave me the fuck alone.

  16. 16.

    MattF

    I got the alert, a sound I’d never heard before from computer or phone. After a few moments, I figured it out, but I remain unedified.

  18. 18.

    TenguPhule

    Does this mean I’ve been elected to lead the resistance in my neighborhood since I’m clearly untraceable?

    Appointed by committee.

  19. 19.

    wkwv

    Harshed my mellow, to put it mildly. My next notification was 12% off rental trucks and moving supplies. Hmmm, I do live in the DC area.

  21. 21.

    tobie

    I just turned on my phone now. Too late for the emergency test. That didn’t stop Verizon from sending me a billing message, though. Go figure.

  22. 22.

    The Moar You Know

    And why do we need a nationwide alert anyway?

    That’s a damn good question. FEMA responses are regional.

  27. 27.

    TenguPhule

    @The Moar You Know:

    And why do we need a nationwide alert anyway?

    In the event Donald Trump decides to kill us all in a nuclear Fuck you, he needs the ability to personally tell us “Haha, sucks to be you.”

  31. 31.

    FelonyGovt

    I got it. Loud, grating and obnoxious, and no obvious way to respond (probably good, so no risk of getting a visit from the Secret Service)

  33. 33.

    Citizen_X

    Does this mean I’ve been elected to lead the resistance in my neighborhood since I’m clearly untraceable?

    “We don’t ‘ave a President. We are an anarcho-syndicalist commune…”

  34. 34.

    Leto

    To quote my wife: “I’d rather die in napalm fire than have to get alerts from that twat.” We’ll go hand-in-hand into the flames.

  36. 36.

    cckids

    @MoxieM:

    I got it. Nasty noise, nasty nasty. Just cranking up fear, that’s all it is. Fuckem

    Agree with the fuckem. The noise is the same one used in NV for flash flood warnings, which made all of us jump a bit, since we’re having some rain here in Reno.

    Also, WTF with rain in Reno? I’m visiting from Seattle, expecting sunshine,and getting clouds & rain. Fail.

  37. 37.

    dmsilev

    @tobie:

    That didn’t stop Verizon from sending me a billing message, though. Go figure.

    Nothing can stop those. FEMA should outsource emergency notices to phone company billing departments. Similarly, missing-person investigations should be referred to the nearest university alumni relations office.

  38. 38.

    Brachiator

    @Mary G:

    And why do we need a nationwide alert anyway?

    In the olden days, we would have occasional tests of the Emergency Broadcast System (EBS), which presumably would scare the bejeebus out of us, uh, I mean, warn the entire country if there was a nuclear attack.

    It’s sobering to imagine what else might require a national alert.

  41. 41.

    randy khan

    I said this below (and sorry to to be a party pooper), but this literally had nothing to do with Trump. It was professionals at FEMA doing their job, not to mention that Presidential alerts are a long-established category that luckily we’ve never needed. (If we ever get one, it’s really, really bad news.)

    If you didn’t get the alert and your phone was on, you should tell your carrier. They need to know that it didn’t work properly.

  42. 42.

    J R in WV

    Still no notice here, even tho I left the phone on and charging… it was down to 80% after 3 weeks of so riding around in the car. Only turned on when I need to look up an address or make a phone call or such. Being out of town past cell service isn’t all bad, now, is it ?!!?

    All you who got the “Prisedental” message, my blessings upon you, take care, don’t stress out, that’s bad for you.

  44. 44.

    Redshift

    I got it on my phone and on three phones I have for software testing. (I work in Android software.) Interesting note – none of those other phones have cell service SIM cards, just WiFi, but they got it anyway.

    It’s the same sound as weather alerts, so I’ve heard it before.

    FEMA was apparently taking pains yesterday to let people know that the president isn’t actually involved, despite it saying presidential alert, and there are specific limits in the legislation about what it can be used for.

  46. 46.

    Catherine D.

    I turned off AMBER alerts and emergency alerts and airplaned it. Nothing came in on my computer, which is linked to my phone number. So I don’t know if it would have worked or not. I heard it on a coworker’s phone.

  47. 47.

    BruceJ

    @cckids: This is the same noise+vibrate, format as weather and amber alerts here. My phone was in my front pocket, made me look like a player in QWOP.

    Also, WTF with rain in Reno? I’m visiting from Seattle, expecting sunshine,and getting clouds & rain. Fail.

    Ha, so we’re NOT the only ones to bring our weather with us when we travel. Last time we were in Seattle is was 105. You all do not handle 105 well. We’re sorry. (we spent a week on San Juan Island. Temps did not go down to normal until the day we left. We were NOT happy campers…the whole reason we left Arizonastan was to get away from the heat.)

  57. 57.

    Miss Bianca

    I got it. Forgot that 2 pm meant 12 pm my time. I got it and then a second later my boss got it. : (

  58. 58.

    The Dangerman

    Exactly what kind of emergency (Presidential constipation doesn’t qualify) would require me to be texted by Trump? I can’t think of one that makes sense.

    I got it a few minutes ago, Fuck him.

  60. 60.

    TenguPhule

    @The Dangerman:

    Exactly what kind of emergency (Presidential constipation doesn’t qualify) would require me to be texted by Trump?

    “The bombers will reach Iran in fifteen minutes.”

  63. 63.

    jl

    ‘No action is needed.’

    So, my Commander in Chief Trump just ordered me to take the rest of the day off?
    Right then! This a great system. I approve. I’ll go home and nap until I get the next alert.

    Seriously, I think I read that this is one of those things that was initiated and developed under a previous administration, GW or Obama, I forget.
    So, damned if you do and damned if you don’t, I guess.
    I remember when some of the (few) good ideas hatched under the GW surfaced to the public under Obama, and they were damned as a commie muslin plot by Obama to enslave all of us and force us to eat roots and tree bark in hobbit holes.

    Well, any plan at all that was started under previous administrations would be bad to come on line now, because, well, because Trump is all.

  68. 68.

    different-church-lady

    Does this mean I’ve been elected to lead the resistance in my neighborhood since I’m clearly untraceable?

    It means your phone might be worth a lot on the open market.

  70. 70.

    TenguPhule

    What do you mean this wasn’t made on drugs?

    This is the theme of The Trump Prophecy, a movie telling the story of Mark Taylor, a former fireman from Orlando forced to retire after suffering from PTSD, which premiered on Tuesday.

    Between graphic nightmares featuring demonic monsters and hellish flames, Taylor received a message from God in April 2011, while he was surfing television channels.

    As he clicked to an interview with Trump, Taylor heard God say: “You are hearing the voice of the next president.”

    And so it came to pass, although it took another five years and a national prayer campaign. Taylor duly wrote a book, The Trump Prophecies: The Astonishing True Story of the Man Who Saw Tomorrow … and What He Says Is Coming Next, on which the movie is based.

    The belief that Trump’s election was God’s divine will is shared by others. Franklin Graham, the prominent conservative evangelical, said last year that Trump’s victory was the result of divine intervention. “I could sense going across the country that God was going to do something this year. And I believe that at this election, God showed up,” he told the Washington Post.

    Taylor has made other claims, which he calls “prophetic words”, including that Trump will serve two terms, the landmark supreme court ruling on abortion in the Roe v Wade case will be overturned, and that next month’s midterm elections will result in a “red tsunami”, strengthening Republican control of both houses of Congress.

    Barack Obama will be charged with treason and Trump will authorise the arrest of “thousands of corrupt officials, many of whom are part of a massive satanic paedophile ring”. Trump will also force the release of cures for cancer and Alzheimer’s that are currently being withheld by the pharmaceutical industry.

    Because we truly are in the worst possible timeline short of Xenomorphs.

  73. 73.

    TenguPhule

    Texas detention camp swells fivefold with migrant children

    It was meant to be small and temporary. But the precise rows of US government tents by the lonely border crossing just a few feet from Mexico keep multiplying. The detention camp for migrant children in the south-west desert at Tornillo, Texas, not only remains in place weeks after it was expected to shut down, but is expanding fast.

    Children are being brought by the busload and kept here on this remote patch of federal land surrounded by scrub and pecan nut farms. Hidden from public view on the ground, its proliferation is clearly visible from the air.
    The camp sprouted up four months ago in the midst of Donald Trump’s crackdown on unauthorized border crossings and immigration, starting with about two dozen neat, brown tents and one or two larger, white communal tents.

    It came to wider attention when the administration escalated the practice of tearing families apart and detaining adults and children separately, after the government’s “zero tolerance” declaration in May on unlawful immigration. A small number of those children at the time were expected to end up at Tornillo, alongside teenagers already there who had been apprehended after crossing the border alone.

    Trump ended the policy of family separations on 20 June following huge public outcry. But the controversial camp at Tornillo persists and grows.

    Seen from a small aircraft on Sunday morning, it was clear the camp has expanded exponentially from when the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) opened it in June and initially said it would operate for a few weeks, which turned into three months. About 100 uniform brown tents are now visible and several more of the larger, white utility tents.

    JFC. They have satellite photos of the concentration camp.

  75. 75.

    boatboy_srq

    I got my alert, and yours, and the neighbor’s, and the cat’s. I think my phone shut up after six instances.

  76. 76.

    CarolPW

    I have a new phone just activated yesterday – my 10-year old flip phone didn’t do fancy crap like that. I got the phone alert, the one with the god-awful noise, and then five minutes I got another one on my phone with slightly different wording and less noise. The second alert was simultaneous with the standard-type emergency alert on my satellite radio. I guess today I am supposed to be three times more alerted than most people.

  79. 79.

    delk

    Turned my phone off for an hour and read. Nice mental health break with the bonus of not hearing or receiving any alarms.

  82. 82.

    Elaine Benis

    No message on my phone either, thankfully. I have a US phone/number, however I reside in a Mexican beach town. Guessing Telcel said ‘no bueno’ to the orange shitgibbon.

  83. 83.

    different-church-lady

    @Hoodie: What if we just… TELL him the missiles are coming and we’ve already launched a retaliatory strike and he needs to head to the bunker NOW and we’ll let him know when things are clear…

  84. 84.

    Mike in DC

    I am ambivalent about the benefits of advance notice of an incoming nuclear attack when I am stuck in an office building 5 blocks from the WH doing document review. On the other hand, knowing that I no longer have to do document review would really brighten my day.

  86. 86.

    Ladyraxterinok

    @TenguPhule: Made by film students at Liberty U, or so I have read. Read also that they really, really tried to get the school to pick a different topic for their film project.

  87. 87.

    JPL

    @delk: I turned off my phone, but when I turned it back on the message was awaiting.
    Maybe there are some among us he doesn’t want to notify.

  89. 89.

    Chip Daniels

    @The Dangerman:

    Exactly what kind of emergency (Presidential constipation doesn’t qualify) would require me to be texted by Trump? I can’t think of one that makes sense.

    “LITTLE ROCKET MAN AND I ARE IN LOOOOOVE!!

  93. 93.

    MisterForkbeard

    Since this is technically an OT… is anyone else really annoyed that the media is currently reporting that Trump “apparently mocked” Dr. Ford, and then reporting SHS and KAC’s spin that he was just “factually noting some problems in her testimony”?

    You know, without mentioning that this was both bullshit and that Trump’s “factual” retelling had told several clear lies? Sigh.

  94. 94.

    Jeffro

    @Cheryl Rofer: Hysterical and also THANKS A LOT for re-inserting that image in my mind on this sunny Wednesday afternoon! Sheesh!

    Other observations:
    1) Did you all notice that anytime someone has Trumpov dead to rights, reeeeeally has his number (Obama’s speech, the Times article on the Trump family’s history of tax cheating) he calls it “boring”? “Pay no attention to that thing which I cannot wish or lie away…it’s ‘boring’ “. Quite a tell.

    2) I’m recalling that “2020 North Korean Nuclear Attacks” book (that both Cheryl and I have read, and Cheryl posted about)…the author really chose the USA targets quite strategically, in terms of trying to hit home with the DC intelligentsia, seniors, and Trumpov himself. Interesting thought for further spitballing…

  100. 100.

    Betty Cracker

    @Chip Daniels: I still can’t quite believe that happened (the orange fart cloud proclaiming that he and Kim fell in love, I mean). Barely a ripple in the press. Can you imagine if President Obama or Hillary Clinton had said such a thing? I mean, we’re all used to the double-standard for Trump, but for fuck’s sake!

  102. 102.

    dexwood

    I turned my phone off before going into the grocery store. It was fun to watch all the startled reactions as people fumbled for their phones. Hope the next alert says The Emergency Is Coming From Within the Whitehouse.

  107. 107.

    Jay

    @Jeffro: m

    “2) I’m recalling that “2020 North Korean Nuclear Attacks” book (that both Cheryl and I have read, and Cheryl posted about)…the author really chose the USA targets quite strategically, in terms of trying to hit home with the DC intelligentsia, seniors, and Trumpov himself. Interesting thought for further spitballing”

    The NORK’s arn’t going to go after US Cities, or Nuclear Triad targets.

    They have too few nuclear weapons.

    The NORK’s will use a couple on pre-staged US Military assets in Guam, Japan and Oakinowa,

    The rest, they will lob over the Northern Rockies to take out the Wheat and Corn Belts for 100,000 years.

  108. 108.

    Betty Cracker

    @trollhattan: She’s a terrible person, but from her perspective as Mouth of Shitgibbon, it probably seems true since Trump didn’t go out on the Truman Balcony and start bellowing about lying skanks right off the bat…

  110. 110.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @TenguPhule: This is that Protestant Predestination and Utter Depravity taken to the max. Trump’s actions don’t matter because Jesus is using Trump as a puppet.

    Life is some much easier when one realizes religion is pure bullshit.

  111. 111.

    MisterForkbeard

    @trollhattan: Yep. Especially given her own “reveal” about sexual assault that totally wasn’t that bad and Ford should just get over it.

    She’s a monster. We knew that already.

  113. 113.

    ruemara

    @trollhattan: As I reminded people days before on FB, you can have horrible things happen to you and still be a horrible person. You can also be a good person and it doesn’t depend on something bad happening that teaches you to be good. She is foul and if I didn’t think we saw some level of honest reaction for a few seconds in her statement, I’d say she was faking it to craft a narrative.

  114. 114.

    Jay

    “Police have been called to the Pennsylvania compound of Fethullah Gülen, the US-based Muslim cleric accused by Turkey of instigating a failed 2016 coup, after a guard fired a shot at a suspected armed intruder.

    The security guard fired a warning shot as the person tried to enter the compound’s gates, and the intruder fled, said Gülen spokesman Alp Aslandogan. There were no arrests or injuries, he said.”

    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/oct/03/fethullah-gulen-fun-fired-intruder-pennsylvania-compound-turkish-cleric

    Anybody know where Manifort and Flynn were last night?

    “Just one shot was fired,” Aslandogan said. “The person disappeared. The incident is over as far as we’re concerned.”

  115. 115.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    Had my phone off. But I was kinda curious whether it would come in after I powered back on. Nope, I escaped it.

    Which I’m happy about from the standpoint of keeping my blood pressure down, but not so happy about from the standpoint of designing an alert system that’s supposed to reach all citizens.

    There are lots of people who are REQUIRED to have their cell phones off and locked up somewhere while at work.

  116. 116.

    YetAnotherJay formerly (Jay S)

    Do we have a glowing article on how Donald bravely cheated death (taxes) and stuck a blow for the most abused minority (of wealthy-americans) yet?

  117. 117.

    NotMax

    Next, a system to automatically siphon a dollar a month from every bank account in the country.

    “Nobody’s gonna care about a measly buck. And if anyone makes a fuss, we’ll pull out the national security card.”

  118. 118.

    trollhattan

    Don’t know whether this is bidnez as usual in the conservative swamps or if it indicates the depth of Cruz’s panic over Beto, so I’ll take the latter because it makes me feel happy.

    A neoconservative foreign policy group appeared to try and get audio recorded claiming erroneously that Rep. Beto O’Rourke’s (D-TX) Senate campaign was endorsed by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.

    The campaign appears to have not made it into production, and maybe never will, as the site where the group posted a call for voice actors took down the solicitation on the grounds that the script was clearly false.

    Before it was removed, a screenshot of that posting—which was made on the website Voicebunny in August—was provided to The Daily Beast on an anonymous tip line. According to the posting, the company producing the ad was “trying to do a voice dubbing of the Iranian President, so the voiceover needs to sound middle eastern and stern.”

    The script for the spot was as follows:

    “Hello, I am Hassan Rouhani, President of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” the script read. “Today, it is my pleasure to endorse Beto O’Rourke for U.S. Senate. As a Congressman, Beto was a strong supporter of President Obama’s Iran Deal—which gave billions of dollars to my country of Iran.”

  122. 122.

    Brachiator

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym:

    There are lots of people who are REQUIRED to have their cell phones off and locked up somewhere while at work.

    You mean, like the White House staff since Omarosa was fired?

    ETA: Damn! I see that NotMax beat me to it.

  123. 123.

    Ruckus

    @The Moar You Know:
    Wanna bet that this doesn’t remain a FEMA project?
    And the reason it’s named a presidential alert is that fuckstick is going to send us messages because he feels that not enough of us are listening to his fat ass.

  125. 125.

    trollhattan

    @Gin & Tonic:
    Can we say occasionally top-10,000? Surely there are halcyon TBogg-unit days when it’s shouldering itself alongside the big boys!

  126. 126.

    different-church-lady

    @ruemara:

    you can have horrible things happen to you and still be a horrible person.

    But not nearly often enough.

  127. 127.

    Jeffro

    @Jay: Read the book – they take some shots at South Korea and Japan, and then lob a few long-range missiles (a very few) at US targets.

  129. 129.

    Martin

    @trollhattan: Congress should have sent their warning letter to Ted Cruz.

    The big worry is that foreign governments will one day fool millions of Americans with AI-generated fake video or audio. Imagine a US politician being depicted as making a racist comment and the clip going viral right before an election. Thanks to today’s machine learning algorithms, a bad actor might be able to pull this off. The technology can already clone your voice, swap someone’s face with another, and take existing footage and manipulate the subject’s lips to say something else.

    Oh, I see what’s wrong. They’re only worried about foreigners doing it, not Republicans.

  130. 130.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    Can someone help to spread this far and wide? I am crap at posting tweets but perhaps someone can figure it out.

    Gen JC Christian, Dude Retweeted
    Gary the Cynic / Fbr
    ‏ @GaryTheCynic
    19h19 hours ago

    Gary’s brother here again.

    Gary loved his cat Danny. We cannot care for Danny due to being at max limit with cats ourselves. If anyone is in the DFW area, and can help us re-home him, we would greatly appreciate the help. He’s incredibly snuggly and needs human touch.
    44 replies 629 retweets 661 likes
    Show this thread

  131. 131.

    YetAnotherJay formerly (Jay S)

    @Ruckus: I don’t believe greetings from the President have been well regarded in the past either.

  132. 132.

    Calouste

    The headline at the BBC currently is “Republicans deplore mocking accuser”. Could you say that means that the shitgibbon is deplorable? If only someone would have warned us about that.

  134. 134.

    NotMax

    “I have reason to believe that … a minor alteration was performed… throughout the entire[ty]… of its own fabric.”
      – Dr. Edward Morbius

  135. 135.

    Mike in DC

    @Jeffro:
    There was a retired US general on msnbc a while back who offhandedly commented that our nuclear strike package for NK would consist of about 30 weapons. Given the relative size of NK, that’s a pretty thorough glassing.

  136. 136.

    Gretchen

    My Congressman has complained all day that he was supposed to debate Sharice Davids and she was a no-show. Turns out he wasn’t going to be there, and she had agreed to a short Q and A at the Bar Association. Turns out last night she found out that he was going to be there and he wanted it to be a debate and Bar Assn. agreed. She has said that she won’t do a debate that’s not free and open to the public, which this was not. So she refused. I called his campaign office and told them to give him a clue that in the week of Brett Kavanaugh, him telling a woman that he doesn’t care what she wants or agreed to, he’s in and they’re doing what he wants. Ugh. It literally gave me a stomachache.

  137. 137.

    satby

    I turned everything off and went for a walk and then to get groceries. No alerts lurking when I turned things back on.

  138. 138.

    Jay

    @Jeffro:

    Read the book.

    During the Korean War and afterwards, North Korean agriculture was a deliberate target tor destruction by the US, despite it being a war crime. North Korean agriculture has never properly recovered. Even with modern materials, new varietals and heavy equiptment, agricultural infrastructure built up over 5,000 years, is not easily repaired when it’s been completely destroyed.

    Since the late 1950’s, creating conditions in the US for food scarcity and recurring rolling famines, has been a recurring meme in NORK “fire and brimstone” revenge speeches.

    The NORK’s arn’t going to target US Cities. The are going to irradiate the US’s Food Belt.

  141. 141.

    Tony Jay

    @Jay:

    Taking out the flyover states while leaving the cities to starve is, as best I can tell, the backstory of Judge Dredd’s dystopian future America. Hence a radiated Cursed Earth between Mega Cities where the Empire State Building and the Hollywood sign are still standing.

    British 70’s sci-fi was, like, so prophetic.

  144. 144.

    p.a.

    CNN shows about as much backbone as we can ever expect it to show with thus banner today: “WH denies Trump mocked Kavanaugh accuser after Trump mocks Kavanaugh accuser”

  146. 146.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Mike in DC:

    I am ambivalent about the benefits of advance notice of an incoming nuclear attack when I am stuck in an office building 5 blocks from the WH doing document review. On the other hand, knowing that I no longer have to do document review would really brighten my day.

    Great point!

  148. 148.

    debbie

    @Betty Cracker:

    My phone’s dumb, so I didn’t rate one. But everyone else’s phone went off. How does FEMA know this was a success if they didn’t ask for any confirmations, etc.?

    @p.a.:

    I was driving home, flipping through channels trying to find a traffic report before I got stuck in traffic. Some AM AHole is interviewing Eric Trump (first time I’ve ever heard him). He insists his father was not mocking Blasey Ford; instead, he says he was just stating the facts. The AM AHole asks Eric what he thinks of Chelsea Clinton’s comment today that Trump’s mocking was unpresidential. He responds, “Why would we listen to her? This is a woman who deleted 30,000 emails, let soldiers die in Benghazi….” Seriously, how stupid and uninfomred is that guy?

    The SNL depiction of Eric as cretin (and I apologize to all other cretins) is more literal than I realized.

  151. 151.

    TenguPhule

    @Yutsano:

    This is going to be another long Infrastructure Week again eh?

    We are already exhausted from next week’s scandals.

  152. 152.

    debbie

    @Mike in DC:

    Yeah, I heard plenty of similar grumbling. Of course, there was a fire drill last week and it took me 20 minutes to get outside (I’m only on the second floor). Believe me, there was loud grumbling.

  154. 154.

    Mary G

    We can’t get complacent, and we can’t let up, but such happy news:

    NEW House Ratings Changes:#FL26 Lean R to Toss Up ⇦#KS03 Toss Up to Lean D ⇦#MI03 Solid R to Likely R ⇦#MI11 Toss Up to Lean D ⇦#NY21 Solid R to Likely R ⇦#NY24 Likely R to Lean R ⇦#PA17 Lean D to Likely D ⇦#UT04 Lean R to Toss Up ⇦https://t.co/hs0dRTcAux— CookPoliticalReport (@CookPolitical) October 3, 2018

    Funny how no races seem to be moving in the Republican direction.

  156. 156.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @dexwood:

    Hope the next alert says The Emergency Is Coming From Within the Whitehouse.

    It oughta, since that’s technically been true since noon on 20 January 2017.

  158. 158.

    lamh36

    Manchin seems to say he’s going to ignore Kavanaugh’s conduct in high school and college: “I’m looking at the gentleman as an adult from 22 to 53, 31 years of professional service. I’m looking at him as a father, as a person in the community, how he interacts with his community.”

    Manchin also gave no indication that he will consider Kavanaugh’s apparently false statements to the Judiciary Committee.

    Manchin also says he has never heard of NBC’s story on Kavanaugh’s alleged efforts to push back on Debbie Ramirez’s story prior to when Kavanugh told the Judiciary Committee he first learned of the allegation.

    https://twitter.com/dfriedman33/status/1047597202540036096?s=21

  159. 159.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @debbie: How can you listen to that while you’re driving? Aren’t you afraid of running into someone? I had to put my Hamilton CDs back on in endless replay. It’s such a work of art. I keep wondering how the Rs can settle for the shallow, selfish, stupidity when life has so many more rich possibilities.

  163. 163.

    debbie

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    They’ve stopped putting CD players in Hondas. There aren’t a lot of good music stations around here, and I’m not about to start with MP3s, etc.

    To be honest, I was so busy raging at the radio, I didn’t see the emergency vehicle or its flashing lights zip up behind me. I do need to be more careful.

  165. 165.

    hueyplong

    We’re pretty deep into seeing a pattern: Only Democrats lose a position or fail to move up due to sexual misconduct.

    Once you’ve got GOPers moving into the White House and onto the Supreme Court AFTER sexual misconduct is demonstrated, the message seems well sent.

  166. 166.

    Gelfling 545

    So where does the betting stand on how soon Trump starts using it for purely political purposes?

  167. 167.

    TenguPhule

    @hueyplong:

    We’re pretty deep into seeing a pattern: Only Democrats lose a position or fail to move up due to sexual misconduct.

    Once you’ve got GOPers moving into the White House and onto the Supreme Court AFTER sexual misconduct is demonstrated, the message seems well sent.

    Because Republicans never quit in the face of accusations. They fight to the bitter end.

  169. 169.

    debbie

    @debbie:

    But then I’m cheered when I come home and find Andy Borowitz on my FB feed:

    “It’s very scary right now to be a man,” Trump said. “You can do or say something that women don’t like, and suddenly millions of women will come out of the woodwork and vote against you. I think it’s a disgrace.”

    “It’s getting to the point where men are not going to be able to ridicule women at their campaign rallies without being terribly afraid that women are going to vote against them,” he said. “It’s a very scary time.”

  171. 171.

    ruemara

    @schrodingers_cat: Ok, just checked it. I actually used that for a gig. The quality wasn’t what I needed for what I was shooting, but consumer-wise, it worked well. It was easy to use, light and it had good quality footage even with compression. I’d get a 64 gig card, if possible.

  172. 172.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Mike in DC: Worth pointing out that NK is unlikely to have hydrogen bombs so a fallout shelter might not be totally futile.

  175. 175.

    Jay

    @debbie: @MomSense:

    CBC Radio 1 is available on PRI and Sirius.

    You can also live stream it off of a smartphone to the car’s auxillary system.

    The Insane Clown POSus is less than 5% of the news content, and you can turn the volume down for the 3 minutes that he’s being covered.

  176. 176.

    lamh36

    @debbie: yeah…we’ll see I guess. But I’ve said on here, that Manchin was likely a YES vote before all this, and to be quite honest, I don’t think he’s leaning anymore to NO because of all this. To me, this says he’s still leaning YES…he specifically says “25 – 53” which means to me, that he doesn’t care about Dr. Ford’s allegations and likely sees the as “youthful discretions”…

  181. 181.

    MisterForkbeard

    @lamh36: We can hope that Manchin goes with “I don’t see how we can prove the allegations one way or the other and I’m not inclined to dredge up things from 35 years ago – people change. But Brett Kavanaugh has knowingly and provably lied about his past just in the last week, while under oath. I cannot in good conscience vote for him as a Supreme Court Justice.” and leave it at that.

    I doubt it’ll go that way, but I’m crossing fingers.

  182. 182.

    p.a.

    @debbie: I’ll never forget the sight of my first tandem, fully loaded logging truck coming downhill at me, the front section leaning towards my lane, the back section leaning towards the soft shoulder. Maine Rt.6 east of Lincoln, June 1994.

  183. 183.

    Formerly disgruntled in Oregon

    @MisterForkbeard: Seems like he’s waiting for political cover from the three Republicans in his little “gang of four”.

    Inconceivable to me, but then again, I’d never have a shot a being elected to statewide federal office in West Virginia…

  184. 184.

    different-church-lady

    @debbie:

    They’ve stopped putting CD players in Hondas.

    I just leased a 2019 Honda Fit a month ago, and it has a CD player.

  186. 186.

    NotMax

    @lamh36

    Flake dutifully performed his hackles up act for the peanut gallery. And we all know how quickly Frosted Flakes go limp and soggy.

  188. 188.

    Ohio Mom

    @debbie: That’s some story about Eric mixing up Hillary and Chelsea. The Trumps are always proving themselves stupider than even those of us with very morbid imaginations can imagine. It’s endless amazement of the worse kind.

  191. 191.

    Jay

    @Jeffro:

    Say a dozen nukes. They are going to be low yeild and “dirty”. 5-20 megatons tops.

    3 for Japan, Oakinawa and Guam. A big chunk of the US immediate response is off the table, and reuse of those bases for follow on activities are slowed down and complicated by the sites being highly irradiated.

    That leaves 9. That’s not enough to dent the US Nuclear Triad.

    You could hurt US Cities, or irradiate for 100,000+ years the US Breadbasket.

    Which, given a long history of losing millions to recurring famines, would you chose, knowing either way your entire nation is toast?

    Hurt the US for a decade, or cripple the US for 100,000 years?

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