Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Let us savor the impending downfall of lawless scoundrels who richly deserve the trouble barreling their way.

Consistently wrong since 2002

Bark louder, little dog.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

Battle won, war still ongoing.

Just because you believe it, that doesn’t make it true.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

“Squeaker” McCarthy

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

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

Second rate reporter says what?

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

He really is that stupid.

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

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

Not all heroes wear capes.

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

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

You are here: Home / Past Elections / 2020 Elections / Friday Morning Nostalgia Open Thread: Remember Normal Politics?

Friday Morning Nostalgia Open Thread: Remember Normal Politics?

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I don’t even want Iowa to have such oversized import for the primaries, and YET…


Reader Interactions

226Comments

  2. 2.

    ola azul

    Pacific Junction? Iowa, right?

    (Perhaps presaging the flood, but that’s some omniscient shit right there.)

  7. 7.

    Baud

    Besides Kamala and her sister, I spotted one non-white person, and he was wearing a Biden t-shirt so he might be part of the campaign team.

  11. 11.

    Mary G

    Liz Warren has a lot more time to hang out with regular people by foregoing fundraisers with big donors. I think she’s going to keep surging.

  13. 13.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @RAVEN: Tight lines! Wait a minute, that’s in Appalachia. But Douglas Lake is just north of there. Tight lines!

  18. 18.

    Raven

    @OzarkHillbilly: The event looks a little goofy, Korea Defense Vets Reunion, but I was together with these guys on a tiny “fort” looking over the Imjin River so that part should be good. They have pictures of a “parade” last year and it looked like there were about 20 people in it.

  19. 19.

    Raven

    @Baud: It’s pretty amazing that as many of us were able to reconnect. It’s all about the hated Facebook but I read the NYT and like football so fuck it and drive on!

  20. 20.

    ola azul

    @RAVEN:

    Suitin up for my trip to Pigeon Forge!

    If you’ll forgive me: whatsat mean?

    Done a cursory check with Lord Google, n it sez Dolly Parton owns some concessions there. All I (think I) know!

    Speaking of Dolly, ‘member her remarking on gay marriage back when it was becoming normalized, and she sez (paraphrase): “I’m in favor a gay marriage! I see no reason why they shouldn’t have the right to be just as miserable as the rest of us!”

  21. 21.

    different-church-lady

    Lemonade costs seven dollars now?

    I’m never leaving the house again….

  22. 22.

    RAVEN

    @ola azul: It’s a reunion of a Korea Defense Vets. We call it the DMZ War because we were taking casualties into the 70’s. Remember the Pueblo? Blue House Raid? Maybe the first but not the second. We were too dumb and under supplied to realize we were nothing but a trip wire in the case that “Joe” came across the DMZ.

  28. 28.

    RAVEN

    @geg6: Hamill’s “A Drinking Life” is my absolute favorite. No whining, apologizing and begging, just a clear eyed look at the impact of drinking on him.

  29. 29.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @different-church-lady: What, and be subjected to strange people barging into your restaurant while you’re trying to have a quiet meal or come up to you in the grocery store and insist on shaking your hand or walk into the local feed store and one of them’ll be there with a gaggle of press like they buy scratch for their chickens at home all the time or… Every 4 years?

    And don’t forget, Steve King.

    I’m moving to Maine. Maybe I’ll run into Stephen King.

  30. 30.

    Sab

    I like Elizabeth Warren a lot, but I have decided I am so jealous of her girlish figure that I can no longer support her.

  31. 31.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @RAVEN: The 1st Sergeant of the first battery I served in had a 3d ID right should patch from the late ’60s.

  33. 33.

    Kay

    This is good for us:

    Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said this week that Republicans would push to repeal ObamaCare if they win back the House and President Trump is reelected in 2020.
    “If we can get the House back and keep our majority in the Senate, and President Trump wins reelection, I can promise you not only are we going to repeal ObamaCare, we’re going to do it in a smart way where South Carolina will be the biggest winner,” Graham said in an interview with a South Carolina radio station.

    They no longer even bother to put their own health care fixes up. Now they just sue to take some away every six months.

  34. 34.

    Raven

    @Omnes Omnibus: it must have been from during the war.

    In January 1953 the Division was transferred from I Corps. The Division served in Korea until 1953 when it was withdrawn.

  37. 37.

    OzarkHillbilly

    The price of gold has risen to $1,500 an ounce (£1,234.45 at market rates on Wednesday) for the first time in six years as investors seek shelter in low-risk assets amid concerns about the global economy. The spot gold price rose 1.75% to $1,500.29, its highest level since 2013, taking the metal’s gains this year to 17%.
    Gold is considered a safe haven asset and investors traditionally buy into the precious metal at times of economic or political instability.
    ……………………………..
    Other safe haven assets were also in demand. The yield on 30-year US treasuries fell to as low as 2.145%, not far from a record low of 2.089% set in June 2016. Yields have been turning negative on government bonds as fears about the global economy have increased. Negative yields mean that investors are prepared to pay to park their money in assets they believe are safe. Last week, the German 30-year government bond yield went negative for the first time, and some analysts think that the same could happen for US government bonds.

    Joachim Fels, an economic adviser to the bond investor Pimco, wrote on his blog: “What was once viewed as a short-term aberration – that creditors are paying debtors for taking their money – has already become commonplace in developed markets outside of the US. Whenever the world economy next goes into hibernation, US treasuries, which many investors view as the ultimate safe haven apart from gold, may be no exception to the negative yield phenomenon.”

    So. much. winning.

  38. 38.

    John S.

    @Kay:

    I don’t know what is wrong with South Carolina that they keep electing this odious turd into office.

    Perhaps they never got the traitorous, secessionist stink off.

  40. 40.

    ola azul

    @Raven:

    Ah. Well, now. Guess I din’t put it together that you could be both a veteran of an active war-zone and an in-active one.

    Congrats on yer imminent retirement — more time to fish!

  41. 41.

    ola azul

    @John S.:

    Cradle of ‘Murican sedition, baby!

    Do we *really* need two Carolinas? Or two Dakotas for that matter? Or even one Mississippi?

  42. 42.

    John S.

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    It fits the pattern. Republicans crap the bed, Democrats clean it up, and Republicans ride to victory by convincing everyone that the Democrats were the ones who crapped the bed because they have Republican crap on their hands. Rinse and repeat.

  45. 45.

    Kay

    @John S.:

    But in the meantime, every Democratic congressional candidate can run on exactly what they ran on in 2018. Completely legitimately- “Republicans want to take away Obamacare and they have nothing to replace it with”

  46. 46.

    Raven

    @ola azul: that’s what was strange about Korea. Those “incidents “ seemed a lot more real when it was in your AO. The Blue House Raiders came through our area and we chased them.

  47. 47.

    Jeffro

    @Kay: This is doubly funny and helpful to Dems.

    GOP: if we win, we’re going to take away 20M+ Americans’ health care, and raise prices for everyone!

    Voters: didn’t you campaign on “beautiful low-cost health care for all in 2016?” And then just as soon as you were in power in the WH, House, and Senate tried to do the exact opposite?

    GOP: which lie will get you to vote GOP next November? That’s the one we want you to remember! Also, soshulism!!1!

    Voters, to each other: (where is the nearest pitchfork and torch store?)

  49. 49.

    Jeffro

    @RAVEN: One of my college roommates was from a town near Pigeon Forge – Covington? It’s beautiful out that way. Have a blast!

  53. 53.

    Kay

    @Jeffro:

    “beautiful low-cost health care for all in 2016?”

    That’s the underexplored part of Trump’s success in 2016. How he ran against Republicans. Harder to lie about that this time, since he has accomplished zero-none- of the “populist” economic policies he promised. His single legislative success is the tax cuts for rich people.

  54. 54.

    Lapassionara

    @John S.: I lived there for a while. Typical story. A few blue counties outnumbered by the sons of the confederacy types. For a while, Lindsay was seen as a moderate R. We left before the 2016 election, so I don’t know what happened to make him such a toady.

  56. 56.

    ola azul

    @Raven:

    Get area of ops, i.e. Korea where you wuz, but (and hope you’ll forgive, ignint; looked em up on Google n gotta buncha “Raiders of the Lost Cheese” kids stuff) who is the Blue House Raiders?

  57. 57.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Raven: Sorry. Typo. It was the 2ID patch.

    ETA: I am not usually up this early and my fingers are fighting me.

  59. 59.

    Betty Cracker

    Where logic collides with the law:

    An armed man wearing body armor, military-style clothes and carrying two firearms and more than 100 rounds of ammo was arrested at a Walmart store in Missouri on Thursday, police said.

    “His intent was not to cause peace or comfort … He’s lucky he’s alive still, to be honest,” said Springfield, Mo. Police Lieutenant Mike Lucas.

    It’ll be interesting to see what they charge this goon with, if anything. Missouri is an open carry state, and according to accounts I’ve read, the asshole just walked around the store filming the panic and chaos with his phone.

    The cop is right — the heavily armed goon wasn’t there to “cause peace or comfort” — but it doesn’t sound like the goon did anything illegal either. The problem is the laws that allow people to parade around with their own personal weapons of mass destruction.

    People rightly panic when they see someone coming at them dressed in tactical gear and toting that kind of firepower. Fear and panic is rational in that situation. The goons are a problem, yes, but so is the law. It has to change. This is intolerable.

  60. 60.

    ola azul

    @Kay:

    Agreed. Precisely the point. The motherfucker’s gotta record now. Every con-man promise he ever made oughtta be hung like a burning tire round his globular neck.

  61. 61.

    Jeffro

    @Kay: Yup. Running against ‘typical’ Republican disregard for working people…how’d that work out, “economically anxious” GOP voters?

    He also can’t run as some sort of magical deal-maker, or swamp-drainer, or any of it. I mean, he’ll still try and it’ll work with the OANN base, but even some of the Fox crowd seems to be seeing behind the curtain these days. Bit by bit, one by one.

  63. 63.

    debbie

    @Kay:

    I’d like to know LG’s definition of “biggest winner”: higher costs, lower wages, higher illness rates, lower well-being; what, exactly? ?

  65. 65.

    Betty Cracker

    @Lapassionara: Graham saw what happened to Sanford, read his own popularity polls in South Carolina and is doing what he has to do to keep his job. His polls plunged when he was critical of Trump. When he started kissing Trump’s ass, they went back up. It’s as simple as that, I think.

  66. 66.

    Jeffro

    @OzarkHillbilly: You know, not to go all tinfoil-hat here, but I have to wonder if McCain was running some sort of interference for Graham, either explicitly or implicitly, vs whomever might seek to blackmail Graham.

    “ ‘Out’ Lindsey and you have no hope of getting my vote in the Senate on X, Y, Z.” – McCain. But to whom – GOP powers-that-be? The Russians? Who knows? It’ll be interesting when it all comes out, that’s for sure.

  67. 67.

    ola azul

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    One way to look at it. ‘Nuther way is Lindsey transferred his Daddy complex from one strong personality to another. (And being a bootlicking toady by nature, Huckleberry Graham glommed onto the “strongest” Daddy he could find.)

    Then again, perhaps we’re saying the same thing?

  69. 69.

    Betty Cracker

    @Jeffro: Am I the only one who thinks “they transposed a letter” every time I read “OANN”? They should just go with ONAN since it’s a circle jerk anyway.

  70. 70.

    Kay

    @ola azul:

    A lot of them are running on it. There’s a whole genre of D campaigning that focuses on Trump’s broken promises on economic issues, of which health care is one. I hadn’t heard a GOP leader (Graham) come right out and promise to take away health care yet this cycle though. I’m pleased Mr. Graham helped with that. They have some vulnerable senators, and judging by the retirements they (still) have some vulnerable House seats too.

  71. 71.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @satby:

    And filming it to enjoy later.

    Don’t be surprised when it turns out he was live streaming it.

  72. 72.

    low-tech cyclist

    @ola azul:

    The motherfucker’s gotta record now. Every con-man promise he ever made oughtta be hung like a burning tire round his globular neck.

    Yeppers.

  73. 73.

    Betty Cracker

    @satby: Yep. It’s not a new thing either, as you undoubtedly know. There are tons of videos on YouTube of nutcases filming themselves walking around cities with assault rifles and then recording conversations with cops summoned to the area by panicked bystanders. They’ve been doing it for years. I saw one video like that filmed by an open carry group where the group leader said their goal was to “desensitize” people by getting them used to seeing gun nuts walking around with assault rifles. Good luck with that, motherfuckers.

  74. 74.

    Another Scott

    Good morning.

    A reposted ddale8 tweet at Wonkette indicates that Biden’s brain in Iowa seems to think that Margaret Thatcher is still PM of the UK.

    And that “poor kids are just as bright and talented as white kids.”

    Go home Joe. You’re not helping.

    Grr…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  76. 76.

    Anne Laurie

    @different-church-lady:

    Lemonade costs seven dollars now?

    Nope, read the tweet again — seven lemonades cost seven dollars, because Warren bought one for each of the staffers on her bus. And then she (over) tipped the kids, because she’s a good person, and also not stupid.

  77. 77.

    Kay

    @Betty Cracker:

    All they’re doing with this is making the point over that the weapons have to be regulated, because laws to reach the gun nuts themselves won’t work. How are people in the Wal Mart supposed to tell the difference between this guy and a shooter? What if he stops strutting around intimidating and scaring them and starts shooting them? They’re supposed to just accept this insane risk? What are they relying on here? Intent? They’re supposed to discern what he’s thinking, on the fly, in what could be a split second? This is the level of risk they’re supposed to accept in a shopping trip to Wal Mart? They must put their life on the line to get a bag of dog food?

  78. 78.

    debbie

    @Betty Cracker:

    Reminds me of the early days of the Tea Party and the photo of two militiamen wandering the aisles of a Krogers in Oregon, AK-whatevers slung over their shoulders. ??

  80. 80.

    ola azul

    @Betty Cracker:

    Must confess, this actually sounds like the most plausible, albeit cynical and uninteresting, rationale for Huckleberry Graham’s existential change-o-life.

  84. 84.

    Kay

    @Betty Cracker:

    I saw one video like that filmed by an open carry group where the group leader said their goal was to “desensitize” people by getting them used to seeing gun nuts walking around with assault rifles. Good luck with that, motherfuckers.

    They’re demanding the entire public make some on the fly, split second decision regarding which gun nut is deadly at that moment. WTF do I know? One minute he’s gleefully filming panicked mothers, the next he’s slaughtering children.
    I don’t know about other people but I don’t need extra panic and life or death decision making when making my grocery purchases. I can just skip that whole dilemma and go to store that actually values the vast, vast majority of their customers instead of catering to the most insane and aggressive.

  86. 86.

    ola azul

    @Kay:

    To my knowledge, there exists no more unassailable example of cossetted white privilege than to have heavily-armed buffoons waltz in public spaces goddamn well *knowing* they won’t be mowed down by law enforcement.

    Contrasted, a-course, with manifold examples of folks like Tamir Rice getting shot w/in 2 seconds by a jumpy cop cuz he thinks an 11-y/o-boy is a danger to his life.

    The mind, it fucking boggles.

  87. 87.

    Anne Laurie

    @Betty Cracker:

    People rightly panic when they see someone coming at them dressed in tactical gear and toting that kind of firepower. Fear and panic is rational in that situation. The goons are a problem, yes, but so is the law. It has to change. This is intolerable.

    Well, for once, the Repub-enabling media may be helping us out. They’re being pretty quiet about the Walmart shooter’s expressed racism… but that means low-info voters are seeing the tv headlines GUNMAN SHOOTS UP WALMART and don’t think, Well, sure, Messicans; they think *I* shop at Walmart! This sh*t gotta *STOP*!

    Then-Gov. Reagan tightened up the gun laws in California when a few Black Panthers called for African-Americans to buy guns. ‘Real Americans’ will call for tighter gun laws when it’s not some (probably imaginary!) school in Connecticut (is that even a real state?), it’s their go-to supply center.

  88. 88.

    low-tech cyclist

    @Betty Cracker:

    The cop is right — the heavily armed goon wasn’t there to “cause peace or comfort” — but it doesn’t sound like the goon did anything illegal either. The problem is the laws that allow people to parade around with their own personal weapons of mass destruction.

    People rightly panic when they see someone coming at them dressed in tactical gear and toting that kind of firepower. Fear and panic is rational in that situation.

    Is Missouri a stand-your-ground state? Wikipedia says yes.

    So if this dude was causing fear in people – which he clearly was – it sounds to me like they’re legally entitled to shoot him, assuming they’re carrying too.

    I’m not keen on wild-West solutions to this sort of shit, but if that happened once or twice, I bet it would cut way down on incidents where these assholes legally carry heavy artillery in public just to scare the shit out of people.

    But really, open carry should be illegal everywhere if you’re not a cop. If you see someone in public with a gun, you should be able to call the cops, and the cops should make an arrest and permanently confiscate the gun. It should be that simple. (Useless to make that a Federal law, though, since state and local cops would be the ones enforcing it, or not.)

  89. 89.

    Betty Cracker

    @Kay: Exactly right — the risk these laws force us to undertake is intolerable, and each of these incidents underscore that. I looked into the Missouri story further because I’m curious about what they’ll find to bring charges. Here’s an excerpt of a local news story:

    “We definitely have some crimes here,” he said.

    According to Lt. Lucas, an off duty fireman who was at the Walmart is to thank in some part for the young man’s arrest.

    For now, investigators will review both the Walmart security footage and the armed 20-year-old’s social media profiles.

    Lucas says there may have been a Facebook live posted by the man. Officers plan to watch the video and learn his intentions.

    Lucas said the store’s multiple security cameras will make it easy for SPD to study his behavior.

    “Walmart has hundreds of cameras,” Lucas said. “Every footstep he took here is going to chronical and document his actions.”

    So, looks like @OzarkHillbilly was right — the dude was probably live-streaming the incident. There will be tons of video to analyze from Walmart. But if there are “definitely crimes,” what are they? If the armed goon didn’t telegraph his intent to cause panic, I’m not sure the cops will have a leg to stand on. We can’t go on like this. Things have to change.

  91. 91.

    Amir Khalid

    @ola azul:

    Or two Dakotas for that matter?

    You don’t really need Dakota Johnson, but I think Dakota Fanning is worth keeping.

  93. 93.

    Baud

    @Kay:

    They’re demanding the entire public make some on the fly, split second decision regarding which gun nut is deadly at that moment.

    How long does it take to determine someone’s race? #WhatTheyreThinking

  96. 96.

    Immanentize

    @OzarkHillbilly:
    If he suited up and did what he did to cause fear and fear he did cause, it is still an assault. His only defense would be that the fear of imminent danger was irrational. It’s like Kay says, other laws will work as a back stop.

  101. 101.

    Kay

    @ola azul:

    To my knowledge, there exists no more unassailable example of cossetted white privilege than to have heavily-armed buffoons waltz in public spaces goddamn well *knowing* they won’t be mowed down by law enforcement.

    It’s just appalling, how they have to OWN and DOMINATE the whole space. The strutting around is meant to assert dominance. He gets off on the fear on their faces, how they part for him and move away. He also knows no one will challenge him, even verbally, because no one has any clue if he’ll start shooting. Who the fuck knows what sets these people off.

  104. 104.

    Immanentize

    @Anne Laurie:
    The lemonade thing was sheer political genius. While others are lined up at the circus (State Fair) Warren gets the good publicity.

    (Rather wish the lemonade seller wasn’t wearing “PINK” shorts, though.)

  105. 105.

    low-tech cyclist

    @Kay:

    How are people in the Wal Mart supposed to tell the difference between this guy and a shooter? What if he stops strutting around intimidating and scaring them and starts shooting them? They’re supposed to just accept this insane risk?

    At the very least, stores like Wal-Mart and Kroger could ban guns from their stores, which they have every right to do, but don’t.

    Sure, that would just push the problem outside into the parking lot, but we really need to boycott stores that allow people to parade their weapons of mass slaughter inside their stores.

  108. 108.

    Kay

    @ola azul:

    So you tell me. How am I supposed to tell the difference between a (currently) dangerous gun nut and the other variety, who are not dangerous (it seems, maybe) at that moment? How is anyone supposed to tell the difference? We’re all supposed to discern intent in a split second? Tell the friendlies from the unfriendlies? So it’s a battlefield environment there for shoppers in the Wal Mart?

    No one signed up for this war they’re waging. They’re conscripting us into their fantasy.

  111. 111.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Betty Cracker: These assholes think causing fear and panic among innocent people is funny, fucking hilarious. If a child gets crushed in the resulting stampede, they only hope they get it on tape.

    I’ve never been in Springfield any longer than it took to buy gas and get out of there, but iirc there are a fair # of blacks there (one can be sure there are more than a few Hispanics too). I won’t be surprised in the least if the wal mart he picked was the one most minorities patronized either.

  114. 114.

    Betty Cracker

    Amazingly, crazy-ass Florida is NOT an open carry state. I’m not sure how that happened since the gun laws are incredibly lax here (practically anyone can get a concealed carry permit, you don’t need a permit to carry guns in your car, stand your ground, etc.). My guess is the theme parks and tourism industry somehow managed to squelch the NRA’s attempts to go full gun nut here. Bad for business!

  115. 115.

    low-tech cyclist

    Weigel:

    Big crowd for Biden but reception is more night at the opera than Beatlemania

    Which part? Stateroom scene? Contract routine? The finale?

    Nah, probably one of those scenes where Allan Jones (Zeppo’s replacement) was saying something boring.

  116. 116.

    Quinerly

    @rikyrah: I read about this earlier this week when the story was overshadowed by the shootings. MSNBC started covering it pretty heavily yesterday. He was a 6 mo old baby (born in Greece) of Iraqi refugees when he was brought here. All legal. One segment on one show was particularly poignant. Interview of a close friend. Made me cry. Someone needs to pay for this. And pay dearly.

  118. 118.

    Kay

    @low-tech cyclist:

    You can ban them in Ohio, but I’m not sure about every state. I get a certain amount of pleasure out of confronting the liars who come into the law office, ignoring the sign on the door, and secretly carrying. They can’t go half an hour without their precious. They’re asking me to make a decision I don’t want to make- I don’t want to decide if they’re one of the gun nuts who kill or if they weren’t and then are when they get upset. I don’t need this. They create an unacceptable level of risk that is completely unnecessary and involuntary on my part. I did not request to be part of their battlefield fantasy and I will not play.

  120. 120.

    low-tech cyclist

    @Betty Cracker:

    Amazingly, crazy-ass Florida is NOT an open carry state. I’m not sure how that happened since the gun laws are incredibly lax here (practically anyone can get a concealed carry permit, you don’t need a permit to carry guns in your car, stand your ground, etc.). My guess is the theme parks and tourism industry somehow managed to squelch the NRA’s attempts to go full gun nut here. Bad for business!

    I bet that’s it. If people could open carry right up to the gates of WDW, Epcot, and all those other places, they’d all pick up and move somewhere saner as quickly as they could. Five years and Orlando would be a ghost town.

  121. 121.

    Anne Laurie

    @Betty Cracker: Vaguely remember the ammosexuals attempting a boycott of Disney because the Mouse was ‘anti-gun’ (didn’t permit open carry in its parks) but that was a long time ago, pre-Aurora, so I wouldn’t want to make a firm assertion.

  122. 122.

    Ohio Mom

    @Immanentize: All in all, those two girls are dressed on the modest side for their age group. At least judging by what I see here in southwest Ohio.

    I’ve been sending Immp good thoughts. Reading that for now he only gets to “eat” a couple of tablespoons of clear liquids at a time got to me. Then I remember he gave up his stomach to live a long, happy life, and how amazing it is that doctors know how to do all this.

  123. 123.

    NotMax

    New record set!

    Home again, home again, jiggity jig. Air travel screwed up almost beyond belief. Time elapsed from leaving Mom’s apartment in NY to arriving at the NotMax manse in Maui: 32½ hours.

    Nearly triple the best case travel time. Began to unpack, said screw this and stretched out to grab a catnap, waking up a full and uninterrupted 11 hours later.

  124. 124.

    Kay

    @Betty Cracker:

    Bad for business!

    It is bad for business. It’s a fucking no brainer. Mass murder scenarios do not make a pleasant shopping experience.

    Wal Mart should maybe stop worrying about lobbying against their employees and start lobbying for their customers.

  125. 125.

    ola azul

    @Kay:

    So you tell me. How am I supposed to tell the difference between a (currently) dangerous gun nut and the other variety, who are not dangerous (it seems, maybe) at that moment?

    You mean to tell me you can’t immediately discern a good guy with a gun, Kay? He’s fucking WHITE! Duh.

  126. 126.

    Immanentize

    @NotMax:
    I was just wondering about you. Glad you are safely home.

    ETA And you have discovered a cure for your insomnia!

  128. 128.

    Immanentize

    @Ohio Mom:
    I gotta admit, it is really breaking my heart to watch him go through this. I feel myself aging in triple time. But the fact that this ought to all be just a nasty memory in six months is amazing!*

    Unless he later gets shot at a Kroegers in Houston.

    *Thinking of Ozark and his son’s near death accident.

  129. 129.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Immanentize:

    other laws will work as a back stop.

    Didn’t work in Mississippi:

    According to authorities, the two men walked into the Walmart on Highway 49 around 8 p.m. Witnesses said the man holding the shotgun was actively loading and racking the firearm. Walmart does not have a policy about guns inside its stores.

    “If I were in a situation where I’m in the store shopping with my family and I see an individual loading a 12 gauge, and racking it, I’m not coming to the conclusion this is good,” said Papania. “While the actions of these two men are sanctioned by state laws, what they did negatively impacted our community.”
    ……………………………………
    “If there was something I could have arrested these people for, I would,” said Papania.
    […]
    “Gun laws should be such that it provides us security. As we look at this fact pattern, do you feel safer?”

    You live in a sane state, Misery isn’t. It’s all about the gun. The police chief in Springfield should probably start packing the boxes from the political backlash. The authorities may well come up with some creative charges, but the fact remains it is perfectly legal to carry an assault weapon anywhere you want in Misery, the only exception being if a business or church etc posts a “No Guns Allowed” sign, which considering it’s Springfield I really doubt Walmart wants to alienate 85% of their customer base.

    My prediction? This very quietly goes away, or whatever charges they dream up get very quietly thrown out.

  134. 134.

    Betty Cracker

    @mrmoshpotato: That has happened, and it is illegal since gators are protected! [YouTube] Snakes are permitted though. Last weekend, I was at Lowe’s, browsing in the caulk section, and I glanced over at a family to my left who were arguing about something, and I saw an adolescent girl who had what looked like a coral snake draped around her neck. I stumbled into a caulk gun display in a panic, and they told me it was a fake snake. Bastards.

  136. 136.

    Immanentize

    @OzarkHillbilly: If I were Bloomberg, or had all his money, in October I would start a huge publicity campaign telling parents not to send their children to college in open carry and massacre states. NO to Ohio, Texas, Florida and Missouri. Empty UTAustin, SMU, Univ of Washington St. Louis, University of Miami, Ohio State, Case Western, etc. Of all their out of state and foreign students. Yes, even Rice.

  142. 142.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Immanentize: This is the state where a man was not charged with killing his wife after he shot her by using his gun to drill a hole so he could install cable.

    I advise anyone with sanity to stay far away. Me? I know how they think which, yes makes me insane, so I have a fair chance at survival.

  146. 146.

    JMG

    It is just a matter of time before some heavily armed antisocial loser in a public place like a Walmart is blown away by another antisocial loser who’s packing who perceives a deadly threat. That might do a lot to end this phenomenon.

  147. 147.

    Betty Cracker

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: I heard a couple of senior moments from Biden in a brief exchange with reporters the day after the 2nd debate. He said something about veteran’s legislation he’d helped pass in the Senate regarding “acid rain” — from the context, I gather he meant “Agent Orange.” And he used a completely made up word “expodentially” — twice — when he meant “exponentially.”

    Now, campaigning is exhausting, and everyone slips up from time to time, so there’s no reason to panic about it, I suppose, but it does worry me. Biden wasn’t the best campaigner in his prime, and we cannot afford to lose this election.

  149. 149.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @HalfAssedHomesteader: Different kind of scariness. The open carry guys are nuts who enjoy terrifying you. It’s dominance as someone says above. For them, it’s cos play. Until it’s not. The concealed carry are more serious. They probably have some sort of plan to be the “good guy” in a gun situation. That or they’re criminals. I grew up in Detroit. Any gun, anywhere, was a signal to get the hell out of there.

  150. 150.

    frosty

    @Betty Cracker: If FL isn’t an open carry state the guy next to me at the RV park in Ocala last March didn’t hear about it. I wanted to walk over and ask which if us old snowbirds he was so scared of. But then, he had a gun, so I didn’t.

    This fucken country.

  152. 152.

    low-tech cyclist

    @rikyrah:

    Adam Serwer? (@AdamSerwer) Tweeted:
    “I’m voting for the tax cuts not the racism” isn’t a thing. It’s a package deal.

    About the most positive spin you can put on it is that in order to get their tax cuts, they’re willing to tolerate having a racist President who is blatantly inciting hate against all nonwhite Americans.

    They may not be for racism, but they go from being filthy rich to even richer, the racism is hardly a deal-breaker for them. Close enough, AFAIAC.

  156. 156.

    Betty Cracker

    @Baud: I hope to Christ he loses Iowa. That would shatter the “electability” argument, which is basically all he’s got going for him. It’s early days yet, but it’s hard to see how Biden loses the nomination (without a massive campaign implosion) if he wins Iowa. But if he loses there, all bets are off.

  157. 157.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Fears that the UK could be heading for its first recession in a decade have been stoked by grim official figures showing that the economy contracted in the second quarter of 2019.

    Brexit uncertainty, car plant shutdowns and the running down of stock built up before the original end of March deadline for Britain’s EU exit resulted in gross domestic product shrinking by 0.2% in the three months ending in June.

    News from the Office for National Statistics of the first fall in GDP in six and a half years sparked immediate speculation in the City that a further bout of Brexit jitters leading up to the new 31 October departure date could lead to a second successive quarter of negative growth. A technical recession is defined by two successive quarters of negative growth.

    The chancellor, Sajid Javid, said: “This is a challenging period across the global economy, with growth slowing in many countries. But the fundamentals of the British economy are strong – wages are growing, employment is at a record high and we’re forecast to grow faster than Germany, Italy and Japan this year.

    “The government is determined to provide certainty to people and businesses on Brexit – that’s why we are clear that the UK is leaving the EU on 31 October.”

    Translation: “Hook or by crook, come Oct 31 the Tories will make certain we are in a recession!”

  159. 159.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Sab: He probably lived in a trailer, or a tar paper shack, so yeah, go thru those walls like a hot knife thru butter.

  160. 160.

    rikyrah

    @Betty Cracker:

    I assure you, if this had been Jamal Johnson or Abdul Nasir…

    we wouldn’t be talking about ‘possible’ crimes. If they weren’t already dead, they would be locked up.

  161. 161.

    kindness

    I don’t remember the other 49 states ever agreeing that Iowa should always vote first. They really should should split the country into 5 districts and rotate between them every 4 years.

  165. 165.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    Mr DAW is watching a Daily Show episode he recorded. Marianne Williamson is the guest. Her hectoring tone is driving me crazy. I had to shut the door to my office.

  166. 166.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Betty Cracker: Remember the Vegas shooting of 2 cops at a coffee shop where the perps took refuge in a Walamrt? One of the cops learned a very strong lesson about his own internal biases and it almost got him killed. He was looking for the 2 white perps reported when he first ran in. There was a woman off to his left. He ignored her. She shot him. The report hadn’t said what sex they were and he assumed they were male.

    He now travels the country talking to cops about their internal biases. Baby steps.

  169. 169.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Gelfling 545: IANAL but as I understand it the way the law is written, having a gun is no reason for panic. So unless he takes it and actually points it at someone…

  171. 171.

    zhena gogolia

    Just wrote to fucking Baquet. Their front-page story implies that Castro “doxxed” the Trump donors.

  173. 173.

    Spanky

    @Gin & Tonic: Not just Moscow. From your link:

    Supporters in other Russian cities plan to join Moscow in its marches for the rejected City Duma candidates, according to Leonid Volkov, an ally of jailed opposition politician Alexei Navalny.

    Authorities have approved a demonstration “in solidarity with Moscow” in Russia’s fourth-largest city of Yekaterinburg, Navalny’s team wrote on social media. The Tyumen city administration in western Siberia said it also authorized its own event, followed by the southern cities of Krasnodar and Rostov-on-Don.

    In all, Navalny supporters in 40 cities from St. Petersburg to Vladivostok have announced “pickets in solidarity with Moscow” this Saturday.

    Authorities in the western city of Belgorod refused to authorize a protest at its central square. Instead, they reportedly said that space had been reserved for “events in support of Russian law enforcement officers’ actions in support of unauthorized public event participants’ illegal actions.”

  175. 175.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Another Scott: Channel 5 in Ukraine is reporting that six people there received serious doses of radiation and have been airlifted to Moscow for treatment.

  176. 176.

    Soprano2

    I came here to post about the latest idiotic incident in the fair city of Springfield, MO, my hometown, but I see Betty beat me to it. The only time we make national news is for something bad…*sigh*… The big Route 66 festival starts today, and I’m sure the organizers of it aren’t happy about this incident at all. Here’s a link to a local article about it https://www.news-leader.com/story/news/local/ozarks/2019/08/08/police-man-rifle-bulletproof-vest-arrested-walmart-store/1961019001/ Did he commit a crime? Well, here’s what our local conservative wealthy evangelical lawyer who defends all the creeps who can afford to pay him says https://www.news-leader.com/story/news/local/ozarks/2019/08/08/springfield-walmart-man-arrested-rifle-bulletproof-vest/1962421001/ Ozark is right, to me it doesn’t appear that he actually broke any laws. As for posting your business, you still can, but the legislature continues to try to take away the business owner’s right to do so. I’m sure they’ll try that again next year. There’s already speculation that this guy is actually an “anti-gun nut” who was making the point that it’s terrible to be able to carry a gun in public. That could actually be true, although I don’t know that someone would go to the expense of purchasing all that stuff just to make a point.

    I’ve never been in Springfield any longer than it took to buy gas and get out of there, but iirc there are a fair # of blacks there (one can be sure there are more than a few Hispanics too). I won’t be surprised in the least if the wal mart he picked was the one most minorities patronized either.

    Nope, this is wrong. That Neighborhood Market is pretty close to where my mother lives in the SW part of town, which is the fastest-growing part, and definitely not where the black and brown population would regularly be shopping. If he wanted to do that, he would have gone to the Wal Mart that I regularly shop at, which is on the other side of town. In fact, we’re one of the whiter cities in the U.S. for cities of our size, which is why Trump is so popular here. I regularly see people with Confederate flags on their vehicles and clothing in various forms. I think Springfield is slowly changing as more and more people move here from other places, but it’s not an attractive city for people who aren’t white, which I think will become a bigger and bigger problem. The “City Fathers” realize this, but honestly there’s not much they can do about it.

    Here are the demographics of Springfield, MO:

    The racial makeup of the city was 91.69% White, 3.27% African American, 0.75% Native American, 1.36% Asian, 0.09% Pacific Islander, 0.88% from other races, and 1.95% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.31% of the population.

  177. 177.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    Just when you thought the orange shit stain couldn’t get more disgusting it has just been reported that because none of the El Paso victims agreed to meet with him they brought in the newly orphaned baby (who had already been discharged) so that shit stain could get a thumbs up grinning photo op. I feel like throwing up

  178. 178.

    joel hanes

    @ola azul:

    Pacific as in peaceful.

    Iowa hasn’t been a seacoast for a hundred million years, and even if all the ice melts it won’t be one again. Elevations start at 550 feet at the SE corner and run up to 1600 or so in the NW.

  179. 179.

    Kay

    @zhena gogolia:

    Because their political reporting is horrible :)

    Consistently. Every single day. If we thought 2016 was bad (and it was) they’ll be worse in 2020. I fully anticipate another insanely misleading article slamming the D candidate issued on October 31st.

  180. 180.

    Soprano2

    @NotMax: Didn’t know you lived in Maui. My son-in-law lives in Paia, he is a baker at the Mana Market. He says he lives in a house with 5 other people because that’s all he can afford!

  181. 181.

    Kay

    @Litlebritdifrnt:

    The thumbs up is just bizarre. “Thumbs up to this newly minted orphan!” WTF is wrong with these people?

    I’m amused that the low quality hires on Team Trump didn’t anticipate that people would take video of where Trump arrived bragging about how popular he is. They kept media out, hoping they could present more bullshit, but ordinary people recorded it. He literally walks in bragging loudly, looking insanely pleased with himself.

  182. 182.

    JMG

    @Betty Cracker: Don’t forget New Hampshire, which Michael Lewis accurately described 25 years ago as having a “professional electorate.” It is very much in the state’s interest to contradict Iowa’s results, which it has done regularly in contested primaries in the past 20 years. If Biden wins Iowa, voters in NH may give Warren or Sanders a boost, just to make sure they’re not ignored in 2024.

  183. 183.

    Soprano2

    The thumbs up is just bizarre. “Thumbs up to this newly minted orphan!” WTF is wrong with these people?

    Trump has no empathy, and no one around him dares correct him when he wants to do something like that. He thinks the “thumbs up” is great and fun, and no one will tell him different, and then when he sees he’s being criticized for it he’ll lash out at the critics. Atrios is right, if he only knew how to act like a real human being he’d probably be 10% more popular, and we’d be in a lot of trouble.

  184. 184.

    Kay

    @Litlebritdifrnt:

    The D’s need a presidential candidate who can capitalize on how cynical and nasty and ungenerous Trump and his employees are. There’s an opportunity for a real contrast there. They’re assholes. We should present a non-asshole choice.

    I get that everyone wants “a fighter” but there has to be some joy and generosity and love in it, because this just screams to a need for a real sharp contrast with how mean these people are. Small. Petty. Nasty. And deeply, deeply cynical.

    Our candidate has to be expansive and generous. Big.

  186. 186.

    Kay

    @Soprano2:

    I read the baby has a broken hand. That’s heartbreaking. The grinning, gibbering idiots of the Trump Administration cannot summon some human emotion for an injured baby? It’s like The Onion. No one would dare write that in a parody of “nasty people”

  188. 188.

    Soprano2

    @zhena gogolia:

    Just wrote to fucking Baquet. Their front-page story implies that Castro “doxxed” the Trump donors.

    This is such breathtaking hypocrisy when you consider that they published the whole database of donors to the Clinton Foundation! Castro tweeted out publicly-available information from a government Web site, and they accuse him of doxxing? Aarrgghh, I swear they want people to think they support Trump and Republicans! Didn’t they do any research at all?

  189. 189.

    Betty Cracker

    @JMG: True. It’s possible this primary will go the distance. I’m just (pointlessly!) worrying in advance that a mistaken belief in “electability” will saddle us with an uninspiring candidate.

    @Kay: Another strike against Sanders — he comes across as an asshole. Not a Trump-level asshole (at least, not in my book; I’m sure many folks here disagree!), but a shouty, angry guy.

  190. 190.

    Jeffro

    @Betty Cracker: Nope, I do that from time to time too, LOL

    I love how there’s actually an outlet for people for whom Fox News isn’t RW-crazy enough. It’s like the first time Adam mentioned that there was a gun group that felt the NRA was too restrained(!)

  191. 191.

    NotMax

    @Soprano2

    During the heyday of sugar cane Paia was the most populous town on the island. Hardly a trace of the camps where the plantation workers lived remains, and none at all of the railroad which once took processed cane to the harbor (as well as workers to things such as the county fair). The old abandoned high school is kind of pretty in its overgrown state, albeit a bit spooky. Over time Paia became a sleepy, decaying little hamlet, then was hippie central for quite a while. So much so that some island locals referred to it as Deadhead Gulch. Nowadays more and more tourist oriented businesses have opened up. Place even has a traffic light now. Last stop for gas before the long and winding road to Hana.

  192. 192.

    Betty Cracker

    @Kay: The Onion couldn’t top real-life Trump behavior, but this was a good effort:

    ‘Sorry About The Tornado Or Whatever,’ Says Trump Wolfing Down Bowl Of Chili While Consoling El Paso Shooting Victim

    EL PASO, TX—Expressing sincere condolences for the tornado or whatever it was, President Donald Trump consoled an El Paso shooting victim Thursday while wolfing down a bowl of chili. “It’s really terrible what that hurricane or whatever did to your house,” said Trump, who quickly polished off the chili by lifting up the bowl and pouring the spicy beef stew straight into his mouth, pausing only to tear into a piece of cornbread. “That train crash or something sounded like it was really bad. At least you guys here in Cleveland have this great soup to get you through whatever happened. Could definitely use a little more sour cream. Anyway, congratulations.” At press time, Trump was informing the victim of the profound impact this chili had on him and that he would do everything in his power to ban wildfires or something or other.

    Trump makes everyone’s job so much harder.

  193. 193.

    Kay

    So who has that? Generosity. Not Bernie. Bernie’s all anger. Biden has some if it- so does Mayor Pete and Corey Booker. Biden does best when he’s sunny and hopeful. Yang (IMO) has a generous, expansive vibe. Warren seems to have it at her events but not in debates, where she’s a gunner. I haven’t seen it in Harris, but I haven’t seen a lot from her, period, other than debates. Klobachur is a no on “joy”. Jay Inslee actually has it. Tulsi is like the opposite of it :)

  194. 194.

    rikyrah

    @Kay:

    The thumbs up is just bizarre. “Thumbs up to this newly minted orphan!” WTF is wrong with these people?

    It’s just so profoundly disgusting and inappropriate. and, they pretend that it’s normal.

  196. 196.

    J R in WV

    @Betty Cracker:

    It’ll be interesting to see what they charge this goon [heavily armed Walmart shopper] with, if anything.

    Here in WV, which is also an open carry and concealed carry state, it is still illegal to brandish or threaten with your weapon. Causing fear in others is almost always illegal, right next to actual physical assault.

    Also, the ass is VERY lucky to be alive, anyone could have mowed him down in fear for their lives.

  197. 197.

    Kay

    @Betty Cracker:

    I feel like they got it from the formerly-respected and wildly over-promoted General Kelly. “They can go to foster care or whatever”

    It’s petty but I’d just like to point out again that the First Lady hates her job and is also not very good at it. I guess we’re not allowed to rank them but, you know, I can. She’s not killing this. She always looks like a surly 17 year old who was dragged to a family event.

  198. 198.

    James E Powell

    @debbie:

    I’d like to know LG’s definition of “biggest winner”: higher costs, lower wages, higher illness rates, lower well-being; what, exactly?

    He means black people will suffer and liberals will be outraged.

  199. 199.

    Soprano2

    @NotMax: Yeah, he’s always talking about the hippies. LOL He’ll say things like “It’s paradise, now let me tell you about the latest shark attack”. I think we’re going out to see him in December – it’ll be the first time we’ve seen him since the early 90’s. He said he moved there from S. California because it was as far away as he could get from his ex-wife and still be in the U.S.

  200. 200.

    Tazj

    @Litlebritdifrnt: It’s horrible in and of itself that Trump and his handlers thought that the photo was a good idea but I was surprised to learn that the family are big Trump supporters.

    Eric Columbus @EricColumbus – 11h

    For what it’s worth, the baby’s uncle told NPR that he supports Trump, the baby’s father did too, and that he (the uncle) looked forward to meeting Trump when he visited. The interview is worth a listen.

    From David Alandete (Spanish newspaper ABC)

    I interview the kid’s grandfather this afternoon and he confirmed that the White House sent two people to his home to ask him to be present during the visit. No one arranged for the photo beforehand but FLOTUS decided to hold the baby, who has a broken hand…

    I read this on Josh Marshall’s Twitter feed or I wouldn’t have known myself.

  201. 201.

    Kay

    @zhena gogolia:

    Good. We need a good/bad contrast on it. BIG. They’re small.

    Trump has that odd physical rigidity in public, because he knows he’s a fucking weirdo with no normal human responses. He surrounds himself with oddballs- people who behave in strange ways, like they weren’t properly socialized coming up.

  202. 202.

    J R in WV

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Did he break any laws? Nope.

    But you’re probably wrong:

    Missouri does not prohibit the open carrying of firearms, but does prohibit exhibiting “any weapon readily capable of lethal use” in an angry or threatening manner in the presence of one or more persons.

    So just a few days after a murderous spree killing in a Walmart, this guy parades around in a threatening way in a Walmart? Guilty, guilty, guilty.

    That’s why he is so lucky to be alive, any other person carrying would have had the right to take him down from behind because they were in fear for their lives, and the lives of everyone else in the locale. Circumstances matter!

  203. 203.

    Soprano2

    @J R in WV: I’m honestly surprised someone didn’t stop him to admire his weapon! There were probably multiple carriers in that Wal Mart Neighborhood Market.

  205. 205.

    jonas

    @Betty Cracker:

    He’s lucky he’s alive still, to be honest,” said Springfield, Mo. Police Lieutenant Mike Lucas.

    “He’s lucky he was a white guy,” is what I’m sure the lieutenant meant to say.

  206. 206.

    Kay

    @J R in WV:

    I wonder if there’s a personal action. A shopper could file and ask that he be kept away from that shopper. “I felt threatened and in fear for my life and he needs to be 500 feet away”. File hundreds of those.

  207. 207.

    Soprano2

    @jonas: If he were black, I guarantee all the people would have been running and screaming because they would have assumed he was a criminal. He probably would have been shot by another “carrier”. He was detained because he was white.

  208. 208.

    rikyrah

    @Kay:

    I feel like they got it from the formerly-respected and wildly over-promoted General Kelly. “They can go to foster care or whatever”

    That …OR WHATEVER….

    should hound him to the grave

  209. 209.

    James E Powell

    @kindness:

    I don’t remember the other 49 states ever agreeing that Iowa should always vote first. They really should should split the country into 5 districts and rotate between them every 4 years.

    I remember proposals along these lines in the late 80s or early 90s. Richard Ben Cramer’s What It Takes did a pretty good job of showing how ridiculous and stupid and unhelpful the whole process is, but no one is willing to do anything about it.

    I would like a few more than five regional primaries, maybe as many as nine, but I’d like them to be on a tighter schedule, about four months. But it’s like a very large number of things in our politics. Many of us can think of a better way to do things, but there is really no chance for any of those things to happen.

  210. 210.

    tokyokie

    @Betty Cracker:

    I looked into the Missouri story further because I’m curious about what they’ll find to bring charges.

    The crime is assault, and as I have long contended, open-carry IS assault. Under the common-law definition of the term (via Wikipedia), assault is “an intentional act by one person that creates an apprehension in another of an imminent harmful or offensive contact.” And why do these losers claim to have the right to wield their precious penis substitutes in public? So that others will grant them the deference they feel they are due but cannot receive unless others are in mortal fear of their lives. In other words, assault.

    Book him for one count of assault for every person in the store at that time, and have him serve the sentences consecutively. The Second Amendment right to bear arms cannot be read to mean that it is superior to the right of everybody else not to fear for their lives when some galoot comes strolling into a retail outlet bearing an assault weapon.

  212. 212.

    Duane

    @Betty Cracker: People need to go “stand your ground” on their fucking asses then. He threatened me and I defended myself. Yes I see the problem there, but it’s the world we’ve had put upon us. Puta few of the bastards down maybe they’ll stop.
    I live in Springfield MO and it’s a miracle we’re not planning vigils and facing a Trumpov shitshow.

  214. 214.

    J R in WV

    @tokyokie:

    Book him for one count of assault for every person in the store at that time, and have him serve the sentences consecutively.

    Yes, this. Agree totally !!

  215. 215.

    Soprano2

    @Duane: Hey, cool, a fellow Springfieldian on Balloon Juice! I’m surprised someone didn’t start chatting him up about what a great weapon he has. That Wal Mart is not that far from where my mom lives. I think she usually goes to the one at Mt. Vernon & the Bypass, though.

    Wanna take bets on whether Dee Wampler defends him?

  216. 216.

    Philbert

    They are all law-abiding until they open fire.
    Maybe one of these days when everyone carries, it will be like the mouse trap ping pong ball chain reaction.

  218. 218.

    Duane

    @Soprano2: Does Wampler still have a license to practice law? The MBA punished him recently. Of course he’ll find plenty of nuts to defend him.
    I’m not a person scared of my shadow. I’ll be downtown tonight for the Route 66 car show, but I’m done with Wal-Mart. Everyone should do the same. Let the stupid fucks have it.

  219. 219.

    Duane

    @NotMax: Wondered where you had been. Forgot about your trip. Hope you had a great time. Now get back to the movie reports!?

  220. 220.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Betty Cracker:

    For years — ever since open carry became legal in Georgia — I’ve had a card in my wallet that says:

    I’M SORRY, BUT I HAD TO LEAVE!

    I saw a person carrying a deadly weapon in your business, and I could not determine their intentions. […] Please post a “Weapons Prohibited” sign so that we can return as customers.

  221. 221.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Betty Cracker:

    Another strike against Sanders — he comes across as an asshole.

    Pouty Asshole won’t like this and will shout at you while waving his finger until you change your mind.

  222. 222.

    StringOnAStick

    @Jeffro: That gun group that thinks the NRA is too liberal is various permutations of “X Gun Owners of America”. My state senator used to be the guy who was (and maybe still is) the president of Rocky Mountain Gun Owners Association; his job is that he owns a gun range. On the day after some horrific gun event here in Colorado (there’s been so many I can’t recall which one, which is utterly messed up all on its own) he introduced a bill that would have made the entire state concealed carry with no permit required, no exceptions for hospitals, schools, or any other place, no exceptions for prior legal issues; nothing, just more guns for everyone. He ended up representing our quite blue town because redistricting gave him a big chunk of the 5 acre compounds/McMansions zone of the foothills. He lost the last election so we have an excellent D woman as our senator; when you drive into the foothills a lot of the redneck paradise compounds/McMansions still have huge and crazy signs still up that are borderline incitement against that woman. Those signs are a good indication of the houses to avoid at all costs; I’d hate to be the UPS or USPS drivers for those routes.

  223. 223.

    StringOnAStick

    @Betty Cracker: From what I could make of the NPR interview with the uncle of the newly orphaned child, his late brother and he are big tRUMP supporters and this guy said that tRUMP’s talk had nothing to do with the shooting that killed his brother and new sister in law. What struck me in that conversation was that the late brother had just married the now-dead mother of that baby, but the family was going to take in the baby, which told me they are NOT taking in her other two, older children. The brother even said it spoke highly of his dead brother that he was “willing to take care of kids that weren’t his, since a lot of people won’t do that”. Wow, quite the legacy there. I hope the two older kids have better people to be placed with than the family their mom married into.

  224. 224.

    J R in WV

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    For years — ever since open carry became legal in Georgia — I’ve had a card in my wallet that says:

    I’M SORRY, BUT I HAD TO LEAVE!

    I saw a person carrying a deadly weapon in your business, and I could not determine their intentions. […] Please post a “Weapons Prohibited” sign so that we can return as customers.

    My RWNJ and BSA Cult member in Texas had the opposite card, and met with management at banks and other businesses, he wouldn’t do business with anyone who wouldn’t allow him to be armed with a deadly weapon at all times. Dunno ’bout his “Texan Methodist” church. Wannabe cop, but couldn’t pass the physical due to a knee injury in his late teens. Wanna be military, same. Haven’t seen him in years, we do a polite phone call on each other’s birthday, so far.

    His sons probably won’t ever marry, they disrespect women. One is on the autism spectrum, wants to be a police officer even though he has a hard time meeting anyone’s eyes, so he’s a civilian security guard. Other is actually now an officer in the USN, wants to run a nuclear submarine eventually. Scary, would push the button over any perceived slight.

    I won’t be going into Texas, ever, so…

    ETA: SiubhanDuinne, I meant to say I admire your card. I pretty much only see carry going on around gun shops and outdoor ranges in WV, but still. Thanks for sharing!

  225. 225.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @J R in WV: Whether or not the navy officer ever ends up commanding a sub, you don’t need to be concerned about his willingness to “push the button.” No one can just pull the codes out of the safe and make things go kaboom.

  226. 226.

    Denali

    @Raven,

    Pigeon Forge is a little over the top for us- we like the quiet community of Townsend, just as close to the Smokies.

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