Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

People are complicated. Love is not.

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

Republicans do not pay their debts.

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

Republicans in disarray!

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

This blog will pay for itself.

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

An almost top 10,000 blog!

Meanwhile over at truth Social, the former president is busy confessing to crimes.

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

“Squeaker” McCarthy

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

In my day, never was longer.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

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

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

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

You are here: Home / Past Elections / 2020 Elections / Friday Morning Open Thread: Here’s Hoping for A Quiet Weekend…

Friday Morning Open Thread: Here’s Hoping for A Quiet Weekend…

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*Especially* that Florida, and our beloved Floridian Jackals, will come through Dorian as unscathed as possible!

Who’s got plans for the last official weekend of summer?

***********
Other snippets:


(Sorry, Raven, I know you’d prefer we not bring up football here)

Reader Interactions

116Comments

  3. 3.

    Baud

    64% of voters believe that the level of hatred and prejudice in the United States has increased since the 2016 election.

    Probably not “increased” so much as given license to become more visible and active.

    People thought they can get off on hating Hillary without any cultural spillover effects. Oops.

  6. 6.

    Baud

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: Some are, though. At least on paper.

    It seems to me that the left-of-center in this country either believes in the principles of solidarity and collective action or they don’t. There’s no such thing as believing in those things only when it suits us. If these people can’t unite to defeat overt fascism, they don’t have the legitimacy to ask anything of anyone else.

  7. 7.

    TS (the original)

    @Baud: As happened in 2016 – Vote for our candidate – or we won’t vote. Seems like a form of blackmail – our guy or trump.

  11. 11.

    Betty Cracker

    Hurricane watchers might find Windy.com and the affiliated mobile app fascinating right about now. It lets you pick a hurricane path model (ECMWF, GFS) and run an extended forecast simulation. It also has real-time weather data (radar, satellite, wind speed, lightning, etc.) that you can layer onto a map to keep tabs on storms in real time. It was the app I used most during Hurricane Irma.

  16. 16.

    Sister Golden Bear

    Good Morning, Good Afternoon and Good Evening (here in Thailand).

    For those of you who weren’t here from the late-night thread, the quick update is that I’m recovering nicely, the pain is dropping day by day, and the biggest problem now is boredom.

    I’ve hung out with the various parents who are shepherding their daughters for the initial surgery, but this year’s cohorts of patients seems to be mostly hole up in their rooms, and I’m not seeing many people at breakfast or else during the day. So next week I may decamp to a nicer (and actually slightly less expensive) hotel down the street. Especially because the A/C works properly there. Here the A/C either off or arctic.

    For the initial surgery you’re required to stay at this hotel, since the nurses do daily rounds, but for the revision you’re allowed to stay elsewhere. This time around I elected to stay at the original hotel both for some company while I’m here and also to be better able to support patients who are here for the initial surgery, since it’s useful for them to hear from someone who’s more than year post-op. But if people are gonna hermit…

  17. 17.

    NotMax

    @Baud

    Still plenty of drinkin’ hours here; will do. Presuming that for those for whom it is 7 in the a.m. you meant actual toast.

    ;)

  20. 20.

    Betty Cracker

    @Baud: Thanks — we’ll be okay. Every storm is a reminder of just how fragile civilization is. People go feral around here pretty quick with no A/C.

  25. 25.

    satby

    @Baud: other than in third world countries, the only time I faced those conditions semi-regularly was in Michigassippi after bad thunderstorms if the power went out. And I was barely a mile out of town, not way out in wilderness.

  26. 26.

    Chyron HR

    @TS (the original):

    To be fair, if Bernie ever gets a credible path to the nomination, his supporters would all get brainwashed by a Facebook ad into thinking he’s history’s greatest monster.

  27. 27.

    debbie

    @Baud:

    Yes. If I were speaking to anyone in my family, my first question would be what they think about what they’ve enabled?

  29. 29.

    debbie

    @Betty Cracker:

    Just listened to an NPR interview of a woman who had just moved to Florida. She’s all stocked up and looking forward to watching the storm. Not a good sign,

  30. 30.

    satby

    @debbie: they don’t think about it. And would be outraged to be told that by their continued votes for Republicans they are complicit. Proof on my Facebook page regularly.

  31. 31.

    frosty

    @Baud: I can live without AC at least here in the Piedmont. Hot showers now, those I don’t want to live without.

  35. 35.

    Sister Golden Bear

    @satby: The A/C works, but I’m getting tired of being cold. I forgot to pack a hoodie and sweatpants, so during the I alternate between turning it off until it gets too hot and then running it until I’m too cold.

    Fortunately, outside it’s been cooler here than normal. High 80s during the day, mid-70s in evening, and while it’s still humid as hell, there’s a breeze that makes feel much cooler. So if it’s not raining tomorrow, I’ll probably walk around and check out the local temple.

  37. 37.

    NotMax

    Narrow lapels, skinny ties, hooch ‘n’ ciggies galore. Found on Prime, a series which had entirely forgotten about from the 60s, Man in a Suitcase. Holds up a lot better than one might suspect, compared to some other cheesy spy-type series of the same vintage. IIRC we never do learn what the lead character’s first name is.

  42. 42.

    Baud

    @debbie:

    If I were speaking to anyone in my family, my first question would be what they think about what they’ve enabled?

    I hate to say this, but you’d probably be disappointed with the answer.

  43. 43.

    Betty Cracker

    @satby: No sheltering relatives this time; we’re all basically in the same boat if the current track holds since everyone is on the peninsula or west coast. If we end up moving the vehicles, we’ll probably wait until the storm gets a lot closer but not TOO close because it will be a giant pain in the ass.

    Did you solve your flea problem?

  44. 44.

    Baud

    Caucuses are not democratic, but this is no solution.

    Citing security concerns, the Democratic National Committee will move to block state party efforts to establish “virtual caucuses” where registered absentee voters can submit their voting preferences by phone. Iowa Democrats have pushed to create a six-day voting period in order to expand the voter base able to participate in the often hours-long caucus voting process. Voters would be able to submit ranked choice candidate preferences that would then be added to their district’s tally when Iowa formally kicks off voting in the 2020 race on Feb. 3. During internal deliberations on the voting system, however, DNC security officials said last week they had “no confidence” the virtual voting system was safe from hackers.

  45. 45.

    NotMax

    One of these days shall figure out why the older I get the more my fingernails require cleaning after sleeping. Heard of sleepwalking, is there such a thing as sleep graverobbing?

    :)

  56. 56.

    NotMax

    @Gin & Tonic

    Pretty risque bit for the time just now in an otherwise nothing scene. While lying on his hotel bed, talking on the phone with an apparently long time close acquaintance of the opposite sex, he slips his free hand under the waistband of his trousers.

  57. 57.

    Gin & Tonic

    I had posted last night that there were early reports of a major prisoner swap between Russia and Ukraine. These turned out to be false, at least for now. The new President’s media strategy so far is seeming pretty chaotic. Interestingly, though, the newly-formed government is really young – average age just under 40, the PM is 35 – this means he may have no substantial memory of the Soviet Union, which collapsed when he was in first or second grade. At least two MP’s I know were born after the collapse.

  58. 58.

    Betty Cracker

    @OzarkHillbilly: Pretty much. Just watched it, and the guy said get your shit together by early Sunday at the latest or fuggedaboudit. I would not want to be anywhere near an interstate this weekend.

  59. 59.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    This kind of thing is obviously dishonest, but to me, it also hints at his belief that his term should be extended beyond the Constitutional limit.

    The disastrous IG Report on James Comey shows, in the strongest of terms, how unfairly I, and tens of millions of great people who support me, were treated. Our rights and liberties were illegally stripped away by this dishonest fool. We should be given our stolen time back?— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 30, 2019

  60. 60.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: They can hear the critters under the snow. Once they pin point the location, they leap in just that fashion. I assume the critter hears the straight up jump and freezes while listening for the noise that says “death is coming”, but by the time they hear it, the fox is on top of them.

  63. 63.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Benjamin Wittes: What That Comey Email Report Really Says

    Spoiler alert: Horowitz is a tool.

    ETA blockquote:

    And there it is: the inspector general of the United States Department of Justice taking the position that a witness to gross misconduct by the president of the United States has a duty to keep his mouth shut about what he saw. Remember, after all, that Comey was a witness here as well as the former FBI director. That’s an extraordinary position for a law enforcement organization to take. If that is what FBI policy and an employment agreement required of Comey under the extraordinary circumstances he faced, so be it. I’m glad both were given their due weight.

  66. 66.

    chris

    @NotMax: Man in a Suitcase? Is that the one where the hero likes to balance a lit cigarette on its end and watch the smoke? (Old memory, may be wrong.)

  69. 69.

    germy

    The DOJ inspector general’s office, while it continues to work its way down the list of the President’s enemies and plink the wreckage of James Comey’s FBI career with BBs, has not seen fit to follow up on this revelation about the FBI NY office in any way. https://t.co/EfeQ27Ufb0— southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) August 29, 2019

  70. 70.

    Betty Cracker

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: I get the same vibe. He hints at making himself president for life a lot. I don’t know how serious a threat it is. Like everything else that hatches in his pea brain and come out of his hideous gob, it’s impulsive. I don’t think he enjoys being president one bit except when he gets to bask in the adulation of the baying MAGA hordes.

  72. 72.

    Kay

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    He’s just making excuses for not keeping his 5000 promises. His voters don’t care about judges and all they got was that shitty tax cut law. Everything but the judges and the tax law can be immediately reversed by the next President. It’s all actions by the executive. They’re bad hires. They’re frantically throwing together some 11th hour garbage health care reform as we speak. Not a chance in hell it’ll be both “turned in” and passed by Congress by 2020.
    Think about this- since 2009 Republicans have been promising a replacement for Obamacare. A decade. They got NOTHING done. They didn’t even get one small part done- preexisting conditions. He could have done that by rulemaking without Congress.
    He has spent 90% of his time in office ginning up racism and insulting people and other countries. Presidents get about 2 years to do big legislative changes, changes that last. He spent weeks of that time attacking football players for political speech. They are currently working on removing a single (Minnesota) House member. Who will be replaced by another Democrat, even if they succeed.

  75. 75.

    Kay

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    Trump made big promises on health care. It was going to cover everyone less expensively, no one had to pay for it, and no one had to change anything they’re doing now.
    Results? Nothing. Zip. Nada. Every Democrat in the country will (once again) run on preexisting conditions and retaining Medicaid expansion. He currently goes to rallies and takes credit for Obama’s VA changes. 2014. Happened when he was still promoting birtherism on CNN.

  78. 78.

    rikyrah

    @Kay:
    Do you like the new Biden ad on Healthcare?
    It is very powerful. I have watched it a half dozen times. It works, and he doesn’t have to change a thing. He can use that ad everywhere.

  79. 79.

    Kay

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    No deal with China, no deal with Iran, no deal with NK. No new trade deals ratified by Congress. No health care reform, no immigration law, and perhaps the most amazing non-result by the low quality hires, no infrastructure plan, which Democrats would have been vulnerable on and would have had to at least pretend to cooperate on.
    He’s a dealmaker who doesn’t make any deals with, you know, LAWMAKERS. He issues decrees. Sometimes they’re changes in rules or executive actions and sometimes they are literally just decrees that mean nothing. They spent a solid week NOT buying Greenland and insulting Denmark in the process. They managed an actual minus there- they didn’t get Greenland and they lost Denmark. And they frittered away another week.
    So he makes excuses and whines like every bad hire everywhere.

  80. 80.

    Miss Bianca

    Finishing up a grant proposal this afternoon, preparing to welcome a dear old friend to town for two nights performing at our theater, gathering with the neighbors Sunday, trail ride Monday. Meanwhile, three articles for two different publications await writing. It’ll all get done, right? : )

    ETA: Oh, yeah, and that “Warren fans like Harris most”? Definitely true for this Warren fan.

  81. 81.

    Kay

    We’re stuck with the low quality judges for life, but the only thing from Trump’s tenure that needs to be overturned is his tax law. Everything else can be undone by executive action and hiring better employees. Remove him, fire his appointees and you’re 90% home to pre-Trump. He’s in the rearview mirror and he and his sleazy family can go back to running real estate scams and permanent berths on the wingnut welfare circuit.

  83. 83.

    Baud

    @Kay:

    He’s in the rearview mirror and he and his sleazy family can go back to running real estate scams and permanent berths on the wingnut welfare circuit. to prison.

  84. 84.

    Miss Bianca

    @Baud:

    It seems to me that the left-of-center in this country either believes in the principles of solidarity and collective action or they don’t. There’s no such thing as believing in those things only when it suits us. If these people can’t unite to defeat overt fascism, they don’t have the legitimacy to ask anything of anyone else.

    THANK YOU for this. Getting goddamn sick of boutique lefty-ism that treats matters of principle as if, without a dedication to collective action, these principles have even a wing and a prayer chance of being put into practice.

  87. 87.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    Not to be a cynic, Baud, but no one even investigated these people during their 40 year career defrauding people. Apparently he was given carte blanche in NY to do whatever the fuck he wanted and we always had federal and state and city prosecutors in that state. So we may not get prison. If past performance is any indication of the future. No guarantee on “the kids”- they have the bulk of their criminal careers ahead of them so maybe someone will get off their ass and indict one at some point.
    No, I do believe we’re stuck with various Trumps or former low quality hires bellowing racist nonsense for the foreseeable future. But they won’t be in government and they won’t be lavishly burning through public funds to do it.

  90. 90.

    Kay

    We wanted to go away this weekend and our PRIOR high school marching band director has always allowed the kids to skip a performance for “family events” so I emailed the new one- a young woman- and she (properly!) pointed to the new rules she wrote which only excuse an absence for illness or family “emergency” and which I didn’t read. She’s right. It was probably too slack. So he’s marching Friday night at the football game and my husband is not taking Friday off and they excused MY absence and I went on ahead. Which was nice of them but I really did want a whole weekend with the youngest before school starts in earnest and I never see him. They only have two low brass players who are juniors and seniors (so better) and he’s one of them. I guess it would be pretty lonely out there with just one.

  91. 91.

    rikyrah

    A lot in this tweet:
    1.South Carolina Democrats..they mean Black people
    2. Black people are telling the media, we saw that shyt that you pulled on Hillary in 2016, and so, not today, Satan?
    3. We have the Orange Menace in the WH, and you think that we are going to be bothered by Biden gaffes? Better get the ENTIRE Phuck Outta Here ?

    https://twitter.com/KBeds/status/1167410051776163840

  92. 92.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    Ivanka’s pretty sloppy. She outlined her plans to defraud “investors” (probably actually lenders, which the Trump’s ridiculously call investors) in emails so maybe next time they’ll nab her.

  93. 93.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Kay:

    Remove him, fire his appointees and you’re 90% home to pre-Trump.

    Sorry Kay. Not even close to true. The EPA has been gutted of it’s best employees. The same is true for DOE. Dept of Education. State. Interior. BLM. etc etc etc. We will be decades recovering.

    Currently reading Michael Lewis’ The 5th Risk.. Thoroughly depressing and absolutely terrifying, this is what happens when you stock your fire departments with a bunch of arsonists.

  94. 94.

    Kay

    The lawyers here are spooked by the economy. They’re all talking about retreating and taking savings out of the market. They’re all Republicans but I think they’re seeing the same thing we’re seeing in this office, which is the very familiar pattern of an upcoming downturn in an area that is dependent on manufacturing and agriculture so therefore cyclical even with a competent government. It’s anecdotal so no one should rely on it, but they’re no longer BANKING on the President despite their continued claims about how awesome he is. They aren’t willing to risk their own money. They’ll risk YOURS, but not their own because they are at base conservative and conventional and they know on some level that he’s an incompetent nut job.

  95. 95.

    Kay

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    But if he didn’t change the laws (and he didn’t) then personnel is policy and his lead employees can be replaced immediately.

    It’s one of the reasons I support Warren. I think she understands the administrative side and will be a good executive. She also has a work ethic that is downright impressive. I don’t know how she does it. She busts ass and she’s not a young woman.

  97. 97.

    FlyingToaster (Tablet)

    @Kay: Warren delegates. It was the same with Ted Kennedy; he had a staffer for every damn issue and a rolodex for every expert he could find. Even now, while she’s on the road running for PPW, if you call her senate office, someone calls you back.

    That is why I want Warren. She can and will do the damn job.

  98. 98.

    Kay

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Maybe Democrats are doing this- probably they are- but I hope they make a direct comparison on Trump’s mean-spirited and shitty lack of generosity and negativity. Present the alternative picture. Just small things- the ceremonial and public advocate part of the job. We could have a President who doesn’t attack people in the path of a hurricane because they’re brown and “disrespected” him. We could have a President who has the grace and maturity to congratulate a fucking soccer team without making it about himself. We can aim higher and it’s not even that hard- we’re at bottom 10%. These people are the bottom 10% – nasty- simply replace them and it all gets better almost immediately. Pick anyone from the 90% above them and you’re better off. That’s a big group.

  99. 99.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Kay: I am a long time supporter of Warren too (maybe not for Pres but that is to some extent a different issure). Yes, she does understand. Yes she does have an amazing work ethic. No, I don’t know how she does it. But she can put the best people in the world inside these agencies, reverse every single one of chump’s policies, and it will be a Sisyphean task to get anything done because the number of people left to implement the new policies is wholly inadequate, and the remaining people are the least capable ones, not to mention all the horrible civil hires who will still be working there who will engage in minor sabotage on a daily basis…

    There won’t be any magical turnaround. 4 years later the voters are gonna blame someone when things are still fucked up. Who knows, maybe they’ll blame MoscowMitch but I suspect they’ll blame everyone.

  100. 100.

    Kay

    @FlyingToaster (Tablet):

    She can and will do the damn job.

    Exactly. Her “theory of change” is very easy to understand. It’s “do the damn job”. Solid theory :)

    You even see it in how she landed here. She ended up here because the GOP wouldn’t allow her to take an administrative job. It DELIGHTS me that she used that and turned it to an advantage.

  101. 101.

    Kay

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Okay. I get that. I do think MOST career public employees are not rabid partisans and just want competent management so they can do their jobs. That’s been the bulk of my work experience with them- governors come and go and they try to get their work done. Experts are harder to replace and it IS gutted to a certain extent but some of that can be mitigated by increasing tax revenue. Overturning or amending the Trump tax bribe will be difficult. They’ll go to the mat to keep billions of dollars he gave them. They literally sold their souls for it.

  102. 102.

    laura

    @Sister Golden Bear: You’re good people to share your healing journey with others both there and here. Every post is fascinating and I’m looking forward to reports from the mall.
    Move to the reliable a/c hotel. Then have some fun and check back in, and keep on healing.

  103. 103.

    Betty Cracker

    @Kay: That delights me too — the Republicans could have just allowed PBO to appoint Warren to run the damned CFPB, but no, she was mean to banker/donors, so it wasn’t permitted. So now she chews their asses up in hearings. Hilarious!

  104. 104.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Kay:

    I do think MOST career public employees are not rabid partisans and just want competent management so they can do their jobs.

    Yes they are.

    Experts are harder to replace and it IS gutted to a certain extent but some of that can be mitigated by increasing tax revenue.

    Experts aren’t the only ones to have left, a whole lot of people who had a shred of self respect and other viable options left too. Every 4 to 8 years a new boss comes in with new ideas of how things should be done and what those things should be. It is the in place bureaucracy that allows them to do these things and keeps them from breaking laws and/or FUBARing the whole works, they are the institutional memory that allows these agencies to function.

    A whole lot of institutional memory has up and walked out the door and it isn’t coming back.

    As far as “Overturning or amending the Trump tax bribe will be difficult,” recent rhetoric from DEMs tell me they have no interest in being the “tax and spend” party again.

  106. 106.

    Steeplejack

    Finally got my Chromebook unfurled and set up here in Las Vegas. Feels more “normal” than surfing on the phone.

    But I do want to get an external keyboard, either Bluetooth or wireless/​USB (preferably backlit). This Chromebook’s keyboard is very type-able, but the heel of my palm keeps grazing the scratchpad and deleting text that I’m typing. Any recommendations?

    My mother is doing all right. She is back home from hospital/​rehab and has someone coming two hours a day to help with stuff. Her mood and physical condition vary greatly on a daily basis. She got enrolled in a hospice organization’s 60-day evaluation program. She’s not “terminal,” but, hey, be prepared, and it’s good to lay the groundwork sooner rather than later.

    I got RWNJ brother launched on his motorcycle expedition (to the Alps!) yesterday, so that’s one less headache. Although I have to say that he seems to have done an admirable job handling Mom’s health crisis. I don’t begrudge him the trip. He was frazzled.

    It is hot as the devil’s balls out here—over 105° every day this week.

  109. 109.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    @Gin & Tonic:

    Yes. It is audibly sucking the Aquaphor off my arm. I’ve had to increase the slathering. And I am drinking gallons of liquids and hardly ever have to take a whiz. ?

  110. 110.

    Origuy

    I’m headed to Alameda County Fairgrounds to help set up for the Pleasanton Highland Games. We’ll be putting up the Scottish Country Dance area. The Games are Saturday and Sunday. Any Bay Area jackals, come on by! I’m not on stage this year, though.

  112. 112.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    @debbie:

    I am a 90+ wpm touch typist. The problem is that the Chromebook is sitting on a 30" high kitchen table, not at a lower, optimal keyboard height.

    Thanks for the tip sheet. I have a similar one that I copied from somewhere. I use this Chromebook just infrequently enough so that it takes me a little while to remember the shortcuts I use most often.

    But a bigger keyboard—with backlighting!—would help a lot. I’m going to go to Best Buy and see what’s available. (And I’ll just leave the keyboard here for future trips.)

  115. 115.

    J R in WV

    @Steeplejack (phone):

    But a bigger keyboard—with backlighting!—would help a lot.

    I got wife a mechanical keyboard for her birthday… it is a whole lot like a 1952 teletype keyboard, round keys with tiny chrome bands around each one. This tickles her as she worked for The AP for many years, and in the beginning of her stint with them they still had teletypes around. All replaced by computer gear V soon after she started.

    I have told before of reading the wires on the night of the Saturday Night Massacre, when Nixon fired the AG, the Deputy AG, til Bork agreed to fire the Special Prosecutor. Bells ringing over and over for write-thrus. Amazing night!!

    We have a big teletype cover, once used to reduce the pounding sound of old teletypes, with The Associated Press on a plate on the front. It’s where we keep the booze, which is also a great old print shop tradition. I have heard that the heavy drinking in print shops was to help cope with the lead poisoning, but I don’t know if there was ever any truth to that.

    Dad told of finding bottles in toilet tanks around the newspaper offices, tho. That’s a real hard drinker, keeping a bottle hidden in the toilet at work! All those old-timers have passed over now…

  116. 116.

    J R in WV

    @debbie:

    Just listened to an NPR interview of a woman who had just moved to Florida. She’s all stocked up and looking forward to watching the storm. Not a good sign,

    The only time I lived through a hurricane, back in 1972 in Mobile Bay, you could only see about 2 feet — I don’t know what she think she’s going to be able to see once it’s really hurricaneing outside.

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