Turns out bats talk and 60% of what they say is arguments, including a whole category of calls for “males making unwanted mating advances” and another for when “a bat argues with another bat sitting too close.“ https://t.co/DasX9Oo3Ah
— Celeste Ng (@pronounced_ing) October 8, 2019
Elsewhere…
The Democratic House has been one of the most productive in history.
Its passed over 400 pieces of legislation, including gun control, increasing the minimum wage, lowering prescription drug costs, and taking on climate change.
But Mitch McConnell has blocked every single one.
— Nate Lerner (@NathanLerner) October 8, 2019
We can have a democracy or we can have a Republican Party. We cannot have both. https://t.co/5wjOeDdMdA
— Daniel Gilmore (@gilmored85) October 8, 2019
BREAKING: New NBC/WSJ poll shows majority of Americans back impeachment inquiry or Trump's removal from office #MTPDaily@ChuckTodd: "A combined 55 per cent of the country now supports the president's either removal from office completely or supports an inquiry." pic.twitter.com/FboALqZTzi
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) October 8, 2019
Or the White House may be panicked as all hell and not really calculating rationally at all…. https://t.co/HPjqRhaOH5
— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) October 8, 2019
Neither Trump or Putin are acting like people who are confident he’ll win reelection.
— Boo-risma Executive Board Member (@agraybee) October 8, 2019
Elizabeth Warren is now the frontrunner for the 2020 Democratic nomination. pic.twitter.com/GePN5HGOz2
— Ian Millhiser (@imillhiser) October 8, 2019
Don’t tempt me. Do your job.
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) October 8, 2019
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone ???.
OzarkHillbilly
And the other 40% is them yelling at cavers to, “Get that fucking light out of my face!!!!”
Sab
Good morning. I really didn’t need to see all those bat eyes this early. Usually I think bats are kind of cute.
germy
I believe the bats are arguing about Ben Affleck vs. Robert Pattinson
mrmoshpotato
@germy: They’re too young to know about Keaton and West?
germy
I went outside very early this morning to bring the garbage cans out front, and found a campaign sign in front of my house. (a local race)
Are they allowed to do that? I thought they needed the homeowner’s permission to post campaign signs.
germy
@mrmoshpotato: They know, but consider it irrelevant.
They also argue about the Snyder cut.
OzarkHillbilly
“I’m a fucking idiot,” -Elon Musk
Yeah, we know, I’ve been telling you that for years.
OzarkHillbilly
@germy: No, they aren’t allowed to do that. But they do it anyway.
germy
@OzarkHillbilly: Well, it pissed me off. She’s someone who lost her primary, but then decided to run anyway on an “independent” ticket.
satby
@germy: if it’s on the patch between the sidewalk and the street, it’s technically not your property but the city’s. Still considered bad form and a waste of money because those signs get tossed in the trash a lot.
satby
@rikyrah: Good morning ?!
I miss Baud ?
Bobby Thomson
Stolen, but that last tweet shows Clinton is still winning the popular vote in 2019.
germy
@satby: Yes, it was on the patch between the sidewalk and the street. I don’t like it because it looks like I endorse her.
satby
@germy: which is why they do it and why so many people toss the signs in the trash. Feel free to do the same. It’s litter anyway.
sm*t cl*de
@OzarkHillbilly:
Musk’s position was originally “When I called that guy a pedophile, I wasn’t serious because ‘pedo’ is just a standard term of abuse among my people… but now you mention it, I’ll take the opportunity to say that my investigation proved that the guy IS a pedophile.” It was a combination of double-talk and doubling-down… he could have stuck with “I didn’t mean it so no harm done”, but he felt obliged to use the legal process to destroy the guy’s reputation, to punish him for questioning Musk’s Stable Genius status.
This did not strike me at the time as likely to arouse the sympathy of the judge.
And now he was progressed to “Whoops, the defamatory thing I said about the guy when I was being serious is completely untrue? Um, it was the investigator’s fault.” Just write a cheque, Musk. Keep adding 0s until the judge says you can stop.
NotMax
Somehow missed this last week.
Twitter pulls Nickelback clip tweeted by Trump over copyright complaint
germy
@satby: I can’t get into trouble for tossing it? I thought there were laws protecting campaign signs or something… The patch between my sidewalk and the street is pubic property (and yet I’m responsible for its upkeep)
OzarkHillbilly
@germy: You can take your trash barrel to her campaign office and dump it there yelling “You litter in my yard, I’ll litter in yours!” (Arlo Guthrie would say to be sure to remove all correspondence that has your name on it first).
Or maybe just call and tell them they lost another vote.
NotMax
Misleading as all get out yet one has to grudgingly admit it’s a great lede.
OzarkHillbilly
@germy:
No.
MJS
You can also put a hand-made sign next to it that says, “I’m not voting for this person.”
germy
@OzarkHillbilly: Then into the trash it goes.
germy
JPL
@germy: Toss it. You could call the city and they will pick it up and toss it, but that would take time.
germy
@JPL: My city? It would take forever. Actually, never.
OzarkHillbilly
Sure boss. You betcha. What were those numbers again?
Nothing untoward there, nothing at all.
This was just an innocent mistake too.
MJS
@OzarkHillbilly: In PA, it’s considered theft to remove a political sign from public property. Just sayin’
WereBear
We’ve had kittens Bud and Lou for almost a month now. They came from a big feral colony with its own set of rescuers who just grab and ship, so to speak, but their foster family must have found them as cute as I do. They were shy the first couple of days, but then they just settled into delightful. Early in the second week they would climb into laps and cuddle.
Reverend Jim started visiting Kitten Country, and then he started living in Kitten Country. So the kittens couldn’t be in better paws. His last gig was Mithrandir, but that was 5 years ago. He’s 12 now, but in the end he could not resist TWO kittens.
Because who can?
NotMax
@germy
Toss it, but will point out that it is possible the campaign workers simply got addresses mixed up and it’s a minor error on their part.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@germy:
Toss the damn thing.
p.a.
@satby: The metal H’s makes decent garden plant supports, and the plastic signs are good floor protectors under wet footwear or snow shovels.
germy
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Just did.
Betty Cracker
The Florida Democratic Party (a hot mess!) is having its convention in Orlando this weekend. I didn’t know about it. I was a precinct captain in the county party when we lived south of Tampa, so if we still lived in our old place, I’d have been aware. But I resigned from that county-level organization after we moved last year, and I never got around to joining the small and demoralized county party here in this 70% Republican area. My bad. I kinda meant to, but I’ve been busy volunteering for a voting rights org, so I figured I was doing my bit that way.
Anyhoo, the Warren campaign alerted me to the convention and sent an invitation last night for an event this week. I’ve already got other plans, so I can’t make it. Also, the Orlando paper says not a single presidential candidate is slated to show up. FL’s primary is in March, so it’s not a hotly contested state for primary purposes. But still, I’m a little surprised at the campaigns’ indifference since this is still technically a battleground state.
OzarkHillbilly
@NotMax: We have it here. It’s a pain for us who live in the woods. MDC has implemented a policy that any deer killed in designated counties (mine), the head is to be removed and brought in for testing, and the carcass is to be butchered on the spot with the gut pile and skeletal remnants buried. Nobody buries out here, I really doubt anywhere, but out here because our ground is a clay/dolomite matrix that requires a trac hoe to dig into. Not standard hunting equipment anywhere.
So during the season and for months afterwards I have to keep a close eye on the dogs as they will return from their wanderings with various pieces.
OzarkHillbilly
@MJS: Sue me.
ETA not saying you personally
NotMax
@satby
Owner of the summer camp where I worked ran for mayor of his city (and won*). He collected as many signs and billboards as he could – all wooden in those days – and brought them across state lines to recycle as a replacement backstop behind hay bales at the archery range at camp.
;)
*part-time gig, his full-time job was high school teacher
debbie
@NotMax:
Toss it in front of the campaign’s office.
debbie
@satby:
Seconded.
NotMax
@OzarkHillbilly
Orange safety vest? Check.
Hip flask? Check.
Backhoe?
:)
germy
And now i see Wohl/Burkman are accusing Kamala of having an affair with a personal trainer, and so they “demand” she take a polygraph test.
germy
Ken
@germy: You could have an “accidental” with the lawnmower and the sign. As you say, it may be public property but you have to maintain it.
debbie
@germy:
I hope they’re being roundly mocked.
germy
@Ken: I have carefully arranged my life so that I no longer mow a lawn. A combination of perennials, groundcover, stone paths, etc.
I mowed for thirty years. I’m finished with that. The sign went into the trash. Today is trash day, and the cans are out front.
NotMax
@germy
One track* minds.
*As in an abandoned spur of a defunct railroad.
debbie
@germy:
I like this response:
rikyrah
@satby:
I miss Baud too ☹️☹️
rikyrah
An NPR piece
Black Voters Remain A Hurdle For Elizabeth Warren
https://n.pr/2Mt1dON
OzarkHillbilly
And by the way, that little strip of grass between the sidewalk and the street? If you are responsible for mowing it, you are responsible for anything in it.
MJS
@OzarkHillbilly: Too late. Wheels are in motion.
OzarkHillbilly
@germy:
Anne can use pictures and a story for Sunday morn, one that I’d like to read and see.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@OzarkHillbilly:
Gotta do wonders for share value.
Betty Cracker
@debbie: Retweeted! ;-)
NotMax
@OzarkHillbilly
Verge, berm or dozens of other appellations.
Am kind of partial to “besidewalk.”
rikyrah
NBC Politics (@NBCPolitics) Tweeted:
BREAKING: Montgomery, Alabama, has elected an African American mayor for the first time in 200-year history, @wsfa12news reports. https://t.co/vnHbFFOCp2 https://twitter.com/NBCPolitics/status/1181750125275815937?s=17
debbie
@rikyrah:
He got two-thirds of the vote!
germy
@OzarkHillbilly: It looks a lot better spring and summer. Right now it’s just green stalks. In season, it’s a riot of color. My wife planted flowers strategically, so they take turns blooming.
First thing I did when we bought the house; I dug up the grass in that strip (sometimes called a boulevard, median, hellstrip, parkway, verge or tree belt) so my wife could begin planting.
The stone paths are in the backyard, between another flower garden and a vegetable garden.
OzarkHillbilly
@MJS: Oh noooooooooes… ;-)
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@germy:
Lucky dude, if true – I crush hard on her and would love that opportunity.
I really don’t understand why she’s not polling higher yet – I hope she hangs in there for those of us who don’t want to blow everything up and see what comes out at the end.
Amir Khalid
@debbie:
They’re certainly asking for it.
OzarkHillbilly
@NotMax: @germy: When I lived in the city, I just called it, “Mine.”
NotMax
@germy
My Doggish is extremely rusty but believe they call it a poop path.
;)
WereBear
I don’t think we are getting the real picture with polling, because who has factored in being seen at the next election when you were all mouthy about who you voted for when your guy won?
Are they going to risk more social shame for tRump? I would like to see that concept weigh in. I know it’s going to operate in my rural area.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@OzarkHillbilly:
On the LAPD/Breitbart thing, I imagined that they got a lot of contact back from white males aged 60-75 eager to re-enter the workforce in a second career in order to rough up people of color in the name of law ‘n order, and bragging that they already have sidearms….
Kay
@Betty Cracker:
I do think it’s odd.
This is Ohio:
Spanky
In today’s Nobel News, Nobel in Chemistry is a 3 way split for the work to advance lithium ion battery technology.
OzarkHillbilly
Simone Biles
rikyrah
John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) Tweeted:
in new NBC/WSJ poll, 73% of African-Americans and 58% of Hispanics already favor Trump’s impeachment and removal from office
white women with college degrees favor removal by 55%-35%
white men without college degrees oppose it by 28%-68%
https://t.co/DoqEYaVDhE https://twitter.com/JohnJHarwood/status/1181679083912085504?s=17
Cheryl Rofer
Why aren’t people in the streets demanding impeachment EVERY DAY?
NotMax
@spanky
Dolt 45 lost out on another one?
Rigged voting!
//
Sab
@OzarkHillbilly: Around here we call that strip of lawn the devil’s strip.
NotMax
@Cheryl Rofer
Football season.
/half snark
Kay
OzarkHillbilly
@Kay: Huh. I wonder why?
Immanentize
@p.a.:
Now there is a Yankee response.
NotMax
@Kay
Irony is alive and well when something named Provenance erases its founder.
Ken
@Kay: Gives the lie to the idea that there’s no such thing as bad publicity.
Immanentize
@rikyrah:
Me three
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@OzarkHillbilly: Simone Biles being in the news triggered some web searching yesterday which led us to the conclusion that we did indeed know Kelli Hill, the coach who has trained many Olympic gymnasts. (But not Biles)
It’s a pretty tenuous connection. Our kids were in nursery school together (her son was kind of mean) in the 80s. We knew they owned a gymnastics studio (not their current one). When I first heard about Dominique Dawes years ago and where she trained, something made me wonder “could that possibly be that couple from nursery school”)? Yesterday I finally tracked down the answer.
Immanentize
@NotMax:
I always knew it to be the “Swale” which that article tells me I must have picked up in Miami.
SiubhanDuinne
@NotMax:
You got that right!
different-church-lady
@germy: Tape a bit of cardboard to the top that says “Do not vote for….”
Another Scott
‘morning all.
Katya Adler at the BBC:
Ireland has a very strong hand. BoJo has a very weak hand, but he’s a bomb thrower. Corbyn has a strong hand.
It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out. Here’s hoping that they:
1) Demand an extension from the EU.
2) Use the time to lay the groundwork for another, sensible, referendum (i.e. 1) May’s agreement, 2) Stay in EU).
3) After the danger of a no-deal Brexit passes, Kick out BoJo and the Tories and elect a sensible Parliament.
I’m not holding my breath. :-/
Cheers,
Scott.
Betty Cracker
@Kay: Maybe they know something we don’t? Trump’s approval rating has consistently been stronger in Florida than it is nationally (he’s only underwater by 2 points here). Maybe they figure the growth of The Villages (massive mostly wingnut retirement community) has made FL irredeemably red.
Another Scott
@Immanentize: Interesting. Around here, “swales” are the depressions between houses to direct excess rain runoff away from foundations.
(I agree that germy can do what he wants with signs in front of his home.)
Cheers,
Scott.
different-church-lady
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Algorithms gotta algorithimate.
NotMax
@Immanentize
If one reads through the entire list there is evidence for Chattanooga being the least imaginative city in the nation.
:)
Kay
@Betty Cracker:
But we sort of know, don’t we? I know OH is further Right than it was and I assumed that would mean less investment in the state from the national Party. I don’t know a thing about Florida but I do know Democrats in both OH and FL lost ground in ’18, which was a very good cycle for Democrats. “Growth” is the measure that matters for future investment. Up, not down. They look to states they’re adding voters, even if “add” still means net R. They’ll pour money into WI and PA and MI because they made gains there in ’18.
Immanentize
@Betty Cracker:
Florida will be contested. Maybe your hot mess party never coordinated with any of the campaigns? But you say Warren is having an event? She and Klobuchar both visited S. Florida this summer….
lahke
Why didn’t any of the linked articles have audio? I would love hearing bats tell each other to push over.
ThresherK
The bats’ conversation reminds me of a Far Side (perhaps) where it’s determined that dolphins do speak, and everything they talk about is fish.
Another Scott
@lahke: The supplementary information in the original article in Scientific Reports has 4 short AVI videos, #3 has a little bit of squeaking.
HTH.
Cheers,
Scott.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
Quick query on the biomechanical attributes of domestic housecats – how can one 10 pound cat take up more space on the bed than a 70 pound dog? Wife’s out of town, and Fiona, who usually sleeps between us as the dog curls at the end, actually took up so much space that my feet dangled off the side of the bed.
donnah
I just read the front page in our local paper and there’s an article about Rob Portman, the Republican senator from Ohio. He’s a coward, so while he made some mealy-mouth statements about Trump’s actions in regards to Ukraine, he has decided that he will not vote to impeach should the Senate come to a vote. He is the chair of the Senate Ukraine Caucus, ffs, yet he claims he never saw the information about the withholding of funds for Ukraine.
So I fired off an email to him this morning, told him I was disappointed, called him a coward, and told him he should be ashamed of himself. I did it in a nice and polite manner, though.
JPL
@debbie: haha
NotMax
@ThresherK
Memorable scene from an Aquaman comic, featuring a shark swimming by.
Thought balloon above it as the shark passes: Food. Food. Food. Food. Food. Hello Aquaman. Food. Food. Food.
OzarkHillbilly
Emanuel: a poignant documentary on the Charleston church massacre
NobodySpecial
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Cats have an inmate trait whereby they can make their volume variable.
Betty Cracker
@Immanentize: Warren’s FL campaign manager will be at the state Dem convention and sent an invitation yesterday to an event that takes place Saturday. Possibly the state party fumbled — they’re kinda known for that — but you’d think the state campaign manager would be aware that the event was upcoming? The state party has lots of good people but it has been pretty ineffective for decades now. The Obama people in 2008 basically pretended the state party apparatus didn’t exist during the primary and didn’t use it as an organizing vehicle after. That was a smart move. Maybe the Warren people will take a similar tack. There have been Warren campaign organizing events in the state but not coordinated with the party, at least not yet.
Immanentize
@Betty Cracker: It’s sorta worrying that not one candidate is coming to the party, but maybe the Obama answer is the reason? Like Kay always says, maybe Warren is talking to Mayors.
Or maybe no one is showing up because you made other plans….
Butter emails!!!
@rikyrah:
Black voters remain a hurdle for every candidate not named Joe Biden. I’m hoping it’s more of a case of the others proving they can actually get votes and less that black voters actively find them objectionable or Biden particularly appealing, because I would immensely prefer voting for Harris or Warren and the other candidates outside of Yang, Gabbard, Sanders and Williamson are also preferable.
OzarkHillbilly
Nine-year-old charged with murder of five people in Illinois trailer park fire
Amir Khalid
This video, for some reason recommended to me by YouTube, has some American RWNJ documenting his ilk’s take on that Twitter exchange between Trump and Hillary. Clck on the link only if you don’t mind being shouted at; but he’s saying that Hillary does want to run again, citing as evidence Trump’s attempt at a playground taunt about it. And his belief that the Democratic party is somehow orchestrating the various 2020 candidacies is … very conspiracy-theorist, let’s put it that way.
Dorothy A. Winsor
Not counting trash he’s retweeted, Trump has already tweeted 11 times this morning. I’d say he’s agitated.
Butter emails!!!
@Kay: Ohio has definitely moved right, but maybe Dems see the manufacturing recession as making it gettable in 2020. Sort of like Indiana in Obama’s first campaign but a slightly less heavy lift?
OzarkHillbilly
Trump firm ‘refusing to pay’ legal bill for windfarm case
I am shocked, shocked I tell you>
Some expert.
Kay
@Butter emails!!!:
I feel like it’s slightly, tiny, net positive for Democrats right now- Trump is moving down here, and again- it’s the direction rather than the number that they chase.
It’s true for the presidential candidates. Biden has to stay the same or go up. He cannot go down. That’s what’s killing Bernie- he’s still very popular, raised a TON of money, but he is losing support. There’s no avoiding that. Everyone knows both Bernie and Biden. They can’t drop.
Amir Khalid
@OzarkHillbilly:
Donald Trump is a DEADBEAT?! Who would have suspected such a thing?
Amir Khalid
@OzarkHillbilly:
I can’t imagine a sane judge doing anything but toss a murder charge on a nine-year-old. And maybe censuring the state attorney.
Gin & Tonic
@Amir Khalid: After all these decades, why anyone would do any work of any kind for him without payment in full, in advance, completely escapes me.
Amir Khalid
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
I would also say he’s goofing off again instead of presidenting. But that goes without saying.
Kay
@Butter emails!!!:
Biden is not actually making a strong showing. He starts high, which everyone assumed he would, but he has to add and it can’t be completely by attrition- he can’t wait until people drop out and pick up their voters, because he won’t have time.
If he starts at 40 and adds 5 that 5 is all his. If he starts at 40 and loses 5 that’s all his, too, in the other direction. That’s what he needs to show me, anyway. What is the Joe Biden + number, not the Obama coattail, seems like an okay guy number?
OzarkHillbilly
@Gin & Tonic: I read that Atlantic City contractors learned to work together, to double all their bids, and require 50% down payment before work began.
Betty Cracker
@Amir Khalid: Trump got into a Twitter dust-up with Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey yesterday over the city’s demand for up-front fees for a hate rally. The mayor had a PERFECT response:
I feel like that’s a message we should emphasize more — when does Trump WORK? What does he actually DO? He sits around on his ass live-tweeting Fox & Friends most mornings and has spent literally a third of his presidency at a self-branded golf resort. From all appearances, Trump is the laziest, most trifling, do-nothing pile of crap to ever hold office.
Sab
@donnah: Kind of remarkable that this is what he chose as his first public position on anything ever: that soliciting election help from a foreign government doesn’t rise to the level of impeachable offense.
Amir Khalid
@Gin & Tonic:
Well, here it was Scotland’s legal costs in defending against his lawsuit. That means, If I’m not mistaken, that the court hit Trump with a financial penalty for bringing a frivolous lawsuit.
Uncle Cosmo
@germy: There are almost certain laws against posting campaign signs (or for that matter, signs for any private activity) on public property. (Doesn’t keep campaigns from violating the law – our median strips are forested with them late in every election season, figuring that the authorities have more important things to do than take them down.) Check with the local authorities – they’d probably be happy to have you remove it yourself, saves them the trouble. You might contact the offending campaign & tell them they have a choice – they can either remove it themselves or see it lying on your lawn torn into pieces for all the passersby to notice. Might save you the trouble.
Gin & Tonic
@Betty Cracker: According to Daniel Dale, there is one event on Trump’s public calendar today, a 3:15 pm signing of an executive order.
different-church-lady
@OzarkHillbilly:
Nine year olds completely know that. He’s talking about four year olds at the most.
Gin & Tonic
@Amir Khalid: Well, I’d think a sovereign government in a country where one owns property would have more means of getting repaid than some drywall contractor in AC.
Kay
@Sab:
It’s bullshit anyway. The Trump Administration certainly believe it rises to the level of an impeachable offense. That’s why they 1. tried to hide it, and, 2. are frantically obstructing.
Trump doesn’t believe he can shoot someone on 5th avenue, or whatever. If he did he wouldn’t spend nearly every waking moment hiding things. He came out and said he asked Ukraine about his political opponent, that is true. But he is desperately trying to keep testimony and evidence on it from the public. His actions contradict the bluster and belligerence.
joel hanes
@NotMax:
Drinking while hunting is a mug’s game.
There are many mugs.
Do not spend any time in their company.
Sab
@Kay: That’s what is so weird about Portman taking a public position on it.
Kay
@Sab:
Why did his sleazy lawyers freak out over that phone call and frantically hide it? Why are they working as hard as they can to hide testimony and communications to the extent where they’re making ridiculous claims that the President has the power to direct congressional proceedings? That power doesn’t exist. In fact, Congress is explicitly granted that power in the constitution. The President has no power over them.
It goes back even further than that! Trump’s low quality ambassador called Dear Leader after there was a text message revealing the shakedown. They knew it was bad and that’s why they hid it. They’re still hiding it.
chris
A picture from yesterday’s walk to the river. (Pano by google.)
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Gin & Tonic:
“Executive Time” in the form of watching Fox News and live tweeting it is a lot of work.
OzarkHillbilly
@chris: Very pretty.
Kay
@Sab:
They’re such horrible cowards. They all took an oath. This is (among other things) a constitutional crisis. The President has declared supremacy over Congress. He is declaring their constitutionally granted power “illegitimate” That’s not our system of government.
If this were happening in one of the countries we fucking SCOLD about democracy every elite conservative commentator would be handwringing over it. The President and his lawyers are attacking the foundation. They’ve smeared shit all over the walls inside the building and now they’re dismantling the foundation.
I don’t know if Democrats are up to this but boy they better be, because there is no one else. They’re all we have.
ThresherK
@NotMax: Does Aquaman have the ability to read sea creatures’ minds? If so, that’s a pretty low signal-to-noise ratio.
tybee
@NotMax:
everything wants to be free!
JPL
@chris: Up until a few days ago it was in the nineties, so it is surprising to see fall colors. What a nice pic!
Leto
@OzarkHillbilly: @different-church-lady: If 18 month old, and 2 year old, children can represent themselves in immigration proceedings, 9 year old children are the mob bosses of pre-teens. /s
/smh over this
@Kay:
Help me Obi-Kamala Kenobi! You’re my only hope! – America, 2019
Kay
@Sab:
The part that makes me have absolute contempt for GOP members of Congress is this- Trump thinks they are subservient to the executive too. He didn’t even tell them he was pulling out of Syria. They’re taking orders from a fucking moron who doesn’t have the slightest idea what the actual framework of our system is and has zero interest in finding out. He hasn’t passed any legislation since that obscene tax cut because he thinks they’re beneath him and he won’t negotiate. They didn’t fund his wall so what did he do? He robbed the money from right under their noses. GOP Congress members did that. They are beyond potted plants. They serve no purpose at all. He beat them into submission.
chris
@JPL: Yeah, I’ve been watching the heat in the US hoping it would come up here. No luck, we’ve had several frosts in the last two weeks.
Kay
@Leto:
I myself would call every corroborating witness I could possibly find and attempt to turn their refusal to appear into a disadvantage to them, because refusing to appear means they’re also not defending. We prosecute criminals all the time without the defendants testifying. If we needed them no one would ever get convicted.
Aleta
National Security Action @natsecaction
More than 50 of the country’s most distinguished national security experts—including former Cabinet Secretaries who served Presidents of both parties—have joined a Supreme Court amicus brief in support of the #DACA program:
https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/18/18-587/118082/20191004112536399_18-587%2018-58818-589bsacFormerNationalSecurityOfficials.pdf
Leto
@Kay: And it was rather amazing how quickly, and easily, he did it. For people who claim to be so “tough and macho”, man they rolled over, showed him their belly, and left a good size puddle on the floor. All he does is say stupid shit, tweets stupid shit, and elected members of Congress are scared of that. It’s insane.
Another Scott
@OzarkHillbilly: Of course he doesn’t pay his bills.
But we also know that he loves accountants that can hide money. So I wouldn’t be at all surprise[d] if either: 1) the place is profitable under normal accounting rules, but he claims losses so that he doesn’t have to pay taxes; 2) the place isn’t profitable but he doesn’t care because he takes his cut off the top and the losses go to the suckers who are investors with him; 3) both.
Remember: Donnie lies about everything.
Cheers,
Scott.
germy
I remember when Matt Lauer “moderated” the Town Hall with Trump and HRC.
mrmoshpotato
@WereBear: Sounds like their “Who’s on first?” routine is pretty good.
zhena gogolia
@germy:
I know, it’s nauseating.
Why is everything falling apart so dramatically all at once?
mrmoshpotato
@OzarkHillbilly: “Let’s bring master some spleens!”
Leto
@Kay: Agreed. Plus the House portion of the impeachment process isn’t even the trial part. He and his dipshit defenders keep going on about how they should have the right to cross examine the WB, while at the same time saying that the president can never ever ever be investigated or held accountable for anything he does. (Fuck nuts Barr actually had the DoJ make the case, yesterday in federal court, that Congress never should have received any information from the Nixon White House because Congress doesn’t have any oversight power over the Executive branch. The judge was visibly, and audibly, flabbergasted at that. “Wow, ok.” Was her response)
The Senate is where the trial will happen. If he wants to cross examine someone, he’s going to have to cross examine himself because HE released the “transcript”. We’re dealing with the stupidest people ever (lower than low quality) who are trying to re-litigate fucking Watergate. I don’t see how any sane federal prosecutor stays at the DoJ because this is just fucking embarrassing. As you said, Trumpov, Barr, and Republicans are shitting on the floor, smearing it on the walls, and dumping termites into the foundation.
Leto
@germy: I think it was Entertainment Tonight, whatever is on after NBC news at 1830, that had Lauer on and showing him dance, or something? All I thought was, “Oh, he’s served his “purgatory time” and the rehab campaign is now underway. Kewl.”
Yet another piece of shit that needs to be shoved back under a rock until it’s time to print the obituary, which should simply read: “Matt Lauer, rapist, dead at XX. Not soon enough.” That’s it, the entire statement/notice.
japa21
@Leto: This is all for his base and those who are at the edge and ready to bolt. Everything you say is true, but low information voters (roughly 90% of the electorate) don’t understand the difference between the House role (grand jury) and the Senate role (trial court). So they will believe that Trump is being treated unfairly. And the GOP goes along with this.
Sab
@Kay: This why I like Pelosi’s approach, that the fight isn’t about policy differences but about protecting our system of government and the rule of law. The can’t both sides this into being like the Benghazi hearings.
germy
Fox News is quoting someone from twitter who calls himself “Hugh Janus”
Leto
@Betty Cracker: Here, lets follow along that theme “When the fuck does he work?”. Jim Wright, Stonekettle, posted this 45 mins ago:
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2472208922814496&id=100000762374540
And he has 11 screen shots of tweets he’s already sent out this morning. Just long screeds of incoherent bullshit. When the fuck does Trumpov work? (We all know the answer to this)
germy
@Leto: Yes. Lauer went after Hillary hard, and then basically kissed Trump’s ass. And I think he was encouraged by his boss Andy Lack. They’re all shit.
mrmoshpotato
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
Shrimp dog (curled up) vs starfish cat?
Kay
@Sab:
It’s really bad. I don’t think that means you have to freak out and hide under your desk but it’s time for everyone to admit it’s a crisis and behave accordingly. It really isn’t partisan. Is Congress subservient to the executive branch? Can the President direct congress in how to run their own branch? Not within the existing constitution he can’t. He simply doesn’t have this power. It wasn’t granted to him. It is illegitimate. It’s not grounded in anything and in fact the whole realm is specifically granted to the legislative branch.
When Pelosi said “you’re in my wheelhouse now” that’s a constitutional argument.
Ruckus
Hillary’s statement that tump should do his job really doesn’t mean much.
First, he has no idea what a job is, let alone what his is.
Second, he’s literally incapable of actually doing his job.
Third, he’s a shithead racist, who revels in tormenting others, so he’s unfit for the job as well as totally unable to perform it.
jeffreyw
@NotMax:
Where I grew up it’s a boulevard.
Bobby Thomson
@rikyrah: that’s why it’s still Biden’s race to lose.
mrmoshpotato
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Awww….does orange baby need a bottle and his binky?
No. Orange baby needs to resign, take Dense with him and still be prosecuted for several shittons of crimes.
Bobby Thomson
@germy: Lauer’s “defense” is that it was a consensual affair. But he wouldn’t be the first man to “accidentally” perform an act that had not been consented to, or prohibited, even.
Kay
Jacobin promoted the story from the Left, too, because Warren threatens Bernie.
But this is the reality for our candidates. We can certainly object to it but there’s no real effort or interest in changing the status quo in political journalism and they won’t. This is what it will be from now until election day for any D candidate, and they have to get around it. The ability to get around it is a requirement. It’s an additional requirement and I know that’s not fair but it is. They have to deal with what is.
Uncle Cosmo
@joel hanes:
Listen & be entertained (or appalled, mir ist’s egal)
H.E.Wolf
@rikyrah:
Many thanks to you (and lamh36, last night) for boosting the signal on his victory.
Montgomery is the home of a Civil Rights Memorial designed by Maya Lin. It’s a fountain with this quotation (Old Testament, via MLK, Jr.) inscribed upon it:
“Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Rights_Memorial
mrmoshpotato
Yarrow
@germy: Reminder that Matt Lauer is one of those ultra-rich Americans who buys land in New Zealand, like Peter Thiel. After the story broke and he was fired, New Zealand had some investigation to determine whether or not he met their “good character” requirement for foreign land owners. Wonder what will happen now. Link.
germy
@Bobby Thomson: But it wasn’t accidentally, because he asked her if she liked anal sex. She said no, but he proceeded.
Sister Golden Bear
@rikyrah: Due to time zone differences (and I only catch up with BJ sporadically during the day) I didn’t get a chance to do so yesterday, but I wanted to say thanks for your support. It’s much appreciated.
Yarrow
@germy: Also she was drunk so couldn’t consent.
Steve in the ATL
@JPL: i has to put on a jacket this morning up here in New York. Won’t need it Atlanta for 6-8 more weeks.
different-church-lady
What the everlovin fuck are “alcoholic Tide pods” and why am I seeing them “trend” on my webpages?
CaseyL
@different-church-lady: Glenlivit, which is legitimately a fine single-malt Scotch, has put out “Scotch pods” – gelatin pods filled with Scotch. Hilarity has ensued.
As for the GOP… I don’t think they’re cowards or spineless or any of that. Remember, this is the GOP after 40+ years of intense RW propaganda. I think they just genuinely want to bring down the US, so they have a better shot at re-creating the vision of the country they prefer: pre-Civil Rights, pre-feminism, pre-union. They want the Gilded Age, when they were at the very tippy-top of the food chain and no one even thought of questioning their right to be there.
Sometimes the simplest explanation is the accurate one: the GOP supports Trump because it agrees with him.
Chyron HR
@CaseyL:
To be fair, so does Bernie.
chris
@H.E.Wolf: LOL thanks I’d forgotten that one.
chris
@different-church-lady: Scotch whiskey suppositories.
japa21
@Chyron HR: Very true.
Neither the somewhat far left nor the far right (now comprised by the entirety of the GOP) believe in the Constitution or basic principles of democracy. If Sanders were President he would show just about the same amount of respect for Congress as Trump shows.
Aleta
Re: @germy: @germy:
I was just reading/rereading these :
So I thought I’d look at (Rolling Stone) Matt Taibbi’s take on Warren and Harris, etc. (Because of Taibbi’s past writing, and his former publication boasting about abusing Russian women, and his print-harassment of a female journalist who was working in Moscow at the time. She later wrote about the experience in the Post.)
Likewise, this time there may be attacks out of bias on the work of women journalists who sometimes write about this stuff.
I didn’t have time to do a fair (complete) look at Taibbi’s articles. But I think it’s something to watch for this time around. ** Example, though this is not an article:
————-
* Other articles came out immediately after Lauer’s ‘town hall’ against Clinton. They had less influence at that time.
** Not just in Taibbi and other writers, but in headline writers and bloggers.
At least biased or inaccurate headlines can occasionally get changed, I’ve found, by writing to the reporter of the piece (who’s not the headline writer). A few reporters are able/willing to do that if alerted.
Another Scott
@CaseyL:
I think one could go ever further than that – Donnie embodies everything they have been arguing for for decades:
1) The rich are better than the rest of us, and have the right to rule us. Whites are better than anyone else.
2) Taxes are inherently unfair. Broad-based benefits in society are evil.
3) Land should vote, not poor people who live in cities.
4) Politics is a game, and laws are flexible. Any argument and dirty trick can be applied against Democrats, but Democrats must follow the rules and norms or they’re hypocrites. It’s perfectly fine – no, demanded – that GOP politicians punish their enemies and use every trick possible to extend their power. The only real crime is getting caught and not being able to slither out of any consequences. After all, the GOP is the only legitimate party.
Etc.
Donnie embodies that. The GOP could have beat him back during the primaries, but they didn’t want to do the soul-searching necessary to make a break with him and their policies.
Grr…
Cheers,
Scott.
Betty Cracker
@Kay: Tommy Christopher at Mediaite also promoted it in a particularly dishonest way (IMO), supposedly because he thinks slagging Warren helps Harris. I’m guessing there must be Warren zealots who are promoting dumb stories about Harris, Buttigieg, Biden, etc., too. Probably only poor Bennet is utterly bereft of bros! But yeah, what you said: this is reality now, and every candidate is going to have to learn how to operate in it.
prostratedragon
@NotMax: That Wikipedia is really something. The other day something or other made me want to check the accuracy of my guess that mad scenes in operas are rarely written for male voices (a real missed opportunity). And sure enough …
different-church-lady
@CaseyL: @chris: STOP FUCKING WITH MY HEAD!!1!
different-church-lady
@NotMax: WE DO NOT CALL IT A TREE BELT!!1!
tybee
@chris: tell me more.
James E Powell
@Kay:
Those four people aren’t really contenders, are they? Where are the big shots?
mrmoshpotato
Anyone else want this added to the rotating text at the top?
Kelly
@Gin & Tonic: It’s a loser pays lawsuit costs situation.
James E Powell
@mrmoshpotato:
I wonder if Procter & Gamble minds how their brand name is being used.
zeecube
@germy: Throw it away. It is on your property without your permission. Granted, it may be place in a spot where the municipality has a right to do stuff on your property, such as a right to put in a side walk (In Louisiana, it’s called a predial servitude, I think), but you own your property all the way to the street, at least. That’s why it’s your responsibility for its upkeep. I am guessing whatever ordinance gives the city service rights does not extend to third parties’ campaign signs.
J R in WV
@OzarkHillbilly:
Here, during deer season and for quite a while afterwards, White Dog would emit fearsome terrible fumes, got way less kibble to eat, and gained 15 pounds. She lives in our house, but is free to go into the woods and hunt, she mostly finds motionless dead things.
Not much you can do about that.
Now we have two new puppies who were astray for a week, and were thin when they got lost. Now they’re filling out slowly on 4 cups of puppy chow daily. Alice is getting fed twice a day to prevent jealousy issues to that extent, not gonna lose weight like that!