Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

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

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

Conservatism: there are some people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

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

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

No one could have predicted…

I really should read my own blog.

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

“More of this”, i said to the dog.

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

People are complicated. Love is not.

Consistently wrong since 2002

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

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

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

In my day, never was longer.

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Friday Morning Open Thread: No Sooner Than Time

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  6. 6.

    What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?

    Glad I’m not the staffer that has to lug Lindsey’s portable fainting couch around everywhere he goes.

  10. 10.

    Patricia Kayden

    Imagine waking up morning after morning knowing that your only goal for the day is to gum up the works of a congressional hearing.— Jane Lynch (@janemarielynch) December 12, 2019

  15. 15.

    Kay

    I went to a D event last night.

    1. downside- Democrats are panicking in R areas
    2. upside- sitting there, I realized that these people will back anyone, literally anyone, who is the nominee :)

    They’ll be unified. They really, really want to win.

  19. 19.

    Kay

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Backing their hometown candidate. He’s so interesting!  Like (puke) “America’s Mayor”.

    I won’t do it because the Twitter people are so hard working and I know they will get it done, but we need a comparison on the NYT on Clinton’s impeachment and Trump’s impeachment, because I know that isn’t going to go well for them.

    It was a very grave constitutional crisis with Clinton. With Trump it’s all part of his delightful eccentricity.

  21. 21.

    zhena gogolia

    Thank you for front-paging Swalwell! EVERYBODY WATCH THE VIDEO IN THE LAURA OLIN TWEET, please. I’ve watched it about 50 times already.

  22. 22.

    Baud

    @Kay:

    Democrats are panicking in R areas

     

     

    The only thing that really depresses me in the end is the way the GOP owns our side’s emotions while we don’t have any impact on theirs.

    Dems who want a strong party need to start by looking in the mirror.

  24. 24.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Baud: The only thing that really depresses me in the end is the way the GOP owns our side’s emotions while we don’t have any impact on theirs.

    Republican voters are terrified of anyone who isn’t white being in control. It’s not Democrats per se, but the Democrats’ move toward greater acknowledgement of racial justice issues over the past decade has them crapping themselves in terror. It’s not so much fear that we’re going to win the next election as it is deeper and more visceral. They’re not happy warriors and it’s a large part of why they do everything they do.

  25. 25.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    Well, it’s partly being a political minority in R areas. I don’t know but maybe R’s are the same in blue areas. They’re surrounded by Trump supporters- that’s what they hear.

    One of them asked me what I thought about Steyer and I said “why? he’s not going to win” and I realized they are looking for a back-up candidate. Pure panic.

    They’re seeing Steyer ads in Ohio, so that’s who comes to mind. They run during Ohio State games, I have noticed. It’s the only part of a football game I pay attention to.

  26. 26.

    Baud

    @Matt McIrvin:

     

    Yes, but that’s a macro fear.  We don’t have any ability to trigger their fear when it specifically benefits us to do so.

    Whereas our side is constantly triggered by nothing more than demonstrative Republican speechifying.

  28. 28.

    Baud

    @Kay:

     I don’t know but maybe R’s are the same in blue areas.

     

     

    Perhaps. By I can’t recall ever seeing Rs panic based on our posturing.  They have an admirable ability to self-motivate.

  30. 30.

    Eolirin

    @Baud: Rage is usually stronger than fear, even if it’s motivated by it. We don’t do sustained angry quite so well.

    But it’s also important to remember that they have the benefit of a closed media environment that effectively silences our actual voices in favor of useful caricatures. We instead get an amplified version of theirs with weak to no pushback.

  31. 31.

    Kay

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Yup. And Maggie Haberman. Donald Trump destroyed the NYTimes. He whupped them. They’re one of the broken “institutions” littering the landscape.

    I always thought he was going to be hard to beat- an incumbent, a good economy, political media (led by NY, which rules their world) love him, he runs on racism and division. It will be really difficult to win.

    But unless there’s a big swing it’s going to be Biden. He’s very far ahead and he seems to be holding it. So it’s up to him. Most of this is outside our control.

  32. 32.

    Baud

    @Kay:

     

    Aren’t the Steyer ads all about bashing Trump? I don’t support him by any means, but I would be excited to see those types of ads.

  33. 33.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Baud: They don’t own my emotions. Rs don’t rattle me at all. Indian politics is far more rough and tumble. I trust the Ds. People don’t realize how lucky we are to have a functioning and capable opposition party.

    @Kay: NYT is full of shit. It is not a personal or a political plus.

  34. 34.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    They are all about bashing Trump which is oddly humble for a rich candidate. You do feel a certain gratitude too, or I do anyway. You think “good for you, rich guy!”  :)

    Bloombergs are what you would expect “I am great and super-smart, blah, blah, me, me”

  35. 35.

    Baud

    @Eolirin:

     

    I agree with the causes.  Our people also have more to lose.  But it’s still a disparity that has to be overcome if we want to have a chance. It’s a requirement for any successful group endeavor, in politics and in life.

  36. 36.

    debbie

    @zhena gogolia:
    I was listening when he made his statement. He ought to be named the chairman of the committee. I like Nadler fine, but Swalwell would be killer!

    Also, Schiff was on Colbert last night and was awesome!

  38. 38.

    JMG

    Living all too close to New Hampshire (except for once every four years, it’s a fine neighbor), I have seen more Steyer ads than I can count. They are earnest and do bash Trump. Now we are swamped by Bloomberg ads which are a laundry list of impossible promises that could be lifted from a particularly gaga Bernie ad. Kay and Baud, I will say this. People who’re panicking NOW won’t be of much use next fall when their party will really need them. Tell ’em to take the rest of the holidays off from politics. The break will do them good.

  40. 40.

    Cheryl Rofer

    @debbie: Your comment brings up the fact that, as reported so far, McConnell and Trump are far apart on the strategy of the trial. Trump wants a circus, and McConnell wants just to get it over with.

    So McConnell’s statement last night is more wishful thinking than strategy. He would like it to be strategy, but he knows that His Orangeness will turn on a dime, down to the last minute.

    It’s coming from weakness, not strength.

    We have to stop responding to every Republican statement outside of its context

    ETA: I see I’m agreeing with Baud this morning.

  42. 42.

    Eolirin

    @Baud: Well we’re certainly doing angry pretty well right now. I’m not sure how long we can sustain that though.

    But I think the asymmetry will remain as long as Sinclair and Fox and the Evangelical movement exist, and I don’t know that we can do that much about that.

  43. 43.

    gene108

    @Baud:

     

    We follow rules. We try to be fair.

     

    We are not going to force rural, predominantly white areas, to stand in line for 5 hours to cast a vote, so we increase our chances of winning, when we are in charge

  44. 44.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    Mr DAW’s family lives in NJ, and I remember his little brother saying the kids in his 8th grade class all like Wilbur Mills for president. The rest of us hooted, but they’d seen a ton of ads.

    Do people still watch TV ads? We record everything or start watching late and zip through the commercials.

  46. 46.

    Edith

    @rikyrah: TomatoQueen is planning to send photos in, but he’s been pretty skittish and has been hiding a lot. He’s had a lot of stressful new experiences in the last few days and he’s not used to being inside. Hopefully soon!

  48. 48.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Baud: Aww thanks! I think its more that I have a different perspective of  looking at things. I have seen worse stuff, not personally but politically.

    Right now all my focus is on India, because the Citizenship Amendment Bill and National Register of Citizenship is an existential crisis.

    There have already been two deaths. Things are going to escalate if the bill is not withdrawn.

  50. 50.

    Kay

    Education Secretary Betsy DeVos endured a withering barrage of questions on Thursday about her handling of a program meant to provide debt relief to federal student loan borrowers who say they were defrauded by for-profit colleges.
    “Madame Secretary, your refusal to process claims is inflicting serious harm on students,” Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Va., said in his opening statement. “These defrauded borrowers have been left with piles of debt, worthless degrees and none of the jobs that were promised.”

    NPR has been great on this. They have been doggedly following it for months. I think they are almost wholly responsible for bringing the “public service loan forgiveness” debacle under DeVos to light.
    DeVos has been stonewalling House Democrats but yesterday she and some of her low quality hires finally had to show their faces and she spent the whole day blaming Obama. It got buried by the UK election but I watched because I think it’s important and neglected as a political issue. Also- it interests me.
    She’s great for Democrats, which they know- they use her name constantly. Trump can’t get rid of her because she’s a powerful political operative in Michigan and Republicans credit her with carrying the state for Trump. She’s a far Right force in her own right, and her position predated Trump’s by decades.

    But 2020 is different. They lose governor’s races on opposing education- WI, MI, PA, LA, KY. The far Right view on education isn’t popular anymore, so now she’s a plus for us. It’s more than “not popular”- they can’t run on it at all. I think it’s the reason they lost Kentucky.

    Education isn’t a prestigious beat to cover, so you don’t hear much about it, but it’s a good issue for us. Right up there with health care. Trump knows it too- he’s asking the far Right for a student loan plan, which, like health care, they don’t have and won’t have.

  52. 52.

    Kraux Pas

    @Kay:

     

    But unless there’s a big swing it’s going to be Biden. He’s very far ahead and he seems to be holding it. So it’s up to him. Most of this is outside our control.

    Boy, I can hardly wait for the spectacle of both candidates sundowning at the debate!

  53. 53.

    Kay

    There are two separate DeVos debacles playing out right now- there is the public service loan forgiveness which she either bungled out of incompetence or out of ideological opposition to 1. public education and 2. public service AND the defrauded students loan forgiveness- on that one she was found in contempt of court and probably lied to the court about how many students were affected.

    She doesn’t know how to do this job and it is showing, three years in. It’s a disaster. It isn’t functioning at all.

  57. 57.

    Eolirin

    @Kay: These people need to suffer tangible consequences for their actions. I don’t see how we survive as a nation if that doesn’t start happening.

  60. 60.

    Immanentize

    @rikyrah: @Kraux Pas: 

    I think I can translate it.  “Cornell West is a doody head” (If “they” in the second sentence refers to blackademics and woke folks). But also, “West’s damage to democracy can be blamed on Obama because he made West and his Ilk feel like they have small penises.”

    At least that’s my read. But maybe it’s the opposite?

  61. 61.

    Betty Cracker

    @Kay: Ha, I was just coming here to post that! :) Couldn’t find any video. I guess all the cameras were at the impeachment debate. But good on the House Dems for roasting that corrupt numpty!

  62. 62.

    Baud

    @Kay:

    @Betty Cracker:

    Is the impeachment a distraction from DeVos or is DeVos a distraction from impeachment?

    Are we still doing the whole distraction thing?  Everything is moving so fast, I don’t know anymore.

  63. 63.

    Kraux Pas

    @Kay:

     

    It got buried by the UK election but I watched because I think it’s important and neglected as a political issue.

    Most issues affecting average voters are ignored. If it isn’t divisive or fraught with personal drama, they don’t try to sell it it doesn’t sell.

    Still, even if it wasn’t covered well, we can still take the worst bits and make ads out of them.

  64. 64.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Kay: Over the past few days I’ve been seeing a lot of strange takes on Twitter, not from the usual lefties but from Democratic centrists who are suddenly panicking that either Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren is going to get the nomination (and then lose horribly to Trump, because they regard both candidates as unelectable). I don’t entirely understand where they’re getting this idea, because I don’t see it in the polls at all.

    Maybe it’s that they think Pete Buttigieg is cutting into Biden’s support, but he’s not, really. He’s more taking away from the non-Biden candidates. Or maybe they’re drawing some kind of tortured analogy to the UK

    (also, a *lot* of people who are very convinced that the 2020 election will be canceled and martial law imposed).

  65. 65.

    Elizabelle

    Good morning, jackals.  Happy Friday the 13th.

    Cold grey pouring rain in Richmond, VA.  Perfect coffee sipping weather.

  66. 66.

    Baud

    @Matt McIrvin:

    That’s a refreshing change.  Warren has reset her campaign a bit, and the media has had a bunch of fawning stories about Bernie lately (and I think some individual polls for him have been good), so maybe that’s the source of the panic.

  70. 70.

    Baud

    @Matt McIrvin: 

    (also, a *lot* of people who are very convinced that the 2020 election will be canceled and martial law imposed).

    That happened at the end of Bush’s term too.

  71. 71.

    Kraux Pas

    @Baud:

     

    Just focus on which one is not the fascist rather than the entertainment value.

    In terms of those two, I look at it more as a spectrum of fascism rather than is or is not.

  73. 73.

    Kay

    @Matt McIrvin:

    Sanders supporters here think Warren taking all those attacks helped Sanders, which I think is probably true.

    Right now it’s 1. Biden and 2. Sanders. I know that upsets everyone but the fact is Sanders could win. He’s second. Sanders supporters are annoying – I say this with one of them in my house- but they’re probably right that he doesn’t get enough credit for being second. 1 and 2. He’s 2.

    If we’re telling Sanders supporters they have to support the nominee they can tell us the same- even if it’s Bernie. That’s fair.

  74. 74.

    Eolirin

    @Cheryl Rofer: That’s all true but can we take a moment to reflect on how broken the Republican party is, and how broken our news media is that this is treated as normal, that McConnell can be that brazen about being on team Trump when the Senate is supposed to be impartial in its evaluation of impeachment charges?

    He may as well have straight up said that no matter what the facts or crimes are Trump will be acquited by the Senate.

    And sure, no surprise there to anyone paying attention, but our system doesn’t work when one party goes this far. We need to figure out how to hurt them for this kind of behavior or it’ll only continue to get worse.

  77. 77.

    Baud

    @Kay:

    Sanders is two in Ohio, but I don’t think he’s two in national averages.  If he wins, I’ll vote against the fascist, but I’ll have think about what I’d do long term.

  78. 78.

    Immanentize

    @Baud: I just went to look at Iowa caucus polls and it looks like all pollsters are using a likely voter filter.  Considering the complexity of Iowa, it looks to me like all of the current top 4 (B, W, S, and B) could do well when the voting actually starts.

    But I do sense that, “Biden, Biden he’s our man…” Is firming up.  Not happy about that, but I feel it.

  80. 80.

    Kay

    @Betty Cracker:

    I bring it up not to lecture D pols- they completely get it, so much so that they are holding a special debate on education. They noticed they’ve been winning state races on public education. Arguably they won FIVE governor’s races with education as one of the top issues. It’s a great issue for them.I say it because education isn’t a prestigious beat nationally so it doesn’t get as much attention as some other issues, but it will be big for Democrats in 2020. Democratic voters rank it higher than GOP voters. They always have.

    Bevin in Kentucky was hated but one of the reasons he was hated is he attacked their public education system. The D governor is making good on his promise too- yesterday he fired the entire state board of education and replaced them with pro-public education people.

  82. 82.

    Baud

    @Kay:

     

    . The D governor is making good on his promise too- yesterday he fired the entire state board of education and replaced them with pro-public education people.

    Nice.

  83. 83.

    Baud

    @debbie: BoJo always led in the polls, and people hated Corbyn and he didn’t take a stand on the existential issue of the day.  It’s really nothing like what’s going on here, except that the media will demonize our candidate and more so if the candidate is leftish.

  85. 85.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: I watch network TV live.  (No DVR.) Not gonna catch many national political ads during baseball season, but for October/November primetime like Bob’s Burgers…

  87. 87.

    Kraux Pas

    @Baud:

     

    Ok, if you think Biden is on a fascist spectrum, then we have irreconcilable outlooks.

    History of supporting policies that keep minorities unduly imprisoned and the everyone in thrall to the financial sector and corporate interests.

    I mean I’m not saying he is a fascist. But he is the sort of guy who can work with fascists…and not to our benefit.

  88. 88.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Baud: Meanwhile, whenever I start to think I’m actually kind of liking Bernie, he does something like endorse Cenk Uygur.

  89. 89.

    Baud

    @Kraux Pas:

    As long as half of America elects fascists, our people will work with them.  If you think Warren or Sanders will shun the Republican party completely, you are mistaken.

  90. 90.

    zhena gogolia

    @Baud:

    I hope he will again. He is excellent. Both in the Intelligence Committee and the Judiciary Committee he has been a standout. I liked him as a presidential candidate too. He had one of the best taglines at the debates when asked what he would do on Day One as president: “Breakin’ up with Putin, makin’ up with NATO.”

  91. 91.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Kraux Pas:

    Boy, I can hardly wait for the spectacle of both candidates sundowning at the debate! 

    I’d laugh at this if it weren’t so depressing and a real possibility.

  92. 92.

    debbie

    @Baud:

    I don’t think the polls showed just how much he was ahead though. Listening to the BBC last night, they were all plenty surprised.

  93. 93.

    Baud

    @Matt McIrvin:

     

    whenever I start to think I’m actually kind of liking Bernie

    Bernie is Bernie because, like Trump, he’s good at triggering the deep frustrations of a large group of voters.  Like with Trump, it’s a bit of a drug that can cause some people to ignore the full picture.

  94. 94.

    Eolirin

    @Kay: I think a bigger concern is that no one has anything close to a majority of support, and enough candidates are in a strong enough position to keep it that way all the way to the convention. I have no idea what happens if we have a brokered convention when each of the candidates have sizable factions that very strongly do not want them to be the nominee, and others that do. Who is our compromise candidate in that case? I can’t see Bernie making that case, and I think it’s a hard lift for Biden, but probably more possible, just because he polls the best against Trump.

    Sanders supporters will probably flip out if Biden, or anyone else really, wins with a plurality though. We really don’t need that. Sanders being number 2 is a huge liability in that case.

  95. 95.

    Matt McIrvin

    I keep asking people who say the UK is a preview of 2020: what’s the US analogue to the Labour/Lib Dem split? Is there going to be some high-profile liberal third-party candidate sucking up a third of the Democratic vote?

  97. 97.

    Matt McIrvin

    (I suppose it’s still within the realm of possibility that the Democrats nominate Bernie and Bloomberg hates him so much that he mounts a spoiler independent candidacy, or that the Dems nominate, say, Buttigieg and Bernie does the same, but I think these things are unlikely. If there’s a third-party candidate aside from Jill Stein it will probably be Tulsi Gabbard, and she’ll be a marginal figure who mostly sucks votes from Trump.)

  98. 98.

    Ken

    @Immanentize:

    It’s nice when Friday the 13th actually is on a Friday, no?

    Today’s useless trivia: Over a full 400-year cycle of the Gregorian calendar, the 13th falls on a Friday more often than on any other day of the week.

  99. 99.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Why doesn’t the Post make it easy for itself and just call the whole Russthuglican party a Pinocchio?  (Or they could be adults and call them g’damn f’in’ liars.)

  100. 100.

    zhena gogolia

    @Kay:

    Nope. He’s the GRU candidate. I can’t support the GRU candidate. I just pray to God he isn’t the nominee, because then I don’t know what I’ll do.

  101. 101.

    Immanentize

    Yesterday, I spoke at a “Day of Life” event at the hospital that treated my wife. It was an auditorium filled with doctors, nurses. Interns, residents, other hospital caregivers…. The format was that a patient (read survivor) was matched with someone(s) from the care team.

    I was up second with Julie’s chemo nurse and social worker. Sadly (literally!), I followed a couple whose sweet six year old daughter just dropped from cardiac failure on the soccer field when she was 6!! and the ER Doc who tried to resucitate her for two hours when she got to the hospital. He spoke and then both the Mom and Dad spoke. They are still in touch and friends after 12 years. It’s amazing, the Doctor was still filled with guilt and told me it has taken him 12 years to even talk about it. Other colleagues told him to call it several times, but he just couldn’t.

    I was a mess by the time my time came. Choked out my take somehow. Luckily I had brought Julie’s Star Wars Vans to remind the crowd that there was a human behind the person in the ill fitting hospital gown. Both sides of the force got me through somehow.

    If I ever do this again, dammit, I want to go first!

  102. 102.

    Baud

    @Matt McIrvin:

    Unless Bernie actually is a Russian agent, I actually think a third party run is unlikely for him.  Bloomberg, I can see, although I don’t think he’ll have much of an impact (although it doesn’t take much to swing an election).

  103. 103.

    Cheryl Rofer

    @debbie: Not at all. I’m thinking about the more general reaction that I saw on Twitter. One of the Republicans’ weaknesses is that Trump is so unpredictable. They have to turn themselves inside out to stay with him.

  104. 104.

    Eolirin

    @Matt McIrvin: The equivalent in the US is gerrymandering and the way population distribution benefits Republicans in the Senate and EC. 

    The mechanism by which 42% of the vote translates to a huge electoral victory doesn’t much matter, only that it does.

  106. 106.

    Kraux Pas

    @Baud: As long as they won’t advance the cause of building up the police state, pointless wars against furners, and abusive practices by moneyed interests, then they’ll be a damn sight better than Biden.

     

    I’d even be happy with most of the other moderates. It’s Biden specifically. I’m all in for pretty much anyone who made the debate cutoff except Biden.

     

    I don’t particularly want Sanders or Steyer either, but neither of them make me contemplate living off-the-grid until I’m eaten by a bear. Or voting behavior that would make you wish I went third party…

  108. 108.

    tobie

    @gene108: We won’t do that but maybe we should reconsider whether to subsidize rural communities and states to the tune we have in the past. Residents of blue states pay for services in red states which generally have low or no state income tax. How is that equitable?

  110. 110.

    JMG

    It is important to remember that according to all available data, right now Trump is behind the Democrats. That could obviously change, but the facts on the ground suggest resolute hope is the emotion needed, not pessimism or panic. If Trump were a normal right-wing Republican, if he were Rubio or Cruz even, he’d have a 50-plus job approval rating and be a shoo-in. But he’s not normal, and he’s not gonna get any more normal in the next 11 months.

  111. 111.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Eolirin: Trump won with 46% vs. 48% in 2016, but it wasn’t anything like the Tories’ walloping landslide. By the numbers this was more like Clinton beating Bush and Perot in 1992 (Perot’s run probably didn’t benefit Clinton on the whole, he drew from both parties, but the fact that he was there did mean Clinton could win a big electoral victory with 43% of the PV).

  115. 115.

    Baud

    @tobie: All blue states have rural areas, however, so it’s hard to figure out how to do it.  And red states like Montana still elect Dems in statewide races.

    That said, urban and suburban areas do need to have greater awareness of what harm red, rural areas are doing to the country. We spend all our time talking about corporations and Wall Street, and mostly ignore the voting half of the GOP coalition.

  116. 116.

    Betty Cracker

    @Eolirin: Agree that a Biden-Sanders brokered convention would be a nightmare. It’s not all that far-fetched either. A unity ticket that includes both would have a combined age of 157, so that’s out of the question. Warren is a youthful 70, but that’s still a bit long in the tooth to back up a candidate as old as Biden, and I don’t think including her would placate the hardcore Berniacs anyway. Ayanna Pressley is young, but that wouldn’t mollify the Berniacs either. Biden-AOC? The mind reels…

  117. 117.

    Kristine

    @Matt McIrvin: Given the times, I wonder how much of that was started and spread by bots and trolls to upset and disillusion. I find some good stuff on Twitter, and try to stick with sources I know. But it is too damned easy to fall down rabbit holes and come away with a feeling that it’s all hopeless, which is the major reason why I’m trying to limit my Twitter time.

  119. 119.

    Eolirin

    @tobie: We can’t stop subsidizing those states without gutting social programs more broadly. It would be exceptionally stupid to try something like that, and the base wouldn’t support it besides.

  120. 120.

    debbie

    A warning to you tech heads with your toys.

    A Tennessee family said someone hacked a Ring security camera set up in their children’s bedroom and taunted their 8-year-old daughter.

    The LeMay family, of Memphis, said they installed the device to keep an eye on their daughters. A few days later, the family said a stranger had gained access to the device and was talking to the little girl.

    In a video from the Ring device, the child, standing in her room, asks: “Who is that?”

    A man responds that he’s her “best friend.”

    “I’m Santa Claus. Don’t you want to be my best friend?” he says.

    The terrified girl screams for her mother.

    The hacker also played music for the girl and instructed her to mess up her room and break her television.

    “You can do whatever you want,” he says.

    “I don’t know who you are,” the girl responds.

    Ashley LeMay, the girl’s mother, said that the hacker could have watched her daughters changing or sleeping.

    “They could have seen all kinds of things,” she said.

    This is one fucked up world.

  123. 123.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Matt McIrvin:

    (also, a *lot* of people who are very convinced that the 2020 election will be canceled and martial law imposed). 

    Hard eye roll!  Yeah, all 50 Secretaries of State are gonna go “Welp, the Soviet shitpile mobster conman doesn’t want to risk defeat and prison, so no more elections!  He’s now king for life!”

  124. 124.

    Immanentize

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: It was just what you said — an opportunity to remind caregivers how even the shortest contact with a patient or their family can leave an enduring impression of care and compassion.  In my case, even though a relatively short quick decline, the team did some amazing small things that were acts of human caring rather than scientific doctor efficiency.  For example, when Julie was near the end, one of the palliative care Docs just reached over the end of the bed and squeezed her toes.  So sweet.  Indelible moment.

    The Immp was treated at super excellent big industrial internationally superior hospital. One of the world’s best surgeons. Cutting edge cancer genetics research team. No one ever squeezed his toes.

  125. 125.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @zhena gogolia: A request – when you post things in Cyrillic, could you also provide translation? I value your comments and would love to be able to understand what you’re posting.

  126. 126.

    Gin & Tonic

    @debbie: Features are a profit center, security is a cost. The market responds rationally.

    I know a fair amount about this stuff, and (as a result?) I have no such devices of any kind in my home.

  127. 127.

    Kraux Pas

    @Baud: Fascists don’t win on the strength of their own support, but by convincing moderates their financial and security interests are with them.

     

    He’s been enabling them my entire adult life…more so my entire childhood from what I can tell

  129. 129.

    tobie

    @Baud: The details would be impossible to work out and I’m speaking out of bitterness and rage, which is a highly un-Democratic (capital D) approach to policy but I see in my own state how one or two wealthy suburban counties pay for everything with high local taxes and yet the rural counties complain they’re subsidizing everything. This myth needs to be busted.

  131. 131.

    Immanentize

    @Gin & Tonic: Hell, I rarely know how I’ll act when I walk out the door every day.  If I did anything right in this whole mess, it was serendipitously choosing the right partner 20 years before the shit started hitting the fan continuously.

  133. 133.

    Eolirin

    @Matt McIrvin: I get that, and I’m not trying to draw a direct comparison, but in some states congressional representation is that skewed, the Senate distribution is quickly moving to be worse than that, and you can create a map that does lead to that level of gap with the EC, an unlikely one, and I have no expectations that 2020 is going to look like the UK elections, but it isn’t impossible.

  135. 135.

    Zzyzx

    Baud: the reason why the republicans can cause us fear but we can’t do the same with them is that they don’t care. When their outspoken people make jokes about enacting Nazi policies and then pass them off as jokes, there’s no way to not take it seriously just in case.

  136. 136.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Kay: Of course. I don’t think I’d even be nearly as bothered by supporting Sanders in the general as most of the people here–his policy positions are fine, I could get behind them.

    What’s irritating me a bit now are the demands from Sanders supporters that Warren’s supporters immediately drop her and endorse Sanders to stop Biden. They were doing that much earlier in the campaign, insisting that Warren was already done and should drop out or her supporters should switch to Bernie. They quieted down when Warren was leading him in the primary polls, now they’re at it again.

  137. 137.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Eolirin: Vermont Jesus’s supporters will flip out if he’s not the nominee?  Never had that happen before! (How many slashes go at the end?)

  138. 138.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Zzyzx: Yeah. I mean, when somebody makes a death threat against you, you have to take it at least a little seriously. We have the handicap of not feeling free to toss around death threats.

  141. 141.

    Matt McIrvin

    @mrmoshpotato: There have been claims going around that some sort of emergency-powers law exists that would make it technically legal for Trump to cancel the election. I think Fahrenthold was talking about it. Don’t know what to think about it.

  142. 142.

    tobie

    @Eolirin: I was thinking more of what could be done at the state level. In my state, two counties generate the revenue for just about everything. The myth that rural America is the embodiment of self-reliance needs to be exposed as a myth.

  143. 143.

    Barbara

    @Matt McIrvin: Fuck them.  Misogynists to the core, they obviously can’t even entertain why Sanders should not be the one to drop out.  And I really doubt whether Warren supporters would automatically move to Sanders.  I wouldn’t.

  147. 147.

    Barbara

    @debbie: Yes, it’s horrible.  I listened to a news item about a guy who tried repeatedly to warn Apple (I think it was Apple) about security flaws in its Nest product, and getting no response, he just went ahead and started hacking it, not in creepy ways like that, but sending messages to people through the Nest interface, basically letting them know how easy it was for an outsider like him to infiltrate their home through Nest.  Pretty sure Apple responded to THAT, but wouldn’t comment.

    However, why do people NEED a camera to track their kids in their own bedroom?  My overwhelming presumption is that these products are not secure and expose you to all kinds of possible intrusions.  I do have a programmable thermostat, but it is not integrated with Alexa or whatever other surveillance trackers you can place in your home.

  149. 149.

    zhena gogolia

    @Gin & Tonic:

    I learned from a clip on Seth Meyers that the lying orange sack of excrement called Zelenskyy a “corrupt bastard” at his Nazi rally in PA the other night. For some reason this has depressed me even more than all the other crap that spews out of his mouth.

  152. 152.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Barbara: Nor would I. I have donated to Warren and would vote for her. If November of 2020 is Trump v. Sanders I’m staying home. A choice between two Russian assets is no choice for me.

  153. 153.

    Kraux Pas

    @Baud: My first impression of Biden as I came of age was when, after voting for the PATRIOT Act, he said it was full of things we wanted to do for years. Unless I see further clarification, I’m going to assume that meant locking up Muslim people with no trial and spying on everyone’s internet, phone, and library activity. And that wasn’t his first or even second go at making life miserable for minorities in the name of security.

     

    My second impression of him was his vote for the Iraq War, an abominable mess sold on transparent lies that is still causing major problems.

     

    I would have liked to think his time in the Obama admin made things better but he has managed to piss me off at each debate. He is a liar. He lied about Harris’s health plan for one thing. I don’t trust him. He’s the only option I have this luch of a problem with and I think I have perfectly good reasons.

  156. 156.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Gin & Tonic: See, that’s dumb. Trump is a fascist, Sanders is not. The Russians were only ever interested in him to the extent that they can use him to stir up shit as an underdog.

  159. 159.

    Yarrow

    @Gin & Tonic:

    I know a fair amount about this stuff, and (as a result?) I have no such devices of any kind in my home.

    You’re probably already aware of this but for anyone who isn’t, if you have a Kindle it comes with Alexa turned on. You have to go manually turn it off. Your Kindle is listening to you.

  160. 160.

    zhena gogolia

    @Gin & Tonic:

    It is true, I’m afraid. He was miming his “perfect” phone call, and it ended with, “So do the investigations, you corrupt bastard!” The crowd roared. I’m sorry to have to tell you, but I think we all need to know the truth of how bad he is.

  162. 162.

    Matt McIrvin

    Anyone who refuses to support the Democratic nominee in 2020 is voting for death camps and mass graves. At this point I don’t much care who it is, for purposes of that statement.

  163. 163.

    catclub

    @Baud: Aren’t the Steyer ads all about bashing Trump? I don’t support him by any means, but I would be excited to see those types of ads.

     

    There was a great idea in the Washington Monthly. Michael Bloomberg should run in the GOP primary, bash Trump exclusively there, spend a ton of money against him, and weaken him there. Plus, Bloomberg has already run as a Republican before. If Bloomberg really wants Trump to lose, that is a better way  to make it happen.

  164. 164.

    Betty Cracker

    @Barbara: I’m a Warren supporter, and I wouldn’t migrate to Sanders if she dropped out either. His politics are closest to mine among the not-Warrens, but he hires toxic sycophants, which is disqualifying in the primary. I’d vote for him in the general, but with massive trepidation.

  165. 165.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Immanentize:  

    No one ever squeezed his toes.

    Pretty much describes my mother’s heart surgeon. That old joke about the difference between surgeons and God being the fact that God doesn’t think he’s a surgeon? Yeah, that was that asshole to a “T”.

  166. 166.

    Steeplejack

    @zhena gogolia:
    I’m sorry I missed Smarty last night. Warren William with mussed-up hair!

    I hope you kept watching for Gold Diggers of 1933 after that. I caught most of it, and it lifted me out of my Trumpian black mood. A masterpiece—possibly the masterpiece—of the ’30 musicals. William plays against type as Dick Powell’s stuffy older brother who comes to New York to rescue him from “chiseling showgirls.” Of course hilarity ensues.

    Great cast—Powell, William, Joan Blondell, Ruby Dee, Aline MacMahon, Guy Kibbee, even Ginger Rogers in a small part—great script, great songs, eye-popping Busby Berkeley production numbers. And snappy dialogue: “I’ve been play juveniles for 20 years, and nobody tells me how to put over a song!”

    It’s being shown again at 6:30 a.m. EST on Sunday the 22nd, and it’s also currently available on Watch TCM. Highly recommended!

    P.S. I know you know most of this. I ran on for lurkers who might want to catch it.

  167. 167.

    Gin & Tonic

    @zhena gogolia: I found a transcript (God help whoever has to do that task) and it appears he was talking about Schiff.

    But just quickly, here are the facts on Shifty Schiff. Dishonest guy, makes up my statements. He said, “The President of Ukraine repeatedly declared that there was no pressure,” but he didn’t want to say that. We said, “Say it. Say it, you crooked bastard, say it. But he doesn’t want to say it. We said, “Sat it!” I’d like to force him to say it. He’ll walk up to the mic, “Ladies and gentlemen,” guy’s a total corrupt guy.

  168. 168.

    Yarrow

    @Baud:

    Whereas our side is constantly triggered by nothing more than demonstrative Republican speechifying.

    It’s baffling to me that we have seen this pattern over the last however many years and yet largely have failed to recognize it as part of a disinformation and propaganda strategy. Republicans do something to gin up outrage on our side, we comply by focusing on the outrage of the day and Republicans get away with whatever it is they don’t want us to look at. It’s not accidental that this sort of thing happens. It’s a strategy and it’s done on purpose.It’s effective because we let it be effective.

    Democrats would do well to push education about disinformation and how to deal with it but so far that doesn’t seem to be a priority.

  170. 170.

    zhena gogolia

    @Gin & Tonic:

    Oh, thank you! I was exercising while Meyers was on my laptop, so I guess I missed something in the word salad. It’s still bad, but not as bad as I thought.

  172. 172.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Zzyzx: I agree with most everything you say but I gotta point out that they are absolutely terrified of us. It’s why they act out so much and “cling to their bibles and their guns” and their white supremacist fantasies.

  174. 174.

    zhena gogolia

    @Steeplejack:

    I adore that movie. In fact, “Peabody, you’re disgusting” is a catchphrase around our house.

    Warren’s mussed-up hair and Joan’s backless gown were the highlights. I must admit we didn’t make it to the end because our e-mail, BJ, and twitter stopped working (other internet sites were working) and we freaked out because we had just had two technicians at our house for six hours the day before trying to fix our DSL. So I turned off the TV.

  177. 177.

    Eolirin

    @tobie: If you immiserate them even further they’ll retreat even more into that delusion. Well, until it kills them. Which I suppose is a solution, but I don’t think it’s one we should be supporting.

  178. 178.

    Kraux Pas

    @zhena gogolia: Hey, if we’re going to continue imprisoning vulnerable people who did little to nothing wrong, committing unprompted violence against foreign nations, and letting employers and money shufflers abuse the working class no matter who we elect; maybe it’s better to have these things done by an obvious criminal than have the continue to appear to be the normal functioning of government.

     

    I have a problem with one candidate, ONE, out of all of them running and I’m explaining why. I have seen plenty of people be way more vitriolic against other candidates too.

     

    Tell me why I’m wrong, don’t threaten me with Trump in the service of a different gladhandling white male bullshit artist with a way longer history or supporting the police state and dumb military interventions.

  179. 179.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Steeplejack:  I hope you kept watching for Gold Diggers of 1933 after that. I caught most of it, and it lifted me out of my Trumpian black mood. A masterpiece—possibly the masterpiece—of the ’30 musicals. William plays against type as Dick Powell’s stuffy older brother who comes to New York to rescue him from “chiseling showgirls.” Of course hilarity ensues.

    Got my Friday night movie recommendation.  Thanks!

  180. 180.

    germy

    @Steeplejack:

    Warren William with mussed-up hair!

    We like those haircuts men had in the 1930s.  The hair on top was so long that if you were to brush it forward, it would cover their faces.  But it was swept back with pomade, and the ears and neck were trimmed tight.  So if any physical exertion or a fight broke out, the long hair would fly everywhere.

    Nowadays, barbers insist on trimming mens’ hair all the same length.  The old haircuts sort of go against everything they’ve been taught.

  183. 183.

    Kraux Pas

    @Betty Cracker:

     

    I’m a Warren supporter, and I wouldn’t migrate to Sanders if she dropped out either.

    With Harris gone, my third and fourth are Klobuchar and Booker. Since I don’t expect them or my next few after that to outlast Warren; my more realistic next choices are Buttigieg, then Sanders, then an abbreviated life in the woods.

  186. 186.

    Chyron HR

    @Kraux Pas:

    So do you think you’ll be able to make it to the convention this time before you start screaming that you’re going to vote for Trump to teach us all a lesson?

  188. 188.

    rp

    @OzarkHillbilly: Yeah, this claim that they don’t care about us and that we don’t trigger them is 180 degrees from reality. They’re absolutely terrified of socialism, Mexicans, hollywood, women, the gays, hoodies, etc. Hence Cleek’s law — they define themselves entirely by their enemies. That’s not coming from a place of confidence and superiority.

  191. 191.

    Steeplejack

    @Gin & Tonic:

    This one stands out because the Berkeley productions are integrated well and don’t overwhelm the movie. And, holy shinkeys, they are amazing, even by Berkeley’s standards. And they are set to great songs. The big finale, “Remember My Forgotten Man,” is truly touching—World War I vets screwed by the government and pounded by the Depression.

    (Nota bene: Okay, “Pettin’ in the Park” is not a great song.)

  193. 193.

    Kraux Pas

    @Chyron HR: I voted for Clinton in 16, jackass. I was actually quite enthusiastic about it by the time the election rolled around. Because of her, not anything that was said here.

     

    My problem then was with people attacking me personally rather than entertain any doubt about their preferred candidate. The same thing is happening here. You’re attacking me, not responding to any point I made. Input up with it for months before i got to that point last time. And it was just here.

     

    You aren’t helping your candidate like this. And, unlike Clinton, Biden isn’t helping himself either.

  196. 196.

    Eolirin

    That’s not the claim that’s being made though. It’s that they’re not scared by the actual actions we take. And they aren’t. Because they never really see the actions we take. They’re constantly being made afraid and angry of fake versions of all of those things by their echo chamber. What we actually do doesn’t enter into anything.

    We have no agency in their fear. We can neither invoke it ourselves nor do anything to mollify it.

    And that’s a huge asymmetry because they have all the agency in ours.

  197. 197.

    Barbara

    @Eolirin: I am sure I am mixing up products and companies, so I don’t remember whether it was the Apple equivalent or Nest.  I just remember that this guy was fairly open about what he had done, and I am pretty sure the parent he was dealing with was Apple.  They all likely have or had similar flaws.  I use my thermostat solely as a thermostat, but even then, if you tell it you are “away” then it could be used by hackers to determine when you are not at home and make breaking in simple.

  198. 198.

    Yarrow

    @Kraux Pas:  Your vote is up to you. The base of the Democratic party is black women and black voters in general. So far they are supporting Biden by a very large margin. They generally have the most to lose. They trust him. Maybe having a look at why that is would help you some.

    If you don’t like the top of the ticket, stop focusing on it. Pick a down ticket race to work on. Get involved with flipping a district or winning a Senate seat or, if your state or area has state or local races, get involved with those. We need to win state houses too.

    We spend an awful lot of energy focusing on the presidential race. At least some of that energy could be better spent focusing on any number of other important races.

  200. 200.

    Mary G

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Gohmert couldn’t resist one more opening of the piehole. It was good to see all the solemn faces voting aye. Bravo Democrats and so sad Ted Lieu had to miss the vote. He has been such an important voice in this fight.

  201. 201.

    Aleta

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: And for now it goes to Republicans telling cameras about “three years of hell like this president had.” (Gohmert)

     

    He’s had three years of huge audiences, profits, cameras, servants and salutes while he enjoyed people’s suffering and deaths.

  203. 203.

    Yarrow

    @zhena gogolia:  I’m completely uninterested in the presidential primary race. It’s boring. I’ll vote for the winner unless it’s a one of a handful of Russian assets. I prefer the candidate supported by black voters wins. That’s it.

    All my energy will go to flipping a district near me.and a Senate race. The Senate is essential or the next Dem president will be unable to implement anything we want. I choose to focus on that. It’s a far better use of my limited time and energy.

  207. 207.

    dmsilev

    @Barbara: It was probably Nest. Apple makes one “smart home” device (The “HomePod”, one of these smart-speaker things), but no thermostats or cameras or anything like that.

  208. 208.

    Immanentize

    @Eolirin: I think you are right on the macro.  But a black person just showing up in their local Dollar General seems like enough to invoke the fear of the other immediately.  There certainly is agency there.

    I think mostly, in addition to your quite useful theory, is that our side generally doesn’t want to invoke fear in others.  Our policies generally expand rather than contract the opportunities for pleasure while theirs do the same for pain if you want to make it a Utilitarian divide.

  209. 209.

    Yarrow

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:  It’s not banned but the last I saw from John is that the advertiser didn’t like it so they were going to replace all instances of it with “f#ck.” I have not seen a post saying that that situation has changed.

  211. 211.

    Eolirin

    @Barbara: It was more that I wasn’t aware that Apple had any smart home devices outside of their Siri smart speaker, unless they were targeting the HomeKit hub itself. They mostly leave the devices end of smart home stuff to third parties. So I thought it more likely it was a Google security problem.

    I’m not arguing with your overall point, the lack of security on IoT devices broadly is a huge issue, though less for potential home invasion and more for identity theft (easier, safer, and more lucrative) and the creation of botnets to be used for other forms of attack (this is the really scary thing, especially if it’s weaponized by state actors).

  213. 213.

    Kraux Pas

    @Yarrow:

     

    Maybe having a look at why that is would help you some.

    The most often stated reasons seem to be they support Biden because he’ll mollify white racists and people who don’t want to pay for programs that will give working people more agency in their lives (paraphrasing but see, I listen) Is Bret Stephens’s vote really that important?

    If I recall, Obama didn’t have much support from black people at this point either, but that changed. Voter preference isn’t immutable.

    I have major concerns about one specific candidate. Who here can’t say that.

    As far as focusing on the downballot, I’d love to but I have all safe D representation that I’m pretty happy with. In Presidential election years, my vote means squat except in the primaries. Sometimes not even then.

     

    Eta: Also no D will mollify white racists.

  214. 214.

    rp

    @Immanentize:

    I think mostly, in addition to your quite useful theory, is that our side generally doesn’t want to invoke fear in others.  Our policies generally expand rather than contract the opportunities for pleasure while theirs do the same for pain if you want to make it a Utilitarian divide.

    Exactly. We have plenty of agency, but our goal isn’t to terrify the right. They do a great job of terrifying and angering themselves. What do we gain by adding fuel to the fire?

  216. 216.

    Yarrow

    @Kraux Pas:

    The most often stated reasons seem to be they support Biden because he’ll mollify white racists and people who don’t want to pay for programs that will give working people more agency in their lives

    Really? You think this is why black voters support Biden? Do you have sources for this comment?

    In 2018 I worked for a candidate in a neighboring district we wanted to flip. And we did. If your representation is Dem, perhaps there is a nearby district that would welcome your help. Or, depending where you live, you could even cross a state line to work for someone in another state if that’s geographically feasible.

  217. 217.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Eolirin:  

    What we actually do doesn’t enter into anything.

    I live among them, they are everywhere I go. Trust me, they are terrified. I had Black Lives Matter on the back of my truck for almost 3 years. Not a single person said a damn thing to me (other than the few who quietly sidled up to me and said thank you or some such) and this is in a town that was sundowner until the mid 90s, and there is still an active KKK presence here. They get on line and say all kinds of shit and they’ll show up at hate rallies and scream loud and long along with a hundred others and they run around flashing their guns so everyone can see what real men they are, but given the chance to confront a real live libtard who rubs it in their faces with the stickers on the back of his truck? Hell, I can’t even get a brick thru my windshield. The closest I ever got was a hate honk at 40 mph. One.

    They hate us because they fear us.

  218. 218.

    Baud

    @Kraux Pas:

     

    Many people here have concerns about Biden and have expressed that. What we don’t do is falsely portray Biden as a fascist, which is the same type of bullshit as the right engages in when they protray Democrats as Commmunists. As I said, I for one am not going to entertain that discussion.

  219. 219.

    Eolirin

    @Immanentize:

    That isn’t really agency though? A black person can’t stop being black. If the only power to mollify is to not exist, and the only power to scare is to assert your existence then that’s something existential, it’s not something you can wield. You’re making a choice between being recognized or being erased, not between generating fear or not. That power is held by the person who’s terrified by your existence, not by you.

  220. 220.

    Kraux Pas

    @Yarrow:

     

    Really? You think this is why black voters support Biden? Do you have sources for this comment?

    I see that argument made here routinely like it’s a good thing, they don’t put it in as stark terms as I did. But you’ve never seen anyone say that black voters are just being pragmatic and that a familiar white man is just safer?

    I read the article about his deep ties to the black community too, but I don’t see that extrapolating to the whole nation. I also don’t see people bring it up a lot. I also know how he claims to be the only one who did anything (but only the positive stuff) during the Obama admin. But that’s just one facet of his bullshit.

     

    @Baud

    And when I cite decades of policies he has supported to make that argument, you just stick your fingers in your ears and say “no.” Have I got that right?

    I’ve said twice now he’s more of an enabler. But he has been a major enabler.

  221. 221.

    TomatoQueen

    @rikyrah: For now until he calms down, it’ll be progress reports. Merlin is a zoomy boy, and in the middle of Transitional OMFG Gotta Hide. Fortunately, this appears to be speeding along nicely; after a day of hiding, he came out from the Alternate Universe, zoomed about, and this morning we can report a second night of using the litter box AND he ate some food and drank some water. There is still so much for him to learn about but by the pace of this progress I think we’re going to get to “Oh This is MY House” very soon. And now commences another day of calling and chirping to him.

  222. 222.

    Eolirin

    @OzarkHillbilly: Yes, but not because of anything we do. That was my point. We are not choosing to make them afraid. Consequently there’s not a whole lot we can do to stop making them afraid.

    If a crazy person with a gun walks into a room and terrifies everyone around them by waving that gun around they have agency in the creation of that fear. They can choose to not have the gun, they can choose to not wave it around.

    But if someone is afraid of you because you aren’t part of their tribe, you can’t do a damn thing. The fear is of their own making, and it’s up to them to address it not you. That’s where we are. They don’t even see us anymore, just a propagandized version of us that’s equated with devil worship. We can’t do anything to change that perception if they won’t allow it.

    The only way they’d feel secure is if we didn’t exist. That’s not negotiable.

  224. 224.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @zhena gogolia: Thank you. I was a little shaky yesterday, but am feeling ok now. Working on strategies to improve voter turnout among youth and other underrepresented groups helps focus the mind productively.

  225. 225.

    Zzyzx

    @OzarkHillbilly: I think one big difference is that they don’t have any real world family examples to deal with. Their fear is like a movie so they can play the role of the resistance since that’s how they see it. My fear is more, “Ok when this happened to my ancestors, the ones who survived had a bug out plan. What country seems safe now?”

     

    It’s a different reaction when it could be real.

  226. 226.

    laura

    @Immanentize: I’m so moved Immanentize- you did something so hard, and so right in bringing the value of care to clinicians and help them understand the value of the human touch and it’s lasting impact.

    You’re a good’n doing so despite the emotional tole. Your Julie picked a wonderful man.

  227. 227.

    Baud

    @Kraux Pas: I don’t respect your position enough to debate you on it.  You have made no argument that Biden’s action, wrong though they might be, relate to fascism.  I’d just as soon debate the existence of the server in Ukraine.

  229. 229.

    Kraux Pas

    @Baud: Yeah, nothing fascist about locking up minorities for no good reason, the surveillance state, wars of aggression, or letting massive amounts of power build up in the hands of corporate interests. Things Biden went along with but were mainly pushed by the party that is chock full of obvious fascists.

     

    Enabler.

  230. 230.

    Steeplejack

    I have become a little Alexa-curious recently—maybe battered by Black Friday/​Christmas ads. There are a few things I would like to do, so I was thinking of a hockey-puck Dot or the little Show 5 with a screen. I think most of the security concerns could be addressed.
    My apartment doesn’t have an overhead light in the big front room, and it doesn’t have a lot of electrical outlets. (The building is from about 1960). I would like to be able to come in and say, “Alexa, turn on the light.” (A friend says I really just need the Clapper. Har-dee-har-har.) And, once I’m in for that, it would be nice to stream music from various sources without putting that burden on the computer. Maybe see what else I could do. Sort of on an experimental basis without investing too much money.

  231. 231.

    Yarrow

    @Kraux Pas:

    But you’ve never seen anyone say that black voters are just being pragmatic and that a familiar white man is just safer?

    What I’ve seen is that black voters feel this specific familiar white man is someone they trust. That is not the same as what you are saying. I find your framing rather offensive and dismissive of black voters’ agency.

    It sounds like you are in a Dem state so it probably doesn’t matter who you vote for. I personally am refraining from slagging off the Dem presidential primary candidates (Russian assets excepted) because we need everyone on board voting for the eventual nominee. Infighting is a waste of my energy and only serves Republican and our enemies’ interests.

  232. 232.

    Baud

    @Kraux Pas: If it’s really important to you, I’m happy to discuss how falsely telling supporters that a primary was rigged is a fascist act.  That’s a discussion we’ve never had.

    Otherwise, I’m done.

  234. 234.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Eolirin:  

    We are not choosing to make them afraid.

    Well… Maybe not you. ;-) I get your point but, they do feel their fear because of what we do and what we want to do.

    We want immigration to be inclusive regardless of religion or color, they scream “YOU WILL NOT REPLACE US!!”
    We want reasonable regulation of guns. They scream, “YOU CAN HAVE MY GUN WHEN YOU PRY IT FROM MY COLD DEAD HANDS!!!”
    We want everybody who needs help with food to get the food they need. They scream, “CADILLAC DRIVING BLACK BUCKS EATING T-BONE STEAKS!!!”

    ETc etc etc

    The fear is of their own making, and it’s up to them to address it not you.

    It is always up to the person feeling the fear to deal with their fear. nobody else can handle it. That is true no matter who is feeling fear. Black, white, rich, poor, conservative, liberal, etc etc. And the fear is real, it may be incoherent but it is still very real. *Black people have to deal with it every time they get pulled over by a cop. Rich people have to deal with it every time a politician talks about raising marginal tax rates by 2%.*

    ** I compare these 2 on purpose because while one situation is life threatening and serious and the other is the first step on the slippery slope to communism and ridiculous. Yet the fear engendered by both is very real to the person feeling it.

  235. 235.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Zzyzx:   Their fear is real, their solutions are ridiculous fantasies of heroic scope in which they are the John Conners of their time.

  236. 236.

    Kraux Pas

    @Yarrow:

    What I’ve seen is that black voters feel this specific familiar white man is someone they trust. That is not the same as what you are saying. I find your framing rather offensive and dismissive of black voters’ agency.

    That’s the argument I see being made. Other people making it here don’t usually nuance like you did to make it less offensive. It’s not my argument.  It’s also not all black people. They aren’t a monolith. And they can change their mind.

    The notion that “the older black women have spoken and their word is final so my must all now follow” is honestly kind of offensive. They aren’t goddamn oracles. Putting people on a pedastal is another way to separate them from you.

    Not one vote has been cast.

  237. 237.

    Barbara

    @Steeplejack: I bought a really nice blue tooth speaker that doesn’t interact with anything other than the streaming source.  I really like it.  It’s small but mighty and I can just take it around the house with me.

  239. 239.

    Steeplejack

    @Barbara:

    I have a little Oontz speaker that is Bluetooth-compatible. I use it as my laptop’s speaker. Haven’t done Bluetooth much, because that would involve using the cell phone as the source. The idea of a device handling all of it by itself is attractive.

    A couple of years ago I gave my brother a Sonos One for the beach house, and that is a great speaker. The new edition has Alexa, I think, but $200 is not a “starter” device for me!

  240. 240.

    joel hanes

    @Barbara:

    Google owns Nest.

    Apple’s only involvement is to all sale of the app that controls Nest devices through the Apple app store.

    Apple has a semi-credible commitment to privacy for the customer and the customer’s data.

    Google not so much.

    * full disclosure:  I was fairly recently an Apple employee

  241. 241.

    Shalimar

    @zhena gogolia: A GRU candidate who doesn’t appoint Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court* is still a huge improvement.  Yes, Bernie could be just as chaotic as Trump.  But he won’t be as bad, and he isn’t a Republican.

     

    *The biggest change in the country from Trump is going to be all those federal judges on the bench for the next 30 years.  All the other day-to-day stupidity and damage we obsess about now is nothing by comparison.

  242. 242.

    Aleta

    “Three years of hell like this president had” (Gohmert) and Huckabee’s false front promising to “explain how Tr will be eligible for a 3rd term due to illegal attempts by  Comey, Dems and the media” are miserably risible excuses.  For over two years T had the House, the Senate, the benefit of the doubt from the media, and all manner of insane support from powerful people.  Meanwhile, even after 2018 Pelosi was still fighting members of her own party while bloggers and the media projected their own weaknesses onto her to make themselves look tough.

     

    Trump did this so thoroughly to himself he’s like an autoimmune attack on his own impunity.  I imagine he’s now in flames blaming every enabler whose name he can remember;  and of course they are desperate to shift the attention.   They are all failures.

  243. 243.

    L85NJGT

    @debbie:

    This was from like three weeks ago:

    https://www.ft.com/content/7ca91884-11fe-11ea-a7e6-62bf4f9e548a

    They were going down hard, and Corbyn refused to play defense.

    Also, manic progressives in a nutshell:

    Party insiders say that enthusiastic volunteers — particularly from Momentum, the pro-Corbyn grassroots group — are keen to try to unseat Tory “big beasts” such as Mr Johnson in Uxbridge and South Ruislip and Iain Duncan Smith in Chingford and Woodford Green. There were fewer visible signs of activity in marginal seats where Labour looks likely to lose, however. “It’s not so easy getting the activists to go to defend our own marginals,” said one.

  244. 244.

    Yarrow

    @Kraux Pas:  Of course people can change their minds. It’s why I am not interested in the primary election until voting starts and more specifically until it’s close to the time for me to vote in my state. Who even knows which candidates will remain then.

    As for putting people on pedestals, if that’s what you think listening to black voters is, I don’t really know what to say. Listening to people to see if there’s something perhaps you aren’t seeing is a smart, insightful thing to do. It’s not putting people on pedestals.

  246. 246.

    Eolirin

    @OzarkHillbilly: While you’re right that everyone ultimately has to deal with their experiences of fear, there is an extra layer of responsibility when someone generates it as a deliberate choice. Assault, harrassment, and hate crime laws exist for a reason. We take terrorism seriously, even if white supremacists often get a pass. These aren’t the same category of thing.

    When the right threatens violence against the left for existing this isn’t the same thing as the left wanting more inclusivity; we aren’t threatening violence if we don’t get our way. We have beliefs and we’re expressing them and not trying to eliminate people who don’t share those beliefs. The fear they generate is deliberate, and it is existential. They aren’t willing to accept our existence is legitimate. We can’t negotiate with that position. We can’t adjust or moderate our positions. It doesn’t matter, they’re still afraid.

    To use your example: when cops shoot black children because they’re afraid of them even though they’re doing nothing, there’s nothing that black person can do except not exist to avoid that situation; they have no obligation, responsibility, or really even means of trying to address the fear the cop is feeling. They aren’t doing anything but existing. But if cops keep shooting black people, black people are rightfully going to be scared of being shot by them. And while they have to individually deal with the fear they are experiencing, there is in fact a responsibility on the part of the cops to deal with that because they are actively doing something; the cops need to stop randomly shooting black people. If they did, there would be far less cause for fear. And shooting people is not an intrinsic quality of being a cop. They could do this without giving up their existence. 

    When you need social programs to survive and they need to be paid for and the people with the money who have made it necessary for people to need social programs to survive don’t want to give up any of their money even though they’ll still be rich and still get to live very comfortably, it’s the same thing. One side is exerting its right to exist and the other side is denying it.

    It’s not the same thing. 

  247. 247.

    Kraux Pas

    @Yarrow: As we’ve discussed, I have listened. That doesn’t oblige me to agree.

     

    And I didn’t mean that you were putting them on a pedestal. But the arguments has been made that they are necessarily wiser about who is or isn’t a safe choice and that they’re our most loyal voting bloc so we should just follow what they do.

     

    These things put them on a pedestal.

  248. 248.

    Zzyzx

    @OzarkHillbilly: I was going to respond about how there’s a difference between fear and FEAR but I see you used the BLM example in the post above it so you get it. Fun fear, especially when you don’t ever see it going into law so you’re winning against it!, is inspiring. Real fears where you’re making backup plans and figuring out where to go are paralyzing.

  249. 249.

    Yarrow

    @Kraux Pas:  I disagree. I don’t think that is what is happening. I also don’t think listening to African American voters and choosing to follow their lead means people are putting them on a pedestal.

  250. 250.

    Aleta

    @Barbara: “little speaker that doesn’t interact with anything other than the streaming source.  …  I can just take it around the house with me.”

    That sounds good!  What’s the model?

    @Steeplejack: Just want to say, your input on things is useful to me,  clarifying and much appreciated.   (Devices, grammar and editing, music, lunch (vicariously), site explanation…)  I often wish you had a casual blog site with entries on music and opinions on editing.  I would even pay an unworthy amount in thanks.

  253. 253.

    Kraux Pas

    @Yarrow: Ok. Well which ones should I listen to? Again they aren’t a monolith and from the most recent polling I’ve seen their sevond choice seems to Bernie thus far, in fact he’s the choice of the only black voter who has expressed a preference to me. That’s also somewhere I’m not thrilled to go.

    And the pedestal part comes in when their choice becomes the only consideration.

  256. 256.

    Steeplejack

    @Aleta:

    Thanks, I really appreciate that. Sometimes I feel like I drop my comments into a void, but I remind myself that there are far more lurkers than commenters and that stuff does get read. And I remind myself that I need to tell valued commenters like Kay that I appreciate their insights.

    My Oontz speaker is this one. I started with a lesser model a few years ago, when there were fewer options in the whole category, then upgraded to this one earlier this year when it was on sale. Actually, the current price of $35 is pretty good.

    But there are a lot of options available now. I think Amazon even has an article on it. Type “best Bluetooth speaker” in the Amazon search box. Also, The Wirecutter has good recommendations.

  257. 257.

    Yarrow

    @Kraux Pas:  You do what you want. Your choice. People make choices in all sorts of ways. Following the lead and voting for the choice of the majority of African American voters is not putting them on a pedestal. It’s just one way of making a decision.

  258. 258.

    StringOnAStick

    @Immanentize: Being human and humane in such situations should be a characteristic of anyone doing patient care, but it seems like the bigger and more high tech the setting, the less of that there is.

    I work in patient care as a dental hygienist, so I see people twice a year for longer than they usually see their doctors.  I pay close attention to behaviors that seem off for that person and I try to be a good listener.  Doing that helped me realize that a patient had a DVT in his calf and I convinced him to go immediately to his doctor.  He called 2 hours later and told me that the ER doctor said he was extremely close to a likely fatal stroke from that clot.

  259. 259.

    Kraux Pas

    @Yarrow: Tell me about not putting someone on a pedestal after you’ve stopped telling me to listen to them as though I hadn’t (I have, again, heard several arguments for why their preference is what it is) and as though listening would necessarily mean I’d obviously be overcome by the superior wisdom of the choice they haven’t really made yet.

  260. 260.

    Yarrow

    @Kraux Pas:  I have not told you to do anything except to do what you want. I did make a suggestion that volunteering for a down ticket candidate might be a way of supporting a candidate you like if you find you can’t support the top of the ticket. Again, just a suggestion. Do what you want.

  263. 263.

    Aleta

    @Steeplejack: “RAINPROOF” … that would be perfect for lip synching Gene Kelly on the village green. Or spilling rice at the coop. (Peter Sellers)

    Do you think it can be set to not “interact with anything other than the streaming source,” as Barbara mentioned?

  264. 264.

    Steeplejack

    @Aleta:

    If you’re talking about the Oontz speaker, it is in no way smart. Bluetooth is just another way to hook it up to a sound source, similar to a cord. And I think it can be connected to only one Bluetooth source at a time. So you don’t have to worry about surveillance or subversion!

  265. 265.

    Barbara

    @Aleta: It was an impulse purchase, I can’t remember what model, but it’s a small Bose with incredibly good sound quality.

  266. 266.

    J R in WV

    @Baud:

    Sanders endorses Young Turks founder Cenk Uygur for Katie Hill’s former House seat

     

    Yet more proof that that Sanders isn’t worthy of higher office, not even of  the office he currently holds!

  267. 267.

    J R in WV

    @Eolirin:

    I have no idea what happens if we have a brokered convention when each of the candidates have sizable factions that very strongly do not want them to be the nominee, and others that do. Who is our compromise candidate in that case?

    Kamala Harris for the WIN!! Or Amy K.

    A real shame Barbara Jordan is deceased, would be a great time to nominate her! After two or three votes with no majority, the convention often historically selects another well known and respectable member of the party. Stacy Abrams anyone?

  268. 268.

    J R in WV

    @Gin & Tonic:

    @debbie: Features are a profit center, security is a cost. The market responds rationally.

    I know a fair amount about this stuff, and (as a result?) I have no such devices of any kind in my home.

    I put black electrical tape over all the cameras on our laptops first thing when they enter the home. I turn off the microphone too. As far as asking the internet a question, my fingers do the talking. I spent time in grad school, and then 25 years in the IT profession, and I paid attention.

    If the “service” is free, YOU are the product!

    This is true for Google, Facebook, and Twittler especially. Right now Google thinks I am in Clinton county NY. Not~!

  269. 269.

    J R in WV

    @Yarrow:

    It’s not banned but the last I saw from John is that the advertiser didn’t like it so they were going to replace all instances of it with “f#ck.” I have not seen a post saying that that situation has changed.

    I think he was kidding about that. I’ve cut way back on my Fucks, except when Orange Pufferfish incites me, but I haven’t seen any f#cks or such pale imitations of the real world.

    The Ad service didn’t like it, and John (IIRC) planned to look for an ad service willing to place ads on a site intended for sophisticated adulis, not Disney-level children. I figure if serving members of the U S Navy can talk like that, political bloggers can too!

    And efgoldman forever!

  270. 270.

    Mary Ellen Sandahl

    @Steeplejack: A great fave at our house – also notable for the  enjoyable chemistry (hot!) between prim Warren William and   free-spirited Joan Blondell. A classic in every way.

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