Numb isn't the word I'd use. It's the only thing any of us can think about. It's just…ongoing. Knowledge that we don't get to grieve fully until it's subsiding or gone. The hurricane is on top of us, we won't appreciate the devastation until we can go outside. https://t.co/cqshwqnM6u
— Zeddy (@Zeddary) April 26, 2020
we're doing hashtag games and tweeting about movies and what we're cooking more than most of us have in years because the world finally got so palpably, unavoidably, not-just-on-TV awful for the vast majority of us that it's all we can do to stay sane.
— Zeddy (@Zeddary) April 26, 2020
Numbers, he has all the BEST…
or 13,500 Benghazi’s; https://t.co/BthgXao9f5
— Eric Boehlert (@EricBoehlert) April 27, 2020
And some people say this man isn’t suffering along with the rest of us!
The president was convinced to pause the daily coronavirus briefings because advisers concluded his performances were damaging. But instead of adjusting his pandemic messaging, he’s still praising himself, attacking reporters and airing grievances — just all on Twitter.
— Philip Rucker (@PhilipRucker) April 26, 2020
Toddlers often throw tantrums is all I’m saying here. https://t.co/LaoFWHBQNS pic.twitter.com/IXvZtIpfK2
— Daniel W. Drezner (@dandrezner) April 26, 2020
tfw the polls aren't great https://t.co/X4gFNXesxe
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) April 26, 2020
And again and again. Like addict desperately seeking his next high. It’s sad. https://t.co/mhvGtFZOI1
— Orin Kerr (@OrinKerr) April 27, 2020
He's really taking the Kim Jong Un rumors hard
— Adam Weinstein (@AdamWeinstein) April 27, 2020
Based on the research I did for this, my hunch is that one of two things set off Trump’s Twitter meltdown this afternoon: 1) Soneone in his administration is about to be engulfed in scandal; or 2) He just got shown some truly crappy poll numbers. https://t.co/YVZNPFshbT
— Daniel W. Drezner (@dandrezner) April 26, 2020
What We Don’t Know About SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19
zhena gogolia
My mayor retweeted something about Tara Reade. Don’t tell me this is going to be the “e-mail server” of 2020.
I have to go to a Zoom meeting now. See you later.
Chief Oshkosh
Why not both?
Elizabelle
Just tuned in to C-Span.
Dipshit is standing in the Rose Garden. CVS guy is speaking now. Testing kits available in May; earlier guy is manufacturing swabs.
Walgreens guy up now. Another white male in a suit.
Thinking how, in earlier years, it would have been an honor to stand beside the POTUS.
Not this one.
RobertDSC-Work
The line from Raw Deal seems good:
“Resign or be prosecuted. Any way you want it.”
Elizabelle
White male from Kroger up now.
It’s a parade of business types, hmmm?
Did the Walgreens guy say he’d only been invited 45 minutes previously??
And now Wal-Mart. Cannot thank his employees enough. Yeah, right.
Luciamia
@Elizabelle: didn’t we see this before? Lineup of the rich white guys?
Elizabelle
A woman. From Rite-Aid.
Doesn’t it strike you that this is about seven weeks late?
Elizabelle
@Luciamia: Probably.
8 man shell
@zhena gogolia:
There’s a good post up over at LGM about this. The allegations now have multiple, credible contemporaneous confirmation. This is a real problem.
Let me be clear about this: if this were October and indisputable evidence surfaced that Joe Biden had been killing and eating toddlers on a weekly basis for the past 30 years, I would still vote for Joe Biden. Without hesitation.
But I really hope party leadership (Hello Barack!) is going to make an effort to get someone other than Biden heading up the ticket.
Nicole
God, that first tweet- yeah. Ongoing is the word. All we can do is wait it out. A sixty days (and counting) hurricane.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Ahoy! I spy a very Concerned Sea Lion!
Elizabelle
Weird, weird comment by Trump about how many unnecessary deaths.
He was trying to blame it on China, I guess — never said who was to blame.
I blame him. The only reason we’re getting testing at all is because smarter people don’t want to “reopen” without it.
Fucker is such an empty suit. I hope he gets sued up the wazoo by states attorney general. So many unneccessary deaths. As he said himself. In the Rose Garden.
Elizabelle
Birx up.
hueyplong
@8 man shell: Sometimes something is so stupid it makes my head hurt.
Luckily, it will be some time before we run out of alcohol.
JPL
@Elizabelle: Yup.. I switched his droning to my local nbc news who decided not to carry him..
hueyplong
Fuck, I thought I was reaching for a snack and it was a sack of sea lion treats.
Humble apologies to all.
Chief Oshkosh
@Elizabelle:
About 10 days ago one of the majors (maybe WaPo?) ran an article, part of which claimed that about 90% of the US Covid-19 deaths are/will be attributable to Trump’s slow response. Does anyone know if that still holds true?
Also, it seems notable to me that there are no more articles comparing how the US is doing versus other countries. NZ’s PM this morning more-or-less claimed victory. Even Italy is slowly re-opening. We’re still running towards first base after hitting an infield blooper that we’re desperately hoping will get punted.
dmsilev
“haven’t left the White House in many months” vs. documented visits to his golf courses and hate rallies and so forth as recently as 1.5 months ago. Perhaps his counting skills go “1, 2, many”?
r€nato
I am a dual citizen of both the US and Italy with strong Italian roots (though not born there). I consume a great deal of Italian-language media, far more than I do English-language media. So, of course I have been following Italian media quite a bit the last few weeks.
It has been a breath of fresh air to listen to PM Conte speaking to the Italian people about the crisis and next steps. It is quite clear his government is listening to doctors and scientists about this and incorporating their advice in the staged plan to emerge from lockdown. He’s calm, he’s rational, he’s measured, he’s pretty much everything Trump is not. There is none of the magical thinking that has accompanied a significant amount of the blather we hear from Trump-aligned governors for instance.
One of the phrases I have heard a lot recently from Conte and other officials is, ‘living with the virus’. That’s something Americans really need to hear as well, as it’s the most realistic attitude to have going forward until we have a vaccine, widespread and accessible C19 testing, and a better grip on some of the unknowns about the virus such as why some of the recovered are still vulnerable to a second C19 illness. When stage 1 begins on 4 May, it is implementing mandatory face masks while in public, social distancing of one meter, and a number of measures as well to reconcile these principles with public transport. Conte is making it clear that these measures are going to be in effect indefinitely, as they should be, until an effective vaccine is available. Again, this is all about setting realistic expectations for Italians to ‘live with the virus’ for an extended period.
(It also helps matters quite a bit that Italy has one of the best socialized medicine systems in the world. Nobody there is fearful of going to the doctor or hospital because one bout of illness may leave them destitute, even with ‘good insurance’. Nobody there is going to be without health insurance because they were laid off or their business folded as a result of the pandemic.)
As I mentioned above, the first stage in emerging from lockdown begins 4 May. As of now and until then, the same stringent restrictions on movement enacted in early March are still in effect. One must fill out an ‘auto-certification’ for the reasons one is out in public, and one may be stopped at any time by law enforcement and asked for the autocertificazione form, and why one is out and about and where one lives and where one is going. Gatherings in public or at home with friends and family who don’t live with you are strictly prohibited. Restaurants are NOT permitted to do takeout business (this will be relaxed on 4 May as well).
In that light, the ‘lockdown protesters’ in Denver and Phoenix and elsewhere throwing tantrums because they can’t go dine in at Applebee’s or go to the barber look even more ridiculous than they do already. It’s really a shame (yet again) that Unitedstatesians are so incredibly insulated from what goes on outside their borders, and I am 100% certain that plays no small part in the childish lashing-out against measures to slow the spread of the virus. That is to say, the virus has ‘cruelly’ shattered the widespread illusion that the US is insulated from whatever happens in the rest of the world. The lockdown protesters are resisting not just sound public health advice, they are resisting the destruction of the conservative/libertarian illusion that we’re all islands unto ourselves.
lafcolleen
Well, it has started. Downstate Illinois republican rep got a TRO against the extension of the state wide shelter in place. the ruling is based upon the government overreaching his emergency powers. this as we watch Illinois climb.
dmsilev
The leaks are coming from inside the
boathouse:President’s intelligence briefing book repeatedly cited virus threat
Also, I imagine we should read the following as “a PDB For Dummies is also presented.”
Gretchen
@zhena gogolia: It is. Problem is that the Russians would throw something at whomever our candidate is, and keep trying until something sticks. Burisma didn’t so they moved on. He can’t prove this wrong, but if you wrote a movie script with a Putin fan said this the editor would tell you to tone it down to something more believable. If we dump him for someone else they’ll do the same to that someone else. It seems out of character for Biden, unlike accusations against Trump or Weinstein, and women who worked with him at the time said they knew who not to get into the elevator with, and Biden wasn’t that guy, he was in a hurry to catch the train back to his family. But he can’t disprove it, and I am sick with worry that it will stick and we will get four more years of rapist Trump.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Gretchen: exactly, the strategy with Clinton was always “Prove the negative”, prove you didn’t do anything wrong the night Bengahzi went down… prove that there was nothing incriminating in your emails… and the press largely bought into it because they’ve hated her for thirty years. I don’t know if it will stick with Biden, but “prove you didn’t do this thing” is the standard being pushed
r€nato
@dmsilev: so, pretty much the goddamn same as when W was repeatedly warned about al-Qaeda.
PJ
@8 man shell: Welcome, new poster!
There isn’t any actual contemporaneous confirmation. Reade has changed her story multiple times over the years. The closest to the time when she actually worked for Biden is the supposed call from her mother to Larry King, which sounds like Reade told her mother she had some kind of problem with Biden’s staff, not that the man whom she wasn’t going to complain about “out of respect” had actually raped her. (And I am skeptical that someone who was told by her daughter that she was raped would think that the appropriate response would be to call into Larry King, rather than, say, going to the police.)
The next closest in time would be the neighbor from the Business Insider story who currently says that Reade told her about Biden harassing her sometime in 1995 or thereabouts. How much she actually remembers from 25 years ago will always be a question, because she was only asked about it after Reade’s most recent allegations were published by Katie Halper and Ryan Grim. It could be she suddenly recollected their conversation, but its also entirely possible that she vaguely remembered her neighbor complaining about something about her job and, after reading the recent news accounts, conflated the two.
The other two “corroborating” stories are from an anonymous friend, who won’t go on the record, and Reade’s brother, who initially only corroborated the first story, from last year, where Reade alleged that a staffer had told her that Biden wanted her to serve hors d’oeuvres at a function because he liked her legs.
It’s certainly possible that Reade is telling the truth about the assault. But her previous tweets in support of Biden, her articles praising Putin, her history of con jobs and general nuttiness (see the stories about the horse charity she ripped off to take care of her horse, who, in her mind, was talking to her), and her unwillingness to come out with the assault story until now (after tweeting about a time bomb about to go off: https://twitter.com/ContentedIndie/status/1254841942879416320/photo/1
) would all be reasons to be extremely skeptical.
James E Powell
@Gretchen:
It will only stick if the NYT and WaPo decide that they have to make it stick in order to “balance the coverage” like they do.
Does Tara Reade know how Paula Jones’s life went after the right-wingers didn’t need her anymore?
piratedan
@Gretchen: it’s complete and utter bullshit, the claim against Biden… my bellwether… is that during the Obama administration there were public outcries from the right on everything from mustard on a hamburger to the wearing of a Tan suit. If you think for one hot minute that something like this wouldn’t have been exploited to the umpteenth level of insanity, then I got some bridges to sell you.
This is nothing but complete unmitigated bullshit and for anyone to take it seriously does nothing but expose them for being in the bag for the other team. These are the same stalwart media heroes that refuse to even follow up on the public statements our current commander in chief has made about any number of lies that drop out of his pie hole every single day, and now we’re going to lend credence to this one claim? That drops … now?
Elizabelle
I think we should send Paul Campos some extra strength adult diapers, as a sign of solidarity.
Maybe some valium too.
Didn’t this story really take off because of the Bern or Busters? And didn’t Bern just get denied his excellent adventure in grabbing votes in the NY primary for an election in which he suspended his campaign? Today?
And now Paul Campos is practically urinating in front of us all, and known troll is here to stir up trouble? Anyone else find that timeline … unconvincing?
Anne Laurie
@8 man shell: Angry RoseBros passing around ‘genuine, credible confirmation‘ friend-of-a-friend-of-this-guy anecdotes is not, whatever your hopes, evidence.
Even apart from the flimsiness of Reade’s latest version of her story, can you really believe that the notoriously risk-averse Obama campaign wouldn’t have unearthed this story, if there were more to it than wishcasting? Or that, if such a story were to be unearthed, Obama would *still* have chosen Biden for his VP?
All I’ve seen so far — and, yes, I’ve been looking — is that Reade quit working as a Biden volunteer all those years ago because she didn’t feel like her skills were sufficiently appreciated. And that Biden ‘should have known’ that she was worth more than the experienced staffers, for reasons. Her grievance has been nurtured across almost 30 years of personal failing-to-impress-the-world, and is now being ‘monetized’ by the Cosplay Socialists and other Trump supporters.
The fact that this is the ‘worst’ story they’ve been able to find indicates just how little substance there is to their allegations.
chopper
what is with this guy and his pathological inability to spell the word ‘hamburger’?
kindness
Any others here read LG&M? I look at it at least once a day. They are spending a lot of attention on the rape allegations against Uncle Joe Biden. I don’t really understand why. They weren’t in Bernie’s pocket like Crooks & Liars is. Some Berniebros but not uniformly. Yet with this 25 year old story they are going crazy. Me, I don’t know what to think. Sure Joe is a handsy old perv but not a rapey one. The comments are difficult as they are dominated by the burn down the Democratic Party Bernie folk.
Damn I need to read all the comments before posting mine. Thanks to those who beat me to it.
Frankensteinbeck
@8 man shell:
No, they don’t. They have multiple, credible, contemporaneous confirmation that Reade claimed way back then that a Senator sexually assaulted her. The problems of Reade being herself a source of very low credibility and there being no other sources, even of her being fired for making the accusation, remain.
Ksmiami
@8 man shell: Complete bs and she’s mentally ill
khead
The Trump answer to the question about a negative GDP in the second quarter is remarkable.
Chyron HR
@8 man shell:
Is there some spark of humanity left in the recesses of your brain that twinges every time Bernie says “Fake rape accusations are a necessary evil for My Revolution”?
CaseyL
@zhena gogolia: CNN has a bit by Chris Cilliza saying Biden has to personally address this shitstorm. If Cilliza tells you to do something, smart money says to do the very opposite.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@PJ: yeah, her brother had to be reminded that his sister had told him about a violent sexual assault by the man who, since she told him about said assault, served two terms as Vice President. And her friend who says she learned of the violent assault 25 years ago still supports Biden. If I believed this story, I would not support Biden.
also, I can’t get past the tic toc tweet.
cain
@r€nato:
As I have said in the past. This virus is going to expose every pathology we have. It is going to force reality. It’s going to destroy every cultural norm we have.
You can pursue whatever right wing shit that’s happening, but in the end – the virus is going to wander around these parts until you completely surrender and put in initiatives that will lock down that spread.
L85NJGT
Well… this came out today….
USA Today/Suffolk 4/21 – 4/25 1000 RV 3.0 50 40 Biden +10
cain
@lafcolleen:
It’s going to spread some more then. It sucks, but the smart people will know how to protect themselves. The rest – I hope they survive.
scav
What is the sound of empty shells of men (eight or otherwise) clapping their keyboards? Apparently we have both national and local exemplars to work from. They’re seemingly both in desperate search for magical happy endings, poll-jumps and elections though.
khead
I’m old enough to remember the so-called disaster of the Carter administration. So are a lot of the other folks here. Hard to get a tank of gas, but a lot of less dead people.
Ben Cisco
@chopper: You don’t have to know how to spell them to eat them.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
he just made this up on the spot
ETA: and who used the phrase “yeoman’s work” in the meeting he had right before this performance? just curious
Kelly
Open Thread? Our Stellar’s jays have hatched! The nest is in a well sheltered spot that we can just barely see from our second floor. We can see the parents feeding the chicks and sorta see the chicks heads thru the branches.
Baud
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Wal-Mart? Yeah, that might be a lie too far, even for Trump.
Elizabelle
@r€nato:
Bingo.
Great post. I had not realized Italian restaurants were not doing takeout.
Glad to hear the country is under sane governance. Would that we had such a good health system, too.
Baud
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Haha. I thought the same thing when I read it.
debbie
It took me all of yesterday to write a condolence note to the family of a teammate at work who had died the week before. I never met any of them and I know nothing of her life beyond our work; how do I get across how much her kindness meant to me and how much her knowledge had saved my ass over the years? This better not become a habit.
Ben Cisco
Can someone please secure the Purina™ Sea Lion Chow? Shit’s leaking everywhere.
WaterGirl
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Yep.
To quote the Thin Black Duke:
PJ
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: And just a year ago, Reade attributes whatever problem she had to Biden’s staff, not to Biden himself:
https://twitter.com/sukatra/status/1254880779596976130
WaterGirl
@lafcolleen: Which one?
Juju
@Ksmiami: I think she’s an attention seeking fabulist. Though rare, sometimes women do lie about matters like these.
Mnemosyne
@kindness:
There is a whole lot of pressure coming from the online “left” to at least pretend to believe Reade’s accusations in the name of “believe women.” Of course, only rapey incel bros thought that “believe women” was supposed to mean “believe all women, always, no matter what they say.”
Note that at least half of the “leftists” online are claiming that Reade’s allegations are as plausible as Christine Blasey Ford’s, so therefore if you don’t think that Reade is telling the truth, then it was hypocritical to believe Ford.
If Reade is willing to take an oath under penalty of perjury as Ford did and make the same allegations, then I might give her story more credence, but so far she’s done everything possible to AVOID making any statement that could have legal penalties if it was proved false. Note that the police report she filed didn’t actually name Biden, because filing a false police report is a crime.
Jeffro
I’m just curious about folks pushing Reade thing…wasn’t Uncle Joe caught dead to rights selling our country out to nefarious forces in Ukraine just a few short months ago? Why isn’t he in the dock for that? Why, it was practically The Crime of The Century, if I recall.
Funny how that just sorta faded away, somewhere in between “Uranium One” and “CARAVANSZZ!!!1!”
Buncha poo-flinging monkeys, the TCNJs…
cain
I”m always worried that later on it finds a way to be credible.. I rather these people pursue it hard before the convention. Find every kind of evidence they can..
At the same time, I think it is hard for a woman to step forward -we already saw what Ford went through prior. So, if there is any chance these things against Biden is true then we need to make 100% certain.
Elizabelle
@Ben Cisco:
Laughing. Needed that.
debbie
@Elizabelle:
So much for no more press conferences!
WaterGirl
@L85NJGT: Do they have a version of that in English? :-)
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Ben Cisco: it’s an issue, if Cillizza’s on it, the rest of the herd won’t be far behind. I don’t see any reason not to discuss it, which can be done without talking to the Sea Lion.
Elizabelle
@debbie: Your condolence note will mean so much to that family.
My condolences to you. Losing someone from work is shocking, and you never forget them because of that.
senyordave
The Biden campaign better have a damn good strategy for dealing with the allegations. Because soon you will start hearing about them from the entire Republican party. I don’t know whether you trot all the women with allegations against Trump, including what seems to be an extremely credible rape allegation, or some other strategy, but it will have to be addressed, no matter how credible Tara Reade is.
Jeffro
@Elizabelle:
@debbie: “…must…get in front…of cameras…meMeME!”
WaterGirl
@Ben Cisco: I’m not sure even Avalune can make a SeaLionCake, and she’s really talented.
Elizabelle
@debbie: I wonder if they laid those executives on as cover for The Donald’s addiction?
Kind of think one of them mentioned he’d only been invited 45 minutes before. Will have to look at the transcript/video for that.
Sounds like staging a [n un] reality show.
M31
hahahaha ‘yeoman’s work’ — no way is can Trump spell that, or explain what it means.
“when your buddy walks in the room and you say Yo, man”
Mnemosyne
@8 man shell:
Let me know when Reade makes a statement under an oath that holds consequences of being prosecuted for perjury like Christine Blasey Ford did. So far, Reade hasn’t even been willing to file a police report naming Biden if doing so would penalize her for lying. Funny, that. ?
lafcolleen
@WaterGirl: State Rep Darren Bailey. I think he is running for a state senate seat.
James E Powell
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Sea Lion? I missed something. Again.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Mnemosyne: if only the Intercept (et al) bros (and sisses) could figure out that their claims to be warriors for truth and justice for sexual assault victims is undermined by the fact that they’re as outraged about this alleged assault as they are about Nancy Pelosi’s ice cream stash
Ben Cisco
@Elizabelle: It’s a riff on a joke told about a former co-worker from back in the Mesozoic – only the punch line there involved bees.
debbie
@Elizabelle:
Imagine. All those successful executives reduced to Trump’s wingmen. Pathetic.
Elizabelle
@Chief Oshkosh:
Didn’t see that. Did anyone else? Sounds like an “opinion” or “analysis” piece to me.
Anyone remember the article, and where it appeared? Link??
Mnemosyne
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
They know. They don’t care as long as that sweet, sweet billionaire cash keeps rolling in.
@senyordave:
As I said above, I will believe Reade when she’s willing to testify under oath the way Christine Blasey Ford did. Right now, Reade is doing everything possible to muddy the waters without actually crossing the line into perjuring herself.
I would also love to know when she’s going to pay back the horse rescue place in CA that she scammed $1200 from before she changed her name and vanished. Again.
WaterGirl
@lafcolleen: And a judge actually granted an injunction???
zzyzx
The one thing I don’t get about this is the timing. There’s a time to bring forth this sort of allegation, but it’s not really when we’re all consumed by the Coronavirus issue. Unless there’s actual evidence (which even if it did happen, there’s not likely to be), it runs the risk of being old news and boring to the press by the time we can focus on anything other than the virus. Why now?
Ben Cisco
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Truth is, it’s slagging an actual Democrat, therefore of course the GOP/Rose Twitter/Snooze media were going to jump all over it.
So, a bonus round of “Prove The Negative to those that will never accept ANY outcome except the one embedded in their pixelated brains.” Bold choice Cotton…
WaterGirl
@Elizabelle: Raises hand. I saw it! I think it may have been in one of Anne Laurie’s roundups. I definitely saw it here on BJ.
It makes sense in a general way. If you stop an exponential virus right out of the gate, then yeah, 90% doesn’t sound totally crazy.
Ella in New Mexico
@PJ:
I agree with you and all your points above.
A few weeks ago I first saw this and got really panicked. But after reading the transcript of her two interviews and listening to portions, as well as doing a bit more research on her I felt better. What “confirmations” exist and would stand up under scrutiny don’t point to rape, they at a maximum indicate some behavior or interaction that Read felt was inappropriate. Lest we forget, she was fired about 6 months into her job leading younger interns, and we don’t know why. It could absolutely have been because she started to make a ruckus about Biden touching her–or it may have been senior staff saw strange behavior in her and realized they needed to get rid of her.
I hate with all my heart to say this but it really sounds like this woman is not psychologically healthy and made up some or all of this allegation. Had I not dealt with two very similar cases when I worked as a victims advocate many years ago I wouldn’t have the gut level feeling I do on this one.
Embellishing her story from one of an unwanted but non-harmful touching incident into a bizarre tale in which she supposedly was a completely unsuspecting Senate staffer who went to work without underpants on and somehow Biden, who barely knew her, decided to pull her aside and stick his hands down her pants sounds more like “50 Shades of Grey” then a real event.
She has, unlike Christine Blasey Ford, also been all over the map in terms of her history. Her other writing, as well as her sketchy career history and her explanations for why she behaved like she did over the subsequent years would have had a DA in my state investigating if she were suffering from a delusional disorder and making a false claim (which mine did and the client did have).
I hope Biden, while he’s staying in the background and letting Trump ruin his own re-election chances, has some smart and ethical people quietly doing what they can to vet this woman and her story. Because I do believe that as soon as it’s the opportune time, the Trump team’s gonna attempt to blow his campaign to smithereens
@Mnemosyne:
Missed that story but this is exactly what I mean when I call her history “sketchy”.
MoCA Ace
I’m no titan of bidness and industry but I have an idea how he can!
Mnemosyne
@zzyzx:
They’re hoping that Biden will be forced to drop out and then Bernie will be the candidate.
There’s a reason why all of the Russian bots and trolls are out in force to push the story, and it ain’t because they care deeply about women.
Elizabelle
@MoCA Ace: It’s not The Wal-Mart Way.
Unless you’re an executive. I think they pay them well. And they allegedly pay their big rig drivers well too.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@zzyzx: deep inside the Bernie cult, there is no election other than the Democratic primary, and no enemies outside of the DNC and its evil, neoliberal manifestations: Hillary, Biden and the Dark Lord himself (Yeah, I know what I said) OBAMA!
Elizabelle
@Mnemosyne: I was so bummed out when Bernie was (briefly! briefly!) surging that I told my doctor about that (and the reason), and she suggested a prescription for a light antidepressant.
Which has been wonderful, and who knew even scarier stuff would happen, right around the corner?
Mnemosyne
@Ella in New Mexico:
I think that, like me, you’re old enough to realize how laughable it is for a woman to claim that she didn’t bother wearing pantyhose to work in 1993. At the US Capitol. Where women had a dress code so strict that they weren’t even allowed to wear slacks.
But, sure, she didn’t bother to wear pantyhose to work in DC in March (or April, or May, she doesn’t remember which) and they didn’t immediately send her home for a dress code violation and in fact let her just stroll bare-legged through the Capitol building.
Yep. That’s plausible. ?
L85NJGT
@WaterGirl:
USA Today/Suffolk 4/21 – 4/25 1000 RV 3.0 50 40 Biden +10
National poll of 1000 registered voters done from the the 21st to the 25th. Margin of error ±3 percent. Biden leads by ten points 50/40.
That’s a down ballot disaster for the GOP.
Ben Cisco
@WaterGirl: Damn! Another dream foiled!
debbie
@Mnemosyne:
Yeah, there was no no pantyhose back then.
zzyzx
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
No I get that bit. I have friends like that. But still, if they wait a few more weeks, maybe there will be a brief period of time where stories other than Covid might get covered.
This is something that only political junkies will be able to care about right now because we just want to survive the next few months.
Barring a miracle though, this is a different election. If the economy is still awful and Corona is still having a 2nd or 3rd wave and Trump is still all over the place a decades old unsupported allegation won’t work in the same way.
Jeffro
@L85NJGT: May that gap only get bigger across the next six months.
Six months! Six long months, GOP! Think he’s going to chill out and become presidential, do all the right things to curb the pandemic, make sure that economic relief is broadly distributed to American working families, etc etc?
No way, no how.
Mnemosyne
@debbie:
I was working an admin assistant job at UCLA in the early 2000s. We were allowed to wear slacks to work, but if we wore a skirt, pantyhose or tights were REQUIRED.
So, yeah, I LOL’d at the notion that she was walking bare-legged through the halls of the US Capitol in 1993 and didn’t get reprimanded, sent home, or handed a pair of pantyhose from her supervisor’s emergency stash.
Uncle Cosmo
Nylon shortage. All taken up for corporate executive parachutes that had to be sent out & spray-painted gold. Women were drawing seam lines down the backs of their calves with Sharpies… //
WaterGirl
@L85NJGT: Thank you!
I snuck the original line in there so I could see it and your translation at the same time.
I can remove it if you like.
cain
@L85NJGT:
It’s interesting that with these polls that Republicans have not become more vocal against the president. I mean are they really going to be inert while all this shit happens around them?
They still seem very focused on their rich friends rather than people. I’m confounded by it. They show no empathy at all.
Annie
@8 man shell:
how? He won the most delegates.
This country is drowning and Tr*** is pushing us further and further under the water. If someone can get T**** away from me I don’t really care what that person did 27 years ago.
debbie
@Mnemosyne:
I remember hearing about dress codes for interns, but I can’t remember if it was in the 1990s or some other time period.
Ben Cisco
Worst thing I’ve done to myself since being under quarantine was watching those daily intake interviews masquerading as “briefings.” Caught Cuomo’s, was pretty impressed – sure he’s an jerk, but I guess at this point seeing a COMPETENT jerk was a major step up. Decided to see what the Orange Asshole would do since I’ve studiously avoided watching or listening to him since before the 2016 elections. HOLE. LEE. SHIT. I knew it was bad. I knew it was going to BE bad. Had no idea it was going to be THAT bad.
Anyway, the Clorox/UV light double-double broke me. Can’t abide anymore of it.
We have GOT to win this thing.
Another Scott
@James E Powell: http://wondermark.com/1k62/
HTH!!
Cheers,
Scott.
Roger Moore
@WaterGirl:
Means USA Today/Suffolk had a poll between 4/21 and 4/25. They surveyed 1000 registered voters, which should give a margin of error of 3.0%. Biden was ahead 50-40, a 10% advantage.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@zzyzx: I go back to the tic toc tweet, she thought she was going to take Biden down after South Carolina. Drama, the center of attention, the Great Heroine of the Great Cause. At least that’s how I see it. Like Ella, I take no pleasure in saying it, but I think this an unstable woman being exploited by zealots.
Miss Bianca
@Mnemosyne: OMG – *that’s* her story, now?
That’s a Penthouse Forum letter, not a credible accusation.
debbie
@Ben Cisco:
I can’t help but hear your last sentence in Avery Brooks’s fiercest voice!
hueyplong
Repeating from an earlier thread, I noticed a bunch of BidenNeedsToStepDown type hashtags going from zero to trending this weekend, before the story broke. They’re too contemptuous of the public to bother to avoid transparency in the rollout.
WaterGirl
@Roger Moore: Thank you!
8 man shell
@PJ:
Oh, I’m plenty skeptical.
When the allegations popped up again a few weeks ago under the auspices of some nutjob whose name I forget – I dismissed Reade completely because 1) I don’t think this was in Biden’s character, 2) Reade’s fantasizing about Putin and 3) I think Reade may have been a Bernie supporter, but I’m not sure about that. The story just really smelled.
Then the thing with her her mom calling Larry King came out but that didn’t really move the needle much for me. It turned my head a bit, but that was it.
The thing with the neighbor (who has apparently made lots of pro-Biden social media posts) changes things, for me at least.
We now have at least two people confirming that Reade passed along damning information about Biden decades ago. Is it possible that she just made crap up then? Yes. But these allegations are not easy to dismiss.
And, unfortunately, they will probably accelerate because the considered democrat response is, at least based on this thread, is to blame Bernie/Russia and try to shut down the discussion by playing thread nanny. That’s not a good look and people will notice how Biden’s self-appointed defenders be-clown themselves.
senyordave
If the NYT starts playing into the Reade thing, the least they could do is to compare it with Jean Carroll’s rape allegation against Trump.
Geminid
The worst of the Bernie Bros are like vicious pirates who, having failed to storm the town, poison the wells on their way back to their ships. Reade’s story cannot be proven or disproven, but when I read reporting about her by Krassenstein and others I thought she was not at all credible. The only question I was left with was, is she being paid in dollars or rubles? Or both?
David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch
senyordave
I just read that Diamond and Silk are being dropped by Fox News. They were too crazy fr them, spouting theories that NYC was intentionally infecting people, hiding bodies, etc.
James E Powell
@Another Scott:
Thank you. There are so many internet traditions to keep up with.
Ben Cisco
@cain: (checks notes) He’s still hating on black and brown folks. Still displaying utter buffoonery every time he’s in front of a camera.
Checks out,
Mnemosyne
@Miss Bianca:
Yep. People asked how Biden could have grabbed her by the ? in a public place, and she claimed that she just happened to have not worn pantyhose to the office that day.
The more details Reade adds to her story, the less plausible it becomes, unlike Christine Blasey Ford.
I’m also a little suspicious that Reade’s brother denied that she had told him she was sexually assaulted, and then texted the reporter back the next day and changed his story. Reade seems to have a bit of a history of pretending to be other people online. ?
rikyrah
This should be happening with farmers all across the country ??
8 man shell
@Annie:
I admit this is probably wishful thinking on my part. It may be too late to do anything.
Mnemosyne
@8 man shell:
Please explain why Reade has gone to great pains to avoid going under oath with her accusations, or why she can’t name a timeframe shorter than 90 days for when this incident allegedly occurred. Thanks.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@debbie:
If you used words even close to the ones in this comment, you did a good job. They’ll know what you’re telling them.
zhena gogolia
@Anne Laurie:
I hope you guys are right. I have to step away from the computer!
Mnemosyne
@debbie:
Every woman on Capitol Hill had to follow the dress code. I remember elected congresswomen grumbling about not being allowed to wear slacks, so it wasn’t just staffers.
Jay
@8 man shell:
Other people coming forward to say that she told them once upon a time is not corroboration, it’s hearsay.
Given the time that has passed, this will always be a “he said, she said” issue where character counts.
danielx
@Uncle Cosmo:
Gotta tell you, I do NOT recall any women in the office i worked in back then wearing hose nor yet panty hose with a seam running down the back of the leg.
Believe me, I would have noticed.
James E Powell
@senyordave:
Not bloody likely. This is the FTFNYT. They’ve just been waiting patiently for the Republicans to tell them what Big Scandal!! & Major Investigation!! stories they need to run and when they need to run them.
Maggie has already written the “Trump, chastened by COVID-19, emerges from the crisis as the Great Leader we all hoped he would be” articles. Crews of reporters & photographers are ready to be dispatched to America’s whitest diners.
8 man shell
Lest anyone suggest Rudy is still not in the game:
Ben Cisco
@debbie: Then my work here is done! Thank you!
Mnemosyne
@8 man shell:
Still waiting for you to answer the questions I posed at #116.
H.E.Wolf
It’s so interesting how our little rower (in both senses of the word) likes to drop in only to inveigh against the presumptive Democratic nominee for President.
We don’t hear from him (high probability it’s a him, and very likely a White him) on any other topic, do we?
We also, as far as I can recall, don’t see him except for during [ETA: night-shift] working hours in Moscow. Bless his heart. :)
something fabulous
@8 man shell: “democrat [sic] response”?
Baud
@Mnemosyne:
Didn’t know that bit.
TS (the original)
@lafcolleen:
It doesn’t matter what the dems try to do – the GOP will attempt to overturn it. This is why McConnell wanted control of the courts. This right to rule is very strong & even this massive collapse of governing under trump will not change that.
8 man shell
@Jay:
I disagree on that. Contemporaneous confirmation that he “””victim””” said something close in time to the time of the decades old assault is pretty powerful.
Again, like I said she could have just been making up shit way back then, too. Given Reade’s nuttiness, it would be very easy to dismiss her allegations from decades ago if she had never mentioned it to anyone back then. Now it’s not so easy.
I have been comforted by the fact that I haven’t seen any other remotely credible _serious_ allegations against him. Let’s hope it stays that way.
Mnemosyne
@something fabulous:
He wants a “discussion” without having to answer any pesky questions about his assertions. ?
How are you doing under quarantine? Long time no see.
debbie
@David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch:
I would have loved to hear that phone call with the Trump supporter!
Dorothy A. Winsor
I had a moment this evening of feeling like everything was awful. The virus would go on forever because Trump sure as hell wasn’t going to do a thing about testing, and the Biden accusation was only too likely to get smeared everywhere. And this thread actually made me feel better.
That’s how low I was!
Baud
@Dorothy A. Winsor: That’s pretty low.
Mnemosyne
@Baud:
It’s in the police report that Reade filed to great fanfare. She did not name an actual perpetrator and said the incident happened sometime in March, April, or May of 1993.
Of course, there are legal penalties for filing a false police report, plus Biden could potentially bring a defamation suit against her if she had actually named him in the police report and he had been able to prove he was innocent. Keeping things vague prevents her from facing any legal penalties for lying.
And, again, I want to emphasize again that Christine Blasey Ford made a sworn statement AND testified under oath in front of Congress, unlike Reade.
BBA
8 man shell
@Mnemosyne:
Beats me about the time frame. I thought that she quit right away afterwards so I don’t understand why she can’t provide a more definite date.
As for the under oath thing, there hasn’t been a criminal or civil proceeding where she could be “under oath.” I guess she could hire a court reporter and take an oath or write a declaration under penalty of perjury or something but that wouldn’t change my opinion one way or another. I mean, I can’t imagine any way in which her declaration could be conclusively disproven that would open her up to perjury charges so she wouldn’t really be risking anything by saying this stuff under perjury so I don’t think that it would enhance her credibility.
hueyplong
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Hang in there. In just over 6 months filled with crap, you might have a pretty good day. Wouldn’t want you to miss it.
WaterGirl
@rikyrah: Heartwarming.
Mnemosyne
@8 man shell:
She could have named Biden as her assailant in the police report that she recently filed in DC. She did not. Why not? Probably because a police report is itself a sworn statement and there are legal penalties for filing a false one.
Christine Blasey Ford managed to figure out how to make a sworn statement without having to file a lawsuit. Maybe Reade needs to consult with her lawyers for tips.
ETA: Also, even by her own claims she did NOT quit right away. She quit or was let go in August of 1993, at least three months AFTER the alleged incident. She has changed her story multiple times about why she left, but she has usually said she left voluntarily.
Omnes Omnibus
@8 man shell: I call DougJ on you.
Jinchi
“A lot of people” is clearly a euphamism for “I, Donald Trump”.
I’d assume the guy has multiple personalities, but you’d expect at least one of them to realize he’s an idiot.
Baud
@Mnemosyne:
That’s weird. Ella said that she only held the job for six months so her allegation covers half her time there.
WaterGirl
@Mnemosyne: I will never understand what you guys get out of playing with the toy who doesn’t care in the slightest what you say, only that you are interacting with him.
When you interact, he derails the thread, he wins. What am I missing?
Ella in New Mexico
@Mnemosyne:
BINGO. My thoughts exactly. And reading the story at LGM about some woman who’s an old friend who said Read told her she’d been sexually assaulted by “a prominent Senator” doesn’t mean she didn’t make it up then, either.
Once, a woman came to our shelter claiming that not only had her husband abused her, but his father (with whom they lived) had raped her. Her story had details that were plausible and fell into line with what the patterns are in families where domestic violence is endemic. Of course our clients were believed when they told us what had happened to them, unless we found out differently.
So, this woman seemed fine the first 24 hours or so of her stay, but then subtle but definitely odd things started happening with her. First of all, she seemed to talk about her story a lot more than the typical client in the safe house, even outside of our group therapy settings. When she did, she changed little parts of the story, from the sequence, to added details that seemed colorful or were direct conflict with earlier claims we had helped her put into her application for a temporary restraining order. Even so, since it’s not unusual for clients to get more comfortable as they find support and thus open up more, no one really had concerns… until we got a call from the court office clerk to tell us this woman had not only filed a TRO against her abuser and his father, but had also filed TRO’s against the husband and father-in-law of the woman who was her counselor in the safe house. They, according to her application “assisted in my abuse and rape on several occasions”.
Of course, no such thing happened. But apparently, she’d managed to put two and two together and find out what their names were. And for some reason she created an entire fantasy about his poor girls family members, for what reason we never understood. The clerk called us as a curtesy and said she “sounded very serious, but something’s not right”. TBH It was pretty horrifying, not only for my coworker but all of us, to think someone would be capable of doing such a bizarre thing and yet appearing so “normal”.
As it turned out, she and her husband were ended up being court-ordered for evaluations as part of a divorce proceeding and we later found out that she had been diagnosed with delusional disorder.
So, rarely, but absolutely, sometimes victims lie.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Baud: @hueyplong: Mostly I already have pretty good days. If you have to be locked down, Mr DAW and I are among the lucky ones. Nonetheless, my body is giving me stress reactions, so I must be worrying more than I realize.
God, I loathe Trump. And everyone who put him in office and keeps him there. And the people who won’t stay focused on ending his reign but have to indulge in infighting. We have, at best, almost 9 more months of this.
ETA: I just realized you mean Election Day. I hope that’s a good day! Then the next two and a half months will be lit.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
and as if to prove what this is really about, they’ve got “BernieComeBack” trending on twitter
Mary G
@Mnemosyne: I hadn’t heard about the no pantyhose claim, but it is ludicrous. My corporation even had a rule that if you had to wear pants, which was allowed if discouraged, you had to wear knee-highs and dressy-ish shoes, never, ever socks or sneakers.
I watched the end of the Rose Garden dog and pony show today after skipping it for weeks, but felt the need to gawk at the car crash today. I was OK until Pence got up with the tongue bathing of the president, and answered a question about claiming we had four million tests ready weeks ago by saying, we had them, but couldn’t use them. I got so enraged.
A question for you brave souls who do watch. Has any reporter ever asked about the shipments of PPE that’re getting hijacked by the FBI or FEMA?
Croaker
Meanwhile in the rest of Hell…we are stuck with Death and Destruction
10 points+ keep pushing your crap dude and troll elsewhere
Ella in New Mexico
@PJ:
I so hope there’s some good Biden Campaign vetting going on about THAT
Ruckus
@dmsilev:
I’d bet his math skills are in approximate line with every other skill of his and go something like this:
ME – profit!
Mnemosyne
@Baud:
Yup. That is yet another of the weird things about her claim.
@WaterGirl:
I’ve been following the controversy pretty closely on Twitter and had facts at hand. I don’t think that people who haven’t been following the story closely realize just how flimsy it is.
Mnemosyne
@8 man shell:
Hey, if you find it cool and normal that someone would claim that Joe Biden assaulted her, file a police report against an unknown assailant, and then go back to the press saying that when she said “unknown assailant,” she really meant Joe Biden, then that’s on you, you sweet summer child.
It seems relevant to me that she seems to have a history of confabulation when she makes unprovable claims where she can’t even determine the one month that she was assaulted out of a 6-month tenure in Biden’s office but, again, you do you.
kindness
@8 man shell: You are either a bot (not all that likely) or a Russian (probably not as you’d have a better job that this with your proficiency) or you are an insane Bernie Bro.
You keep asking to be taken seriously but all you seem to really want is off with Joe’s head. That is really toxic and not someone who warrants being taken seriously. You’ve been told by many here you need to back up your story with more than hearsay. It’s not out there, that evidence you want so bad.
I don’t believe Joe raped anyone. I can’t say what to make of this poor woman’s story but I don’t think it’s credible. You 8 man shell are a sad troll. I haven’t used the pie filter here yet. I’m told it’s easy.
Mnemosyne
@Ella in New Mexico:
Reade’s story of the actual assault — what happened physically, what her assailant said to her — is vivid enough that I would not be surprised if something like that had happened to her at some point. I just don’t think it was done by Joe Biden, or that it happened in broad daylight in the halls of the US Capitol with other people walking past.
Uncle Cosmo
@danielx: Um… your response kinda reminds me of the hoary old Playboy Unabashed Dictionary definition of pregnancy: “Taking seriously something that was poked in fun.”
The ur-text: “Nylons”, with black seams running down the back, were first exhibited at the 1939 NY World’s Fair and first sold a year later. Come Pearl Harbor, nearly all production of nylon was diverted to making parachutes & parachute cord. Some women would shave their legs & draw a black line down the back of their calves to make it look as if they were wearing a pair.
(I realize that if you have to explain the joke, it’s not funny any more, but hey… ;^D)
Ella in New Mexico
@Mnemosyne:
I did NOT know that detail. Very suspicious, for all the reasons you said. Why even file a police report at all then? Jesus.
I think I read somewhere she was let go by senior staff less than six months after starting there, of which three months she spend on some sort of leave? Not sure.
But hey, if I was running Joe Biden’s office and she really DID go to work completely naked under her skirts I’d fire her ass too.
TS (the original)
@debbie:
They will love your note – maybe rephrase the “saving my ass” – but acknowledging her work, her skill, her assistance and friendship will give them an insight into part of her life that they didn’t see. A handwritten note is so welcome at this time – despite we find them hard to write.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Mnemosyne:
one of the big clunkers in her story, to me, is that when she pushed him off, his response (in some versions) was “C’mon, man!” That seems like a cartoon of Biden she got from twitter. IMHO.
TS (the original)
@senyordave:
While the GOP rarely, if ever address such issues unless they end up convicted in a court of law. Always the democrats have to be the adults, I have no idea why the political media forever gives the GOP a pass while attacking the dems for how they look, what they wear, etc etc etc.
Trump should have been forced to resign over what he has done for the past 3 months – yet they still faithfully record his b.s. every time he speaks.
Butter Emails
@Mnemosyne:
This actually makes sense. Maybe she was assaulted and having work issues during the same period – the work issues may even related to the impact of the assault. It would explain her inability to pinpoint the date, why earlier comments are critical of Biden’s staff and not Biden.
WaterGirl
@Mnemosyne: If you want to write up the definitive rebuttal, I promise to post it every time he appears. Then maybe we won’t have to spend hours dancing to this guy’s tune.
Ohio Mom
rikyrah @114: I’m reminded of the command in Leviticus that farmers leave the corners of their fields for gleaners.
So here we are, it’s 3,500 years later, and we’re using the same distribution system to feed the hungry? It’s embarrassing that we can’t do better.
TS (the original)
@debbie:
It’s pathetic that at this time they didn’t have something else to do – and that they are such sycophants that they couldn’t say sorry – can’t make it.
I currently get my shopping delivered. As such I get emails from the CEO of the grocery company every 4 or 5 days, telling me what is happening instore (screens, masks, other items for staff & customer protection, social distancing etc), with deliveries (extra staff, extra drivers, preference to those who can’t go out) and a large section on what is available, what they are doing about same, why that have limits & what items are limited.
I know much of it is PR but it shows a CEO who is talking to his staff & his customers & not appearing onstage with our PM to big note both of them.
The service has been so good I think I’ll rarely go into a grocery store again.
Kent
Here is a real life red state vs blue state comparison in terms of Covid-19 response and how unemployment insurance is being dealt with in each state.
Washington State: This past year I have been doing long-term substitute teaching at my local school district. With schools closed I am on furlough until they re-open as they don’t need subs to cover for digital learning absences. I went ahead and filed for UI. Took me all of 5 minutes online and the deposits are dropping into my bank account each week like clockwork for the past month. We didn’t need it to survive as my wife is working, but I’ve paid UI for decades so why not if I’m eligible. Going towards the daughters college fund.
Arkansas: Daughter is in college in Fayetteville Arkansas. She worked nearly full time at a local Barre-3 gym and was laid off. She has enough work hours to qualify for UI. She has been trying to log into their web site for a month. She gets through the tedious clunky application and the system freezes on the final submit screen. Every damn time. The web site is only operational from 6 am to 6 pm on weekdays. Who the fuck shuts down a web site at night? So she can’t try at 3 am to see if there is less traffic. Today she drove by the physical unemployment office in Fayetteville to see about applying in person. At 10 am there was a line circling TWICE around the fucking building, people waiting to get in, some in masks, some not. None social distancing the proper 6 feet. And it was raining. So fuck that. Basically the GOP state government has made it intentionally almost impossible to conveniently apply for UI during normal times to keep taxes low and the published unemployment rate down. But now that there is a real national crisis they are incapable of actually processing claims, even though the bulk of the money is Federal not state. So Arkansas is losing out on hundreds of millions of dollars of Federal stimulus money compared to Washington because they can’t competently process UI claims. All of those dollars would have gone straight back into the local economy in the form of rent, food, clothing, gas, etc. Because people on unemployment aren’t exactly stashing the money away in Swiss bank accounts.
Multiply this across the country and I’m guessing that red state venality and deliberate incompetence is costing red states tens of billions of dollars in stimulus compared to competent blue states. And imposing much more misery on their citizens.
Note. Not all blue states are totally on top of this either. But at least they are making an effort. Oregon’s UI system was a mess. But they are working 24/7 to get their shit together and make it work. Arkansas seems to still be in incompetent don’t give a shit mode. Because their GOP gut reaction to seeing lines of mostly black people out front of the UI office is that the system is working as it is supposed to.
Mnemosyne
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
There’s a part in the Halper interview where Reade says that he said something like, “You’re nothing to me. You’re garbage.” That was pretty vivid but sounds way more like something an abusive spouse would say than what your boss would say as he grabs you by the pu$$y in a public place.
ETA: Never forget, when you’re a star, you can grab women by the pu$$y and they just let you. So weird that that would JUST HAPPEN to be Biden’s method, too. Such a weird coincidence.
Another Scott
@8 man shell:
That’s what this really is all about, isn’t it? Kicking Biden off the ticket (based on allegations that you admit are less than persuasive) , so, someone (Who could it be????!?!) that Democratic party voters rejected, will be installed by the dreaded Democratic Establishment™ instead.
(groucho-roll-eyes.gif)
Cheers,
Scott.
Ben Cisco
@WaterGirl: Come sit by me (but, you know, six feet away and all that)
Mnemosyne
@WaterGirl:
I’ll see if I can pull all of the citations together. It’s one of those stories that sounds terrible when you see the headlines, but as soon as you dig even a little bit past the surface, it all falls apart.
Roger Moore
@zzyzx:
What you’re missing is that the allegations first came out back when they might possibly have made an impact on the Democratic primary, but they were quickly buried by COVID-19 related news. The people who are pushing it can’t just let it sit until COVID-19 is out of the news, so they’re forging ahead.
Bex
@8 man shell: “…democrat response” Dead giveaway, troll.
Baud
@Roger Moore:
I wonder how they’ll keep the story going until November.
WaterGirl
@Mnemosyne: thanks. I’m gonna send you an email. (except that doesn’t look like a real email address. if it is real, that’s really fun.
if it’s not real, maybe you can send me a message? if you’re up for it.
Omnes Omnibus
@Baud: Repetition.
Baud
@Another Scott:
I know who it won’t be.
L85NJGT
@Croaker:
56,521
Omnes Omnibus
@Bex: That’s why I am going with a DougJ troll. His are elaborate, but he does include a tell of some kind.
Mnemosyne
@WaterGirl:
It’s a fake, but Adam and TaMara both have real email addresses of mine. Feel free to ask one of them for it.
mrmoshpotato
Butter Emails
@Baud:
I’m going to put on my Republican operative hat for a minute.
Hmm. I’d let the Bernie Bros and the Russians push this as long as they can, knowing it’s going to eventually burn out well before the election. Then shortly before the election I’d promote another allegation of dubious validity.
Baud
@mrmoshpotato:
Biden’s ad team is REALLY good.
Another Scott
@Omnes Omnibus: Disagree. Dougj is masterful.
Cheers,
Scott.
JMG
@8 man shell: One thing that lends credibility to a charge of a crime against a person is the alleged victim testifying under oath. Ford did. Monica Lewinsky did (no crime alleged). Weinstein’s accusers did. If this woman testifies under oath, it will add to her credibility. If not, then not. Will she sue Biden, or just go on TV? Makes a difference. Worth remembering that Kathleen Willey was interviewed by Ken Starr’s team and they found she just wasn’t a reliable witness. As a practical matter, between the plague and the collapse of the economy, it’s gonna be hard for Reade’s story to break into the public, as opposed to Twitter, consciousness.
Kent
@Mnemosyne: Reade has no fucking idea of the Cat 5 shit hurricane that is heading her way. Like all of you, I have zero personal knowledge of what happened or didn’t happen 30 years ago. Although some things about her changing story over time and timeline ring a little off.
I honestly think there may be some lefty activist types out there who latched onto this story as a Bernie-play and pushed it forward, and now they can’t let it go and say..”never mind, this was suppose to be a pro-Bernie move, not a pro-Trump move.”
What is going to happen in the fall, when Ukraine and the economy and China and Biden is senile and all the other shit they fling against the wall doesn’t stick. Is that the the right wing slime machine will put this story under the microscope and into their megaphone. Every single event in this woman’s life is going to be picked apart. Every person she has ever known or talked to will be harassed for comment. Just on the outside chance that they can find someone, somewhere, willing to maybe sort of corroborate. It will be Monica Lewinski and Christine Blasie Ford on steroids.
The Dem media basically shrugged off Trump’s many well documented instances of sexual predation. The right wing and fringe right media will do no such thing here. The will absolutely drive this story into the ground and blow it up with nuclear bombs if they are given the cue to do so by Trump. It is all projection with these people.
Redshift
An old friend occasionally posts on Facebook about Trump horror story news articles, and he has one guy who responds to every damn one of them with a “unfortunately, the only person we have to go against him is Biden, and his chances have been completely destroyed” with a Reade link. (I didn’t know until now that’s called sea lioning.) After the first time, everyone ignores him. Today’s was especially hilarious, because his “incriminating” link was to Gateway Pundit.
piratedan
the other tell in all of this is that no matter what Joe Biden does in reaction to this “disclosure”, you may rest assured that it will be the wrong reaction. There’s only one correct and proper reaction to all of this in the eyes of those peddling this, is for Biden to not only resign, but to cede the nomination to Bernie, not reopen it for everyone, only to anoint a certain senator of the male persuasion from the NE United States.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
we’re probably going to hit 60,000 deaths by Friday
Tdjr
Did Chris Hayes just say M Fer on cable TV news?
Baud
@Tdjr: Oh no. I just turned it off. Context?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@JMG:
My prediction: No, and oh yeah. Does Krystal Ball’s radio show count?
ETA: @Tdjr: he did indeed
Kent
Testifying under oath requires a forum in which an oath is required. Either a deposition as part of a grand jury investigation or trial or lawsuit, or a congressional hearing, or an FBI or special prosecutor investigation (Ken Starr).
There isn’t any of that here, and there won’t be unless Barr or the Senate (Judiciary or Ethics Committees?) decides to open a Federal investigation into a 30 year old accusation of sexual harassment. Which even for Barr or that would be an enormous stretch.
zhena gogolia
@Baud:
lolol I went there thinking it was an actual Biden ad. That increases the hilarity.
Baud
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Was Samuel L. Jackson a special guest?
Tdjr
@Baud: He was talking about the Coronavirus so I guess it’s okay.
Baud
@Tdjr:
Was he quoting someone else, or did he just say the virus was a motherfucker?
rikyrah
AL,
I hope that you see this for tomorrow’s COVID-19 post.
How does a country in Africa have.a $1 COVID-19 TEST???
eemom
@WaterGirl:
@Mnemosyne:
Please do. I have not had time to research and those headlines are fucking with my last non-homicidal nerve.
Tdjr
@Baud: He said “We all know this virus is an M Effer…”.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Tdjr:
I hope so!
Ruckus
@zzyzx:
Why now?
A good chance, given all the evidence, that someone is coaxing her, helping her, maybe even paying her. The story has changed quite a bit, the evidence is very, very thin, at best, she seems to be a very poor witness, and she seems to have credibility issues from other acts/words of hers. As well, my understanding of most rapists is that there is almost always more than one woman who can tell a very creditable story, because a man abusing his position/power that is successful, rarely stops being a douchebag. And that doesn’t seem to be the case here at all. I’d say my point is that while anything is possible, why now? It’s not like Joe Biden has not been in a very bright spot light for over 15 yrs, why wait till it’s brightest?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Baud: he said the virus is an “MFer”, just the shorthand, and later said if it comes back again we’re gonna be hosed, and the big shot epidemiologist from Harvard said, “Yes, that is the medical term we use, “hosed”” . Made me chuckle
Baud
@Tdjr:
Haha. I guess he’s feeling the stress. Or his ratings are down.
BBA
It’s not my place to say whether Reade is credible. But none of the people whose place it is to say that think she is, so I guess that counts for something.
Still not happy about the situation, is it too late for Warren to jump back into the race? Oh, it is? Never mind then.
Baud
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Oh, I see. I thought he said the full word and people here were using shorthand. Less exciting.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Ruckus: she said that she didn’t say anything sooner cause she liked Obama and didn’t want to trip him up.
something fabulous
@Mnemosyne: I know, DNFTT and all, but that one was just too low-hanging for me!
I am ok, thanks for asking– older kitty is in kind of rocky health shape and am in another unemployed patch, but you know, all things considered, could be way worse. How’s by you all?
Mary G
Tara Reade deserves to be heard as much as any other woman. That said, while I find Uncle Joe’s touchy-feely routine creepy, but he does what he does loud and proud and in public. This was not the case with my abusers. Also, she continues to be the only one. Abusers abuse lots of women, and as we saw with Twitler, Harvey Weinstein, Matt Lauer, Al Franken, etc., etc., abusers don’t stop with one victim. One report encourages other women to quite literally say #MeToo. That no others are claiming more than “he smelled my hair” feels off.
Baud
@Mary G:
This risk is that unproven allegations will be enough to scare a few voters off and hurt us in the election. It would be nice to have a piece of evidence that would make this story go away, but the nature of the thing makes that unlikely.
lol chikinburd
The LGM thread’s on the cusp of three TBoggs, so mission accomplished for them, I guess.
ETA: Also, fuck Democracy Now. They pushed the dementia smear and are now long on this.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Baud:
If anybody ever brings this Reade bullshit up, just point to the tens of thousands of dead from Trump’s neglect/incompetence
Baud
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
People who bring this up don’t care.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Baud:
Have you tried it and found this out?
dmsilev
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Or, in units that might make more sense to Tucker, 15 kiloBenghazis.
Gin & Tonic
Maybe time for a non-Reade thread? Troll did his job, perhaps move on?
Another Scott
@Gin & Tonic: It looks like a trireme would beat an 8 man shell.
HTH!!
Cheers,
Scott.
Mary G
@Baud: But Joe’s opponent has between 12-20 accusers, so I think anyone who decides not to vote for Biden wasn’t that likely to vote for him anyway.
Mary G
She’s a NeverTrumper, but this seems plausible to me:
I wonder who Twitler thinks would play him? You know it has to be cosmically off, or does he think that no actor is as good looking as he is?
Avalune
@WaterGirl:
You rang?
I had a lot of fun drawing a Purina Sea Lion Chow for you guys. Sent it to WaterGirl. Enjoy.
Matt McIrvin
@Chief Oshkosh: If most of the US “reopens” and a few hundred thousand extra people die as a result, all of those deaths will be attributable to Trump and Republicans being dumbasses and contradicting their own CDC for political gain.
Croaker
@L85NJGT: so sad and it doesn’t have to be this way
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Mary G: in that infamous NYT story from the late 70s– that I’m sure his daddy paid for somehow– the writer compared him to Robert Redford
Avalune
@Ben Cisco: Sneak peek of the Sea Lion Chow:
https://flic.kr/p/2iV5V5p
Omnes Omnibus
@Mary G: Trump already has someone way better looking than he is playing him on SNL.
Mnemosyne
@something fabulous:
I’m okay — on furlough from the Giant Evil, but I do get to collect unemployment and they’re paying my entire health insurance premium. I was very unproductive last week, but I did get some writing done today.
PJ
@zzyzx: This was started in March, when Bernie was still a contender. It was pushed, and is still being pushed, by the Intercept and the Chapo crowd to derail Biden and get Bernie nominated in his place.
PsiFighter37
The whole Tara Reade thing is such a fucking stretch that I find it very distressing that anyone is giving it more airtime. Heck, I would not be surprised if the story dies outside of Twitter. Major news outlets have researched it, and the story is so fucking rail-thin, with nothing else there, that I doubt they can spin some random shit out of thin air. The media isn’t going to fucking waste their time chasing a story that literally has no threads to it outside of unreliable witnesses and people changing their story. This reeks to high heaven of Russian influence / money trying to find a gullible person to torpedo Biden.
Color me as someone who is not worried at all about this bullshit story.
zhena gogolia
@Avalune:
hahaha
Ben Cisco
@Avalune: BLESS YOU!!
Delk
@Avalune: ha! Love the furled brows.
Ben Cisco
@Avalune: AWESOME!!!!
??❤??
The Pale Scot
This is linked in one of those twitters
Avalune
@Ben Cisco: I did the sealpupcake too but I’ll let WaterGirl fiddle with that one before she puts it in the rotation with the others.
Anne Laurie
Because, AFAICT, the Intercept-adjacent Bernie-or-Busters are as desperate for a media ‘hit’ as the Oval Office Squatter. There was some twitter speculation, when Reade’s latest version of her tragic story first surfaced, that she should have waited for a more viable moment, but… the doubters were basically shouted down by the self-proclaimed Dirtbag Leftist podcasters who’d been reduced to feuding with each other once the wide-world spotlight moved away from the Democratic primary.
James E Powell
Quite a bit in the last month has been infuriating, disgusting, or just plain depressing, but one thing I’m really happy about is that Chris Matthews no longer has a cable show.
Jackie
@Avalune: I ♥️ IT!!!??
Mary G
@Avalune: You are so flipping talented! I may have to use the pie filter for the first time ever.
Elizabelle
@Avalune: I LOVE the Sea Lion chow.
Well done! We’re going to be waiting for Sea Lions to throw it at.
I think we need some animal as a cupcake with a tiny, tiny, tiny violin, too.
ballerat
@Elizabelle: Tired of how this orange fucker is always announcing what he’s gonna do, never what he’s actually done. He’s just having the CEOs do that in his stead here.
I’ll believe it when I see it.
I think all that promised shit never happens is because this: That orange fucker tells these CEO tools the fed maybe wants to buy a shit ton of their product. No contract, just typical Trump smoke-blowing, a sorta suggestion he’s thinking about it. But enough to get the CEO twit to do the dog and pony show for him, telling the nation about all this wonderful stuff that’s coming soon… next week, next month. No hard dates, because no contract. Soon.
After the announcement the orange fucker tells the CEO he’s gonna require a taste or no deal. Company would end up making it at cost or a loss after the skim, so nothing happens and nothing gets made.
If nothing gets done he doesn’t care. He got to play at being the rescuing hero, and that’s worth as much to him as the skim, probably more. The skim’s just gravy.
Yutsano
@8 man shell:
Great idea! Let’s get Kamala ready!
Mnemosyne
Interesting tidbit: someone on Twitter is saying that Reade’s allegation matches up almost perfectly with accounts from other women at the time … except they were complaining about Sen. Bob Packwood, serial groper.
https://t.co/MrcYotwcND?amp=1
Avalune
@Elizabelle: looooool re the tiny violin.
@Mary G: Awe thanks! It was a nice way to wind down my evening.
@Jackie: I am pretty pleased with it I must admit! Thank you.
Elizabelle
@ballerat: Trump needs to get his ass sued, and never have one day of peace. He is criminal.
Anne Laurie
I doubt it’s even that complicated. The Squatter-in-Chief is demanding personal appearances to demonstrate his ‘power’. The CEOs showing up for these fusterclucks are those, like Roman senators of the Imperial Era, most experienced (embedded) in the rituals of public fealty (abasement) required to keep their businesses, if not (yet) their hides, intact.
Trump couldn’t care less whether ‘treatment’ is available to the hoi polloi. He wants those Big Swinging CEOs up there, in front of the cameras, demonstrating that Trump is their KING, no, their GOD. The CEOs, while they wouldn’t be averse to making a killing on treatments / vaccines / a cure, are happy enough in the interim to seal-clap for the Occupant, if only because this proves to their fellows that they’re important enough to be in Trump’s rolodex.
And the Media Village Idiots, of course, just want something they can use to fill the space between advertisements… which are as endangered a commodity as restaurant bookers, right now.
Another Scott
@Anne Laurie: I’m sure that’s why he calls Tim Apple [sic] to be there so often.
“See, I’m big and important too, Daddy!! I can make the CEO of one of the richest companies in the world come and listen to me any time I want!!!”
(sigh)
Cheers,
Scott.
debbie
@TS (the original):
Rest assured it was, lol.
Ruckus
@cain:
The republican party has been working in this direction since well before raygun. His takedown of the flight controllers union was for them, everything. The republican party does not want the government, the country that we think the constitution/bill of rights gives us. Their main policy points are racism and betterment of the wealthy. And to make that happen they want no government whatsoever. Which is also why they want guns at the front of their entire stick, it’s an enforcement process for when there is no government. It’s why they like shit for brains, he’s destroying the government. It’s why the stick with shit for brains, he’s the epitome of what they think.
rikyrah
@Mnemosyne:
Believe all women?
I think not.
The pages of history of THIS COUNTRY are littered with the blood of Black men at the end of some White woman’s false accusations.
Believe all women?
Phuck Outta Here ??
joel hanes
@James E Powell:
one thing I’m really happy about is that Chris Matthews no longer has a cable show.
Now if only Cillizza were somehow to meet a snark that’s a boojum, and softly and suddenly vanish away, and never be met with again
trnc
@Chief Oshkosh:
I’m not sure how the percentage could be determined, but I’d sure love to see someone try to argue that his 6 weeks of head in the sand saved lives.
Robert Sneddon
Hillary Clinton is fit, tanned, tested and ready. Just sayin’
SFAW
@joel hanes:
In the immortal words of Olsen Johnson: “Now who can argue with THAT?”
SFAW
@Baud:
Have you learned NOTHING, Grasshopper?
Betty
@Mnemosyne: 
; These are the kind of details I would love to see pulled together on one place to provide a clear picture.
Krope, the Formerly Dope
Maybe he think it’s like Rumplestiltskin. He thinks if he identifies it correctly by name, it will go away. He can’t have that happen to his favorite food, so he continues to misspell it.