Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

I swear, each month of 2025 will have its own history degree.

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

Mediocre white men think RFK Jr’s pathetic midlife crisis is inspirational. The bar is set so low for them, it’s subterranean.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

Trump’s cabinet: like a magic 8 ball that only gives wrong answers.

Dear elected officials: Trump is temporary, dishonor is forever.

You know it’s bad when the Project 2025 people have to create training videos on “How To Be Normal”.

Following reporting rules is only for the little people, apparently.

I am pretty sure these ‘journalists’ were not always such a bootlicking sycophants.

Hey hey, RFK, how many kids did you kill today?

Let’s bury these fuckers at the polls 2 years from now.

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

My right to basic bodily autonomy is not on the table. that’s the new deal.

We need to vote them all out and restore sane Democratic government.

The willow is too close to the house.

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

The Giant Orange Man Baby is having a bad day.

Cancel the cowardly Times and Post and set up an equivalent monthly donation to ProPublica.

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

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

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

The republican ‘Pastor’ of the House is an odious authoritarian little creep.

I desperately hope that, yet again, i am wrong.

You are here: Home / Elections / Biden For President / Friday Morning Open Thread: May Day Is For New Beginnings

Friday Morning Open Thread: May Day Is For New Beginnings

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Or so we can all hope!

Yeah, that’s not gonna happen. But *this* would certainly be a major improvement:

And while we’re at it…

… Nearly 10 million American households have no bank account, forced to use costly, fringe financial products. Even before the pandemic, these households spent a combined $100 billion a year to cash checks, send money to relatives and take out payday loans for their bills. It’s expensive to be poor in America.

During the Great Depression, postal banking flourished, serving many of the poorest families. My proposal, the Postal Banking Act, would serve a similar population by leveraging the Postal Service’s 30,000-plus locations to create access to a nonprofit bank in every community in the country, from low-income urban neighborhoods to rural areas.

The post office would offer low-cost checking and savings accounts similar to those found at other banks, access to services like A.T.M.s and mobile banking and low-interest loans for families looking for a financial bridge to cover food or heating costs. Not only would this allow families without much income to keep their own money, but a 2014 Postal Service inspector general’s report found that a similar version of postal banking could create $9 billion in revenue a year…

Lastly, the need for the post office to protect our democracy has never been greater. With Election Day approaching, public health experts are warning voters to avoid crowds and long lines. Americans should never have to risk their lives to vote. Thankfully, many states have robust absentee ballot systems in place that, once updated to meet the needs of today, can serve American voters in every community. And it will be the Postal Service that will deliver these ballots, acting as the engine of the democratic process…

Via commentor NotMax:
1918: Wear A Mask or Go to Jail

Reader Interactions

292Comments

  1. 1.

    Baud

    I’m looking at the decadence, violence, religious fervor, and consumer culture in a completely new light.

    I’m ok with the decadence.

  4. 4.

    debbie

    I agree with Gillinbrand. The more small banks/bank-likes there are, the less power the monster-sized banks will have. Especially if they can offer some interest on small accounts.

  11. 11.

    NotMax

    Happy Lei Day.

    Virtually.

    Although Honolulu’s 93rd annual lei day celebration at Kapiolani Park has been canceled, the city Department of Parks and Recreation last week announced it would celebrate this year with the “Na Lei Koa (Warrior Lei)” theme for Lei Day.

    “Aloha prevails in Hawaii during this time of the COVID-19 pandemic,” said the department in a news release. “Although efforts to combat the virus have impacted our lives in so many ways, it has not wavered the Spirit of Aloha that unites us as island residents. In fact, it has strengthened that spirit.”

    Residents are invited to make a lei using items found in and around their homes, and to safely display it on Friday from their mailboxes, without inhibiting postal operations, or from their lanai or front door, from sunrise to sunset.

    The theme is an opportunity for residents to display aloha and show their appreciation for the warriors battling the coronavirus, including first responders, medical professionals, and essential workers who are keeping everyone safe and working hard during this global pandemic, said the department.

    It also recognizes warriors “who are making sacrifices by remaining at home to prevent the spread of the virus.” Source

  13. 13.

    zhena gogolia

    @Baud:

    A cryptic tweet in the thread below suggests Mika is pushing the Reade story without giving background. I’m too nervous to investigate. Think I’ll go have breakfast.

  15. 15.

    germy

    Has anyone else noticed that trump supporters aren’t demanding that bookstores and libraries open?

    — PatriciannS (@a_patriciann) April 30, 2020

  16. 16.

    Immanentize

    That last Rivkin show looks mighty white.  Oh good, white (straight) people explaining “the AIDS” again.  Oh joy!

    If there isn’t a full discussion about how white people — in this country and throughout the world — sent tens of thousands to their death in the 80s, the show will be … Something other than good.

  18. 18.

    satby

    Good morning all. Waiting for the Republican governor here to announce he’s letting the stay home orders expire in Indiana. Rates of new cases rise about 5% statewide, 3% locally each day. That’s going to change, and since people around here just won’t take it seriously until people they know start dying, I guess we’ll just have to hope the deniers are harder hit by it (but they won’t be, because the universe isn’t fair).

  19. 19.

    Immanentize

    @NotMax:

    It also recognizes warriors “who are making sacrifices by remaining at home to prevent the spread of the virus.”

    I un-ironically thank such folks for their service.

    I love that photo, “Wear a mask or go to jail.”

  20. 20.

    NotMax

    Looking for something not taxing and amiable with which to pass some time? Unpretentious and engaging is a documentary available on Prime about nonagenarian Broadway producer Leonard Soloway, a gentleman radiating likability, possessed of natural good humor and seemingly unwavering equanimity.

  21. 21.

    Betty Cracker

    Watching Morning Joe, which I never do because I can’t stand that pompous ass Scarborough. Biden up next. I don’t know who advised Biden to use Morning Fucking Joe as the vehicle to address these bogus charges, but I hope that person knows what he or she is doing. The set up has not been encouraging.

  22. 22.

    germy

    I believe @JoeBiden. Signed, a rape survivor.— Xeni Jardin ?? (@xeni) May 1, 2020

    You can’t fool a rape survivor on the topic of rape. We have survival senses that were developed through the lived experience. Doesn’t mean we are clairvoyant. Or the equivalent of a judge or jury due process. But I can see reality.— Xeni Jardin ?? (@xeni) May 1, 2020

    One of the reasons I knew it was bullshit is rape victims don’t use their rape as a political cudgel, detached. I’ve never experienced anyone who related to rape trauma or their rapist in the way that this woman does in her in communication. And, her fawning Putin posts. Cmon.— Xeni Jardin ?? (@xeni) May 1, 2020

  23. 23.

    germy

    She teased the rape claims on social media with the hashtag #Russianinterference. She used terse alt-right meme phrases to imply that a gotcha was coming for Biden’s campaign. Hey. I’m a rape survivor. That is not how a victim tends to behave. It’s how political operatives do.— Xeni Jardin ?? (@xeni) May 1, 2020

    Signals. You learn to read subtle signals when you grow up in a violent home and end up experiencing sexual violence. I did. And for me, this gave off signals of “inauthentic coordinated activity,” to borrow Facebook’s stilted phrase. It’s an op.— Xeni Jardin ?? (@xeni) May 1, 2020

  25. 25.

    Baud

    @Betty Cracker:

    Maybe they figured it’s best to use a semi-hostile panel.  If he had interviewed with Joy Reid, the whole thing would be dismissed.

  26. 26.

    Baud

    @germy: Good. This fight will require regular people pushing back.  It can’t be won by political leaders.

  27. 27.

    satby

    Also, annoyed that the stimulus money still isn’t here and the IRS site said it would be sent May 1. Leading me to suspect that I’m getting a mailed check even though I get SS direct deposit, which was supposed to be used by the IRS for seniors payments. Plus the IRS has had my direct deposit info for as long as that’s been a refund option, but I owed taxes last year, so they didn’t use it.

    I’m annoyed because I have donations to make, both political and charitable.

  28. 28.

    MomSense

    I was on the same track as Dr Dahlstrom.  Had a long email conversation with my Aunt, Dad and Mom about our elders never discussing the pandemic.  They discussed everything else.  They never went wild in the 20s because some of them were Baptists and Prohibitionist, and my maternal grandma was way too poor and worked too many hours to have a wild side life.

    Watching Biden now. He’s good.

  29. 29.

    snoey

    @germy:

    My wife is a small town library director and one of her fellow directors is indeed getting pushed to reopen prematurely – probably mostly just to prove that they can, not that they particularly value the library.

  33. 33.

    rjm

    There’s a new Biden post on Medium this morning, good statement I think

    medium.com/@JoeBiden/statement-by-vice-president-joe-biden-7a9593bd3012

    These paragraphs seem super important:

    There is a clear, critical part of this story that can be verified. The former staffer has said she filed a complaint back in 1993. But she does not have a record of this alleged complaint. The papers from my Senate years that I donated to the University of Delaware do not contain personnel files. It is the practice of Senators to establish a library of personal papers that document their public record: speeches, policy proposals, positions taken, and the writing of bills.
    There is only one place a complaint of this kind could be — the National Archives. The National Archives is where the records are kept at what was then called the Office of Fair Employment Practices. I am requesting that the Secretary of the Senate ask the Archives to identify any record of the complaint she alleges she filed and make available to the press any such document. If there was ever any such complaint, the record will be there.

  37. 37.

    Betty Cracker

    Mika is making the same point over and over — if you “believe women,” why not believe Reade? Biden just sighed in exasperation after giving the same answer five times. And now she goes on again…

  38. 38.

    germy

    McConnell on whether Biden's Senate papers should be released by the Univ of Delaware:

    "When you run for president of the United States your life is an open book and I can't imagine he's not going to have to participate in releasing all the information in the allegations"

    — Igor Bobic (@igorbobic) April 30, 2020

  42. 42.

    Betty Cracker

    Mika is keen to get her mitts on the Senate papers at the University of Delaware. Biden has said repeatedly that there are no personnel records there.

  43. 43.

    germy

    On Fox & Friends, Karl Rove attacks Joe Biden for not responding to Tara Reade's claims on-camera. Perhaps unbeknownst to Fox, Biden is literally talking about this on Morning Joe at this very moment. pic.twitter.com/oKTZezAmSV— Bobby Lewis (@revrrlewis) May 1, 2020

  46. 46.

    SFAW

    @Jo Jo las Orejas:

    ¿Tootsies recuperándose?

    Not many people know this, but “tootsies” is actual country-specific Spanish slang for toes. If memory serves, it’s from Costa Nicamalexico. Either there or Nambia.

  47. 47.

    Baud

    @Betty Cracker:

    I said in the late-night thread the we should call reporters trying to leverage this story to gain access to private records as “extortionists.”

  48. 48.

    Karen S.

    Open thread! We’ve settled into a shelter-in-place rhythm in my home. I’ve worked from home for the past few years so that wasn’t a new thing for me. My wife has been working from him since mid-March, which was new for both of us. I was used to having the place to myself during the day while she was missing the daily commute to and from work. She’s an extrovert who mostly loves being in crowds, so riding a bus or train to work and seeing her colleagues every day was fun for her. We’ve both made the adjustment even if it means going through the charade of my wife leaving to go to work, so she tells me, via text as she did before COVID-19 restrictions, how her commute was (from the kitchen to the office she has set up in our living room). She texts me at the end of the day to let me know that she’s on her way home at the end of the day. It’s absurd and funny, and makes our moods a bit lighter. Also, we’ve enjoyed having lunch together every day, something we couldn’t really do before the restrictions.

  49. 49.

    PenAndKey

    @Immanentize: Sounds to me like Biden has at least one person like Adam on his payroll, because the only effective way to counter this sort of influence campaign is to actually treat it like one, not as a “scandal” as the media would prefer. That article and this interview sure point to the campaign doing so

    @Baud: It’s awful hard to just ignore the Senate Majority Leader, even if he is trolling for his red meat crowd.

  51. 51.

    Betty Cracker

    Now there’s a break, but Biden will stay with the panel. My impression is this was a disaster…for Mika. What an idiot. There are legit questions to explore here, but she was aggressively hackish and got nothing but repeat denials because she basically asked two questions for five minutes.

  54. 54.

    Betty Cracker

    Now they’re back, and Scarborough is asking about the pandemic. Maybe that wraps up the Reade segment? Who knows.

  55. 55.

    Jo Jo las Orejas

    @Baud: Eso me hace feliz. Adiós. Voy a desayunar y jugar con mis juguetes que tengo para mi cumpleaños de 6 meses. También vas a jugar con tus juguetes. Me gustan los Kongs con mantequilla de maní congelada, plátanos y zanahorias.

  56. 56.

    clay

    @Betty Cracker: That’s so stupid.

    “Well, I’m absolutely sure I didn’t do this, but I’m supposed to Believe All Women, sooooo… I guess I’m guilty!”

  57. 57.

    Biff Baxter

    @Betty Cracker: Mika has never served any purpose on the show other than to display a look of consternation and to tsk tsk in the background.

  58. 58.

    Immanentize

    @Betty Cracker: Baud, I believe it was, said the me too slogans would become attack points.  “Believe women” is clearly now one of them.

    I’m with rikyrah — women telling tales led to most lynchings.  So believe, but verify?

  59. 59.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @MomSense: They never went wild in the 20s because some of them were Baptists and Prohibitionist, and my maternal grandma was way too poor and worked too many hours to have a wild side life.

    A little different from my family’s story. Grandpa always worked (10 kids takes a lot of dedication) including after hours minding his still. One icy winter’s day he lost my old man’s brand new sleigh he had just gotten for Xmas when he slipped and fell while making a delivery of hootch. Let go of the rope to catch himself and watched it slide down the long steep hill never to be seen again.

    IIRC, the words he used all contained some variation of “fuck”. Then he picked himself up and they made the long trudge home.

  61. 61.

    SFAW

    @germy:

    I expect Xeni Jardin will be subjected to any number of “you weren’t REALLY raped” comments, whether from RNC HQ or St. Petersburg or Briahna Joy Gray (or equivalent).

    Be that as it may: her tweets should be required reading for all the “reporters” at the FTFTFNYT.

  62. 62.

    bemused

    Thanks to TaMara for recommending watching “The Biggest Little Farm”. We saw it at the tiny movie theatre/coffee/gift shop in nearest tiny town. The movie was free sponsored by MN small farm group. We loved it.

  65. 65.

    Betty Cracker

    @clay: Agreed. It’s the wingnut framing of the #MeToo movement, which misunderstands the entire thing on purpose to discredit it. What “believe women” means is that the default response shouldn’t be to assume that women are lying hussies who are hunting innocent men to slander (the status quo for decades) but rather their accusations should be taken seriously and investigated.

  66. 66.

    Immanentize

    Counter intuitive hot take! Joe was kind of out of the news. Moldering at home quiet and unremarked. This bruhaha has put him back in the frame. And if he does a good job, that will be a big boost for his campaign.

  68. 68.

    Steeplejack

    @Betty Cracker:

    Just came here to post about this train wreck in the making. Mika is very inconsistent in her interviewing skills, and she is off the rails with Biden. “Are women to be believed except when it applies to you?” I keep muting it because I can feel a brain aneurysm developing. This is Mika at her worst: when she’s “speaking truth to power” and investigating some noble cause. (Too bad she didn’t deploy that with Trump in ’16.)

    And she’s off on Biden’s papers at the University of Delaware. Why would anyone expect anything to be there? As I think Adam pointed out last night, Biden is not likely to have any records related to any complaints made about him in the Senate, and he’s unlikely to have left a “Dear diary” page around saying “Molested a cute intern in the hall this morning. That was fun.”

    Ugh. This is awful. At least the little snippets I was able to watch.

    Biden did push back strongly, but that’ll probably be taken as some sort of “methinks he doth protest too much” tell.

  69. 69.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @germy:McConnell on whether trump’s tax returns should be released by the IRS:

    Yeah, we know what he’ll say about that.

  73. 73.

    Baud

    @Immanentize:

    I’m not sure if that was me, but the original phrase was “Believe women.”  It was developed in the context where multiple women had identical accusations of sexual assault over a span of several years, as in the Cosby and Weinstein cases, without any prosecution. You have nothing like that here.

    This is a teaching moment IMHO.  If we’re not going to police our own lines, someone else will do it for us, and that someone else will not be our friend.

    ETA:  tl;dr.  The “Too” in Me Too is missing here.

  78. 78.

    satby

    @Immanentize: yes, that’s what told me to expect it May 1. Now it states a check will be mailed to me, along with fat bastard’s letter.

    I’ve gotten direct deposit SS for 3 years. No reason to waste money mailing both a letter and a check separately to me other than the Trump admin’s attempts to make it look to seniors that the stimulus money is largesse coming from the traitor himself. Infuriating.

  80. 80.

    Immanentize

    @Baud: Why did you choose pink for the e?, you sexist running dog!?

    I agree, and the whole context needs to be made clear.  No one is saying that one loses all sense and sensibility when an accusation is made, rather that it should never be discounted out of hand.

    Listen.  Investigate.  Support victims.  It’s not hard.

  82. 82.

    Baud

    @Steeplejack:

    Biden did push back strongly, but that’ll probably be taken as some sort of “methinks he doth protest too much” tell.

    There’s is no magic bullet that will keep the spinners from spinning.

  83. 83.

    NotMax

    @Booger

    I believe the traditional gift for a 39th is to mutually share a listen to or viewing of Jack Benny.

    ;)

  84. 84.

    Immanentize

    @satby: I read somewhere that we should all be returning “fat bastard’s letter” via the USPS to help out the postal system.  I don’t know about that latter but, but I think it is a good idea….

  85. 85.

    Chyron HR

    What I don’t get is that Bernie has a horde of literal enfants terrible willing to do anything for him*.  Why not just have one of them accuse Biden of molesting them as a child?

    * Except actually vote.

  86. 86.

    germy

    The “Hunter Biden” schtick didn’t stick.

    The “dementia” schtick didn’t stick.

    So next up is the “let’s weaponize a disturbed scam artist” schtick.

  88. 88.

    Betty Cracker

    @Booger: Congrats! May is a good month to get married. Our anniversary is 5/31. It’ll be 23 years for us. Where does the time go?

  93. 93.

    Baud

    @Immanentize:

    Agreed.  Although this is a little different (worse) than the other examples because we have people “on the left” who are joining the trolls on the right and in the media on this one. Even after everything that’s happened, there’s still apprehension, I think, about punching back hard on bad actors who wear the progressive label.

  95. 95.

    NotMax

    @BobS

    ‘Twas a ludicrously obvious ploy to get a rise out of him so that ready made “See? He disrespects women.” stories would flow from certain media outlets like snot from a runny schnozz.

  96. 96.

    montanareddog

    @OzarkHillbilly: A friend of mine was playing the slots, hit a winning line and the machine jammed. His Anglo-Saxon reaction was: “Fuck! The fuckin’ fuckin’ fucker’s fuckin’ fucked!”

  98. 98.

    clay

    I have a theory…

    Mika did the Reade part of the interview, right? I’m sure they were saying, “Mika you’re the woman, you’re the only one who can ask about this. You need to make sure the really get to the bottom of this. Really grill him!”

    But because Mika isn’t great at her job, and maybe doesn’t do a lot of critical thinking, to her grilling Biden meant just repeating the same question over and over again, without actually responding to what he was saying.

  99. 99.

    clay

    @Baud:

    There’s is no magic bullet that will keep the spinners from spinning.

    Regular bullets will work fine for that.

  100. 100.

    JMG

    Is anyone else here finding that the weather has increasing power over their moods due to being in virus mode all the time? On a nice day I can count my blessings of having a yard to be outside in, Alice to share isolation with, and approach the world with a “oh, well, got to muddle through” attitude. It’s pouring here right now, dark as November on May Day, and my thoughts are dark and sad indeed. I know it’s artificial, but it keeps happening in what’s been a cold and wet spring so far.

  104. 104.

    Steeplejack

    I received my $1,200—stimulus? relief? what?—on Wednesday, via unannounced direct deposit. (In blue state Virginia.) No Trump signature for my scrapbook, but I guess I’ll get that when I get the (self-)congratulatory letter he’s supposed to be sending to everybody.

    In other news, I’ve got a “phone conference” scheduled later this morning with my primary-care doc at Kaiser. I got a cold call from a minion yesterday to set it up. I think this is a make-work project because everything non-emergency has been shut down, but I’m trying to think of things to ask/​discuss to make it worthwhile. Like everybody else, I’m kicking myself for minor/​maintenance stuff that I didn’t take care of in the before times. One thing I am going to talk to her about is getting a full physical when things get back to “normal.” I’m way overdue for one.

  105. 105.

    Betty Cracker

    @clay: I’m sure you’re correct that they put Mika up to it because she’s a woman. Notice how she did the entire interview in a voice like Sarah McLachlan doing an ASPCA ad voice-over. Jesus God. Like racism, sexism is so embedded in our culture that those who are submerged in it are as oblivious as fish are to water.

  106. 106.

    BobS

    @NotMax: If that was the plan, it failed.  Biden’s performance also should have erased any doubts about his mental acuity.

    Reade seems like a troubled woman- I think that will become increasingly clear as more light is shone on her story and her life. Hopefully this (which I think is coming from Sanders supporters) will help to inoculate Biden from the inevitable shit that will come from the Trump campaign.

  108. 108.

    rikyrah

    Just remember how emboldened and smug guys like Jake Tapper, Jon Karl, & Major Garrett were during the Obama administration. Their attitudes completely changed once Trump got in the White House. Ask yourself why.— Matt Murphy (@MattMurph24) May 1, 2020

  109. 109.

    JMG

    @Betty Cracker: I believe it was Biden who wanted a woman interviewer. Perhaps his opinion of Mika’s is similar to yours and he thought there was no way she could lay a glove on him.

  111. 111.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @JMG:

    I have that same reaction to the ongoing terrible weather here in Chicagoland. But it’s sunny today, and I feel better.

    Rubin gave Biden’s Morning Joe interview a good review on twitter. We’ll have to watch how the reaction gels over the next couple of days. Btw, anyone who hasn’t read Adam’s post on Reade should take a look. It’s informative and interesting.

  117. 117.

    rikyrah

    Note how Biden doesn’t attack Reade. Note how he doesn’t try and explain her motives. He just says none of her allegations are true.He’s calm, he’s direct, he’s confident. No matter how many times Mika asks the same question, he’s never flustered.— Aaron T. Starks ? (@StarkyLuv73) May 1, 2020

  118. 118.

    rikyrah

    This
    This
    T-H-I-S??

    Barack Obama didn't just have to be squeaky clean, he had to be 100x as clean as everyone else. Does anyone think that didn't extend to his Veep pick? That's the main reason I'm not on board with this Tara Reade shit. We know how high the bar was for Obama.— Lynn V SAYS DON'T DRINK BLEACH (@lynnv378) May 1, 2020

  119. 119.

    germy

    Jerome Corsi, the commentator who narrowly escaped charges in Mueller probe, meant to email Zev Zelenko, a White House-allied doctor, about a hydroxychloroquine project. He instead emailed Aaron Zelinsky, the Mueller prosecutor. A new probe has begun… t.co/WoghPSuEHR— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) May 1, 2020

    They’d be so much more dangerous if they weren’t so incompetent ?— Andrea Barto (@andib3260) May 1, 2020

    Oops: when you accidentally email the federal prosecutors… t.co/zDOid6168Z— Jane Mayer (@JaneMayerNYer) May 1, 2020

  123. 123.

    rikyrah

    Kapow ????

    Should a woman who had an affair with her boss be grilling anyone about a dubious sexual assault?— LiberalPhenom (Obama is my president forever) (@LiberalPhenom) May 1, 2020

  126. 126.

    Steeplejack

    And here’s a weird thing that happened this week. I got a notice from UPS that a package was coming, one that I’d have to sign for. It arrived on Monday and turned out to be the housecat’s ashes, tastefully locked in a nice wooden box about the size of an index-card case with a metal plaque on the front: “In loving memory / Stella.”

    I specifically said that I did not want this option, and a look at my bill from the veterinary place shows that they didn’t charge me for it. This is not Stella, and I don’t feel the need to have this tangible memento. But I can’t think of a place to scatter the ashes. (The most appropriate place would be over my desk and keyboard, but there are problems with that.)

    I put the box on a bookshelf in my bedroom, and I guess I have gotten comfortable with the idea that a good solution will present itself at some point. Go figure.

  128. 128.

    Betty Cracker

    Biden was consistent on his theme of not questioning people’s motives. That’s a line he’s repeated throughout his career — sometimes to my annoyance, as in when he applied it to McConnell and Dick Cheney. But it served him well in this situation.

    He denied the allegation and stuck to it. He refused to be sucked into a scenario in which reporters could use this allegation as an excuse to comb through his senate papers, and he explained why in a rational manner, repeatedly.

    For good faith actors looking for information on the Reade allegation, that should be enough. Unfortunately, there are damn few good faith actors.

  130. 130.

    Steeplejack

    Oh, geez, Joe Scarborough is doubling down in the show wrap-up about how Biden’s Delaware archives are going to have to be opened to inspection. He also did a sort of half-assed “both sides” equivalence with Brett Kavanaugh but didn’t really develop that (thank God).

  132. 132.

    germy

    @Steeplejack:  I had a beautiful cat who died in 1989.  In her last year she lived with my parents, who also loved her.  When she died, my parents kept her ashes in an engraved urn.

    When my parents died in 2000, they left the urn to me.  I buried it in my backyard.

    We’ve since sold that house, and sometimes I wonder if I did the wrong thing leaving the urn behind.  I fear the new owner will decide to replace the old shed, dig around and uncover my little girl.

    I don’t know.  What’s the protocol with pet graves?  I can’t help but feel guilty.  I wish I’d scattered her ashes.

  134. 134.

    Sab

    @Karen S.: That is so cute! Maybe that’s what has been missing in our life together these last few weeks.  I don’t miss the commute at all, but I do miss announcing the safe arrival and the headimg for home.

  136. 136.

    germy

    I’m not pissed off because I am loyal to Joe Biden. I’m pissed off because the American press learned nothing from 2016 and here we are vulnerable again and you’re playing by the same dumb rules.— Xeni Jardin ?? (@xeni) May 1, 2020

    I’m looking directly at you, @taylorlorenz. And you, MSNBC news presenters, plural. You owe the American public an amends. For believing @theintercept was anything but exactly what the name says.— Xeni Jardin ?? (@xeni) May 1, 2020

  137. 137.

    Karen S.

    @Immanentize: You’re welcome. This has really been an interesting time. So far, we’re doing all right. We’ve always enjoyed each other’s company immensely so that helps.

  138. 138.

    schrodingers_cat

    BS Presidential campaign 2.0 was a ratfucking Russian operation to try out smears to be later used in the fall campaign. It performed the same function in 2016.

    Let’s see where he buys his 4th home.

  139. 139.

    germy

    Waiting for all the “journalists” who fell for this bullshit and exploited it for clicks and views and Twitter faves and follows to admit they got played. Make sure to write that follow up piece about how it was bullshit now won’t you?
    You were PLAYED. Like a BROKEN FIDDLE.
    — Xeni Jardin ?? (@xeni) May 1, 2020

    I do believe the woman needs help and professional care. But that’s none of my business. Political interference campaigns in 2020 that mirror the Russian active measures that stole the presidency in 2016? Yeah. That is my goddamn business. Tara Reade is an op.— Xeni Jardin ?? (@xeni) May 1, 2020

  141. 141.

    Amir Khalid

    @Baud:

    Autocomplete, autocorrect, and spellcheck are the Devil’s handiwork, and all who are righteous shun them.

  142. 142.

    rp

    I got the $1,200 stimulus money a few days ago along with a ridiculous letter from Trump. But I’m 99% sure that I’m NOT ELIGIBLE. Not sure what I’m supposed to do at this point. F**king idiots.

  145. 145.

    Amir Khalid

    @germy:

    The protocol is to do whatever you feel best honours the memory of your feline loved one. Only you can decide what that is.

  147. 147.

    Immanentize

    @germy: I feel compelled to link to The Ramones

    Sorry for the concern this causes you. But it’s a good cautionary tale. My Uncle’s ashes are buried in an urn glued in an igloo cooler in his back yard where his garden was….

  148. 148.

    bystander

    Mika and Joe have never explained why their clandestine affair was not an imposition, if not harassment, on the entire staff.

    No word yet whether the next 26 MoJo programs will be devoted to discussing the allegations of each of the women accusing twitler.

  149. 149.

    PST

    @germy: What’s the protocol with pet graves?

    That’s a subject for a thread in itself. My guess is that bookshelves are the semi-final resting place of plenty of beloved pets, including some of mine. My worst pet disposition was letting a dog and cat ride around in my trunk for a few years after a move until the car was stolen. My current (and final!) wife would not have let that happen. As a death professional, she buys her urns wholesale, but they are big human urns. They look lovely on the bookshelves, but the number of them may give visitors pause.

  155. 155.

    Baud

    @rp: If you feel guilty about spending it on yourself, donate it to the Dems or a charity.

    ETA:  I see you’re ahead of me.

  156. 156.

    Steeplejack

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Contact them to do what? I didn’t get charged, and what are they going to do with the box? Like I said, I guess something will suggest itself.

  158. 158.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @NotMax: Step 2: Don’t let Walter say anything. Don’t let Walter scatter the ashes. In fact, don’t let Walter have anything to do with it.

    (for those who find the reference too obtuse, The Big Lebowski)

  161. 161.

    Just One More Canuck

    @PST:

    Who among us hasn’t emailed federal prosecutors with details of a planned crime?

    Many years ago, a friend was planning to fight a traffic ticket by telling the judge that he didn’t see the ‘no-turns’ sign. We called that the “Your Honour, Ah’s Stooopid” defence.

  162. 162.

    raven

    @OzarkHillbilly: If I use a forstner bit to set the carriage bolts below the surface of the plywood will that weaken the plywood? Would it be best to drill them and then put the Thompsons on the holes?

  163. 163.

    NotMax

    @Steeplejack

    Possible it’s someone else’s pet and they’re awaiting delivery?

    “Oh crap, that was supposed to be sent to Steeplezack.”

  164. 164.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Steeplejack: To look at their records, and see who might have ordered their beloved pets ashes returned to them at the same time they were taking care of Stella’s remains.

    I am thinking of the heartbreak of the person who will be waiting for ever. This meant something to them. I’d have to at least try to get the ashes to them.

  165. 165.

    PST

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Yes indeed, made worse because the dog and cat were none too fond of one another in life and must now share quarters for eternity. Sort of like No Exit meets Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, but with animals.

  166. 166.

    artem1s

    unfortunately Biden may be in a lose/lose situation.  there is no way to prove a negative. by having addressing the issue at all he’s conceding that the argument has merit.  if he lays out all Reade’s  suspicious activities he’s going to be branded as #yesallmen and victim blamer.  And then we will get to rehash Anita Hill all over again.  The problem here is these attacks are designed to fuel speculation. Since ‘we all know’ Biden is suspect because of his ties to business, Obama, Hillary, neolibs, etc etc etc… nothing he can say will be accepted at face value. Not about Reade or any other following allegation.

    Hell if every operative from the Bush’s to Mitt’s campaigns, who’s ever done opposition research on Biden, stood on stage with him and declared this to be a large pile of steaming shit, it would only fuel the fire of the asshats who want an excuse to vote against sanity and by proxy but that orange mess back in the WH.

    Maybe if his campaign unrelentlessly goes on attack and turns the conversation back around to Ukraine and birther bullshit and the previous attempts to discredit Obama, Hillary,Kerry, and Biden – then they might be able to turn it into an advantage.  But Biden really needs to let someone else from the campaign do it, otherwise he ends up looking like crazy uncle Joe with all his conspiracy rants.

  167. 167.

    Immanentize

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: OK.  Now you got me working this — the thief thinks he is being driven mad (as do all his family and friends) but what really is happening is that the cat and dog just want to be driven home again. Sort of 6th Sense meets Lassie, Come Home.

  169. 169.

    Steeplejack

    @germy:

    It can be hard to figure out what to do. One reason I didn’t want the ashes in the first place. I live in an apartment, so there’s nowhere here that I would want to scatter them, and Sighthound Hall doesn’t feel appropriate either.

  173. 173.

    Baud

    @artem1s:

    Disagree. People are tired of being manipulated. A few loud people on Twitter will make a show about being unable to vote for Biden, but the attacks will only increase his turnout.

    I wouldn’t be surprised if this whole thing helps him with men who live in fear of women (ie Obama to Trump voters).

  174. 174.

    Immanentize

    @Just One More Canuck: I did once have a prosecutor accidentally email me a memo which was highly critical of her victim’s credibility.  Oopsie!  But excellent for my client.  I made a big show of returning it, saying I understood such mistakes happened, etc.  Never mentioned it again, but the case was dismissed about a week later before the next court date — which never happened otherwise.

  176. 176.

    Patricia Kayden

    A spokesperson for the first president in modern history to refuse to release his tax returns and who demanded that numerous women sign non-disclosure agreements making a case for Joe Biden to be more transparent is pretty rich pic.twitter.com/jioCgC1zGs— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 1, 2020

  178. 178.

    satby

    @JMG: Is anyone else here finding that the weather has increasing power over their moods due to being in virus mode all the time?

    Yes. Same. Plus it’s rained so much with no dry off in between I now have to hire someone with professional lawn equipment to mow the high grass.

  179. 179.

    artem1s

    @Betty Cracker:

    He refused to be sucked into a scenario in which reporters could use this allegation as an excuse to comb through his senate papers,

    Oh boy, now we are off to the races.  It’s Hillary’s secret speeches to Wall Street all over again

  180. 180.

    raven

    @germy: I knew my current wife before my divorce (she had nothing to do with it) Her little doggie was killed and she asked if she could bury it on our property out in the country. A couple of years before that she had a dog run over and she was new in town so she wrapped him up and put him in a freezer before she took him to her folks place up in Virginia.

     

    This is Raven’s grave site in our yard. I lit a candle in that “Milagro” every day for a year after we lost the little fella.

  181. 181.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @raven: It will make a path for water to get between the plys. I have never actually used treated plywood, so I have no idea of the effect that would have. But up here at the very least the freeze thaw would cause delamination. I would not counter sink it at all. Tighten the bolts till they just dimple the plywood. When removing compost etc the shovel will just slide right over the rounded head.

    As to drilling the holes and then put the Thompsons on them, I would, for the same reasons cited above.

  184. 184.

    Gin & Tonic

    @clay:

    But because Mika isn’t great at her job, and maybe doesn’t do a lot of critical thinking, to her grilling Biden meant just repeating the same question over and over again, without actually responding to what he was saying.

    Listening to your interview subject and adjusting your questioning on the fly is a real skill. Few pretty talking heads have mastered that skill.

    Howard Stern, of all people, is actually really good at this.

  185. 185.

    schrodingers_cat

    I am bored with the Biden story. Morning Hoes haven’t changed my mind one iota. So I am changing the topic by sharing this awesome Qawwali from Maqbool (Vishal Bharadwaj’s take on Macbeth)

    Irrfan Khan and Tabu (who played the immigrant couple in the Namesake, play Macbeth and Lady Macbeth in this 2004 movie). Enjoy.

    The lyrics in Urdu by Gulzar are something else

    Rubaru

    (My not so great Urdu translation)

    You are my spirit

    Who my eyes worship

    If you give me permission

    I will give you this earth

    And give my life at your feet.

  186. 186.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @rikyrah:

    Note how Biden doesn’t attack Reade. Note how he doesn’t try and explain her motives. He just says none of her allegations are true.He’s calm, he’s direct, he’s confident. No matter how many times Mika asks the same question, he’s never flustered.

    Looks good, ‘flustered’ was one of my concerns. And it shouldn’t be the Biden camp’s job to explain her motives. That’s what journalists should be doing.

    I skimmed through an overlong, overwritten piece at Buzzfeed last night, that said Reade has denied political motives, although she has tweeted in favor of Sanders, or language like that. So, apparently, Buzzfeed reporters aren’t on-line and don’t know about the tic toc tweet. And judging from this thread, it didn’t come up on Morning Joseph.

  189. 189.

    WaterGirl

    @Steeplejack: I might wonder if perhaps you received ashes that should have gone to someone else.  A paperwork or bureaucratic mixup?

    edit: i see Ozark at #164 got there first.

  190. 190.

    artem1s

    @Baud:

    John Kerry would like a word with you.  There are plenty of people who are just waiting for an excuse to be just as awful as they were in 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, and 2016.

    In a month, count the # of stories and headlines about Reade and Trump’s handling of the pandemic and get back to me.

  192. 192.

    japa21

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: On a different note, we received a advertising brochure from a retirement community yesterday. I opened it up and whose smiling face was staring out at me? Yours, of course. The community’s resident author.  I hope they paid you.

  193. 193.

    NotMax

    @PST

    Hoary joke.

    Elderly lady’s two equally elderly pets pass away within days of one another. She decides to bring the bodies to a taxidermist so they will keep on keeping her company

    Taxidermist: Would you like them mounted?

    Lady: No, shaking paws will be sufficient.

  194. 194.

    Gin & Tonic

    @OzarkHillbilly: A trick I learned when building my kayak is if you need to put a 1/8″ screw through the hull you drill a 1/4″ hole, fill the hole with epoxy, let the epoxy cure, then drill your 1/8″ hole in the center of that 1/4″ (the hull is 4mm plywood.)

  195. 195.

    Baud

    @artem1s:

    Those people are a fixed quantity. Can’t do anything about them. We should focus on what we can do. John Kerry would agree with me.

  196. 196.

    PenAndKey

    @rikyrah: “Barack Obama didn’t just have to be squeaky clean, he had to be 100x as clean as everyone else. Does anyone think that didn’t extend to his Veep pick? That’s the main reason I’m not on board with this Tara Reade shit. We know how high the bar was for Obama.”

    This has been my take the whole time. There is absolutely no chance that the Obama campaign didn’t vet Biden to the moon and back, and there’s even less chance that they’d have missed something like this.

  198. 198.

    clay

    @Gin & Tonic: That’s because on radio Stern couldn’t rely on his face, or family connections, to become a success.

    And it’s the reason he’s lasted where other ‘shock jocks’ have a much shorter shelf life.

  199. 199.

    Betty Cracker

    @Baud:

    I wouldn’t be surprised if this whole thing helps him with men who live in fear of women (ie Obama to Trump voters).

    Yuck, but votes are votes.

  202. 202.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Gin & Tonic: Good idea.

    eta: tho I’m not sure it would work so well with carriage bolts due to the… *grabbers* under the rounded head that get impressed into the wood so they don’t spin when tightening. I say *grabbers* because I have no idea what the proper term for them is.

  204. 204.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Baud: as I recall,  Bush’s margin over Kerry in the popular vote was the most narrow in history, and (again, IIRC) almost a third of the country believed (and a lot more felt) that Saddam did 9/11

  205. 205.

    rp

    As I said yesterday, the timing of this is actually ideal for Biden. Few people are paying attention because of COVID-19, and November is far in the future. The only reason Reade and others are pushing this now is in a last ditch attempt to have Biden step down and get Sanders as the candidate. That’s not going to happen (and why would Biden delegates switch to Sanders?), so this won’t amount to much IMO.

    In addition, how many voters are going to be swayed by this even if they believe it’s true? The Sanders dead enders weren’t going vote for Biden anyway, but that’s only a tiny percentage of his supporters. Most will happily switch to Biden. Perhaps a small number of those will sit out if they believe the story, but, to be completely blunt about it, most people who hate Trump would vote for Biden over Trump regardless. (To be clear, I think this story is 100% BS.)

  206. 206.

    Barbara

    Whatever the alleged misconduct is, changing the story over time is the death knell to credibility, especially when there is no tangible documentation of the kind that should exist.  The irony is that many prosecutors will not prosecute rape cases solely based on a victim’s testimony, even when it is reported contemporaneously and the victim never deviates from the original statement.

    I have never been the victim of a rape, but I was stalked by a man in a pick-up truck in July of 1981, with the license plate of UWK-450.  Nearly 40 years later, I remember every minute of my walk home from work on that Sunday afternoon as he kept stopping and waiting for me to catch up to him.  I tried crossing the street, I ducked into the few businesses that were open on Sundays in those days, not for just a few seconds but for 15 or 20 minutes, and when he finally got out of his truck to try to get me inside I was so frightened I thought I would piss myself.  I was shaking and crying when I was finally able to run to a grocery store and call a friend to come and get me.

  207. 207.

    raven

    @Steeplejack: He was incredible, weighed about 120 lbs. People would line up downtown to ask about it.  You could hit a golf ball into the woods and he fly around until he found it. We think that is how he broke his leg. My ex was in dire straits at the time and he had rods in his leg that had to be cleaned several times a day and she couldn’t hack it. We took him and he was totally down in the dumps. We had just gotten Raven and, with in a couple of hours, the little scamp lifted mr Big’s spirits in a BIG way! When he healed we gave him back and all was well until she an her hubby moved. We took him back and he lasted just long enough for us to totally fall in love with him again.

  208. 208.

    raven

    @OzarkHillbilly: “It is distinguished from other bolts by its shallow mushroom head and that the shank cross-section of the bolt is circular for most of its length, as usual, but the portion immediately beneath the head is formed into a square section”

  209. 209.

    raven

    Awright I could dick around here all day but I need to do my exercises and get back to work!

  213. 213.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    I never heard of this person, and apparently he does something for The Hill, so basically the Fox triple A team (the worse of the word “dossier” is a tell), but I expect versions of this to dominate the Morning Joseph types for the next six month:

    Joe Concha @JoeConchaTV · 1h

    Give Mika credit: This wasn’t the T-ball session some expected. Biden finally answered questions (and was finally asked after dozens of interviewers failed to do so) and did not come across well. This doesn’t go away until the Delaware papers (the Blue Hen dossier) are released.

    while Chris Hayes makes sad face about troubling allegations, Maddow ignores it and O’Donnell– the Bernie-curious, Michael Moore-loving Moynihan worshipper…. who knows where that goof is gonna land.

  214. 214.

    Woodrow/asim

    I’m gonna be blunt: Biden’s statement is very much what I needed to hear, and read, at this point.

    As a person who tries to care deeply on these issues, I HAVE TO put aside, for a moment, the raw political calculus. In doing so, I feel that he’s taking the right immediate approach, specifically in saying he welcomes inquiry, and is OK with opening up the records in question for review. He didn’t throw MeToo under any buses, and — at least from where I’m sitting — outlined that the movement’s goals still matter.

    I was so very, very afraid he and his team would not square the circle on this — would not take in the thoughtful approach that folx like Burke (the founder of the #MeToo movement) have raised around these allegations. And although I have…irritations with some of the wording and ideas presented, overall Team Biden clearly heard from folx like Burke, to land this plane about as well as it can be, under these circumstances.

    Now, there are dozens of immediate challenges in said inquiry Biden Ok’ed (which I’m sure he and his team know!), most notably that (so far as I can tell) there’s no Law Enforcement agency that has direct jurisdiction to tackle this. I don’t think the route of a Senate Ethics inquiry is in play, given he’s no longer in office, either.

    That leaves the Fourth Estate — and I’m not sure I feel comfortable with this playing out in the realm of media, alone. So yes, it will likely continue to be he said/she said…

    …with a critical difference, to bring the political calculus back in: Biden has pointedly opened up to inquires, that Trump rejects. Assuming Biden is truthful here, and that there’s no other damaging fires along these lines out there for reporters to find, this is a powerful contrast going into the Fall election cycle.

    And one I personally welcome.

  215. 215.

    Gin & Tonic

    @OzarkHillbilly: Good point. All of my through-hull screws used a cup washer on the wet side so they didn’t “dent” the wood. And once they were in I varnished over them anyway.

  216. 216.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    Re the Reade accusation, I asked Mr DAW what he knew about it. He’s a good test for me because he follows the news but is not on social media. He says he’s heard that someone accused Biden of something but he wasn’t too worried because it didn’t fit the impression of Biden that he’s built up over the years.

  217. 217.

    CarolDuhart2

    @Immanentize:  I got that letter, and am sending it to Joe Biden with a $15 donation.  If enough folks do this, maybe Trump will get the message.  (I’ll also write a letter of my own on it)

  218. 218.

    JMG

    However the Reade story got started, it will continue on cable TV and the national political press because all those reporters are bored, bored, bored. There’s no campaigning to cover, no diners open in which to interview crabby retirees, no campaign aides to suck up to in the attempt to find “disarray.” There’s only public health and economic crises of unimaginable dimensions, which you’d think journalists would regard as big news, but these folks can’t skate out of their narrow shallow lane. Let us at Biden’s private papers! means “make my job real easy.”

  219. 219.

    MomSense

    Oldest son was laid off from work back in March.  Applied for UI online.  Got a written confirmation in the mail a few days later.  UI payments, retroactive plus weekly bonuses started rolling in within 10 days.  Thank you competent Democratic administration.  He just got his tax refunds and stimulus check.

    Meanwhile I am still waiting for stimulus payment plus I’ve been on reduced work hours.  My mom who receives her social security by direct deposit still hasn’t received her stimulus payment or tax refunds.  Shouldn’t it have been really easy to send the stimulus payments to social security recipients?

  220. 220.

    Barbara

    @WaterGirl: Thanks!  I know that people can react differently.  You might have so much trauma associated with an incident that you actually blank out details that are too painful to keep in the front of your mind.  But it just seems incredible to remember some details but forget something as basic as the date, or at least the month in which it happened.  That failure along with the changing story are what make this hard to credit.

  222. 222.

    Patricia Kayden

    angry mob brandishing military-grade weapons because they're mad at having to stay at home = "good people"athlete taking a knee to protest centuries of systemic racism = "son of a b"— Jeff Tiedrich (@itsJeffTiedrich) May 1, 2020

  223. 223.

    WaterGirl

    @CarolDuhart2: Maybe I am being overly cautious, but it doesn’t seem like a great idea to forward paper that Biden campaign workers have to handle.

    Personally, I would donate on-line and if there’s room for a note, make your intentions clear there

    Maybe an Act Blue for Biden that says “Donate here if you are disgusted because you had to wait for your 1,200 check so Trump could put his name on it and use it as part of his campaign for reelection.”

  224. 224.

    WaterGirl

    @Barbara: The inability to remember details doesn’t bother me – Christine Blasey Ford did not remember every single thing, and experts said that is very common because of the way the brain works related to trauma.

    But the ever-changing story?  Reade is not credible.

  225. 225.

    Karen S.

    @Sab: It really has helped us get used to this sheltering-in-place thing. You should try it. :-D

  227. 227.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @satby: I am actually quite angry about how the stimulus money has come out.  I had a woman in tears in my office yesterday because she is broke and WI is requesting further information before it releases her homestead credit money (a form of credit in rent and property taxes for low income people).*  She has not received her stimulus money and she is on SSDI.  I, otoh, had my money deposited directly into my bank account on April 15.  She needs the money desperately, and I do not.  Why did I get it more than two weeks before she did?

    *While it’s not what my office actually does, I helped her upload the documentation to the Wisconsin Department of Revenue because what the fuck else can you do when you have someone in full sobbing meltdown with a six year old child in tow.

  229. 229.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @CindyH: I never listened to his show– I’ve never been much for shock jocks, especially don’t get how they thrive in the morning– but seeing him on Letterman in later years and later hearing him on Fresh Air (Terri Gross loves him) he’s an interesting personality.

  230. 230.

    Barbara

    @WaterGirl: That’s kind of what I was trying to say.  In this case it is problematic to remember painful, damning details but blank on the date or even the month or day of the week, which is the minimum information that would allow someone to at least validate basic facts, such as whether he was in town or the Senate was in session.

  231. 231.

    Skepticat

    I’m thoroughly disgusted with Mayo for letting Dense in without a mask, and I’m going to tell them so. mayoclinic.org/forms/comments. Of course, it won’t make a particle of difference, but it will make me feel a bit better.

  232. 232.

    BobS

    @Barbara: My wife doesn’t obsess over politics like I do, however when I learned that Biden would be on Morning Joe today, I made a point of having the tv on (at a time it wouldn’t ordinarily be). One point she raised (after hearing Mika’s detailed description) was that it would have been odd- especially in 1993- for a woman not to have been wearing underwear in a professional setting.

  233. 233.

    rikyrah

    ???

    Not without some irony, GOP lawmakers voted by mail to roll back a plan that expanded access to mail-in ballots in Louisiana for people concerned about the coronavirus.Some Republicans objected because they believed it still featured too much access.t.co/jqaFqUqOS8— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) May 1, 2020

  235. 235.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Jeni’s of Cold Stones @agraybee · 54m
    Literally her very first tweet about the allegations contained the hashtags “NotMeUs” and “BernieIsOurFDR”.

    Miriam Elder @MiriamElder · 15h
    What the past few weeks have been like for Tara Reade, by @RosieGray + @rubycramer. “I’m not interested in my story being politically hijacked.” https://buzzfeednews.com/article/rosiegray/tara-reade-joe-biden-democrats-media-allegation

  237. 237.

    Barbara

    @BobS: Even now it would be kind of odd but I think it’s something most people don’t talk about.  In 1993, I was still wearing pantyhose every day.  I remember how annoying I found it to wear pantyhose while pregnant.  Even now, the U.S. Capitol (or reps and Senators) have much higher dress code standards than professional offices.  If you appear on the floor with your rep or Senator boss, you have to be dressed for the part.  When Jack Dorsey appeared as a witness, members of whatever committee it was gave him grief for not wearing a tie. It’s weirdly anachronistic.

  239. 239.

    BobS

    @Barbara: I just put the question into the Startpage search engine- the earliest ‘should you or shouldn’t you’ go bare legged article was from 2008.

  241. 241.

    WaterGirl

    @Barbara: I have no problem with not remembering the date or the day of the week, or even the month.

    For me, i have no problem with something like “it was summer and I was living in this house”, so it must have been this particular year”.  Or, I was so traumatized that I didn’t go to work for 3 days, so let’s check my employment records.

    But her story changes constantly, and that’s the tell.

  242. 242.

    Elizabelle

    @Betty Cracker:

    Notice how [Mika] did the entire interview in a voice like Sarah McLachlan doing an ASPCA ad voice-over.

    Laughing.  Why I come to Balloon Juice.

  245. 245.

    Steeplejack

    @NotMax, @OzarkHillbilly:

    I don’t think that kind of error is likely, but I called the vet place (not my usual vet) and explained the situation. A manager (actually named Karen) is going to investigate and call me back.

  246. 246.

    Citizen Alan

    @Steeplejack: Can you imagine how Joe Scarborough would squeal if people insisted that he open up his papers from his time in the House to confirm that there was nothing incriminating in there about Lori Klausatis?

  247. 247.

    Gin & Tonic

    @NotMax: Joe Namath is now selling Medicare supplemental insurance on the teevee box. Tom Selleck is selling reverse mortgages.

    I know we all get old and still have to put food on the table, but…

  248. 248.

    Steeplejack

    The phone conference with my Kaiser doc went all right, aside from the fact that she called half an hour early. Good thing I was sitting at my desk putzing around on the computer, able to take the call, instead of . . . hmm, yeah, the other productive stuff I do all day. ?

    She asked me a lot of questions about my current status, reviewed my most recent lab results (from the cancer operation last August) and said they were good, and she agreed that when things get back to “normal” I can schedule a full physical. End of story.

  250. 250.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Gin & Tonic: I sometimes listen to MSNBC through the Sirius app on my phone, the commercials are from the lower end of the market: Cars for kids, my pillow, boner-pills by mail. The last week I’ve been hearing Bill O’Reilly– ‘you know me as a news guy, but I’m talking to you now as a science guy’– hawking I forget which kind of supplement. His ex-wife (among others?) must’ve gotten a big and on-going pay out for her NDA. Good for her.

  251. 251.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    and here we go….

    Why won’t Biden open up his records to scrutiny?
    By Karen Tumulty 

  252. 252.

    Comrade Scrutinizer

    @Steeplejack: See, we bury our cats (after they die, contrary to rumors) in the garden, with cheerful flowers and small statuettes marking the graves.  After 35 years together, we have quite a crop!

  253. 253.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Sounds like the real reason for this is so they can have an excuse to go on a fishing trip threw Biden’s records. As the article this tweet quoted Read is claiming the written proof is Biden’s chief staff’s personal notes which can be anywhere so they can keep on pushing Biden to unseal one record after another until they find something unrelated like Biden has an overdue library book. White Water over again.

    This might be less about kneecapping Biden in the election and more about the GOP having an excuse to impeach Biden when he’s elected.

  255. 255.

    Immanentize

    @Barbara: Just got back….

    First, that was a horrible, scary event.  I am so sorry that happened to you.  I am glad you made it to this side — and lawyering to boot!

    I had never thought of the panty/pantyhose angle until you brought it up. My dear friend and one time boss was at NYU Law in the mid-80s.  She was at a summer internship (probably 1987?) where she was not doing much at all (classic for those days and interns) and really had no interest in working for that or any firm after graduation (but the $$ was good)! One hot day in August, near the end of the gig, she was called into her supervisor’s office and told that she needed to start wearing hose to the office. Now my friend is very thin and not zaftig in any way. She was appalled! And did not finish that internship but left after that week. But at the time, none of her friends supported her. Not one. Telling her of course she should wear hose to the office if she was going to wear a skirt. And even in the middle of the summer, in Miami, in the public defenders office at the time, or in Texas in the summer in any formal court or office gathering, women who wore dresses or skirts wore hose.

    I can imagine more enlightened places moving on by the mid-90s, but the US Senate was not one such place.

    I really appreciate the insight.

  257. 257.

    Immanentize

    @Baud: This is a very very important point that I hope our side fully understands.  I hope Biden and his team fully understand it.

    ETA. I think Biden knows this from the crazy obsession with Obama’s Harvard records. Nobody gave a shit about those except the cranks.

  258. 258.

    germy

    “Pet was never mourned as you,
    Purrer of the spotless hue,
    Plumy tail, and wistful gaze
    While you humoured our queer ways,
    Or outshrilled your morning call
    Up the stairs and through the hall –
    Foot suspended in its fall –
    While, expectant, you would stand
    Arched, to meet the stroking hand;
    Till your way you chose to wend
    Yonder, to your tragic end.

    “Never another pet for me!
    Let your place all vacant be;
    Better blankness day by day
    Than companion torn away.
    Better bid his memory fade,
    Better blot each mark he made,
    Selfishly escape distress
    By contrived forgetfulness,
    Than preserve his prints to make
    Every morn and eve an ache.

    “From the chair whereon he sat
    Sweep his fur, nor wince thereat;
    Rake his little pathways out
    Mid the bushes roundabout;
    Smooth away his talons’ mark
    From the claw-worn pine-tree bark,
    Where he climbed as dusk embrowned,
    Waiting us who loitered round.

    “Strange it is this speechless thing,
    Subject to our mastering,
    Subject for his life and food
    To our gift, and time, and mood;
    Timid pensioner of us Powers,
    His existence ruled by ours,
    Should–by crossing at a breath
    Into safe and shielded death,
    By the merely taking hence
    Of his insignificance –
    Loom as largened to the sense,
    Shape as part, above man’s will,
    Of the Imperturbable.

    “As a prisoner, flight debarred,
    Exercising in a yard,
    Still retain I, troubled, shaken,
    Mean estate, by him forsaken;
    And this home, which scarcely took
    Impress from his little look,
    By his faring to the Dim
    Grows all eloquent of him.

    “Housemate, I can think you still
    Bounding to the window-sill,
    Over which I vaguely see
    Your small mound beneath the tree,
    Showing in the autumn shade
    That you moulder where you played.”

    Thomas Hardy, October 2, 1904.

  259. 259.

    trnc

    @Baud:

    @Steeplejack:

    Biden did push back strongly, but that’ll probably be taken as some sort of “methinks he doth protest too much” tell.

    There’s is no magic bullet that will keep the spinners from spinning.

    I didn’t see the interview, but I hope Joe said something like, “Mika, if I were to open up my papers in Vermont and nothing about this was found, would that end it? Would the Trump campaign say they believe me now? No, they’ll say we shredded it.”

    What would also work for me: “We’re in the 4th year of DT’s administration. If he releases all of his tax records today, I’ll release the Vermont papers in the 4th year of my presidency.”

  261. 261.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Baud: Not forever. Unless the moderate right is about to go California and bail on the Republicans forever. Then again that might not be impossible as consequence of this Virus screw up and demographics.

  263. 263.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @BobS: EVERY woman wore panty hose back in those days, especially in a professional setting. The story is bullshit

    ETA: What others like Barbara said. And pantyhose are the devil to get on and off and around, so more bullshit.

  265. 265.

    Steeplejack

    @Steeplejack:

    I heard back from the vet place. They confirmed that I did get Stella’s ashes, not some random schnauzer’s. Apparently someone filled out the paperwork wrong and specified the deluxe treatment.

    Note: For anyone in Fairfax and Arlington counties in NoVA, VCA SouthPaws in Fairfax is an excellent 24-hour/​emergency vet service, especially if your regular vet is closed now (as mine is).

  267. 267.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @BobS: Actually, I remember a lot of women coming to work with transparent see threw clothing and no underwear right about that period and it was clear they were looking for some guy at work to say something so they could run to HR and scream harassment. One of the places I worked at one woman did that, then asked a guy out on date in front of me and dozen of people, he shrugged the question off and she ran off to HR anyway. Apparently these women were looking to build a case that there was a culture of harassment at the company they worked so they could sue the company (the irony being that place did have problems with abusive bosses, just it wasn’t about sex)

    That period is why most companies have a dress code about not looking like your going night clubbing now.

  268. 268.

    Soprano2

    @BobS: Yeah, as soon as I saw the detail that she said she wasn’t wearing panty hose in the halls of Congress in 1993, I knew the whole story was bullshit. Back then women wore pantyhose with skirts at work, end of story, regardless of how hot it was. Definitely in the halls of Congress in the spring. She’s lying about what happened.

  270. 270.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Baud: I hope you’re right, I feel like I’ve fallen through the rabbit worm hole back to the Upsidedown of 2016

    one thing: “emails” was never about the emails, it was an answer to “I don’t like/trust That Woman!” “Why not?” “Um… emails? Yeah, those emails!”

  271. 271.

    Barbara

    @Immanentize: When I was a summer associate I vividly remember my friend’s mother stating flatly that no professional woman would ever go the office without wearing pantyhose.  I had to wear pantyhose even when I had poison ivy on my legs.  It hurts even to think about it.

  272. 272.

    BobS

    @trnc: I’d thought something like that would have been a good answer- ‘How about this Mika- I’ll release my tax returns going back to 1993 tomorrow, and as soon as Donald Trump releases the tax returns he’s been saying he would for over 4 years now, your staff can do the University of Delaware word search for Tara Reade you’re saying is necessary’.

  273. 273.

    H.E.Wolf

    @Omnes Omnibus: *While it’s not what my office actually does, I helped her upload the documentation to the Wisconsin Department of Revenue

    That was the act of a true mensch.

  274. 274.

    Immanentize

    @Barbara: I am sure I am not the first to point this out, but how coincidental that Biden is specifically accused of “grabbing a woman by the pu$$y.”

     

    Coinkydoink, even.

  275. 275.

    J R in WV

    @germy:

    Has anyone else noticed that trump supporters aren’t demanding that bookstores and libraries open?

    — PatriciannS (@a_patriciann) April 30, 2020

    Has anyone ever suggested that Trump supporters can read??? Nope!

  276. 276.

    Baud

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    one thing: “emails” was never about the emails, it was an answer to “I don’t like/trust That Woman!” “Why not?” “Um… emails? Yeah, those emails!”

    Exactly. But Hillary almost won, and Biden is far more liked, is a white dude, and hasn’t been subject to decades of propaganda. Plus the country is in shambles and people now have experienced that Trump is really like as president.

    Voters aren’t going to be interested in the political infatuations of privileged white media celebrities who are unaffected by reality on in the ground. And the Wilmer movement is weaker than in 2016.

    ETA: And no Comey. Barr might try something but nobody trusts him.

  277. 277.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Immanentize: a few people have pointed out that Reade worked in the Senate in the Packwood days. This is the most direct parallel I’ve seen, via Garance Franke-Ruta’s twitter, a staffer who testified against Packwood in ’95

    “Finally, he grabbed her; when she tried to kick him in the shins, he stood on her feet. He grabbed her ponytail with his left hand, pulled her head back forcefully, and gave her a big wet kiss, with his tongue in her mouth. She did not smell or taste any alcohol. With his right hand, he reached up under her skirt and grabbed the edge of her panty girdle and tried to pull it down. She struggled, got away from him, and ran into the front office. He stalked out past her, paused at the threshold to the hallway, and told her, ‘If not today, someday,’ and left.”

  278. 278.

    germy

    @Immanentize:

    Biden is accused of having corrupt offspring – CHECK

    Biden is accused of being senile – CHECK

    Biden is accused of sexual assault – CHECK

    (Every accusation a confession)

  279. 279.

    trnc

    @artem1s: unfortunately Biden may be in a lose/lose situation. there is no way to prove a negative. by having addressing the issue at all he’s conceding that the argument has merit.

    Maybe I misunderstand your comment, but I don’t think responding to an accusation magically makes the accusation more believable. He sure as hell can’t just ignore it. I think he should welcome an independent investigation because I don’t think Reade’s story will hold up, so I hope that happens.

  280. 280.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Armando @ArmandoNDK ·18m
    Joe Biden did well this morning but the entire Morning Joe show was absolutely appalling narcissism from Joe and Mika- 2 people who are still trying to worm Halperin back to respectability. It was a terrible decision.

    I can’t imagine sitting through two hours of Morning Joe. Do they really lament the cause of poor, dear Mark Halperin? I know Barnicle’s a regular, and I think they rehabbed him? I hadn’t heard his name since his plagiarism until I started seeing clips of him on their little coffee klatch
    (sidenote: I pretty much gave up on Dkos sometime around ’09, and i was surprised to see Armando isn’t in the Bernie Brigades, but I can’t remember all those people too clearly. I used to hear Kos himself… somewhere… and IIRC he was a big Green Lanternist)

  281. 281.

    TomatoQueen

    @Steeplejack: I have similar containers for old friends and am custodian for old friends of Mom, as well as Mom, and may as well face it, Daddy won’t last forever. As Mom scattered her parents in a quiet corner of Antelope Valley (which everyone should see as the bloom right now is insanely great), I’ve decided  to scatter the next group off Nantucket, in a scene somewhat reminiscent of The Big Lebowski. Find a good place, let ’em go together.

  282. 282.

    trnc

    @germy: Not only that, but you have to love that he is accused of literally (yes, literally) the exact same act of sexual assault that DT has confessed to on tape.

  284. 284.

    The Thin Black Duke

    @Baud: I think you’re right. Before the pandemic, this bullshit story would have dominated the news, but now? People got something else to worry about, and the only thing people are going to care about is how is this shit gonna get fixed?

  285. 285.

    J R in WV

    @Betty Cracker:

    May is a good month to get married. Our anniversary is 5/31. It’ll be 23 years for us. Where does the time go?

    Ours is the 21st… will be our 49th if we last 3 more weeks… WOW who woulda believed it then?

  286. 286.

    Brachiator

    From Biden pool report tonight: “Biden pledged to support same-day voter registration nationwide and automatically restore the voting rights to former non-violent felons”

    And we really need to make this election day a holiday and make other arrangements to make it easier to vote.

  287. 287.

    EmbraceYourInnerCrone

    @Steeplejack:  Let me know if you think of anything!  I currently have my Mom’s, Dad’s and my 17 year old kitty’s ashes.  I don’t want to keep them but I don’t know what to do with them.  Fun (OK, weird!) story: When we had my Dad cremated my siblings and I decided that the biggest of his beer stein collection was the appropriate container for his ashes…when Mom passed 2 months later we decided to do the same thing for her.  Except there are ashes left over in both cases…and those were delegated to me since I did all the actual arrangements.  Maybe next year I will rent a private dinner cruise, invite my siblings and scatter them at sea…probably a bad idea but at least then its done.   Ok, creepy story done!

  288. 288.

    EmbraceYourInnerCrone

    @TomatoQueen: Have never seen all of the Big Lebowski…what happens?  Although my husband told me a story years ago, of a veteran wanting to have his ashes scattered at sea.  And asked that it be filmed for his family, so there is the crew on deck, in their dress uniforms and the Captain and someone removes the lid from the box of ashes and holds the container kinda overboard to sprinkle/scatter the ashes…AAAANNNNDDD the wind shifted, blowing the ashes back over the crew, right in their faces.  Ptoowie, ptwoowie! people sneezing and spitting…  Rumor goes they had to redo it again with a box of “fake” ashes.   I am a horrible person but this makes me giggle even now.

  290. 290.

    Aleta

    @Steeplejack:  Not really possible, but wouldn’t it be nice if ashes could come packaged  in a container with a shaker top, w/ very fine  holes, so one could mix some w/ potting soil, fertilize houseplants, etc.

    We’ve buried so many cats round our house  that while digging a hole for one last summer we were visualizing the underneath of our little yard,  littered with skeletons.   Spooky.  So far the neighbors do not suspect.

  292. 292.

    Steeplejack

    @Aleta:

    If I owned a place it would be the same way.

    I have decided that my veterinary death metal band will be called the Random Schnauzers.

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