Take your favorite President’s advice — Read the whole thing!
Despite all the time that’s been lost, we can still make real progress against the virus, protect people from the economic fallout, and more safely approach something closer to normal if we start making better policy decisions now.https://t.co/pfokyI8GiB
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) May 13, 2020
This other guy, feel safe to ignore…
just absolutely incapable of not saying the quiet part out loud
vote by mail is safe, secure and during a pandemic is a no-brainer https://t.co/KjGiS9WeLI
— Gerry Doyle (@mgerrydoyle) May 14, 2020
One of the prime goals of the Trump Administration is to persuade you that "everyone does it".
— Patrick Chovanec (@prchovanec) May 13, 2020
like, get this, what if you, and this is crazy, but hear me out, what if you had launched operation warp speed THREE FUCKIN MONTHS AGO https://t.co/i4xEELbR4s
— kilgore trout, multiyear slanderer (@KT_So_It_Goes) May 13, 2020
Trump has thrown more shit than normal at the wall post "inject Lysol" which suggests he (and his minions) recognized how harmful it was to him. Instead of keeping their eye on the ball, most in the media have lost the plot, as you say & reverted to typical shitty coverage. https://t.co/Dcr4EadOR0
— scary lawyerguy (@scarylawyerguy) May 13, 2020
I wonder why Trumpworld picked today to push the overhyped unmasking story oh hey what’s this? https://t.co/FzZjPlRkXV
— Kevin M. Kruse (@KevinMKruse) May 13, 2020
SFAW
The next big push will be “Those figures re: number of deaths are all FAKE NEWS!!! It’s just the Demon-craps, the Lamestream Media, and other assorted traitors trying to blame the Greatest Preznit Evah!!! for something that was NOT HIS FAULT. Our Dear Leader kept the deaths below 2,000; everything else is a Lie-beral lie!”
Fortunately, Dr. Birx is there to clear out the opposition
ETA: Yes, I know that some of the MSM will call bullshit on that whole idea/push. But will the FTFTFNYT? Despite what many/most of us here know, the FTFTFNYT is still considered the leading light in news reporting.
OzarkHillbilly
I’m taking a break from the news these days. I just skim the headlines to see if nuclear war has broken out. Any more than that and within 15 mins I am screaming at the top of my lungs, “KILL THEM! JUST KILL THEM ALL AND LET GOD SORT IT OUT!!!”
Not good for the heart.
Nicole
@SFAW: What a toady Birx turned out to be.
SFAW
@Nicole:
The only semi-surprising thing so far is that the Murderer-in-Chief has not (yet) fired Dr. Fauci. That he continues to surround himself with sycophants is the least-surprising thing about his whole COVID response. Well, the second-least-surprising thing, after him completely fucking things up. Well, the third-least-surprising thing, after his perpetual boastwhining (or is it whineboasting?) about how magnificent he is while being mistreated, and his completely fucking things up.
No one ever expects the Shitgibbonian Inquisition. Well, except for everyone.
OzarkHillbilly
No TV, no sat nav, no internet: how to fix space’s junk problem – video
Check out the numbnut at the 1:36 mark.
Baud
So no real progress until late January. Got it.
Baud
@SFAW:
“They’re not dead. They’ve been raptured.”
Patricia Kayden
@SFAW:
businessinsider.com/trump-pressuring-cdc-change-coronavirus-toll-method-daily-beast-2020-5
Trump is pressuring the CDC to lower the number of deaths attributed to the Coronavirus.
prostratedragon
@OzarkHillbilly: I hear you. What being down here is all about.
Mary G
I read a small part of a thread full of MAGAts and bots by accident and they were in full flood about the body counts being fake news. Fauci is a Soros puppet, hospitals are being paid $15,000 each to lie and say that people who really died of other things died of Covid19, the guy working on viruses in China got mad because the president fired him and released it on purpose. On and on. The stupid, it burns.
Baud
@Mary G:
It’s not stupid. It’s immoral and evil. Stupid is random. These people know what they are doing.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: Puppets generally don’t know somebody is pulling their strings, and sometimes it’s hard to tell the puppets from the puppeteers.
Rush is a puppeteer. Most of the people repeating his words are puppets.
prostratedragon
It’s up to you, New York, New York:
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly:
Puppets can be immoral and evil. In fact, they often are.
germy
Anya
All my life I’ve heard that African governments come to power through corrupt and weak institutions. I have never imagined that our own institutions’ weakness and rottenness will be exposed this soon by a vulgarian reality tv personality whose greatest talent is his unwavering confidence and bluster and his ability to recognize moral weaklings (see Rosenstein, Dr. Blix, etc.). I thought at least the so called security agencies would fight him but he installed an internet troll as a DNI and now they are being used to interfere in our election, like they were some Russian troll farm. You would think they would at least fight a little.
I wish I was capable of being an apathetic voter who doesn’t pay attention to any of this because this is too depressing.
germy
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: We’re just gonna differ on this.
Baud
@germy:
I think I’d rather risk getting the virus.
John S.
@Patricia Kayden: He got that idea from his good buddy Vladimir.
germy
germy
NotMax
Useless trivia recently learned:
The girls dorm at Blair Academy prep school in New Jersey is named Annie Hall.
debbie
@prostratedragon:
This should be moved to the larger billboard and should flash all deaths state by state.
Nice start though. Maybe put a second sign at 57th and Fifth?
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone ???
Anya
@germy: The tiny state of Iowa has an oversized negative contribution to the US. They offered us the horrible, good for nothing caucuses, Chuck Grassley and the racist dumb dumb Steve King.
I just don’t understand why Steve King keeps getting elected?
germy
When hoarders bake:
Baud
@rikyrah: Good morning.
germy
@Anya: They like the sound of his
dog whistlesmegaphones?OzarkHillbilly
@germy: via commenter Teve at OTB:
@ marcgoldwein
This describes an income tax
Charlescwcooke
We have this.
@Laincha
There is. It’s called: paying taxes.
@windycity54
It’s called taxes.
(500 other people explaining taxes to her.)
@AOC
Quite amused by the men in my mentions volunteering to explain my own joke to me
Baud
Irony
germy
Justin Amash sounds exactly like every libertarian in every blog comment section everywhere:
Baud
@germy: The virus doesn’t know your favorite foods either.
SFAW
@Patricia Kayden:
I think he started laying the groundwork for that a few weeks ago. The question is: will he succeed? I am less than sanguine about the possibility of the FTFTFNYT (for example) finally saying “OK, we gotta stop propping this guy up.”
Immanentize
@OzarkHillbilly: That is a great summary of the AOC effect.
JMG
Alice likes to watch the local and network news from 6-7 while dinner gets prepared on a small TV in our kitchen. I noted with interest last night that ABC and smarmy David Muir devoted not one second of coverage to any “Obamagate” guff. In fact, lead item was Trump criticizing Fauci. This might change later, but for now the virus is soaking up all the oxygen in the network universe. Remember, about three people watch broadcast network news for every one who watches any cable news.
Baud
OzarkHillbilly
@Immanentize: She should come with a trigger warning.
Anya
I’ve attempted to check how Rose Twitter was reacting to the unmasking – I guess I’m just a glutton for punishment. Anyway, who is the first to write about how this means Biden is guilty of deep state/security agency crimes? I am betting on Intercept dude bros, Grim and Greenwald.
prostratedragon
@debbie: So New Yorkers can see it?
Baud
@Anya:
What is the unmasking?
cmorenc
@Anya:
To answer this, ask yourself the parallel question about Rep. Louis Gohmert, R-Texas (in far NE Texas next to Louisiana) and realize that he truly is representative of a majority of his constituents. Now extend that same principle to Steve King R-Iowa – whose district is predominately rural NW Iowa – alas, there’s at least a strong enough plurality of his constituents who King’s attitudes truly reflect, combined with enough pragmatic farmers and related merchants who are (up to now) agnostic-enough about King’s racism to stick with his until-recently Congressional pull – to keep him in office. Trying to hold onto the latter critical group is the cynical reason McCarthy wants to restore King’s committee assignments.
John S.
@JMG: Too bad that for every 3 that watch network news, 6 get their news from Facebook and Twitter and 9 don’t watch any news at all.
Immanentize
@OzarkHillbilly: She does, but the male men ignore it.
Immanentize
@Anya: Sirota is now writing for Jacobin. So, that’s my guess.
PS, it seems Greenwald is very busy being upset by the treatment Flynn received. So he probably is the best bet. Or his slightly more reputable friend at Rolling Stone, Taibi.
Immanentize
@Baud:
Have you been unplugged for a while, Neo?
NotMax
@Patricia Kayden
All part of a concocted plan to muddy the waters, thereby impugning and casting aspersions on anything coming from the CDC, an agency to be chalked up as another casualty of the Dolt 45 maladministration and its underlying and insidious “Science is the tool of the Devil” axiom.
Baud
@Immanentize:
Apparently.
satby
@Baud: me too.
And O.T. Here’s a tweet from soonergrunt that summed up my life in tech support too:
soonergrunt @soonergrunt
18h
User: “Help! My computer is running REALLY SLOW!” me: You should close of the browser tabs you’re not using. Him: “No! I need them all. Why can’t you just make it work?!” me: the fix is to simply restart your browser. Him: “Ugg! (yelling) YOU PEOPLE ARE FUCKING USELESS”
Immanentize
@Baud: Then you should go out dancing…. Ooops. No can do.
I still like the ultimate question for Trump Toads:
If the President can do whatever he wants, as you say is the power of the office holder, didn’t Obama have the power to investigate a person having unauthorized discussions with the Russian Ambassador while being paid by the Turkish Government while wearing the uniform of the United States?
Anya
This made me laugh so hard
Somebody said Elon Musk is SPACE KAREN and I died.
https://twitter.com/geesubay/status/1260449737179910146?s=2
satby
@Baud: evidently it’s this? alternet.org/2020/05/trump-administration-has-ordered-the-unmasking-of-over-36000-people-in-three-ye…
Sorry for the nakedness of the link.
SFAW
@Baud:
Assuming you’re not being facetious: I think it’s that Acting DNI (and permanent shill) Grenell “unmasked” the names of various Demon-rat Senators (including Senator* Biden) who had asked the NSA to un-black-out the name of the American who was on a call with Kislyak. [Apparently, it was a call which the NSA found “interesting.”] The un-blacked-out name was Flynn, those proving that Flynn’s lying to the FBI was all part of a Demon-rat/Deep State cabal designed to harm the Emperor-in-Waiting.
Naturally, the RWMFs don’t seem to understand that if Flynn’s name was blacked out, then the Dems did not know whose name was going to be revealed, i.e., “unmasked.” But when have they ever applied logical thought? Or any type of thought, I guess.
*Of course, he was VP at the time. But the RWMFs think (so to speak) that this proves he had planned this for a long time. Or something. I expect they’ll next tell us that he used President Uppity’s time machine as part of all this.
ETA: The RWMFs will try to use this in much the same way that they (successfully) used Benghaziiii!!!!! to drag down Hillary’s approval rating. I don’t know what Biden’s current approval numbers are, but I expect they’re better than the Murderer-in-Chief’s. If the RWMFs can knock them down to Trumpian levels — Mission Accomplished!
germy
satby
@SFAW: ah, ok. So my link is a reply volley to the news yesterday.
germy
@Anya:
Sarah Cooper portrays Musk:
debbie
@prostratedragon:
Yep. And also the world when it’s reported on the news, etc.
Baud
@satby:
@SFAW:
Thanks. Seems weak and desparate. I’m glad Trump is reminding people of his misdeeds though.
Anya
@germy: ha! I started following her. From now on, hers will be the only way I will watch Trump or listen to his words.
germy
@Anya: I like the way she did two versions of “obama-gate” – one where trump believes it, and one where he knows it’s all bullshit.
SFAW
@Baud:
In practical terms, I don’t think it matters. [Whether “his misdeeds” means Flynn’s or Trump’s.] I don’t think the Flynn criming will change minds on either side. [Although I guess there are some never-Trumpers who might say “You see? I told you they’re all out to get Dear Leader” or some such.]
Anya
What’s happening in Wisconsin is scary.
I hope the wingnut legislators are voted out before democracy completely dies and Wisconsin’s virus spreads to all other non-blue states.
eric
has there been any analysis out of wisconsin about what happens now, with the end of the stay at home order?
germy
Gin & Tonic
So Cohen, who ratted on the capo, stays in prison while Manafort, who kept his mouth shut like a good soldier, gets out.
Too bad, frankly. I actually have some (a tiny bit) sympathy for Cohen. Manafort, not so much. The prospect of him lying dying, gasping for breath in a cut-rate prison ward? I’d say karma. Tis not to be, unfortunately.
Betty Cracker
@Anya: Space Karen! ???
Anya
@eric: From what I’ve been reading, what this means is the Safer at Home order has ended with the ruling. There is no stay in place.
I am just not clear if the state supreme court will meet in person or they’ll continue to make these kinds of rulings remotely from the comfort and the safety of their homes.
Sab
@Gin & Tonic: Also too Reality Winner, whose big crime was to inform us, via the slimy Intercept, that the Russians were tinkering with voter rolls.
Her mother is desparately worried, and we have forgotten that she ever existed.
I love Obama, but I do blame him for this.
ETA Michael Cohen in his prime was a thug. Reality Winner was never that. She was a misguided patriot who went through the wrong channels. Had she been more plugged in to DC politics she would have known the right channels. But she wasn’t so she didn’t.
Betty Cracker
@Baud: I’m still trying to figure out if the whole point of this Flynn “unmasking” garbage is:
a) to lure Dems into publicly declaring it bad form for a POTUS to go after his predecessor, thus inoculating Trump against future prosecution, or
b) the most idiotic political strategy in galactic history, particularly in the middle of a pandemic and economic crash, when people really don’t give a flying fuck about palace intrigue
I reckon it could be all of the above.
satby
@Anya: And it will spread to IL. Way back in the dark ages of my youth, kids would drive to WS from all over northern IL to go bar hopping, because the drinking age was lower in WS. Now people bored with IL’s stay at home orders will drive to WS, get exposed, and keep the IL counts high too.
Dorothy A. Winsor
The return of the unmasking story made blink. Did I just imagine that we already did that and dismissed it as nonsense? Are we now reversing direction on that?
germy
WaterGirl
@Sab:
Who is reality winner?
germy
Anya
@Dorothy A. Winsor: The first time we did this Susan Rice and were the villains. Now it’s Biden and Obama.
OzarkHillbilly
@Anya: Hmmmm… Have they removed the metal detectors from the courthouse doors yet? If not I suspect they will treat this the same way they do Open/Conceal carry laws.
Anya
@germy: Still don’t understand why Rona keeps missing him.
germy
Gin & Tonic
If I hunt down and shoot (from a safe distance) the next person who uses “circling back” in a business e-mail, is there a jury anywhere that will convict me?
Immanentize
@Gin & Tonic: I understand and share your feelings about Manafort — and Cohen. But the way a society treats prisoners is the way a society treats it’s people. IMO, we should be releasing all at-risk prisoners who are not a serious threat to themselves or others right now.
— By many cops often.
germy
OzarkHillbilly
@Anya: It’s probably afraid of being infected with Bolsonaro.
OzarkHillbilly
@Gin & Tonic: We’ll circle back to that.
Immanentize
@Betty Cracker: Yes, all of it, but the counting coup aspect far outweighs the stratergery part.
Immanentize
@Gin & Tonic: I’ll put a pin in that thought.
Sab
@Dorothy A. Winsor: I went to my local liquor store yesterday to buy a bottle of wine. I try to support businesses local to my little valley, but with them I have finally had enough.
I am in Ohio where the governor has given us strong suggestions.
This business only went to employee masks when ordered to.
Yesterday when I went there were two people, me and an unmasked Magat hanging around the front door asking questions about tequila.
I crept in and bought. Everything they sell I could have bought in my local grocery. I will be writing them that I am terminating my twenty year customer loyalty because they don’t seem to care if we and they are safe. They don’t seem to think this virus is real. I do.
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
I think all GOP strategy boils down to two things:
The strategy doesn’t work as well if the talking point can be easily refuted with objective evidence (see Obama’s birth certificate). When refutation requires an explanation and inferences and credibility judgments, it works better.
ETA: It’s a bonus for them when the “left” echoes the talking points.
Immanentize
@Sab: I don’t blame Obama at all. I blame the Intercept idiots. She sent them highly classified Intel. They mishandled it revealing her identity. The easiest counter-espionage case ever for the FBI
Gin & Tonic
@Immanentize: I feel about Manafort the way I feel about venomous snakes, or about the hornet that just bit me
ETA: Motherfucker has blood on his hands.
Betty Cracker
@Immanentize: It’s such a shame that the eBay guy put a hack like Greenwald in charge of creating The Intercept instead of just funneling the money to ProPublica or some other respectable investigative reporting outfit. It’s a net loss for journalism.
Anya
@OzarkHillbilly: It’s also afraid to be infected by Trump. Rona doesn’t want to catch the Trump disease.
Steeplejack (phone)
@Baud:
See Adam’s post last night.
Sab
@Immanentize: Ibtercept guys aren’t idiots. They are knowing monsters.
Frankensteinbeck
@Anya:
Everything that Trump touches DOES die…
Amir Khalid
@germy:
I don’t know why, but when I see the name Kevin McCarthy I always think of the actor.
Anya
@satby: I feel for you guys. Look at how full the bars are already…
‘OPEN IMMEDIATELY!’: Wisconsinites head out to bars after state stay-at-home orders lifted
Immanentize
@Amir Khalid: Probably so too do 30 percent of the people who vote for him
Betty Cracker
It’s windy here today, which means the swallow-tailed kites will probably show up to soar over the swamp later. I’ll try to get a photo!
Baud
@Steeplejack (phone): I don’t care that much.
Anya
@Frankensteinbeck: In this case it’ll be good because he’ll be killing the virus?
Baud
@Anya:
OMFG. Trump juices will be the vaccine!!!
OzarkHillbilly
What do you have against venomous snakes and hornets?
Sab
@WaterGirl: Really? Google the poor child. She is one of us and you don’t even know who she is while she is now in prison for trying to let us know about Russian manipulation in our electoral system.
Adam had issues with how she leaked and he wrote online extensively about his issues with her approach. She is in prison, so he was right.
How did you miss all that? She is in prison for years to defend your rights, and you didn’t even notice.
OzarkHillbilly
@Betty Cracker: Please do. Then share.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Sab:
I think you have very right to stay away from places that demonstrably flout safety practices. You wouldn’t go there is the Fire Dept had cited them as a death trap either. And good for you for letting them know.
Kay
I know it’s hard to do because the far Right went crazy because they were not the center of attention for 2 months so had to express their feelings, but Ohio was never “locked down” – although that’s a very dramatic word Righties have used to great effect. It was always more nuanced than that. It’s an ongoing response too, from the private sector. I think they eventually end up putting “infection control” into the safety basket they already have. So just like they put process and training in place to avoid falls and injuries at work, they will put stuff in place to avoid infections. Honda is reopening on Monday and I saw their new rules and it’s fairly elaborate but not something they don’t know how to do- they have a whole “safety” division. This will go into that frame. The meat production plants were shitty workplaces as far as worker safety and they remain shitty workplaces – they’re bad at protecting workers from virus just like they’re bad at protecting workers from injuries.
Interestingly, Elon Musk’s operations are considered shitty workplaces here- they make his parts in Ohio (among other places) and it’s a bottom of the barrel job. So that figures. The big showboater on “open up!” will do the LEAST to protect his workers.
If you treated your employees like expendable garbage prior to this new risk you will continue to treat them like expendable garbage with the new risk.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: I’m gonna die.
Dorothy A. Winsor
Sab
Husband’s Catholic parochial school discussing covid on Zoom. He is old (69). This is fascinating. They should be Trumps base, and they certainly are not.
These guys are Catholic, factory workers and urban cops. They are not on board.
Kay
I do think the public should give some serious thought to how people who are in the business of food production (like the meat production places) completely failed at controlling an infection.
That should give people pause. Not good! You’re all eating this stuff and they were “blindsided” by an infection in a plant? I mean, Jesus Christ. It’s the ONE thing they should be good at.
I have…concerns about their hygiene processes, I must say. Let’s hope they don’t run into a salomonela issue or….anything. Apparently it just runs rampant and they throw up their hands and keep the line running.
NotMax
@Dorothy A. Winsor
“Damn, they were here yesterday. Maybe the dog ate them.”
(Places hand over phone receiver)
“Pssst. Jared, run out and get a dog.”
NotMax
@Kay
It affects the peons, not the product.
Aleta
@Kay: great point
Sab
@Dorothy A. Winsor: I like these people a lot, but everytime I go into the place I think WTF.
Aleta
This should be an argument against letting young dogs drive. I doubt they’ll listen though.
Dorothy A. Winsor
I was moaning about how I needed a haircut just now, and Mr DAW offered to cut it for me. That shut me up right quick.
Sab
I am an extreme introvert, so I am eternally grateful that my husband wants to be married to me. These Corona Zoom at home make me very uncomfortable. He is a whole diffrent person chattering online with his former classmates. He loves them. What does he see in me?
Anya
@Baud: Would this be the definition of “the cure is worse than the disease”?
Omnes Omnibus
Wow. Nothing else has happened over the past couple of years, so no one possibly could have missed her or had her situation slip their mind, right? It must be nice to be perfect.
Gin & Tonic
@Dorothy A. Winsor: And the White House will say “fuck you.”
bemused
@satby:
It’s horrifying to see Wisconsin Republicans emulating Nazi’s. Minnesota is now surrounded by four scary states on three sides.
Sab
@Dorothy A. Winsor: My husband tells everyone that he has seen me trim my bangs (very badly) so he is not letting me near the rest of his hair. I tell him trimming your own hair isn’t like trimming others’ but he is not buying. So he has a ponytail. Weird but hilarious.
Sab
Anya
Dr. Rick Bright’s testimony on Coronavirus pandemic response will probably bring out the “deep state is out to get our great leader” crazy
Immanentize
@Dorothy A. Winsor: I am planning Lockdown Haircut, the Second on myself this afternoon. Luckily, too poor and too cheap in college and grad school to pay for a cut, I learned how to cut my own. Did not need or employ the skill in the last couple of decades, but happy to have it (if a bit rusty) now.
Jinchi
Then I hope Fauci stays far away from any windows.
Immanentize
@bemused: I hate Wisconsin Nazis
WaterGirl
@Sab: Does “reality winner” have a name? I can’t imagine that googling “reality winner” won’t get me a mound of reality tv show links.
Omnes Omnibus
@Immanentize: I will continue to get shaggier rather than risk a Cole-cut. My vanity demands prudence.
Omnes Omnibus
@WaterGirl: Reality Winner is her name. Seriously.
OzarkHillbilly
@WaterGirl: IIRC, her parents were a couple of flower children. That is her real name.
The Moar You Know
@Sab: Everything he’s ever told you he’s seen in you.
I can relate because I’m that husband and I have that wife. But my wife and I both share a bit of…biploar, if you will, about our introversions. Situational, if you will.
She’s a teacher and very deep introvert. And yet I hear her on HER Zoom calls and don’t even recognize her. This upfront, forthright, take-no-prisoners woman is my wife? She sounds more like the CEO of my company than the CEO does. Then the second it’s all over with, she crawls back into bed afterwards and reads and plays video games.
I’m the kind of person you would dump alone on a desert island with five books and a fresh water spring and I’d just do nothing else but walk the place and explore for the rest of my life. Yet, at age ten, I played a recital for my fourth-grade parents and got hooked like a junkie on playing music for people. Which I did for a living for several years in the late 1980s, and then kept doing on occasions, and then started doing a lot more to the point where I was booked for two full four-hour gigs a week – and that’s what I was doing right up until mid-March. Singing, working the crowds, all of it. Most people would not consider that the act of an introvert. But I am. Extremely.
Whatever your husband has told you he sees in you, and the reasons he stays, are valid. Not all introverts stay in the cave 24/7. Some of us come out a couple of times a week and dance on tables in bars while slamming out classic rock. And then go home to our wives and dogs, read a book and go to bed.
different-church-lady
NO, I DIDN’T JUST HAVE ICE CREAM FOR BREAKFAST! WHY ARE YOU ASKING ME THAT? STOP ASKING ME THAT!
PPCLI
@germy: Sigh. This is even dumber than usual. If this reasoning were correct, Insurance companies could never make money. “No actuary can predict the actions of each individual at the individual level, blah blah…”
Yet they make lots of it. How about that.
NotMax
@different-church-lady
French vanilla contains egg.
Just sayin’.
:)
Omnes Omnibus
@different-church-lady: I did that on Monday. That’s so earlier this week.*
*Each day of this month appears to be equivalent to what was once known as a Friedman unit.
Sure Lurkalot
@Dorothy A. Winsor: My DH has also volunteered to cut my hair. Except I’m considering it. Kindly please set me straight.
different-church-lady
@Omnes Omnibus: Why do we even have names for days anymore? We should just call them all “Sameasyesterday”. Or “Whatthefuckdoidonowday”
Gin & Tonic
@different-church-lady: My daughter, long an adult now, who does things like this for fun, and I suspect has a body fat percentage well under 20, has said she appreciates the fact that when she was a kid, we didn’t mind if she ate chocolate cake for breakfast.
Omnes Omnibus
@different-church-lady: Tradition!
moonbat
@Kay: The repubs have been gutting the USDA for years under the backwards assumption that if there is no one there to detect the salmonella, e coli, etc., in their product then it doesn’t exist.
I’m coming to the sad conclusion that if you don’t beat the populace over the head every few generations with some cold hard truths they can convince themselves that natural dangers don’t exist. Even before COVID, we had the antivaxxers playing with the idea of giving their children measles as if it were the common cold. I guess no one will get with the science knows what it’s talking about program until and unless someone close to them dies.
different-church-lady
@Gin & Tonic: Will you be my mommy?
Gin & Tonic
@different-church-lady: Probably too late for that.
Jinchi
Trump is literally incapable of completing that thought.
Immanentize
Trump has just increased his magic COVID death toll success number to “over 100,000.”. Never a man to get in front of facts, our President.
Immanentize
@different-church-lady:
I prefer “Fuckthisshitday”. But that might make DAW uncomfortable?
schrodingers_cat
@Sab: First rule of Balloon Juice: Never criticize a front pager. I don’t follow it myself, so I will tell you what happens next FPer fans and blog monitors will now come and give you a piece of their mind.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Immanentize: I am considering loosening my standards to meet our current circumstances.
@Sure Lurkalot: NO! Just no!
Kay
Still asking Donald Trump the tough questions, I see. I knew we’d get a replay of the 2016 “coverage” and they have not let me down. We just have to surmount this hurdle they have set up.
MomSense
@Immanentize:
I cut my hair yesterday because it was driving me crazy. It grows so fast that it was halfway to Crystal Gayle and I had to chop. It looks ok in the front and who knows what the back is doing because I can’t see it.
schrodingers_cat
@Kay: Money Honey has tons of experience sucking up to powerful men.
Immanentize
@Dorothy A. Winsor: I think I would prefer if you kept those standards to make my swearing more salacious and rebellious.
schrodingers_cat
@MomSense: I need a haircut badly too. I have just been putting it up in a bun.
Jinchi
It’s easy to misiterpret him because the quote we typically hear is Trump bragging that “We’ve had fewer than
15150050,00090,000 deaths”But if you listen closely, Trump’s measure of success has always been “under 2 million deaths”.
Immanentize
@Sure Lurkalot:
Designated hitter? I thought the season was postponed.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
The only thing that’s changed about Bartiromo is that her new beat requires a different kind of hackiness than when she was the cool chick at the CNBC/Wall St Frat Party in the 90s
Immanentize
@MomSense:
HA! I am at Hee Haw, Hager Twin puffy hair.
ETA This moment really requires a new set of visual hair standards like the above.
jeffreyw
@Sure Lurkalot: You can always fix it.
laura
@Betty Cracker: I think it’s the original plan – Flynn was railroaded by Obama/Biden. Because Flynn is innocent the Russia hoax/impeachment hoax is to be memory-holed and the sanctions can/should be lifted so trump can finally deliver on his obligation to Putin to continue receiving financial support because trump is broke ass broke and cannot manage his debt obligations.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Immanentize: a couple of weeks ago I took an electric clipper to the sides of my head and left the top alone, and after an afternoon of yard work yesterday I looked in the mirror and I had a russet-gray Rand Paul Tribble on my head
schrodingers_cat
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Money Honey has always been a hack. She used to fluff CEOs on CNBC and now she fluffs Rs.
ziggy
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:Yeah, for some reason, I thought she was smart.
Trump doubling down this morning, testimony must be really uncomfortable:
WaterGirl
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
There’s a great line in the movie Heaven Can Wait, where James Mason (the angel) is working with Warren Beatty (athlete) to find a new body for Beatty after an angel accidentally takes the athlete out of his body too soon when he was about to die.
Did you see the movie?
The angel thinks that Warren Beatty is being too picky about what body he is willing to be in ext, and James Mason has this great line. I remember it as…
You are continuing in the footsteps of the great James Mason!
James E Powell
@Anya:
Dr. Rick Bright’s testimony will be buried so deep in the daily pile of bullshit that no one outside of politics junkies will know who he is or what he said.
PenAndKey
@Immanentize: Yeah, we’re certainly not living up to the ideals I was taught as a kid in Wisconsin, that’s for sure. Entrenched minority rule due to rampant and system gerrymandering. Kangaroo courts invalidating black letter laws that they disagree with. The courts and legislature teaming up to strip the executive branch of authority every time it doesn’t agree with them. Blatant voter surpression, up to and including enacting life threatening measures to do so. The list goes on. So… basically, the state a was born in is a textbook example of a failed democracy.
My only hope at this point is a massive wave election that gets them booted out of office. But I know my neighbors, and I suspect anything that requires the rural districts in this state to not vote GOP simply isn’t going to happen. And no, I did not just look up that the drive time from my house to International Falls, MN <> Fort Francis, ON crossing is just under 7 hours. Why do you ask?
japa21
@PenAndKey: On the plus side, one of the conservative justices appears to be somewhat sane, so when the new justice joins the court in July it won’t be quite as bad.
Anya
@WaterGirl: the second comment was not to you and I think you’re unnecessarily escalating this.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@WaterGirl:
I did not see that movie, but there you go! Broaden my standards.
PenAndKey
@japa21: True. It’s a small consolation, but I’ll take it all the same. Just as I take consolation in the fact that our supreme court elections are statewide and can’t be gerrymandered. It’s not a coincidence that Kelly and Walker both lost their elections. If we didn’t have a law on the books saying judges who lost an election can stay on the bench until August the vote could have been very different.
WaterGirl
@Anya: I’m not sure I see it that way, but you may have more perspective on this than i do, so I will delete my comment.
ziggy
I don’t know–his “darkest winter in modern history” line is pretty effective and has gotten a lot of play. The fact that he is willing to be so forthright could really make people sit up and listen.
Anya
@James E Powell: hopefully he’ll give the media digestible bite size talking points they can use.
Anyway, for some reason I think they’re still not done with the coronavirus coverage. People are still dying and the response is still a clusterfuck so there is something to cover.
Baud
@PenAndKey:
Rural districts will stay GOP, but there’s a world of difference between a district going 51-49 GOP and 100-0 GOP in terms of its impact on the outcome of state-wide races.
That’s why, while we shouldn’t humble ourselves in a fruitless attempt to win those districts, we also don’t abandon everyone who happens to live in those districts.
ETA:
R+33 means 67-33, I believe. That means the most Republic district in the country is still 1/3 Democratic.
Kathleen
@Immanentize: I think they set her up. Her evidence does not support their agenda.
Omnes Omnibus
@PenAndKey: Wisconsin has always been a purple state. It is just that when one party gets its hands on all the levers of power, it can do a lot (of good or harm). We then get a pendulum swing back to the other party, and I think we are at that point right now.
FWIW many cities and counties are extending the Safer at Home rules locally (which they can do).
ThresherK
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Everything I suspected about Maria (Money Honey) Baritomo was confirmed when Samantha Bee introduced the Cash Cow segment on The Daily Show, complete with Holstein costume.
Bonus: Wasn’t Bee pregnant at the time?
Kathleen
@ziggy: I was shocked that my local NBC affiliate devoted a lot of time to this story this morning via a link to the reporter from the Mother Ship. The report did not gloss over the hard truths. If that’s any indication of how The Heartland (SW Ohio) media views story’s importance.
Gvg
@WaterGirl: She really has that name. Weird parents actually did that to her. It’s not the media nor a blog nickname. I don’t know what you do to get google to work but maybe just try. It was in the news a lot.
Kay
I’m on a school committee and my sense at the last (zoom) meeting was they are opening school in the fall.
I just got the parents letter in my email- it’s clear they’re opening. I wonder about the reporting on schools. I think they know they have to open. I mean, they’re all going to say “depends on conditions” but as a practical matter? They have to plan. They’ll know by June, latest. You can’t just “open” a school in 20 minutes :)
Kay
I think the only thing that could change school reopening plans is (God forbid) if the virus-related mystery disease in kids takes off. THAT would be a new level of “horrible”.
Emma from FL
@Sab: If you’ve been married longer than five years, and he treats your bouts of introvertin’ like you tolerate his bouts of extrovertin’, you can relax. My parents — jeesus, they were factory made NOT for each other. It lasted 61 years.
Villago Delenda Est
“We’re not going to lose elections because ni*CLANGS* are enabled to vote!” — Fuckface von Clownstick.
sdhays
@germy: I think Justin Amash is advocating mandating individual video surveillance because it’s absolutely critical for policy makers to know what everyone’s favorite food is and exactly how poorly we individually walk around the grocery store.
Ladyraxterinok
@cmorenc:
Most of constituents in NE IA are same Dutch calvinist as the people where Sec of Ed DeVos is from.
Last census made his district the whole of the NE quadrant of the state. Added Ames , home of IAStateU, to his district. A real shock!
Keithly
@Gin & Tonic: Depends. Do you pass the paper bag test? /s
J R in WV
@WaterGirl:
Unfortunately, her parents must have “thought” a name brings it’s own luck to the person so named. They named their daughter “Reality Winner” — who know what they were “thinking” when they did that. Mr and MS Winner, coulda named her Theresa, didn’t.
WaterGirl
@J R in WV: We had a transfer student Senior year in high school. HIs name was Daniel Daniel. Who does that to their kids?
Maybe we should have a thread sometime – the worst names you have ever seen in real life.
PenAndKey
@WaterGirl: One of my wife’s best friends wasn’t able to convince her husband that, after 7 generations of the firstborn being named Henry, maybe it was time to change things up. They had a son. He was named Henry. Henry the Eighth, to be precise.
Just…. okay. That’ll be fun in a couple years.
JaneE
Much as I admire and respect Barack Obama, there is not a snowball’s chance in hell that “we start making better policy decisions” before January 21, 2021.
I was really surprised that my local very red county health department kept their local mandatory mask requirement when they rescinded all the other local orders, even though we have not had a new confirmed case in over two weeks now. Not so surprised that only half or less of the people are complying, mainly us older ones.
sdhays
@Dorothy A. Winsor: My wife started cutting my hair in March. You can get some basic equipment on Amazon for $20-$30 that’s serviceable, and there are videos on YouTube that can get you started. She has cut my hair twice so far, and while they’re obviously not professional grade, but they’ve been not bad and, really, who do I need to look sharp for right now? The people at the grocery store or the neighbors who see me walking with the baby are all in the same boat. The biggest annoyance is the mess.
Personally, I’d rather look a little ragged than have a big mop of thick hair on my head as the weather heats up.
opiejeanne
@WaterGirl: That’s her name: Reality Winner.
Her parents should have been arrested for naming her that.
WaterGirl
@PenAndKey: “That’ll be fun in a couple of years.”
Until it’s not! :-)
WaterGirl
@opiejeanne:
So say we all!
Just Chuck
Republicans are going to be obliterated over this. The question is, how much retribution afterward do they want raining down on their heads? They might want to try limiting that a tad, because the two futures I see going up are in pitchforks and torches.
Just Chuck
@germy: If Netflix tells us anything it’s that we should listen to The Yogurt.