Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

How can republicans represent us when they don’t trust women?

Stamping your little feets and demanding that they see how important you are? Not working anymore.

Nikki Haley, who can’t acknowledge ‘slavery’, is a pathetic shill.

The arc of the moral universe doesn’t bend itself. it’s up to us.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

Seems like a complicated subject, have you tried yelling at it?

Optimism opens the door to great things.

If West Virginia and San Francisco had a love child.

He wakes up lying, and he lies all day.

At some point, the ability to learn is a factor of character, not IQ.

When you’re a Republican, they let you do it.

The gop couldn’t organize an orgy in a whorehouse with a fist full of 50s.

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

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

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

The lights are all blinking red.

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

If you still can’t see these things even now, maybe politics isn’t your forte and you should stop writing about it.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the gop

You are here: Home / Elections / Biden For President / Monday Morning Open Thread: Commencements & Eulogies

Monday Morning Open Thread: Commencements & Eulogies

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The Washington Post published the full text of President Obama’s speech here, and that of Michelle Obama here.

Per the AP, nothing but the biggest stars for this virtual celebration:

… Michelle Obama said the ongoing protests following Floyd’s death are a “direct result of decades of unaddressed, prejudice and inequality.” She said she understands those who are “scared or confused or angry, or just plain overwhelmed” with the events the past few months.

“Over these past couple of months, our foundation has been shaken,” she said. “Not just by a pandemic that stole too many of our loved ones, upended our daily lives and sent tens of millions into unemployment, but also by the rumbling of the age-old fault lines that our country was built on, the lines of race and power that are now once again so nakedly exposed for all of us to grapple with.”

Beyoncé delivered a stirring 10-minute speech to graduates. She spoke about the recent protests as well as shared her secrets to success and the importance of ownership…

The four-hour ceremony was filmed over the last several weeks, but Lady Gaga decided to re-record her message. Her initial speech touched on the effect COVID-19 had on this year’s graduating class, but she wanted to speak more on the Floyd’s death, the Black Lives Matter movement and racism in America.

“While my original commencement speech may not be directly relevant to what this country needs most right now, I wish to tell you today that though there is much to be sad about, there is also much to celebrated,” she said. “You are watching what is a pivotal moment in this country’s evolution. … Change will happen, and it will be for the better.”…

Lizzo began the ceremony with a rousing performance. While wielding her flute, the “Truth Hurts” singer performed the classic “Pomp and Circumstance” before she congratulated graduates as the New York Philharmonic accompanied her…

Elsewhere, a message from our candidate, Joe Biden:


Joe Biden is planning to meet privately with George Floyd’s family in Houston on Monday, offering condolences in the aftermath of a killing that launched nationwide protests over police brutality and systemic racism.

Biden is also recording a video message that will play at the funeral, according to his campaign. He is not planning to attend the service himself, citing his Secret Service detail and not wanting to disrupt the service…

Reader Interactions

98Comments

  5. 5.

    JoyceH

    @WereBear: yeah, but if you’d just moved into a house with a bunker, wouldn’t you want to go down and take a look? I know I’ll never live in the White House, but if I did, first thing I’d do is snoop the whole place.

  7. 7.

    WereBear

    @satby: Despite all the mayhem, it is moving in the right direction.

    Since Mr WereBear is on a doctor-approved plan to “lock him in a vault,” I regret not being able to join in, somehow, but I am also far from any center of population.

    We had a small vigil in town which I appreciated from afar :)

  8. 8.

    MJS

    @WereBear: Joe’s never going to be able to get the fast food smell out of the place when he moves in in January. All the curtains and carpets will have to go.

  9. 9.

    Punchy

    Still hard to believe they moved the President to the safety bunker, not in response to Russian bombers or hijacked planes, but due to fellow Mercans with signs and bullhorns.  Phony man with a nancy spine.

  11. 11.

    Baud

    I am looking forward to the bunker scene when they make a movie out of all this.

    Downfall II: Electric Boogaloo.

  12. 12.

    Kirk Spencer

    @Punchy: I’m chasing a confirmation that the nonviolent crowd did come past the barricades.

    If it did then I will grudgingly give the occupant a pass – he may have been moved there by his security detail instead of leading the retreat

    Good security doesn’t take chances.

  13. 13.

    Ladyraxterinok

    Really disgusting how many of tweets after one reporting Obama’s commencement comments about anger and sorrow blame Obama for not healing country’s divisions. So completely to refuse to acknowledge cops killing blacks!! Obama wasn’t out there killing blacks.

    Some (whites) revel in being wilfully blind! Can then maintain they bear no responsibility for what is happening!

  15. 15.

    Kirk Spencer

    I should add, though, that I love the resulting imagery. I think it’s been a major blow to his support, cutting into the strong bully image they see in him.

    Let us commence to make him gone for good.

  16. 16.

    cs

    Seems odd that Obama / Biden didn’t go in the bunker. Either as part of a drill, or just as curiosity about the parts of the WH that’s secret to the general public. But I guess they wouldn’t lie about it. If I was president, the bunker would get visited at least once.

    On a side note, IIRC the bunker was renovated during the Obama years. Or something underground was. Was in an article I read sometime in 2013 or ’14. The digging and underground construction work was noticed by a journalist at the WH on his way to interview Obama. But, of course, no one would talk about what was being dug out and why.

  18. 18.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @Baud: I actually don’t mind if he just did what the Secret Service said to do, though I think it was over-reaction. I mind that instead of just saying, “Yes, I didn’t want to make the SS’s job any harder than it is,” he makes the preposterous statement that he was just inspecting the bunker.

    On Fresh Air this week, Anne Applebaum talked about how people in this administration justify their actions using tactics like those of collaborators in occupied countries, Vichy France for instance. She also said that lies like “inspecting the bunker” or “my inauguration crowd was the biggest ever” or “the hurricane will go where this sharpie line is” are acts of power. He wants to show that he can say the most outrageous things and people have to believe it. I’m not sure Trump is thinking that deliberately. He’s probably acting instinctively. But the “power” part rings true.

  20. 20.

    Ken

    You know, Barack and I never went down to the bunker. They tell me it had cobwebs from lack of use during our 8 years.

    See, it needed inspection after the previous administration neglected it.

  26. 26.

    Baud

    Democrats will put forward sweeping policing legislation Monday aimed at cracking down on police brutality and recording patterns of misuse of force across the country — the first sign that Washington is taking action as a national movement emerges.

    The legislation — which was led by the Congressional Black Caucus, Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee and Democratic Sens. Kamala Harris of California and Cory Booker of New Jersey — comes as the country is reeling from the deaths of several black Americans at the hands of the police, including George Floyd, who was killed in Minneapolis last month after a white police officer knelt on his neck for more than eight minutes.

  27. 27.

    MomSense

    @NotMax:

    That was good.  It’s comforting to know some things are timeless.  Even those hairstyles are being worn again, though now it’s because the barbershops are closed.

  31. 31.

    cmorenc

    One thing Trump did get a big thing right a year or so ago that most us BJ’ers had dead wrong until just two or three months ago:
    – Biden is the strongest potential opponent for Trump to run against in the general election. Wasn’t what we were originally hoping for (Warren etc) or what in different circumstances we’d have much preferred in a potential President, but nonetheless turns out Joe is the perfect man for the particular moment and circumstances of the 2020 election.

    Reasons are:
    – Biden is so long and familiarly well-known among the electorate that it’s going to be extremely difficult for Trump / GOP to redefine him. The big attempted smears against Biden so far (Hunter Biden & Ukraine, Tara Reid) have fallen flat.
    – Trump is poorly positioned to contrast anything but negatively against Biden’s potential weaknesses of an establishment / big business-cozy career.
    – Biden is likable to all but MAGA-rally voters, Trump is not.
    – Biden easily wins the competence and temperament contests with Trump, especially given Trump’s huge flubs on CV and George Floyd/protests. Polls reflect that a majority are worn-out from dealing with Trump day in-day out.

    With Biden as the D-candidate, it will be very difficult for Trump to turn the election into anything but a referendum on Trump, instead of deflecting attention on a junk-pile of shiny objects that the MSM can’t help themselves snapping attention on.

  32. 32.

    senyordave

    I see that shitgibbon is going to keep flogging the kneeling issue.  And the sad part is that it will still work to an extent.  If the NFL players wanted to really fuck with Trump, here’s a suggestion.  Go to the veteran’s groups and reinforce the concept that nobody was ever doing this to disrespect the military, that is was a symbolic way to bring notice to an issue of incredible importance.  Tell them that although they disagree with some of their members interpretation they will no longer kneel during the anthem.  Instead the players could kneel during the game.  Just pick a predetermined time during the game (e.g. when the clock is at seven and a half minutes remaining in the second quarter), and any player, coach, cheerleader, all the way down to the water boy, go onto the field and kneel for one minute if they want to participate.  Invite fans, if they have them this year, to kneel at their seats.  And they could invite some veterans onto the field as well.  This would diffuse the contentious aspect of the issue while keep it very much in the public view.  They could even release a statement explaining the rationale for the change, and somewhere in that remind everyone that  Trump sat out the Vietnam war with a serious case of bone spurs.

  36. 36.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    Props to the DC mayor on naming Black Lives Matter boulevard.

    If she really wants to have fun? Rename a block of Pennsylvania Avenue “Malcolm X Shabazz Street”.

  39. 39.

    Gin & Tonic

    @MomSense: Barbershops are able to re-open under restrictions here, and I have an appointment for a week from tomorrow, which I am really looking forward to.

  43. 43.

    Princess

    @rikyrah: My assumption is that Bernie was a lot sicker and weaker than he led on and he’s finally getting the R and R he should have got in the fall. But yeah, after saying he was dropping out to push for protections for working people during COVID, he has been almost completely silent.

    Of course he has a long history of supporting the police, so.

  44. 44.

    mad citizen

    Maybe Pence was left in the bunker–he seems to have vanished.

    Obligatory R.E.M. Underneath the Bunker  (I’m not sure I ever knew the lyrics, buried/processed as they are):
    I will hide and you will hide
    And we shall hide together here
    Underneath the bunkers in the row

    I have water I have rum
    Wait for dawn and dawn shall come
    Underneath the bunkers in the row

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmA7E8dR-Ik

  45. 45.

    Baud

    What are the libertarians doing? Maybe they don’t care since no metadata were harmed.

  49. 49.

    cmorenc

    @rikyrah:

    Um, where is Bernie?

    It’s like he has VANISHED ??

    It’s also possible that it’s finally sunk into Bernie that continuing further in defiantly insurgent campaign mode will, if Biden loses, leave Bernie as the leader of a movement going nowhere for for four more years (which may deflate in frustration), and if Biden wins, Bernie’s movement also loses traction and influence with a Biden administration.

    Maybe Bernie’s realized that if he gets aboard team D/Biden as if not exactly a “team” player, but not any further obstacle to Biden’s electoral prospects – Bernie gets to stay as leader of a key progressive block within the D party, with substantive influence on policy.  That’s not to say Bernie won’t revert to being a PITA within weeks, if not days after Biden is sworn in as POTUS, but at least temporarily through election day, Bernie won’t be rowing at cross-purposes to team D, even if his oar doesn’t dip very deep to help push us along toward winning in Nov.

  50. 50.

    artem1s

    @Baud:

    I am looking forward to the bunker scene when they make a movie out of all this.

    Yea, I’m beginning to think it’s going to look more like the last hours of Jonestown.  Those who can should get out now.

  51. 51.

    rikyrah

    1) *Before* the pandemic, GDP growth under your tenure was at almost exactly the same pace as it was during Obama’s second term. Despite your spending $2T on an unfunded tax cut.2) *Since* the pandemic, the economy has wiped out all the net job gains going back to December 2011 https://t.co/Iie2YNL6vx— Catherine Rampell (@crampell) June 8, 2020

  54. 54.

    MomSense

    @Baud:

    The libertarians are developmentally stuck at age 16.  All they really care about is smoking pot and accessing p0rn.

  57. 57.

    Ladyraxterinok

    @mad citizen:

    Doesn’t one designated cabinet member go to ‘a bunker’ in case of attack during the State of the Union speech? The one in WH maybe?

  59. 59.

    Betty Cracker

    From CNN:

    After a weekend of massive peaceful protests around the country, White House officials are currently deliberating a plan for President Donald Trump to address the nation this week on issues related to race and national unity, as Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson hinted in an interview with CNN on Sunday and a senior administration official said was under serious consideration.

    When your entire fucking brand is race-baiting and division, you can’t credibly speak on “race and national unity,” unless maybe you’re taking the “con” side in a debate. I kind of hope Trump is scared enough to take his advisors’ bait on this. It’s bound to be a disaster. He has no credibility on this, and he won’t be able to express any heart-felt anti-racism and pro-unity sentiments on it because he’s a racist and a divider.

    @senyordave: I understand what you’re saying, but in a sense, that’s buying into the Trump/wingnut bullshit framing of the issue. The premise that the national anthem is about honoring the US military was sold to us after 9/11, and we should be reclaiming it from the jingoistic sporting event hucksters rather than granting them that point.

    The anthem is about honoring the country, not its warrior class. It belongs to all of us. That’s what makes it an appropriate occasion  for taking a knee. Kaepernick used to sit out the anthem but started taking a knee as a sign of respect after a veteran complained. He already made a concession. Maybe make that more widely known? If folks are still offended after that, I say fuck their feelings.   

  60. 60.

    mad citizen

    @senyordave: An excellent plan!  To me it was “hey, look, there is a problem and we wish to get some attention to it”  I don’t like the anthem or even the flag being conflated with or exclusively tied to anything military.

     

    But your plan to have the kneeling occur some other time is really smart.

  64. 64.

    artem1s

    @Betty Cracker:

    The anthem is about honoring the country, not its warrior class

    exactly! It’s also not about flag worship. Honestly, time to get over that fetish too.

  65. 65.

    artem1s

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    A speech on race and unity is hard to imagine.

    TFYNYT – here, hold my beer “well we haven’t heard from the REAL victims of the oppressive government, COVID and the protests – the White Working Class Male!” (rolls eyeballs so hard they fall out of my head and roll across the floor) /s

  66. 66.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    Is Were Cat around? I don’t know what time of day she shows up. A friend on twitter is moaning that his whole apartment has wood floors that he softens with three throw rugs. And yet his cat throws up only on the rugs. Our dog used to do that too–leave a perfectly cleanable tile floor and run to the rug to puke. Why do they do that?

  70. 70.

    satby

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: not WereBear, but my guess is that rugs seem more like grass and it’s an instinctual response. Animals that throw up outside often try to scratch dirt over the vomit. WAG only though.

  71. 71.

    mad citizen

    Checking myself, Betty makes excellent points and recall about the concession Kap already made.  Since the issue is now elevated, I’m guessing the players will stand and do something else to acknowledge the situation.  Even they have to understand they need to market the league to everyone, etc.

  72. 72.

    kindness

    I was just reading the Abbreviated Pundit Roundup at DKos and saw a tweet from the Governor of WV trying to get the RNC convention there where Gov Justice tweeted ‘We would welcome all Presidents here in WV.  Well, maybe not Barack Obama….’  Thought of poor John and what he has to put up with that I don’t living  here in God’s own Peoples Republic of CA.

  78. 78.

    danielx

    @Gin & Tonic:

    Been letting my mine grow, but I’m thin enough on top that I’d end up looking like I have a mullet by choice – the thought of which is intolerable.

  80. 80.

    E.

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: I gently picked up my cat and moved him off the rug every time he started to vomit (there is usually a short warning) and now he runs to that spot every time. But he is one of those cats who always aims to please.

  81. 81.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @Immanentize:

    Maybe a garage sale of stored references?

    You and me both. I drive my nearest and dearest nuts with my involuntary references, which I find highly amusing but they curiously not so much. Could possibly make a great deal of money with a reference garage sale! Or maybe I should just ask my nearest and dearest to pay me to refrain.

  82. 82.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Ladyraxterinok: I see a lot of this: Obama didn’t magically solve the problem when there was no backing to do so, so he’s at fault.

    Always good to remind people that he was raked over the coals for suggesting that a cop who detained a black guy at his own home for trespassing had acted “stupidly”. This is where the “beer summit” thing came from. That was literally the most he could do without pissing off tons of white people.

    ETA: He did more throughout his presidency, such as reform agreements with particularly troubled departments. He tried. Trump and Sessions dismantled most of it.

  84. 84.

    WereBear

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: And yet his cat throws up only on the rugs. Our dog used to do that too–leave a perfectly cleanable tile floor and run to the rug to puke. Why do they do that?

     
    It seems to be an instinct to do so where they can bury it. For instance, cats target fringe on any rugs which have them. It must look like “grassy area” to them or something.

    It also has its practical aspect. Neither of them have much traction on tile floors, as seen when they try to make a tricky turn. Imagine a bad bout of food poisoning in a bathroom coated in Teflon.

  85. 85.

    mad citizen

    @Immanentize: Thanks for the reminder.  It seems forever since I was hearing NFL stuff.  I don’t have cable tv, the local sports talk show I used to listen to driving home got its plugged pulled by IHeart in February.  Our Colts season went down the drain last year when Andrew Luck up and retired at age 30.

  86. 86.

    clay

    FYI: Those are NOT real quotes from Biden about the bunker.  They are satirical, originally posted by Oliver Willis, but then retweeted without attribution by this James Morrison.

  87. 87.

    Jinchi

    @sanjeevs:

    CNN poll:

    • Biden  55
    • Trump 41

    Maybe it’s a sign Trump’s support is collapsing or maybe it’s an outlier. Other recent polls have Biden up by 7-10 points.

    Still, the takeaway is that Biden’s surge is based on increased enthusiasm among voters inclined to vote for Biden, not Trump voters abandoning the president. We’ve got a huge pool of non-voters in America. People who typically think there voices don’t matter. Right now Trump is giving them that incentive. Democrats need to learn how to tap into that in their own right.

    Biden’s voters have renewed their enthusiasm since the last CNN poll on that question in April. While just 50% were extremely or very enthusiastic then, 69% say the same now. Overall, 53% of Democrats now call themselves “extremely” enthusiastic about voting, erasing a gap with Republicans which had grown as large as 13 points in March.

  88. 88.

    Jinchi

    @senyordave: Go to the veteran’s groups and reinforce the concept that nobody was ever doing this to disrespect the military, that is was a symbolic way to bring notice to an issue of incredible importance.

    Everybody already knows that. Kaepernick was perfectly clear about the reasons for his protests and he deliberately didn’t use a “black power” salute during the anthem, he took a knee. A posture we typically see as a sign of respect and prayer.

    Rightwingers pretended to be offended by that. There is no time where they will accept that any protest is legitimate except silently, at home, with the lights off.

  90. 90.

    Miss Bianca

    @rikyrah: That guy has been in our faces nonstop since 2015, and all of a sudden he’s just *gone*. Back to the bubbling depths of Lake Champlain whence he came.

    It’s as if events have finally rendered him completely irrelevant.

  91. 91.

    Miss Bianca

    @MomSense:

    Actually, the libertarian I know best cares about neither of these things. He does slip into occasional gold bug rants, however, and did insist I had to watch at least the first part of Atlas Shrugged (since some of it was filmed in the Royal Gorge, one of our spectacular local landmarks), so he’s true to type in other respects. ; )

  94. 94.

    Mary Ellen Sandahl

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:My dog and cat bosses aren’t consistent about it, but my guess is that if they were living non-pet outdoor lives, the fact that their vomit would be absorbed by the earth might be desirable from the POV of survival. Y’know, like cats digging a neat hole to pee in, or burying their poop. Keeps undesirables from tracking you. Dogs aren’t wired the same way – but maybe they just instinctively want a more natural-feeling spot to throw up on.

  96. 96.

    J R in WV

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    Our dog used to do that too–leave a perfectly cleanable tile floor and run to the rug to puke. Why do they do that?

    I think they don’t want to make a mess on that nice hardwood floor, or tile or whatever… not really.

    I’ve noticed this too, and if there’s an answer I would be interested in it….

    And late in the thread I see several suggested answers, thanks all. Makes sense.

  97. 97.

    Anne Laurie

    @Ladyraxterinok: Doesn’t one designated cabinet member go to ‘a bunker’ in case of attack during the State of the Union speech?

    Unless the protocols have changed, the rule was just that at least one cabinet member was required to be away from the Capital during the speech, just in case.   The ‘designated survivor’ usually got a footnote in the preparation announcements, mostly it seemed so that their constituents / antagonists wouldn’t ask why X wasn’t standing up there with the rest of the team.

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