Summer solstice marks the longest day of the year and is celebrated across the northern hemisphere with a variety of rituals and traditions pic.twitter.com/eHjsK6gxMX
— Reuters (@Reuters) June 20, 2020
"Everything they had downtown, we had here." For a once-prosperous black Tulsa district razed by 1921 massacre, President Donald Trump's rally brings a surge of national interest, and visitors. https://t.co/lUeDJsrWPZ
— The Associated Press (@AP) June 16, 2020
Beyonce should just do a surprise livestreamed concert tomorrow night at the exact same time as Trump's rally.
— Mike Got Death Threats So Took My Last Name Down (@mikeresistance1) June 20, 2020
When 4 House Speakers served in the Confederacy they could never fathom a world where a woman Speaker would order their portraits removed from their places of honor in a process overseen by a black female Clerk of the House. But here we are. #Juneteenth2020 pic.twitter.com/6eDxQf2UET
— Christine Pelosi (@sfpelosi) June 18, 2020
Part of me that thinks Fox occasionally plants a poll to lull Dems into a false sense of security while putting the fear of God into Republicans, but part of me is also pretty sure that Fox isn't that clever (or, in this specific case, reckless). https://t.co/ORdODDoccZ
— Peter Wolf (@peterawolf) June 19, 2020
I’ve said from the outset of this election that we are in a battle for the soul of this nation. Who we are. What we believe. And maybe most important — who we want to be. It’s all at stake.
That's the case we're making in our first TV ad of the general election: pic.twitter.com/gGeSmBIIxA
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) June 19, 2020
JoyceH
Hey, does anyone else think the Trump campaign and Trump himself have been going overboard in their hyping of the rally? A while ago I heard a reporter say uncritically the “tens, maybe hundreds of thousands” would be converging in Tulsa. With that kind of advance claim, even a full arena and a modest overflow crowd will look like a huge disappointment and failure, because it won’t live up to the hype.
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone ???
Baud
I still see stories in the news where people opine about all the things Biden is doing wrong and needs to fix.
65+ when 52-45 in favor of Trump in 2016. That’s quite a turnaround.
Glad to see the young are strong, despite what you see in the media and social media. The question will be their turnout.
Baud
@rikyrah: Good morning.
rikyrah
Fox polling is the only legitimate thing of that entire organization.
You would think that Fox polling would be like Rasmussen. But, it’s not. It’s actually legit.
Providing cover for the rest of Fox.??
Veneer of credibility ?
rikyrah
@Baud:
Yep. The young people are one thing.
But, the 65+…..they actually VOTE
germy
Baud
@JoyceH:
Hard to know. It’ll be presented as a Million MAGA March to his supporters regardless of how it looks to the rest of it. That may be all he cares about, aside from hoping that “antifa” does something he can play up.
OzarkHillbilly
Tennessee Republicans approve six-week abortion ban in surprise vote
ProLife my ass.
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly:
All those people protesting mask wearing are gonna be pissed at this restriction on freedom.
NotMax
Running out of things to look at on Netflix? You could do worse then the Brit mini-series Bodyguard although with caveats, so mark it as a suggestion for lean times rather than a recommendation.
Looked at from a straight entertainment vehicle angle, as a thriller it keeps the tension taut and crackling. When it comes to story it progressively slips, piling implausibility upon implausibility on a landscape pocked with plot holes until they threaten to topple over and smother the whole shebang. All together, the TV equivalent of a beach read.
Oh, and if ever inclined to get rapidly snockered, a drinking game pegged to any time the word “ma’am” is uttered will do the trick.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
Louisville March Yesterday (I was there)
Vid was done by the Kentucky Teacher of the Year who got arrested a few weeks ago. He taught all three of my kids – my middle daughter makes a brief appearance from behind and you hear me briefly talking to him at one point.
The route passes my boarded up office.
For this dastardly protest, we got treated to MRAPs, riot gear robocops and buzzing police helos at the end (this video doesn’t run that long.
zhena gogolia
@germy:
Uh . . . you’re just twigging to that NOW?
zhena gogolia
@NotMax:
Question for you. Do you know of any tongue-twisters that are also puns? Something that might be given as a difficult dictation to a school kid or someone learning English?
I’m translating a story with a lot of puns, but Russian tongue twisters also tend to be puns. English ones tend not to be puns.
Oh, and bonus points if it has anything to do with difficulty, sadness, melancholy, or depression.
Baud
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
Any issues aside from the dick-swinging by the cops?
germy
@zhena gogolia:
He does seem somewhat naive:
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Baud:
Nah. There’s a level of spontaneity and it is essentially leaderless. Panthers show up to encourage order and some measure of discipline (they were great – middle aged, serious and respected). There was one early march where somebody started shouting about blocking the interstate entrance because we could use the kids in the group to advantage, but he got run off pretty quickly.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: It doesn’t matter if antifa do anything or not, if something happens they are who he’ll blame.
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly: That why I put it in quotes.
TS (the original)
@OzarkHillbilly:
But wearing a mask to save lives is against their constitutional rights. They have to be hurting someone, anyone to make themselves feel good. As they are losing the racism fight just turn back to hurting women.
Women vote for these people? Associate with them? Live with them?
Baud
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
Awesome.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: Ah, my bad, I thought it was in quotes because in my mind antifa isn’t a “thing”, just a bunch of people who happen to think fascism is bad.
WereBear
@NotMax: Is that the one with a hostage negotiation on a train? Started with a bang, and then a series of whimpers…
But yeah, beach read nailed it.
germy
Jeffro
So Barr tried to pull a fast one and Berman’s staying put, eh? Good for him (and us). Whenever you’re ready to impeach the AG, Dems (sigh) he’s certainly giving you a mountain of reasons to do it.
That Krugman tweet from the thread below is where I’m at today. Every senior stuck at home indefinitely, every restaurant owner and worker, every K-12 parent who’ll be half-homeschooling (at best) this year, every college and pro athlete who can’t play this year (and their fans with nothing to watch), every band that can’t play shows and their fans…they should remember which party allowed all this time to be wasted doing NOTHING (well, except turning masks into a political issue! THAT, they certainly got right to work on).
We could have been almost out of this thing by now. REMEMBER.
sanjeevs
I wonder if Berman or Milley would be standing up to Trump if he was 10 points up in the polls instead of 10 points down.
Glad they have to make that assessment though.
And the longer Biden retains that lead the more Trump officials have to make similar choices
WereBear
@TS (the original):
They are hostages. Because they really don’t know the lives outside their religious/cultural/Fox bubble. Everyone they know tells them they are the lucky ones, being protected by their strong manly men.
Our actual lives have as much reality to them as a sitcom. Look at how they see NYC as an actual Sodom and Gomorrah, right out of Bosch.
Dorothy A. Winsor
I’ve been awake for less than an hour and am still trying to process what happened in the SDNY last night. I see Cheryl has a post about it below. I’ll go check that.
I thought Trump’s rally would be the news of the day. I can’t keep up with all the criming.
germy
The woman in this photo doesn’t look like a hostage:
https://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2020/06/hows-the-republican-party-doing
rikyrah
@germy:
I just can’t with this level of cluelessness ??
NotMax
@zhena gogolia
Shall have to don the thinking cap. (Where the heck is the danged thing?)
Meanwhile, although doesn’t meet all your criteria, maybe:
Lesser leather never weathered wetter pleasure better.
Six sick hicks pick six slick tricks.
The sixth sick sheikh shares the sixth sheared sheep.
zhena gogolia
@germy:
I learned more about Barr from one Vanity Fair article than these “legal observers” seem to have figured out in a lifetime. (I don’t know if this guy is a “legal observer” because I don’t have time to check right now, but he sounds like one.)
ETA: “Emmy-losing TV writer.” Okay, I’ll give him a pass.
rikyrah
@Jeffro:
I read AL’s COVID-19 posts mainly to reassure myself that, somewhere in the world, there are competent people in Government.
I also always get sad, because I know, to the bottom of my soul, that we wouldn’t be over 115,000 dead if Hillary was President. I have no doubt that she would have handled it the same way the other women Heads of State did around the world-successfully.??
NotMax
@WereBear
Yup, that’s the one.
Chyron HR
@germy:
Once again Mueller got it wrong: Trump was told in advance that Wikileaks would release
embarrassinginnocuous Clinton campaign documents that the media would helpfully describe as damaging.zhena gogolia
@NotMax:
I was working with the sheik’s sheep, but your version is better than the one I got off the internet. Thanks!
rikyrah
Trying to go back to sleep now ??
Baud
@rikyrah:
And she would have been vilified for it.
Baud
@Chyron HR:
Good catch.
JPL
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Barr had met with Berman earlier during the day, and I assume the meeting didn’t go the way Barr/Trump intended it to. There are investigations in that office that apparently they want to squelch.
WereBear
@germy: There’s also the “mean as a rabid weasel” factor.
NotMax
@zhena gogolia
On second glance might work better without the the.
The sixth sick sheik shares six sheared sheep.
Betty Cracker
@JPL: I’m convinced it’s related to the stuff Lev Parnas was into — illegally channeling foreign money to Republican campaigns. Not just Trump — Republicans nationwide. We already know some of it, which is damning, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Baud
@JPL:
Video of the meeting.
JPL
@Betty Cracker: That seems likely. It was I want you to do me a favor meeting. I wonder if trump will fire him today.
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
Alito shakes his head an mouths “that’s not true.”
JPL
@Baud: lol What surprises me is that Barr wasn’t prepared when Berman said nope.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@JPL: Good for Berman. Of course, he donated to Trump’s campaign, and maybe he should have thought a little harder about that at the time.
NotMax
@JPL
“No, Trelane.”
;)
JWR
@rikyrah:
Most probably. But can you imagine the howls of “I’m being oppressed” emanating from the maskless malcontents if she’d been the one to order the lockdown and masks? I’d expect threats of riots, if not far, far worse.
WereBear
@WereBear: Women are behind the so-called “pro-life” movement as Kabuki for their God. They actually rely on hated liberals to keep their options open.
Because they never have any intention of actually living under all the rules they impose on others. They are conservatives. They have a loophole they will use, and they know it.
This is about hurting people they can hurt.
OzarkHillbilly
@rikyrah: Thank Dawg we dodged that bullet.
Jinchi
It all depends on how media frame the picture. Remember all the right-wing anti-lockdown protests. Those were typically a few hundred and occasionally a few thousand people. 10,000 people is going to look pretty substantial to Trump.
The Thin Black Duke
@Baud:
As Biden will be, the day after he becomes POTUS.
Luciamia
Are the Druids using social distancing at Stonehenge?
NotMax
Random wee hours thought.
Not that i harbor any love for the business, I’d reckon the time share market is currently nil.
JPL
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Berman also met with trump privately before his appointment. How bad must things be that a trump loyalist won’t obey his orders. Lots of criming behind the scenes, I think.
Kay
@sanjeevs:
I wonder that too but I also wonder if we’ll see an uptick in obstruction efforts from the Trump Administration as they try to protect the cronies on the way out- hedging for a loss. If they start to think they’re going to lose they’ll have to work faster. Barr’s lie about this was really reckless. He has spoken to Berman and knew he wasn’t going to go along yet Barr still released an official statement that was a blatant lie. They don’t care how it looks anymore- they’re just smashing and grabbing.
debbie
@JoyceH:
The reporter was underestimating. Trump himself claimed a million people had signed up.
debbie
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
The sight of Panthers in KY must have terrified them.
debbie
@Jeffro:
Hopefully, President Biden will order many of the closed investigations to be reopened.
Baud
germy
Wilton man arrested for displaying wooden penis statue in front yard
OzarkHillbilly
They found a gun, but I note they don’t say it was his. I won’t be surprised in the least if it turns out to only have the fingerprints of the cop who shot him.
Baud
@Kay:
I can only assume he thought Berman would give up without saying anything. Barr is a lot of things but he doesn’t strike me as stupid.
debbie
@Baud:
Trump will not be ignored.
JWR
This has been discussed here already, but what are the odds that Trump won’t give his great big speech from inside a plexiglass bubble? I just can’t imagine him exposing himself for any period of time to an arena full of other people’s vaporous gasses and germs.
Baud
@JWR:
That’s what I’m wondering too.
raven
@WereBear: The loophole.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: I think he’s been reading too many of his own press clippings and just thinks he can do whatever the fuck he wants. It never occurred to him that Berman would push back.
OzarkHillbilly
@raven:
“I’ve emptied my bowels
and laid out the towels…”
Too funny.
MattF
@Kay: Also, I wonder whether McConnell was given a heads-up about this. Senate Republicans are going to face a evil choice– and McConnell is, right now, on the spot. He can’t be pleased about that. And the rest of the R Senate caucus might, perhaps, with furrowed brow, be asked to consider… Trump’s crimes rather than HillaryClintonBenghaziEmail. Ya think?
Spanky
Where’s Rudy?
The Thin Black Duke
@OzarkHillbilly: Cop have been planting guns next to dead brothers since forever.
debbie
@germy:
A whole lot of people already figured that one out back in the early 1980s.
OzarkHillbilly
@The Thin Black Duke: Oh yeah, and what pissed STL people off was the jury bought it anyway with Stockley.
Geminid
@Kay: If Berman can hang on to his position until his successor is confirmed by by the Senate, I wonder if McConnell can get 50 votes to confirm a new U.S. Attorney.
Kay
@Baud:
Trump’s grip on them will start to slip if they start to believe he’s going to lose. I think that’s why we’re seeing some signs of life in the GOP congress. They all need to start thinking about the possibility of being thrust into a post-Trump world, not just the crooks who will need protecting but the whole GOP.
It’s sad but I’ve lost quite a bit of faith in the much-admired “SDNY” prosecutors. Trump and Guiliani (and Epstein) have been on a crime spree for 30 years right under their noses. They never moved on them before. Donald Trump didn’t have to be President in order to be prosecuted. Why didn’t anyone ever do it? Part of Berman’s investigation is into Guiliani’s consulting business. He’s been cashing in on 9/11 since the fires went out. YEARS. If he’s laundering money he’s been doing it for a long time.
JPL
@Kay: Now that statement scares me, because you have to wonder what’s next.
Mallard Filmore
@JPL:
Yesterday, somewhere on the internet, I read that Berman is in his SDNY position because of a judicial appointment. Trump cannot simply fire him.
https://twitter.com/steve_vladeck/status/1274179863604277248
(or Google Berman judicial appointment)
debbie
@JPL:
Oh, it’s clear: Burn it all down.
germy
@Spanky:
He’s still busy.
MattF
@Geminid: “Senator– it’s been said that voting to replace Berman is abetting obstruction of justice, which is an impeachable offense. What’s your response to that?”
germy
JPL
@Mallard Filmore: Barr can’t fire him, but it’s possible the president can. I wonder if Berman will push it though.
WereBear
@raven: I love them!
Kay
@JPL:
Well, I don’t think it should because Trump doesn’t operate in a vacuum. Trump will continue to do what he does. The one and only question is what other people do. That’s the only part that can change. So we could have Trump with total obedience or Trump with less obedience. The second if better for us. It’s improved from January. It’s better, not worse.
TS (the original)
@JPL:
MazeDancer
Happy Solstice!
May Summer be a season of peace, progress, equality, hope, and justice for us all
OzarkHillbilly
@WereBear: It took me a while to remember where I knew them from, The Big Bang Theory.
Kay
@JPL:
More powerful Trump, Berman goes along. Less powerful Trump, he doesn’t. The second is better.
Appearing to be losing begets defections which causes more losing. Trump knows this better than anyone. He’s been a fake “successful businessman” his whole life. He’s an expert in this.
JPL
@Kay: He’s cleaning house which would make him more powerful, if he wins reelection.
JPL
@Kay: Southpaw just tweeted about Clayton previously representing Deutsche Bank. Do you think that is what concerns Barr/Trump.
Kay
I live in a very Trumpy county so you-all may not have seen the giant Trump Flags the Trump Administration sells but I see them. They put them on a flag pole beneath the US flag. So this is extraordinary in my experience with US politics. We’ve had people who were obsessed with US politicians or Presidents before but they didn’t have a damn flag for the nation-state of their leader.
There were no Obama flags or Reagan flags, that I recall. So that’s cultish and weird enough but looking at the pix out of Oklahoma the Trump Administration also apparently created a US flag with Trump’s picture and name superimposed on it. That’s fucked up.
SiubhanDuinne
One good thing about this whole Berman SDNY mess: nobody’s talking about Matt Gaetz now.
Omnes Omnibus
@debbie: He will not. His AG may. He has said that he, as President, will not get involved in prosecutions. I think that is the right thing to do on his part. I also think that appointing an AG who will be willing to do it whenever the evidence warrants would also be the right thing to do.
Litlebritdifrnt
@Kay: Isn’t that considered defacing under the US Code?
Spanky
I wonder. Berman knows that Trump would fire him if he wanted to, legally or not. Barr may have quietly asked Berman to resign. At that point Berman may have realized he was a gonner, and his only course of action was to shiv Barr on the way out. So Berman says OK, Barr announces it, then Berman says not so fast. Barr’s ass is now hanging out, and attempt’s to dislodge Berman are going to be very visible.
Betty Cracker
@Kay: It is fucked up. Our Trumpy-ass town had a Trump float in the Christmas parade. Pretty sure there were no Obama, GWB, Bill Clinton and Reagan floats. It’s a cult, and I can’t think of a cult that ended particularly well.
Kay
@JPL:
Oh, I have no idea. We’ve been reading about Deutsche Bank crimes for years. I never looked into it seriously. I have some vague memory of them getting some “fine” for illegality a couple of years ago. Our white collar crime enforcement is an ineffective as our 30% clearance rate for murders.
We have a giant police apparatus. They just aren’t that good at solving crimes.
You saw the story about the massive protest survelience effort they put up in a week. They had federal law enforcement monitoring protestors in 15 cities. Imagine if they put all that money and energy into money laundering.
jeffreyw
@NotMax:
We liked Zero Zero Zero
Kay
@Betty Cracker:
I think I told you this but I went to the Christmas parade too and I was standing next to this young woman and when the Trump people went by a man standing next to her said “Trump!” and she snapped around, looked at him and said “ewww“. So funny. Just pure reflex on her part :)
Like a bad smell. Involuntary revulsion.
If I ever fly a flag with some douchebag’s mug on it I want to be put out of my misery.
MattF
@Kay: ‘Dark Towers’, book about how Deutsche Bank went off the rails. Not that much about Trump, except as an example of how the bank jumped head-first into totally reckless lending.
Immanentize
@Litlebritdifrnt: @Kay:
In this case, it’s not “defacing the flag” it’s “fuckfacing the flag”
WaterGirl
I look at that poll with Biden 50% and Trump 38%, and I do the math. 50 + 38 = 88%
100% – 88% = 12% who are not saying who they are voting for
All 12% could go to Trump, which is quite possible since I wouldn’t admit it if I were voting for Trump, and anyone who still doesn’t know who they would vote for at this point must be at least somewhat okay with Trump.
So Trump’s current 38% + the 12% = 50%.
Then we have Trump at 50 and Biden at 50.
That 12% scares me.
MattF
@WaterGirl: Conventional wisdom is that undecideds split the same way as decideds.
Baud
@WaterGirl:
They won’t all go to Trump. But it’ll be closer than current polling shows.
Omnes Omnibus
@MattF: And late deciders break for the leader in the polls.
Kay
My father has announced he’s voting for Biden. He’s not happy about it. He liked Kamala Harris but he knew you people wouldn’t do this right.
Baud
@Omnes Omnibus:
At least when Comey doesn’t fuck things up.
Baud
@Kay: She’s probably the favorite for Veep.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: Oh well then, since he’s gone so we don’t have to worry about any late October investigation announcements.
Immanentize
@Kay: I seriously wonder what will happen next. Berman comes from the tassel-shoe lawfirm world. So does Jay Clayton. This is like a huge Junior League squabble. I think the best way to tell which way the wind is blowing is to see what Jay Clayton does next. If he steps down from consideration (having been told Berman is leaving voluntarily) then he has a future in law. If he does not, maybe he’ll get a judgeship or maybe he decides it’s best to just resign himself. But if he sticks it out with Trump — lawfirms on fire!
Kay
@MattF:
Oh, thank you. I like white collar crime stories. I used to get the paper copy of the WSJ (they mailed it to far flung burgs back in the day, so a day late) and they were great at that sort of thing. Then it got too wingnutty. Conservatives ruin another thing I like!
snoey
@Kay: Just as Trumpies are like Dead and Phish fans on tour, there are vendors following along creating stuff like that flag to sell to them.
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly:
Barr doesn’t have credibility. It won’t be the same although we should certainly expect something.
laura
@zhena gogolia: “Rat ran over the roof of the house with a piece of raw liver in his mouth.”
Omnes Omnibus
@Baud: Well, Comey fucking up things wasn’t a part of conventional wisdom until 2016.
RepubAnon
@Baud: Apparently, there’s a whole cult-like following that follows Trump rallies the way that Grateful Dead fans followed the Dead’s concerts. One wonder whether it’s largely the same people that fill up those rallies.
RedDirtGirl
Shameless self-promotion: today is my 55th birthday! Had a virtual game night with friends last night, and a socially distant picnic with family planned for later today. I haven’t been commenting here much, but always lurking around. Happy Solstice Jackals. ????
catclub
This. Look at all the nations that ARE out of this. South Korea, China to start. Italy has dropped their numbers from the peak – like New York – bad start but recover to manage it better.
Kay
@Immanentize:
Agree. Feels like INTER battle. I saw last night the fancy lawyers are already defending the replacement. WTF with these people. How many times do they have to be disappointed before they stop rushing to the defense of their fellow elite lawyers? The same fucking careerists who defended Barr. They’re no longer credible. Do they care? Is it that important that their world remain intact?
Kay
@Immanentize:
Agree. Feels like INTER battle. I saw last night the fancy lawyers are already defending the replacement. WTF with these people. How many times do they have to be disappointed before they stop rushing to the defense of their fellow elite lawyers? The same fucking careerists who defended Barr. They’re no longer credible. Do they care? Is it that important that their world remain intact?
Baud
@RepubAnon:
I actually read something about that a couple of years ago. Doesn’t surprise me in the least.
@RedDirtGirl: Happy birthday!
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: Yeah I know, I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity to employ sarcasm.
JPL
@RedDirtGirl: Happy Celebrating!
OzarkHillbilly
Time to go watch my granddaughter in her horse show. Have a good day, all.
trnc
Sorry, but I think most people would consider a mostly full arena a big win, a full arena to beat expectations and any overflow crowd to actually help him with some fence sitters. Never underestimate the power of a visual.
However, any of those scenarios significantly drive up covid risk, so I suspect any support gains would be wiped out when case numbers in that vicinity start to spike. After that, the impending RNC convention will start to look increasingly stupid.
JPL
@Kay: Yup.. I read the comments on the NYTimes article earlier and they was high praise for Jay Clayton.
JPL
@OzarkHillbilly: Have fun and good luck to the granddaughter.
trnc
Clayton was confirmed by the senate for his SEC chair, so they can probably just move him over like they’ve done with a bunch of other side-filled appointments.
ETA: I saw the comment about Berman possibly being safe because he was made US Attorney through a judicial appt. I don’t know anything about how that works, but I’m sure DT and Barr will claim that DT can fire him because he’s a US Attorney, regardless of how he got there. I guess the fact that Berman has already resisted means he thinks it isn’t that simple.
Gonna be interesting.
Aleta
@RedDirtGirl: Happy birthday !! ? ??
Frankensteinbeck
@OzarkHillbilly:
Moot. Trump flushed any remaining chance he had of an October Surprise working down the toilet when he gave his daily COVID briefings. When it became clear to even the only-vaguely-paying-attention that everything he said was a lie, that’s when his polling really plunged. Plus, when he does try an October Surprise – and he will try multiples – he’ll fuck it up. Trump is a bigger fuck-up than anyone I have ever seen or would have believed. As Fran Lebowitz put it, “You do not know anyone as stupid as Donald Trump. You just don’t.”
danielx
Got to hit a hardware store this morning, so Lowes, Home Depot or Menards? Let see: Menards has and enforces a rule about everybody coming in the store wearing a mask. I pick door #3.
RedDirtGirl
@Baud: Thanks!
JPL
Elizabeth Warren statement
WARREN: “This is a naked abuse of power. I’ve already called for AG William Barr to resign & for Congress to impeach him. Congress should pass my bill now to defund Barr’s authority to interfere with matters related to Trump, his family, & his campaign.”
Omnes Omnibus
@danielx: Menard’s is owned by right wing assholes, but they close for most holidays so that workers can spend time with their families.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@RedDirtGirl:
Happy birthday! Drop in once in a while. It’s good to hear from you.
JPL
Okay Legal Eagles What do you think about Harry Litman’s thread
scav
@NotMax: Sad Shel sells “She Shalls!” to sick shoremen.
raven
@danielx: And Bernie Marcus of Home Depot is a big fuck face donor.
Redshift
@RedDirtGirl: Happy birthday and happy solstice!
Mary G
@RedDirtGirl: Happy Birthday! I’ve been wondering about you; happy to see you’re OK.
Litlebritdifrnt
@trnc: But the numbers in the surrounding area are not going to spike because most of these people are not from around there.
Dorothy A. Winsor
From twitter:
JPL
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Will Bolton be able to keep proceeds from the book?
scav
@Litlebritdifrnt: Might still. They’ll be coming from all over and returning there, but will this lot not go to bars, restaurants, stay in hotels and dive wholeheartedly all those other bawdy, eventually melancholiac activities I’m having trouble punning about?
Mike in NC
In yet another setback this week for Fat Bastard, judge sez Bolton’s book can be sold.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@JPL: I think there’s a long way to go to decide that.
debbie
@Omnes Omnibus:
You don’t think he should even direct the AG to continue the investigations? I can’t imagine that being a bad thing. Plus, the appearance of a free-lancing AG operating with no direction isn’t something I would want to see.
Cameron
@Litlebritdifrnt: The people who work at that venue probably are locals, though.
MomSense
@NotMax: It has Keeley Hawes going for it, though.
Have you watched Durrell’s in Corfu? They take many liberties with the story, but it’s so enjoyable.
MomSense
@Baud:
From the way Berman’s response was rolled out, my guess is that they expected shenanigans from Barr.
Immanentize
@RedDirtGirl: Happy Double Nickels!!
artem1s
@rikyrah:
I broke into tears while watching Merkel’s address to Germany at the beginning of their lockdown. We could have had that, if only…
Litlebritdifrnt
@scav: True.
Litlebritdifrnt
@Cameron: Also true.
Baud
Haha. Judge denies TRO and says Bolton probably criminally and civilly liable for harming national security. Win-win.
MomSense
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
Jesus Christ.
Omnes Omnibus
@debbie: Presidents have traditionally stayed out of that business. They have not wanted prosecution to look political. This is one reason that the Saturday Night Massacre under Nixon was a big deal.
Omnes Omnibus
@Baud: Perfect.
debbie
@RedDirtGirl:
Happy birthday, young’n!
TS (the original)
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Washington Post
I assume this is a trump judge
No-one has jeopardized national security more than trump. Looking forward to hearing about that from january 2021 as Biden attempts to mend some fences
RedDirtGirl
@Dorothy A. Winsor: thanks. And thanks for all your help with my dad’s poetry. Slowly moving forward with it.
Omnes Omnibus
Why?
PST
I’ve been reading The Splendid and the Vile, and one thing I was struck by was people finding moments of joy, even in the midst of horror, and feeling guilty about it. I’m having that kind of morning. Long walk in beautiful weather with Man’s Best Friend, ending with a pleasant brunch together in a well spaced sidewalk cafe. I used to worry that Bernie would be bored while I ate, but she loves people and dog watching. It’s a lovely interlude. I wish everyone was having one.
Baud
@TS (the original): A GOP judge, I believe, but well before Trump. Lamberth has been around forever.
debbie
@MomSense:
Probably ever since Barr was confirmed.
RedDirtGirl
@Immanentize: I’m calling it fifty-fucking-five!
MomSense
My kids are recording an EP today. The whole band has been quarantined, but I’m still nervous about them being in a small studio. They’ve been rehearsing in my dad’s barn on weekends. Apparently when they practice the neighbors all come out and listen from their front porches.
Baud
@PST: Can you rename your dog so I don’t get confused when you talk about him? Thanks.
Baud
@MomSense:
As one should.
Mike in NC
@RepubAnon: 1/3 are cultists who travel from rally to rally. 1/3 are paid to be there through Craig’s List ads. 1/3 are local true believers.
debbie
Nice.
MomSense
@Kay:
There is also the Barr Epstein connection. I’m wondering exactly what Barr’s dad got up to after he hired Epstein to teach at Dalton.
different-church-lady
Wait… suburban areas?
Omnes Omnibus
@Baud: Reagan appointee.
RedDirtGirl
@Mary G: went off to lick my wounds for a bit after I panicked about the Biden accuser and was called a concern troll. Working on thickening my carapace ?.
Immanentize
@RedDirtGirl:
And clearly still alive!!!
debbie
This has got to be killing Rudi:
Didn’t know he’d practiced with him.
TS (the original)
@Baud: thanks – that was what I meant. I currently have in my brain trump = GOP. Indistinguishable in action – although some GOPers do speak better than the toddler in the White House.
Trump has to be beside himself at the rally, doubt he will be able to speak from the teleprompter for more than a few minutes.
dfh
@germy: Yes! Yes we did.
@sarahkendzior
This is a transnational crime syndicate masquerading as a government. http://hidinginplainsightbook.com
Baud
@debbie:
I don’t know how big Rudi’s firm was, but some of these law firms are huge and have a large number of partners who barely interact.
Immanentize
@RedDirtGirl: Really? Someone called you a concern troll? More like Billy Goat Gruff, I would say.
I didn’t think the accusation was true — but it certainly worried me too. All I needed was to consider the alternate and shivers went up my spine….
Immanentize
@debbie: “practice” is a generous word when applied to RUDY!
debbie
@Baud:
Jeez, you aren’t kidding. From their website:
RedDirtGirl
@Immanentize: I had missed a long, possibly heated thread about it the day before, so I guess my comment triggered a few people.
debbie
@Immanentize:
He has been oddly quiet lately. It was kind of nice not missing him at all.
raven
(CNN)A federal judge has denied the Trump administration’s attempt to block the upcoming publication of a book by former national security adviser John Bolton.
Judge Royce Lamberth of the DC District Court wrote in a 10-page decision Saturday morningthat the Justice Department’s arguments weren’t enough to stop the book’s release. He cited how the book, which is scheduled to be released Tuesday, had already been widely distributed, and could easily be distributed further on the internet, even if the court said it could not be.
Immanentize
@debbie: I did see he was tweeting, “Where’s Biden” right when Biden was giving a speech….
Just Chuck
@germy: I’m fairly sure that’s a dude, actually. Well naw, the earrings would never be tolerated on a male in that camp. Otherwise looks like Comic Book Guy on meth.
Immanentize
@debbie: I think that is a business model, not the actual firm size. It is groups “afilliated” under the GT label. This has become a very big way to get around State practice rules and advertising limits.
Scamp Dog
@RedDirtGirl: Happy B-day to you!
Baud
@RedDirtGirl: It was a stressful time that could have gone all sorts of sideways. Hopefully, the experience has inoculated us for what’s to come. Our side should be proud that we held our ground without throwing real victims under the bus.
Haydnseek
@MomSense: There actually is a condition called Epstein-Barr disease. It’s a virus, because of course it is.
MomSense
@RedDirtGirl:
Happy Triple F, RDG!
MomSense
@Haydnseek:
OMG it’s perfect.
PST
@Baud: My Bernie uses she/her pronouns, so there should be no misunderstanding.
raven
@RedDirtGirl: Hang in there, at least it wasn’t someone in authority.
schrodingers_cat
@JPL: Talk is cheap. Why did she endorse Amy McGrath’s challenger who has no chance in hell to take down Moscow Mitch.
evodevo
@germy: Yeah…all you have to do is think back to W’s firing of US attorneys across the country who wouldn’t go along with his scheme to use faux prosecutions of Dems or interference with voting processes. The tendency has been there a LONG time…
schrodingers_cat
@MomSense: I like the books better. They are funny. The PBS show is more soapy.
evodevo
@germy: Yep. Nope, they are fully on board with this rhetoric…I personally know a lot of them here in Ky.
raven
@schrodingers_cat:
Endorsements have rolled in for Booker in recent days. The Kentucky Democrat is now backed by Warren, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.), and progressive Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.) and Ayanna Pressley (D., Mass.). He also picked up local endorsements from the Louisville Courier Journal, Lexington Herald Leader, and former Kentucky secretary of state Alison Lundergan Grimes, who lost to McConnell in 2014. In its endorsement, the Courier Journal called McGrath’s campaign “unimaginative and uninspiring.”
A Data Progress poll released Thursday showed Booker leading McGrath in the primary by 8 points. He has spent just $500,000 on the race. The poll also showed McGrath with a favorable rating of just 24 percent, compared with an unfavorable rating of 59 percent. McConnell led both Democrats in the poll by double digits.
McGrath did not respond to a request for comment.
schrodingers_cat
@raven: DSA roses kneecap Ds and help Rs. It is sad but not entirely surprising to see EW join them. AOC and BS endorsed this guy just after there was a poll showing McGrath ahead of Mitch McConnell.
raven
@schrodingers_cat: I report, you decide.
gwangung
@schrodingers_cat: If the only criterion you use is if a candidate is endorsed by Bernies, AOC and others, that’s a shitty criterion.
I have no idea if you’ve EVER looked at what either candidate has for policy or what they’e said.
different-church-lady
@Baud: We already renamed the candidate for that purpose, ya silly.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Baud:
If memory serves, and lately it does so less often, he was nutty Larry Klayman’s favorite judge back in the day. It’s been a long, long time, but I think he was a key figure in David Brock’s book about being a player in the far-right anti-Clinton machine. His name came up again a couple of years ago, and i couldn’t believe he was still alive, much less on the bench.
different-church-lady
@RedDirtGirl: It was hard to not panic in the early days of that.
schrodingers_cat
@gwangung: McGrath has a chance of beating Mitch McConnell while the DSA person does not. And even if McGrath is the second coming of Joe Manchin, she is a D from KY after all she will be better than Moscow Mitch.
My criteria depends on who can win in a particular state, not someone who gives me the feels or checks all my ideological hobby horses. YMMV.
PST
@Baud:
I think Harris is getting closer and closer to a lock by the day. Whether or not one thinks it would have been a good strategy, there was at least an argument to be made that Klobuchar might have been the candidate to move the most votes in the most essential states. There is no point in debating that; it was dead long before she pulled out and advised Biden to pick a woman of color. I will bet that this was coordinated to Biden, much as the timing of her withdrawal from the presidential race was, and is intended to add cover for a decision he has already made. It makes it a little harder for the progressive wing to complain about not picking Warren. Maybe she gets to be AG. And when the elephant in the room for Biden is that he is so old that the Veep has to be especially ready to take over at a moment’s notice, I don’t think any of the other African American short-listers can compete with Harris. I find Demings especially impressive and appealing, but she is 65 already and a second-term member of Congress without prior experience at the federal level. The “heartbeat away” concern is greater than people in our camp want to admit. In addition, she is a smoother and more experienced political operator that Duckworth, and in this context that’s good. Duckworth is my senator and I’m very, very happy about that, but I also think at this juncture “woman of color” really means African American.
Omnes Omnibus
@schrodingers_cat: It’s funny that Booker is leading in the polls, isn’t it?
debbie
@Immanentize:
BACK TO YOUR BAT CAVE, RUDI !!!
Miss Bianca
@rikyrah: And Hillary Clinton would also be getting heaps of shit about however many thousand people died from COVID-19 under her watch. Which wouldn’t have been 100,000 +. But it would have been BENGHAZIIIIIII!!! all over again, only amped up to 11.
Meanwhile, the COVID-19 death toll *is* 100,000 +, climbing with no end in sight, and Trump actually goes on record taking no responsibility for it, and somehow, he gets away with it.
You’re right. The curve for unqualified white men is real.
Omnes Omnibus
@PST: What in Warren’s resume makes you think she would be a good AG or that she would be interested in the job?
debbie
@Immanentize:
Good, because that is just too damn big.
MomSense
@schrodingers_cat:
That’s fair, but still it’s a fun escape. Besides, Alexis Georgoulis is not only dreamy but a big supporter of animal welfare. Greece has a huge problem with stray dogs and cats on the streets.
Omnes Omnibus
@debbie: There are a lot of law firms that are that big.
Origuy
@Luciamia: Stonehenge is cordoned off this year. They will be streaming the peak of the solstice, from sunset until the rising sun appears over the heel stone.
Sunset there starts at 20:26 UTC, sunrise will be at 3:52 UTC. Subtract 4 hours for EDT, etc.
debbie
@Omnes Omnibus:
Then they’re all too damn big too.
Omnes Omnibus
@debbie: Why?
What, in your opinion, is the maximum size that a firm should be? And why is that so?
schrodingers_cat
@MomSense:
TBF I only saw one episode and I could not get into it. I have read all the books.
schrodingers_cat
@Omnes Omnibus: Against McGrath but is he leading against Mitch? And it was one poll not polls.
Kentucky BJers, who do you think could take Mitch down?
RedDirtGirl
@MomSense: Heading to Maine for the month of July. Plan on seeing my friend when she comes up to visit her daughter in Bar Harbor!
patrick II
@germy:
Not me: Gonzalez, Mitchell, Barr I. Meese, Sessions
Omnes Omnibus
@schrodingers_cat: I know. But I don’t share your automatic disdain for the Party’s left. It’s not like they are pumping up a no hoper. Booker looks like he has a legit chance at the nomination. Democratic pols have every right to support the candidate they think is best. I only expect that once to primary is over everyone united behind the winner.
debbie
@Omnes Omnibus:
I’m against conglomerates, whatever the industry.
Omnes Omnibus
@debbie: Break up GM?
PST
@Omnes Omnibus:
My careless use of pronouns made the antecedent unclear. I meant Klobuchar. I don’t know whether she would want to be the AG either, but she has relevant experience, and I think she would be ruthless. She obviously wanted to be the vice presidential candidate and made a smart move to curry favor with Biden when she withdrew. I think this was another one.
By way of an editorial addition, it’s nice to live in a world where the word “she” can be ambiguous when discussing maneuvers at the highest level of politics. For most of my life the number of women “in the room” would be in a range of zero to one.
schrodingers_cat
@Omnes Omnibus: The BS wing of the party has done zero to earn my trust. YMMV. I agree with what you said about the primaries in principle but the timing of BS, AOC and EW endorsements is suspect because they happened immediately after Amy M took the lead in the polls for the first time against Mitch M.
Ds have to take back the senate along with winning the presidency, otherwise people like me better start making exit plans if the Rs prevail again.
Steeplejack
@RedDirtGirl:
Happy birthday! ????
MomSense
@RedDirtGirl:
oh nice. I think my son will be in Bar Harbor a bit this summer, too.
catclub
With any luck they will all go to Kurdish refugees.
catclub
@patrick II: It is amazing that Sessions was the most principled (low bar)
of that bunch.
Ruckus
@Kay:
I wonder if the republicans in congress are waiting for an inflection point here. A point at which they see that hanging together means exactly that. Being slow they might have to see 3 or 4 of those to act in their own self interests and find a lifeboat before they all go down with the shit.
Butter Emails
@schrodingers_cat:
I’m a bit skeptical of Kentucky polls at the moment giving the huge difference in results between the Civiqs poll released the 18th and the RMG polls released on the 9th. There’s a 20 point swing from McGrath to McConnell between the two polls.
If that swing is real, then we might be better off backing someone besides McGrath. If the results are invalid, I suspect they probably overstate Booker’s support.
NotMax
@RedDirtGirl
Yeehaw! Have an auspicious birthday!