• Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Before Header

  • About Us
  • Lexicon
  • Contact Us
  • Our Store
  • ↑
  • ↓
  • ←
  • →

Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Live so that if you miss a day of work people aren’t hoping you’re dead.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

Prediction: the gop will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

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

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

This really is a full service blog.

This must be what justice looks like, not vengeful, just peaceful exuberance.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

The desire to stay informed is directly at odds with the need to not be constantly enraged.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

Hell hath no fury like a farmer bankrupted.

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

Rupert, come get your orange boy, you petrified old dinosaur turd.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

Boeing: repeatedly making the case for high speed rail.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

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

The lights are all blinking red.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

Mobile Menu

  • Seattle Meet-up Post
  • 2025 Activism
  • Targeted Political Fundraising
  • Donate with Venmo, Zelle & PayPal
  • Site Feedback
  • War in Ukraine
  • Submit Photos to On the Road
  • Politics
  • On The Road
  • Open Threads
  • Topics
  • COVID-19
  • Authors
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Lexicon
  • Our Store
  • Politics
  • Open Threads
  • 2025 Activism
  • Garden Chats
  • On The Road
  • Targeted Fundraising!
You are here: Home / Elections / Biden For President / Monday Morning Open Thread: *Every* Day Should Be National Ice Cream Day!

Monday Morning Open Thread: *Every* Day Should Be National Ice Cream Day!

by Anne Laurie|  July 20, 20205:45 am| 207 Comments

This post is in: Biden For President, Open Threads, Proud to Be A Democrat

FacebookTweetEmail

My current Senator, and former Representative.

Here's the scoop on my time as an ice cream man. pic.twitter.com/UfHzljSo67

— Ed Markey (@EdMarkey) July 19, 2020

(Technically, it’s the third Sunday in July.)

Every day is National Ice Cream Day in my book. pic.twitter.com/R6WR0LNspS

— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) July 19, 2020

A look across the latest polling has Biden winning in the suburbs by north of 15 points on average. No Dem in the modern era has won the suburbs by double-digits, save maybe Johnson in 64. It would be a historic win. https://t.co/gCCzWciqdD

— (((Harry Enten))) (@ForecasterEnten) July 19, 2020

false, poll does not include boat parades https://t.co/30pSS9j7Dh

— kilgore trout, suburban female understander (@KT_So_It_Goes) July 19, 2020

pic.twitter.com/4KgKYrsRMz

— Paul (@UNAGRAD85) July 19, 2020

As I said yesterday… the National Shock Jock has lost his ability to surprise:

Trump’s incessant dishonesty during interviews, rallies and other events is often convered in passing or not at all. Today, WaPo and the NYT treated it as the main story: pic.twitter.com/NgeJgsfdkc

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) July 20, 2020

FacebookTweetEmail
Previous Post: «On The Road - Albatrossity - Homer, Alaska On The Road – Albatrossity – Homer, Alaska
Next Post: We blew it »

Reader Interactions

207Comments

  1. 1.

    Baud

    July 20, 2020 at 5:49 am

    That Biden tweet is like a Normal Rockwell painting.

  2. 2.

    raven

    July 20, 2020 at 5:57 am

    Naval Academy Grad maced and clubbed in Portland.

  3. 3.

    WereBear

    July 20, 2020 at 6:06 am

    WTF? Biden and Trump are almost even on the ECONOMY?

    People, people: THIS is the Trump Economy. The hellscape we are living in now.

  4. 4.

    SFAW

    July 20, 2020 at 6:08 am

    @raven: 
    JFC

  5. 5.

    OzarkHillbilly

    July 20, 2020 at 6:11 am

    Great story by Ed Markey.

  6. 6.

    SFAW

    July 20, 2020 at 6:12 am

    @WereBear:

    The electorate has almost always bought into the fiction that Republicans are “better” on the economy. Because libtard Demon-rats are the “tax and spend” party, and “they’re spending money on people who don’t deserve it” party.

    Not enough people notice that the economy always seems to do better under Dems. [The Reagan/Carter era excepted.]

  7. 7.

    NotMax

    July 20, 2020 at 6:17 am

    Ice cream? “We’re gettin’ in.”

    And a plug for a local brand.

    ;)

    Also too Cold War: The Legal Battle Between Good Humor and the Popsicle Corporation.

  8. 8.

    MattF

    July 20, 2020 at 6:21 am

    Ice cream! Here’s an ice cream question– Is there any brand of strawberry ice cream that’s better than ‘I guess that’s OK’?

    ETA: Or gelato.

  9. 9.

    Betty Cracker

    July 20, 2020 at 6:22 am

    @WereBear: A Q poll last week showed Biden well ahead on the economy. Maybe it’s wishful thinking, but I’m convinced it’s a lagging indicator and that Trump’s numbers on the economy will continue to decline.

    Too many people still have it in their heads that Trump is a self-made tycoon who understands business. WE know it’s a lie, but they saw it on TV, so they believe it. It’ll take a while to dislodge that notion from their heads. But I’m fairly confident that the lived experience of tens of millions of lost jobs and recurring shutdowns due to mismanagement of the pandemic will eventually eclipse impressions formed by watching The Apprentice.

  10. 10.

    OzarkHillbilly

    July 20, 2020 at 6:25 am

    Just in case you weren’t already nervous enough about things, add this to the list of woes America must endure: Hollywood nervously awaits fallout from explosive Johnny Depp trial

  11. 11.

    otmar

    July 20, 2020 at 6:27 am

    Greetings from the hospital.

    The spawn just had an elective surgery today and I came along as his guardian.

    All went well. We’re supposed to be sent home later today. The Covid preventative measures are interesting.

  12. 12.

    NotMax

    July 20, 2020 at 6:32 am

    @MattF

    From the market freezer chest? Tillamook strawberry is tastier than other brands, IMHO.

  13. 13.

    Jeffro

    July 20, 2020 at 6:33 am

    Go long on aviator shades, peeps. Whole country’s going to be sold out of ‘em come November. =)

  14. 14.

    NotMax

    July 20, 2020 at 6:40 am

    @Jeffro

    Expecting a frenzy of Douglas MacArthur nostalgia?

    (*searches for manufacturers of corn cob pipes*)

    :)

  15. 15.

    Ruckus

    July 20, 2020 at 6:40 am

    @Betty Cracker:

    I’m sure it’s very uneven but around where I live, east San Gabriel Valley area of socal, the traffic, the businesses, the stores, all seem to be almost back to normal. Some things like indoor eating is not, and masks are required at all public indoor areas, like stores, post office, etc. I’m not sure the economy is that far off of normal, although the last few months have not all been that strong. And of course we have a lot of cases here because people can’t seem to understand simple health issues or they have some serious reality issues. But then we know there are a lot of people that easily fall into those groups.

    Been up a while, one of the neighbors in this over 55 complex, who is somewhere in the 75-80 yr old bracket. She’s not doing well. I heard vehicles drive up, got up to see 4 cop vehicles outside and then paramedics/ambulance took her away. The cops usually mean a death. And then her son, who is supposedly helping her dropped to the ground, turns out he’s not actually in as good of shape as his mom. Paramedics and ambulance back to haul him off. The fun of living with bunch of old geezers.

  16. 16.

    Starfish

    July 20, 2020 at 6:43 am

    @WereBear: I am sure more tax cuts for the rich will fix it. I am planning on being rich any minute now.

  17. 17.

    Jeffro

    July 20, 2020 at 6:46 am

    @NotMax: Hah!

    I have a beer coozie somewhere that says, “Cheers, Champ” on it with Uncle Joe’s smiling face and the classic shades…I need to go dig that bad boy out!

  18. 18.

    evap

    July 20, 2020 at 6:49 am

    @MattF: I have always been partial to Breyer’s strawberry, back when I ate dairy ice cream.   I have been making my own ice cream for years, and it’s interesting that I’ve never been able to make a good strawberry.  Good raspberry is easy, though.  There’s something about strawberries that doesn’t seem to work in ice cream, maybe they are too watery or something.

  19. 19.

    Chyron HR

    July 20, 2020 at 6:49 am

    Actually the official position of the Republican party is that’s a photo of Joe luring children in to harvest their adenochrome.

  20. 20.

    OzarkHillbilly

    July 20, 2020 at 6:49 am

    Son of US federal judge killed after answering door to gunman

    A gunman shot and killed the 20-year-old son of a federal judge as he answered the door of the family home on Sunday in New Jersey, and shot and wounded the judge’s husband before fleeing, according to judiciary officials.

    The shootings occurred at the North Brunswick home of the US district judge Esther Salas, and killed her son, Daniel, said the chief district judge, Freda Wolfson. Salas’s husband, the defence lawyer Mark Anderl, was injured in the attack, Wolfson said.

    Salas was in the basement at the time and wasn’t injured, according to a judiciary official who spoke anonymously to the Associated Press.

    The perpetrator, believed to be a lone gunman posing as a FedEx delivery person, was not in custody, the official said. The FBI tweeted on Sunday night that it was looking for one suspect in the shootings.

    Daniel Anderl, a college student, was Salas’s only child, the official said.

    It’s a sign of our times that my first thought was, “I wonder who appointed her?” and only later did it occur to me to wonder what cases she is/has heard.

  21. 21.

    rikyrah

    July 20, 2020 at 6:51 am

    Good Morning, Everyone ???

  22. 22.

    OzarkHillbilly

    July 20, 2020 at 6:52 am

    @Chyron HR: I would have thought he was trying to lure them into the basement of Comet Pizza.

  23. 23.

    Chyron HR

    July 20, 2020 at 6:52 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    That’s where they harvest the adrenochrome, sheesh.

  24. 24.

    OzarkHillbilly

    July 20, 2020 at 6:53 am

    @Chyron HR: Of course, silly me.

  25. 25.

    Baud

    July 20, 2020 at 6:54 am

    @rikyrah: Good morning.

  26. 26.

    rikyrah

    July 20, 2020 at 6:56 am

    @MattF:

    Talenti is the TRUTH???

  27. 27.

    rikyrah

    July 20, 2020 at 6:57 am

    @otmar:

    ?????

  28. 28.

    Danielx

    July 20, 2020 at 6:58 am

    Mr. Meadows has for the most part opposed any briefings about the virus, while other Trump advisers, including Hope Hicks and Jared Kushner, have been open to holding briefings so long as they are not at the White House — where Mr. Trump could show up and commandeer them. Mr. Pence’s team would like to hold more briefings with the health experts, but some of Mr. Trump’s communications aides do not want the vice president to be part of them.

  29. 29.

    rikyrah

    July 20, 2020 at 6:58 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    This was A HIT??

  30. 30.

    OzarkHillbilly

    July 20, 2020 at 6:59 am

    ‘I’m using unemployment benefits to buy insulin’: US workers face hardships over pandemic

    The Republican vision for America.

  31. 31.

    Danielx

    July 20, 2020 at 7:02 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    As I recall, she had the Jeffrey Epstein case. She also had a case coming up involving Deutsch Bank. Nothing sensitive there, nothing to see, move along….

    eta: I was incorrect – part of the DB case was that certain investors complained about the bank not screening for the likes of Epstein. Case has to do with money laundering and various other misdeeds.

  32. 32.

    OzarkHillbilly

    July 20, 2020 at 7:03 am

    @Danielx: Right on both counts.

  33. 33.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    July 20, 2020 at 7:04 am

    @MattF: Maybe you’ve had bad gelato. I’ve always had wonderful experiences with it.

    There was a very popular gelato place here in Philly that made their own in all kinds of exotic flavors. Unfortunately they closed a couple years ago after some bad business decisions.

  34. 34.

    PST

    July 20, 2020 at 7:08 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: Fifteen years ago the husband and mother of a federal judge here in Chicago were murdered in the family home by an angry and disappointed litigant. The judge had presided over a high profile case involving a right wing hate group, but the killer turned out to be obscure. It’s chilling how easy it is to murder for revenge if you don’t care about the consequences. Our family knew the judge’s slightly through the local PTA.

  35. 35.

    MattF

    July 20, 2020 at 7:08 am

    @rikyrah: Agree. Maybe a bit too sweet sometimes, but generallly a benchmark for ‘that actually tastes like…’. Double dark chocolate and sea salt caramel flavors are my faves.

  36. 36.

    Baud

    July 20, 2020 at 7:10 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    If the gunman had gotten the judge, McConnell would gleefully be working on her replacement this morning.

  37. 37.

    MattF

    July 20, 2020 at 7:11 am

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: There’s a local gelato maker/seller who’s excellent. They’d gotten into the gelato+coffee biz before the recent retail catastrophe, don’t know how they’re doing now.

  38. 38.

    Betty Cracker

    July 20, 2020 at 7:12 am

    Was reading the transcript of Trump’s interview with Chris Wallace. When Wallace mentioned polls showing him losing, Trump went all-in on the “Biden has dementia” thing. An excerpt:

    TRUMP: Biden can’t put two sentences together. They wheel him out. He goes up — he repeats — they ask him questions. He reads a teleprompter and then he goes back into his basement. You tell me the American people want to have that in an age where we’re in trouble with other nations that are looking to do numbers on us…

    Joe doesn’t know he’s alive, OK? He doesn’t know he’s alive…

    He can’t do an interview. He’s incompetent.

    As I’ve said, lowering expectations for an opponent strikes me as a terrible strategy. Biden isn’t the most articulate guy on earth, but he in no way resembles the caricature Trump and his minions constantly describe. Biden does interviews! He answers questions! It’s on video!

    But it occurs to me that this isn’t a strategic blunder on Trump’s part — he probably believes it. The low-quality hires tell him what he wants to hear to avoid becoming targets of his hissy fits, so he gets clips that string together Biden’s verbal stumbles, and that’s all the information he has. It’s not like Trump is going to independently seek out and watch Biden interviews or town halls. That would require an ability to focus on someone other than Donald Trump.

  39. 39.

    MattF

    July 20, 2020 at 7:18 am

    @Betty Cracker: As Mary Trump noted, Don is institutionalized and has been for all of his adult life. I guess he thinks his keepers and the other inmates (aka golf partners) are the norm and has no way to make judgements about other people. Besides ‘winner’ and ‘loser’.

  40. 40.

    NotMax

    July 20, 2020 at 7:18 am

    @rikyrah

    Local community college probably offers an online course on how to open the fershlugginer Talenti container.

    :)

  41. 41.

    Danielx

    July 20, 2020 at 7:18 am

    @Betty Cracker:

    From what I can tell, trying to keep up the boss’s morale occupies quite a bit of White House staff efforts at the moment, more even than has been the norm throughout his presidency.

    It must be a truly surreal place to work.

  42. 42.

    PST

    July 20, 2020 at 7:18 am

    Apropos of nothing, I got COVID tested Saturday. I just happened to be pedaling past a test site set up in my neighborhood. They do stick that swab in deep and mash it around thoroughly. I have no worrisome symptoms, but I think it’s good that we have enough capacity to be checking on random folks like me. It must help in getting the full picture to test more than just people who think they’re sick. If the results are bad, I will report here so everyone can quarantine.

  43. 43.

    MattF

    July 20, 2020 at 7:20 am

    @NotMax: I have a specialized tool for that.

  44. 44.

    OzarkHillbilly

    July 20, 2020 at 7:20 am

    @Baud: Hmmmmm… Maybe the gunmen was working for Mitch?

  45. 45.

    Baud

    July 20, 2020 at 7:21 am

    @Betty Cracker:

    “Biden has no head. He is literally headless. Like completely removed from his body. Do Americans want a president that doesn’t have a head?  I don’t think so.”

  46. 46.

    JPL

    July 20, 2020 at 7:21 am

    @Baud: He’d offer thoughts and prayers though.

  47. 47.

    Kristine

    July 20, 2020 at 7:21 am

    Il Laboratorio del Gelato. I had their dark chocolate a few years ago during an NYC visit. I think they’re still functioning, and they were doing mail order. Nothing I’ve had since has even come close.

  48. 48.

    NotMax

    July 20, 2020 at 7:21 am

    @Danielx

    An entrenched staff composed of ambulatory juice boxes.

    //

  49. 49.

    SiubhanDuinne

    July 20, 2020 at 7:22 am

    @Danielx:

    Finely-tuned, well-oiled machine.

  50. 50.

    Baud

    July 20, 2020 at 7:23 am

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    Running government like a business.

  51. 51.

    debbie

    July 20, 2020 at 7:27 am

    @raven:

    Have you seen the video? How they were like little gnats swarming at a picnic?

  52. 52.

    Baud

    July 20, 2020 at 7:30 am

    The Street is predicting a Biden win.

    This billionaire says the US stock market is overlooking the rapidly growing national debt

  53. 53.

    Danielx

    July 20, 2020 at 7:31 am

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    I’ve read that the unofficial motto of the Obama White House was “don’t do stupid shit”. Comparable motto for current occupants might be “all hands to the pumps and for chrissakes don’t tell the boss there’s a leak!”.

  54. 54.

    debbie

    July 20, 2020 at 7:31 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Can Wiki be reliable? ??‍♀️

    Notable cases
    In 2013 Judge Salas presided over a notable public corruption case.[9]

    Judge Salas was the judge responsible for the trial of Real Housewives of New Jersey star Teresa Giudice and her husband Giuseppe “Joe” Giudice. They were both sentenced for bank fraud on October 2, 2014.[10]

    Salas is the judge on the case against Deutsche Bank in regards to Jeffrey Epstein, Karimi v. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft et al. [11][12]

  55. 55.

    Kay

    July 20, 2020 at 7:33 am

    @Betty Cracker:

    It’s amusing all the political professionals around Trump don’t just watch the Dem debates. Biden just did an intense round of debates against a really smart and experienced group of Democrats. He did fine.

    It’s the best and most relevant evidence they have and it’s recent– they utterly ignore it. Biden’s most notable quality over both the VP debates and the primary debates is his consistency. He consistently does fine in debates.

  56. 56.

    Baud

    July 20, 2020 at 7:35 am

    Possibly important news for some people.

    People who have been laid off or furloughed from their jobs now have significantly more time to decide whether to hang on to their employer-sponsored health insurance, according to a recent federal rule.

     

    Under the federal law known as COBRA, people who lose their job-based coverage because of a layoff or a reduction in their hours usually have 60 days to decide whether to continue with that same health plan. But under the rule issued this spring, that clock doesn’t start ticking until the end of the COVID-19 “outbreak period” that started March 1 and it will continue for 60 days after the COVID-19 national emergency is declared to be at an end. That end date hasn’t been determined yet.

  57. 57.

    debbie

    July 20, 2020 at 7:35 am

    I unknowingly celebrated National Ice Cream Day yesterday. Graeters’ Dark Chocolate Brownie or go home!

  58. 58.

    Danielx

    July 20, 2020 at 7:37 am

    Be it noted: getting old is a bitch. Second round of steroids for back issues and I hate this shit.

  59. 59.

    p.a.

    July 20, 2020 at 7:38 am

    @raven: Tankman/Tiananmen moment.  Hope for better conclusion…

  60. 60.

    NotMax

    July 20, 2020 at 7:38 am

    @debbie

    All thoughts of that will vanish once you taste Mr. Cole’s Sauerkraut Ripple!

    :)

  61. 61.

    Baud

    July 20, 2020 at 7:42 am

    @Kay:

    political professionals around Trump

    Um.

  62. 62.

    prostratedragon

    July 20, 2020 at 7:42 am

    @debbie:
    Searching on the title gets many listings like this from the last week.

  63. 63.

    Kay

    July 20, 2020 at 7:43 am

    Joe Biden has debated a Trump-like figure, even. Palin. 

    To date, Ms. Palin remains Mr. Biden’s most salient preparation for an adversary like Mr. Trump, gifted in the politics of grievance and belittling

  64. 64.

    Baud

    July 20, 2020 at 7:45 am

    @Kay:

    Palin was actually harder because Joe couldn’t be seem as picking on a “nice,” young woman.

  65. 65.

    debbie

    July 20, 2020 at 7:47 am

    @Kay:

    Coincidentally or not, on Saturday night, SNL re-ran the show with the Biden-Palin debate as the cold open. It was so funny!

  66. 66.

    Kay

    July 20, 2020 at 7:48 am

    @Baud:

    I think it’s most likely it goes like it did with Palin. She was swinging wildly and she kept missing. Paul Ryan is supposed to be their intellectual leader. Biden won that one too.

    Vice President Joe Biden steamrolled Rep. Paul Ryan in the first vice-presidential debate last night, winning 50 percent to 31 percent in a CBS poll of uncommitted voters.From the first mention of “malarkey” – Biden’s response to Ryan’s critique of the administration’s handling of Libya – the contest became such a laugher that the peanut gallery on Twitter began to sit back and enjoy the show.

  67. 67.

    Baud

    July 20, 2020 at 7:50 am

    @Kay:

    Biden’s geniality will contrast nicely against Trump’s meanness.

  68. 68.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    July 20, 2020 at 7:52 am

    Apparently in that crazy Fox interview Trump declared the election results are up to him to decide. I wonder if that is why the conservatives are openly splitting with him.  The special privilege under the law that’s so dear to the conservative heart is meaningless if the law is what ever Trump decides any given day.

  69. 69.

    Baud

    July 20, 2020 at 7:57 am

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques:

    To the extent they are openly splitting with him, it’s solely because they think he’s going to lose.

  70. 70.

    OzarkHillbilly

    July 20, 2020 at 7:57 am

    @Baud: for most people Cobra is a cruel joke.

    “Sure you can keep your health insurance. IF you have an extra $1500 every month. Oh, you just lost your job and your income is now $1200 a month? Sucks to be you.”

  71. 71.

    NotMax

    July 20, 2020 at 7:58 am

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques

    Compelled to link.

    ;)

  72. 72.

    The Thin Black Duke

    July 20, 2020 at 7:58 am

    Trump won’t debate Biden.

  73. 73.

    Baud

    July 20, 2020 at 8:00 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    I know.  But some people need it and use it. People have to find a way to make it until January, and even then, it’ll take a little bit of time to fix everything.

  74. 74.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    July 20, 2020 at 8:00 am

    @Kay: It’s amusing all the political professionals around Trump don’t just watch the Dem debates.

    The good ones don’t work for Trump and the ones that do know better than to tell Trump something Trump doesn’t want to hear.

  75. 75.

    Frankensteinbeck

    July 20, 2020 at 8:00 am

    Man.  I saw a tweet quoting Kanye saying truly dumb shit, and white leftists were parachuting in to assure black readers that Biden will lose the black vote.

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Having been horribly abused by a woman who accused me of abuse so she could keep all our friends when we broke up, I may be too reflexively incline to believe Depp.

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    I will note that it is a huge thing on the conspiracy right – HUGE, one of their most popular topics – that Democrats we’re protecting Epstein and then assassinated him because he would implicate the whole party as literally in bed with his child prostitution ring. Her being an Obama appointee could easily turn out to be relevant.

    @Danielx:

    Stupid as he is, Pence is the kind of stupid who does what he’s told.  I entirely believe he recognizes that Trump could have weathered COVID politically just by letting doctors do the talking.

    @Betty Cracker:

    My position has been that Trump wants to debate Biden.  Trump is convinced he personally is a fantastic public speaker and debater, and eagerly believed the lie that Biden is senile.

  76. 76.

    sanjeevs

    July 20, 2020 at 8:00 am

    @Betty Cracker: He also said this about Biden. He knows exactly what he’s trying to do.

     

    You know why I won’t lose, because the country, in the end, they’re not going to have a man who – who’s shot. He’s shot.

  77. 77.

    Ken

    July 20, 2020 at 8:02 am

    @Danielx: Looks like the only thing they’re all agreed on is the backstabbing.

  78. 78.

    eric

    July 20, 2020 at 8:02 am

    @Baud: correction:  because they think THEY are going to lose.  he can lose all he wants so long as he does not take many with him.  Politics is like baseball:  in many ways it is a team game, it many ways it is not.

  79. 79.

    NotMax

    July 20, 2020 at 8:04 am

    @eric

    There are no thrones in the dugout.

  80. 80.

    Betty Cracker

    July 20, 2020 at 8:05 am

    Do y’all think there will be debates? I’ve come full circle on that myself. At first, I thought there definitely would be because Trump would look like the whiny chickenshit he is if he refused. Then, he seemed to lay the groundwork to punk out by insisting that moderators be “fair” (i.e., be Sean Hannity and Jeannine Pirro, probably!).

    Now I’m back to thinking he will have to show up for at least one because he needs a game-changer — his dim-witted people know that, even if he doesn’t. Trump himself probably thinks he’ll do great because he believes the caricature of Biden he and the low-quality hires are peddling.

    Sure seems like debates don’t matter much — Clinton won every single one of them by a mile in 2016. Biden did okay in the primary debates, but the data says other candidates won most of those. Maybe thanks to Trump running his yap about Biden’s mental capacity all the time, these debates actually will matter? Probably not. No one outside the MAGA sewer believes that bullshit anyway.

  81. 81.

    Skepticat

    July 20, 2020 at 8:05 am

    I really like Ed Markey and liked the story, but I cringed at his awful mispronunciation of “victuals.” He’s a Yankee, for goodness sake, and should know it’s “vittles.”

    And one of the things I miss most about being without power for almost a year? Ice cream.

  82. 82.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    July 20, 2020 at 8:06 am

    @Baud: Oh yes, that is part of my thought – Trump will lose, throw the election in crises; if Trump managers to martian power the rule of law becomes meaningless, if the more likely result is Biden is forced threw over Trump then Biden’s mandate will be so strong that a lot of those special privileges will be removed.  So there is every reason for them to make it clear now Trump doesn’t get throw a tantrum in December.

  83. 83.

    OzarkHillbilly

    July 20, 2020 at 8:06 am

    @Baud: Well with the ACA “need” is relative. When my wife lost her job, the choice between COBRA and a subsidized plan from healthcare.gov was an easy one. I suspect most people who COBRA’d only did it for a month or 2 and were in professions where demand far outweighed supply, so they could be confident in finding another job soon.

  84. 84.

    Kathleen

    July 20, 2020 at 8:08 am

    @debbie: Mmmmmmm,! Graeters! I love Mocha Chip and their donuts!

  85. 85.

    narya

    July 20, 2020 at 8:11 am

    Kitchen should be finished today/tomorrow, except for the tile and screen door (both of which are on order and not here yet). Will take awhile to put it all back together. I’ll also note that I INTENDED to call the contractor Friday . . . but he called me before I could get to it. Turns out he totaled his vehicle last time he was here (fainted from dehydration, apparently), so he’s been out of commission for a couple of weeks. (No injuries at all but was hospitalized for observation so he stayed away/got covid tested.) In sadder news, my dad’s youngest sister died in her sleep, apparently Friday night? Her husband died less than a year ago, and an aunt on my mom’s side died about a year ago as well. This one was in her late 80s, so no spring chicken. Funny part: My cousin apparently wanted to bury my uncle’s ashes with her–to which she at first said that he had bugged her for more than 60 years and no way she wanted him around through eternity; apparently she eventually relented. This is completely typical of my family. Very small gathering tomorrow (<10 people, all masked) and my brother will take my parents.

  86. 86.

    OzarkHillbilly

    July 20, 2020 at 8:12 am

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    If even half the things my ex said about me were true, I was the greatest monster since Jack the Ripper. Trying to figure out which of the two has the closer relationship with the truth is an impossibility from where this hillbilly stands. I haven’t paid any attention at all to the whole affair. the only reason I posted that headline was for the histrionics in it.

  87. 87.

    Baud

    July 20, 2020 at 8:12 am

    @Betty Cracker:

    I think there will be debates.  Despite the bluster, it’s really hard to avoid them without consequence.

  88. 88.

    Ken

    July 20, 2020 at 8:14 am

    @Baud: Counterargument: Trump has spent his entire life avoiding consequences.

    Also, what would those consequences be? Beltway media mad because of lost revenue and clicks?

  89. 89.

    OzarkHillbilly

    July 20, 2020 at 8:16 am

    @Frankensteinbeck:Her being an Obama appointee could easily turn out to be relevant

    Far more likely it has to do with a case. Just interesting that the first thing I thought of was who appointed her. A sign of our politicized times where even a mask is indicative of your vote.

  90. 90.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    July 20, 2020 at 8:16 am

    @Ken: Trump is a reality TV star, so he will want them for ratings for his brand. Trump entire argument against Biden is basically Biden makes for boring TV.

  91. 91.

    p.a.

    July 20, 2020 at 8:17 am

    @Betty Cracker: I think tRump can be goaded into at least 1 debate no matter how his handlers try to stop him; all Joe or surrogates have to do is push his buttons: he’s scared, he can’t handle pressure, etc.  When it doesn’t go well tRump will refuse more because “it was very unfair.”

  92. 92.

    Kay

    July 20, 2020 at 8:17 am

    @Baud:

    Biden’s geniality will contrast nicely against Trump’s meanness.

    Biden’s reputation as genial. Biden hammered Paul Ryan and Biden won. It was really aggressive- an affirmative attack, where with Palin he just let her swing wildly. So he’s capable of it.

  93. 93.

    Baud

    July 20, 2020 at 8:18 am

    @Ken:

    It may be that by the time of the debates, Trump is at the 27% level and has nothing left to lose.

  94. 94.

    Jay Noble

    July 20, 2020 at 8:20 am

    @MattF: Blue Bunny.

    And if I recall correctly, they had a decent sugar free version.

    Ice cream is one of my “phases” foods. Eat a half gallon in a week and then none for 6 months.

  95. 95.

    Baud

    July 20, 2020 at 8:20 am

    Unlike in 2016, Trump has no support system now except his hard-core base and GOP leaders. Without outside enablers, things that might have worked in the past are falling flat.

  96. 96.

    Baud

    July 20, 2020 at 8:21 am

    @Kay: He’ll kill you with a smile on his face.

  97. 97.

    Baud

    July 20, 2020 at 8:22 am

    @p.a.: 

    It won’t even be Joe. The Biden care probably doesn’t care that much about debates at this point. Lincoln Project ads, however, will be brutal if Trump chickens out.

  98. 98.

    OzarkHillbilly

    July 20, 2020 at 8:23 am

    @narya:Turns out he totaled his vehicle last time he was here (fainted from dehydration, apparently), so he’s been out of commission for a couple of weeks.

    Maybe, but I can’t help but say that I’ve heard that one before. More than once. As a fellow carpenter noted many times, they don’t call them CONtractors for nothing.

    If in the end everything comes out as it should, who cares?

  99. 99.

    Baud

    July 20, 2020 at 8:23 am

    @Baud:

    “Biden care” = “Biden team”

  100. 100.

    Kay

    July 20, 2020 at 8:24 am

    I wonder why the Trumpists haven’t taken more shit for Americans being pariahs. It’s one of the most damning referendum on the Trump Administration. We’re not allowed into places. My husband and I have plans to go to Canada in October for our anniversary and I don’t think Canada is opening to US by then. Canada! Just wild, how we’ve fallen so fast.

    If that isn’t a wake up call, you’re not sleeping, you’re in a coma.

  101. 101.

    Kay

    July 20, 2020 at 8:25 am

    Trump said he would have a health care bill “signed” in 2 weeks. If Donald Trump were a Democrat he would be asked every single day where it is, beginning in 13 days. Let’s see if anyone follows up on Wallace’s good work.

  102. 102.

    Jeffro

    July 20, 2020 at 8:27 am

    @Baud:  oh, here we fucking go again…a Democrat’s about to take the presidency; we MUST cut spending/the deficit/the national debt!

    At least the article correctly notes that it was the trumpov maladministration who gave away tax cuts when we should have been paying down our debt.

    Still, the result is the same: sorry, Uncle Joe!

  103. 103.

    ThresherK

    July 20, 2020 at 8:27 am

    I’m next door to MA and my Senators are both great, but I would not quibble if I were in MA and Markey was one of them.

    He mentioned working his way thru BC by scooping ice cream; I figure AOC and he have some ideas for the youngs today who face a higher ed system which is hollowed out and way more expensive.

  104. 104.

    OzarkHillbilly

    July 20, 2020 at 8:27 am

    @Kay: Come Wednesday, American’s aren’t welcome in the Bahamas.

  105. 105.

    Baud

    July 20, 2020 at 8:27 am

    @Kay: If Trump were a Democrat, he would have been removed from office well before now.

  106. 106.

    JPL

    July 20, 2020 at 8:27 am

    @narya: I’m so sorry for your loss.

  107. 107.

    NotMax

    July 20, 2020 at 8:27 am

    @Kay

    “They can’t handle our exceptional God-approved greatness.”
      – any RWNJ
    .

  108. 108.

    Patricia Kayden

    July 20, 2020 at 8:29 am

    REPUBLICANS: i need an assault rifle in case the government ever tries to take away my rights*secret military police start kidnapping people in portland*REPUBLICANS: thank you so much!!!! love you guys!!!!!!— Ben Rosen (@ben_rosen) July 17, 2020

  109. 109.

    Spanky

    July 20, 2020 at 8:29 am

    I look at that Biden tweet and all I can think is

    WONDER BAR $4.00!  JEEZUS CHRIST!!!

  110. 110.

    Baud

    July 20, 2020 at 8:30 am

    @Patricia Kayden: We should take bets on how quickly after Biden’s win the NRA will start to make statements in the news again.

  111. 111.

    Mowgli

    July 20, 2020 at 8:31 am

    @NotMax: just discovered Tillamook recently, the chocolate is very good. Will have to try the strawberry.

  112. 112.

    rikyrah

    July 20, 2020 at 8:31 am

    THREAD

    This thread will be about the abhorrent conditions at the covid "hospital" DHR put up in McAllenTexas. Staff have walked out of this facility because of the conditions in which there are literally ants crawling over critically ill patients. Hiding PPE from staff.— Sarah, RN (@shesinscrubs) July 19, 2020

  113. 113.

    Jeffro

    July 20, 2020 at 8:32 am

    @Frankensteinbeck:My position has been that Trump wants to debate Biden.  Trump is convinced he personally is a fantastic public speaker and debater, and eagerly believed the lie that Biden is senile.

    I think you’re right.  trumpov will almost HAVE to debate Biden, and every answer of DJT’s will be some combination of “you’ve got dementia”, “where’s Hunter?”, and “you’re a total incompetent who did nothing for 50 years while I, on the other hand…greatest president/got the most done ever…etc etc”

    Slight chance that trumpov punts on the debates over not getting his way re: moderators/news agencies.  “OANN should get to moderate at least one debate!”

    Anyway, who cares – by the time the debates roll around, trumpov’s goose will only be more ‘cooked’.

  114. 114.

    rikyrah

    July 20, 2020 at 8:33 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    ?????

  115. 115.

    Patricia Kayden

    July 20, 2020 at 8:33 am

    @WereBear: Plus, it was President Obama who turned Bush’s disastrous economy around. Trump has done nothing to improve our economy. If anything his tax cuts for the wealthy and tariff war with China have harmed the working and middle classes,

  116. 116.

    arrieve

    July 20, 2020 at 8:33 am

    I’ve been eating a lot of Haagen Dazs during the quarantine because it comes in those little single serving cups. The flavors are limited and they’re really expensive but I can eat one and be done. So I’ve been really proud of myself — look how disciplined I am! I’ve learned portion control! So I thought I could buy a couple of pints of really good ice cream and repeat my small serving discipline.

    Nope.

  117. 117.

    Betty Cracker

    July 20, 2020 at 8:34 am

    @Kay: That part of the interview was truly demented. I may do a post on it later if I have time. Sounded like he thinks the SCOTUS made him emperor. He’s going to fix everything by decree — healthcare, immigration, etc.

  118. 118.

    Kay

    July 20, 2020 at 8:34 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    I saw that. My son lives in Denmark and he works with Russians and Poles and he feels they are being fake when they express sympathy. He’s a cranky person so take that into account, but he has decided their sympathy is phony. He’s like “I know how bad it is. Fuck off”.

    He says Danes always thought they were better so it’s just their usual smugness. Danes are like “JUST as we expected!”

  119. 119.

    MattF

    July 20, 2020 at 8:34 am

    @Betty Cracker: I’m definitely unsure about debates. Trump gets a lot of extremely bad advice from his keepers and he’s a coward— and I don’t see any ‘On the other hand…’. Probably competing factions.

    As you’ve said, Trump probably believes Biden is senile and ratings for a debate would be through the roof. And Trump knows he needs a game-changer. So maybe, on balance, yes. OTOH, I believe that debating Biden would be a disaster for Trump, and his keepers know that. So, maybe no.

  120. 120.

    rikyrah

    July 20, 2020 at 8:34 am

    @PST:

    ????

  121. 121.

    NotMax

    July 20, 2020 at 8:34 am

    @Mowgli

    Strawberry is good but perhaps not their best effort. Checked their site and they apparently no longer make blueberry, which approached sublime.

  122. 122.

    Karen S.

    July 20, 2020 at 8:35 am

    Good morning, everyone! Sunny here in Chicago. Should be a pleasant day, weather-wise. I was texting with a friend of mine (who’s a nurse who moved from here down to New Orleans in January because she’s in her 20s and has never lived on her own and thought it time she tried it) and heard a lot about how things are going down there in the emergency department of a big hospital near the French Quarter. I worry about her. She got infected with COVID back in March, recovered and is back on the job. She says they have more police or security guards in the ED because far too many patients, especially ones from neighboring states who came to party in Nola, are hostile. They spit on the nurses, take swings at them and are extremely belligerent. She said she doesn’t like to stereotype, but the hostile ones are almost all white racist rednecks who think the virus is fake, a hoax. One guy tried to body check a housekeeper who happened to be passing through the ED. My friend said she’d never been so happy to tranquilize someone in her life. “I tell you, I felt no guilt knocking him out with a generous dose of Zyprexa straight in the thigh,” she said. They’ve also been verbally abusive to my friend and her colleagues. My friend is Filipina, but she says been called “chink” a couple of times just in the past week alone. She says her co-workers, who are mostly Jamaican, Haitian, Dominican and from various African countries, are targets of worse abuse. Her mother wants her to move back to Chicago by the end of this year. I agree with her mom. My friend says she’s started looking for openings in the Chicago area and will probably move back sooner rather than later. I’m just sorry and very sad that she has had to experience all that. I also hope she doesn’t get sick again. Sigh.

  123. 123.

    prostratedragon

    July 20, 2020 at 8:35 am

    Glimmer of hope on the COVID front?

    In a randomized trial of 100 patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19, those who received an inhaled formula of the protein interferon beta were at 79 percent lower risk of developing severe disease compared to those who received a placebo.

    They were also more than twice as likely to make a full recovery compared with the control group.

    Just one small trial, but still …

  124. 124.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    July 20, 2020 at 8:36 am

    @NotMax: That’s my complaint about Talenti. I can’t open it with a buzz saw. My current favorite ice cream is Ben & Jerry’s cannoli flavor. Marscopone ice scream with chunks of chocolate covered waffle cone.

  125. 125.

    Jeffro

    July 20, 2020 at 8:36 am

    @Kay: Agreed.  Dems should be making more of an issue about 1) all the places we can’t go because we’re too virus-ridden…we’re not allowed! and 2) just how much better so many other countries are doing in terms of re-opening safely.

    Lincoln Project, are you listening?  =)

    (never mind LP, just keep running that ‘trumpov’s wall’ ad!!)

  126. 126.

    Kay

    July 20, 2020 at 8:36 am

    @Betty Cracker:

    It’s just that immigration is much different than healthcare.

    I was pleased to see some in Biden’s camp want to tackle immigration first. I think that’s wise. Jump in before the loony Right gets reorganized again. Fix it. Show we can actually accomplish something.

  127. 127.

    rikyrah

    July 20, 2020 at 8:37 am

    @Baud:

    Taking back your unfunded tax cuts will help with the deficit

  128. 128.

    raven

    July 20, 2020 at 8:37 am

    @Karen S.: They are also drunk.

  129. 129.

    Frankensteinbeck

    July 20, 2020 at 8:38 am

    @Betty Cracker:

    Do y’all think there will be debates?

    I have come to have doubts, but not because Trump is afraid of Biden.  Trump is afraid of the moderators.  Any contest that is not heavily weighted in Trump’s favor is ‘unfair’ in his whiny dipshit narcissist viewpoint.  In 2016, he had reason to believe the tone of questioning would be “Hillary, why does everyone believe you’re a criminal?”  Now the press, even Fox, is nonstop asking him ‘nasty’ questions.  Trump’s nannies know that Trump is utterly incompetent to debate, and it wouldn’t be hard for them to keep him stewing on the ‘unfair’ aspect.

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques:

    throw the election in crises; if Trump managers to martian power the rule of law becomes meaningless

    There is no possibility of this, because everyone he needs to enforce a coup will side with Biden just because Biden is the legitimate president.  The military has already said that if Trump asks them to do anything illegal or unconstitutional, he can go fuck himself.  I look forward to his 80 CBP and park rangers facing off against the military and Secret Service.

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Far more likely it has to do with a case.

    I agree.  I’m just pointing out there’s yet another reason the ‘targeted assassination’ is an unnecessary explanation.  Right wing nutcases acting on their own is perfectly plausible.

    @Kay:

    I wonder why the Trumpists haven’t taken more shit for Americans being pariahs.

    I think it’s something pundits refuse to believe.  One of the convictions they share with Republicans (along with the need to gut ‘entitlements’, war being awesome, and brown people being scary) is that America is the naturally superior center of the universe.

  130. 130.

    Jeffro

    July 20, 2020 at 8:39 am

    Whoa – Twitter is telling me that John Kasich is supposedly going to speak at our Democratic (virtual) Convention next month, endorsing Joe Biden(!)

    I have mixed feelings about this.  I mean, it’s not bad but it’s not like Joe needs JK’s help at this point.

  131. 131.

    MattF

    July 20, 2020 at 8:40 am

    @prostratedragon: Also offers a clue about why the disease progresses so differently in different people. Hmm.

  132. 132.

    SiubhanDuinne

    July 20, 2020 at 8:40 am

    Public service announcement. I’ll try to remember to post it again later in the day.

    Joy Reid officially starts her new prime-time gig on MSNBC tonight, and her first two guests will be Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden (in separate segments, I assume). Her show, “The ReidOut,” starts at 7:00 pm EDST. 

  133. 133.

    Brachiator

    July 20, 2020 at 8:40 am

    @Kay:

    I wonder why the Trumpists haven’t taken more shit for Americans being pariahs. My husband and I have plans to go to Canada in October for our anniversary and I don’t think Canada is opening to US by then.

    Trump supporters do not want America to be admired or respected by other nations. They want America to be feared. Otherwise, they have no use for other countries.

    At a lunch with tax professionals a while back, one of the attendees talked about how she and her husband had driven all over the United States for post-tax season vacations. When someone else talked about visiting Europe, she got surprisingly sullen, and asked why anyone should even want to go outside of the US, since there were so many places to visit here. She was, of course, a Trump supporter, and I am not exaggerating how she bristled at the lack of patriotism of those who would choose to set foot in another land for pleasure. Oh, the horror.

  134. 134.

    Frankensteinbeck

    July 20, 2020 at 8:43 am

    Jesus Christ, I feel like an asshole.  Why am I worried about theoretical gunman motivations when that poor woman just lost her family?  I hope she weathers this with as little pain as possible, and I am sorry for the victims.

  135. 135.

    Karen S.

    July 20, 2020 at 8:43 am

    @raven: Tha@raven: 
    That, too.

  136. 136.

    Kay

    July 20, 2020 at 8:43 am

    I have to go back to PT for a bad disc in my upper back. Our health insurance only pays for 15 PT sessions a year and my husband takes all of them for his various tennis related injuries. He’s hoarding them!  Sure, I can barely walk but let’s treat his tennis game. It’s vitally important he be the top ranked senior player in Nowheresville, Michigan.

  137. 137.

    Brachiator

    July 20, 2020 at 8:44 am

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    The military has already said that if Trump asks them to do anything illegal or unconstitutional, he can go fuck himself.

    The actions of the federal agents in Portland suggests that this may no longer be a sufficient restraint.

  138. 138.

    Karen S.

    July 20, 2020 at 8:45 am

    @NotMax: Yes! The Talenti lids are so stubborn. I’ve shied away from buying that brand because of the difficulty we’ve had in the past with getting the lids off, though I do love their mango sorbet.

  139. 139.

    Baud

    July 20, 2020 at 8:45 am

    @SiubhanDuinne: Damn.  Talk about starting off with a bang.

  140. 140.

    Frankensteinbeck

    July 20, 2020 at 8:47 am

    @Brachiator:

    The actions of the federal agents in Portland suggests that this may no longer be a sufficient restraint.

    PFFFT.  Ha ha ha ha!  Those losers?  No.  He has a tiny security force trained to harass and intimidate the helpless.  They’re not a factor in a coup.  Again, I would LOVE to see those idiots try to stand up to the actual military and Secret Service who would show up to stop a coup.

  141. 141.

    SiubhanDuinne

    July 20, 2020 at 8:47 am

    @Baud:

    I know. Quite the debut lineup.

  142. 142.

    rikyrah

    July 20, 2020 at 8:50 am

    @Danielx:

    ????

  143. 143.

    rikyrah

    July 20, 2020 at 8:51 am

    @Baud:

    Biden’s strength is his inherent decency.

  144. 144.

    OzarkHillbilly

    July 20, 2020 at 8:52 am

    @arrieve: heh.

  145. 145.

    rikyrah

    July 20, 2020 at 8:52 am

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques:

    Every Senator running for Re-election should be asked about that answer. Get their answers on video and make ads from them ?

  146. 146.

    rikyrah

    July 20, 2020 at 8:52 am

    @The Thin Black Duke:

     

    Hmmmm ??

  147. 147.

    Frankensteinbeck

    July 20, 2020 at 8:54 am

    @rikyrah:

    Yes.  Right now, America is begging to have a president like that.  Too many millions of people are desperate to not wake up every morning afraid of what fresh misery Trump will heap upon the world.  Biden is the right man for this moment, especially electorally.

  148. 148.

    Amir Khalid

    July 20, 2020 at 8:54 am

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques:

    Trump entire argument against Biden is basically Biden makes for boring TV.

    This is also part of the Biden argument for Biden: no one need ever watch the news dreading to hear what awful thing President Biden has said/done today.

  149. 149.

    evodevo

    July 20, 2020 at 8:55 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: To be sure…in Depp’s favor, two of his old flames (Winona Rider and Vanessa Paradis) said they couldn’t believe the accusations because they didn’t jibe at all with the Depp they lived with for years…

  150. 150.

    Baud

    July 20, 2020 at 8:55 am

    Via reddit, heh.

    https://i.redd.it/j227ounfhyb51.gif

  151. 151.

    Frankensteinbeck

    July 20, 2020 at 8:55 am

    @Amir Khalid:

    Jinx!

  152. 152.

    JPL

    July 20, 2020 at 8:57 am

    @Jeffro: His endorsement might sway moderate republicans in Ohio, but I don’t understand why he would give a speech.

  153. 153.

    Betty Cracker

    July 20, 2020 at 8:58 am

    I’ve watched a good bit of CNN lately because I’m interested in the COVID-19 resurgence for self-preservation reasons, and I can’t abide Chuck Todd or Ari Melber. CNN was helpful to Trump in 2016, but they can’t stand that fucker now. They’re covering him like they should have done all along, at least in those time slots.

  154. 154.

    SFAW

    July 20, 2020 at 9:02 am

    @NotMax:

    All thoughts of that will vanish once you taste Mr. Cole’s Sauerkraut Fudge Ripple!

    You should at least get the name right.

  155. 155.

    OzarkHillbilly

    July 20, 2020 at 9:03 am

    @Frankensteinbeck: When one loses an only child, it leaves an unfillable void in the future. It rends the heart.

  156. 156.

    Frankensteinbeck

    July 20, 2020 at 9:05 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    We’re so distant from the event, we don’t think of it first, but we should.  The pain that poor woman is feeling is vastly more important than wild speculations about the gunman’s motive.  Even if it was assassination, that affects us barely at all.

  157. 157.

    evodevo

    July 20, 2020 at 9:08 am

    @Patricia Kayden: I have arguments every day on Book of Faces with a MAGAt acquaintance about this…I show him graph after graph…means nothing to him.  He is finally reduced to saying “Well the stock market is up 6000 points under Trump, and I did really well. So, therefore, he’s a financial genius!!” MAGAts are focused on the near term and their personal situation only.  i expect that until the market tanks BADLY and this asshole has to go back to work to support himself, he, like the rest of the base, will NEVER turn.

  158. 158.

    Brachiator

    July 20, 2020 at 9:10 am

    @Frankensteinbeck:
    The actions of the federal agents in Portland suggests that this may no longer be a sufficient restraint.

    PFFFT.  Ha ha ha ha!  Those losers?  No.  He has a tiny security force trained to harass and intimidate the helpless.

    The mayor of Portland has demanded that these agents be removed. They are still there.
    I have not seen many in-depth stories about this group, their authority, or what has happened to the people they may have detained. And there have been reports of local police cooperating with them.

    They’re not a factor in a coup.

    Let’s hope that these are not famous last words.

  159. 159.

    zhena gogolia

    July 20, 2020 at 9:13 am

    @Jeffro:

    Everything helps. I hope it’s true.

  160. 160.

    OzarkHillbilly

    July 20, 2020 at 9:16 am

    @Frankensteinbeck: It hits me hard. I’ve seen what it does to a parent to lose a child, especially an only child. And I’ve come so damned close to losing both of mine that it is a fear embedded in my soul.

  161. 161.

    Brachiator

    July 20, 2020 at 9:18 am

    @evodevo:

    To be sure…in Depp’s favor, two of his old flames (Winona Rider and Vanessa Paradis) said they couldn’t believe the accusations because they didn’t jibe at all with the Depp they lived with for years…

    I don’t generally pay attention to showbiz gossipy stuff, but this bitter battle keeps in the news.

    Depp’s relationship with Heard seems to have its own destructive energy, different from his past romances, and he also seems to behave differently now that he is no longer the young, cool Depp, but more on the downside of his career.

  162. 162.

    Frankensteinbeck

    July 20, 2020 at 9:19 am

    @Brachiator:

    I have not seen many in-depth stories about this group

    The DHS admitted they’re CBP, people with no military training.  Last I heard, there were 80 of them.

    their authority

    They do have legal authority to arrest people in and around federal buildings and monuments, which is what they’re doing to harass civilians.  Note that they are only harassing the helpless with pointless arrests.

    what has happened to the people they may have detained.

    The people they detained said they were pressed to give up their right to remain silent, held for a few hours with no explanation, and then let go.  I’m pretty sure the courts will smack that down, hard, but it’s still utterly insignificant on a national level.  This is a pathetic attempt to make Trump feel tough.

    Let’s hope that these are not famous last words.

    Panic about Trump sending his jack booted thugs to take over with a dictatorship has been going around constantly for three and a half years.  I have never been afraid of it, and I’m not afraid now.  Hey, remember when Trump was going to send the military around the country to gun down protestors?  Good times.

  163. 163.

    SFAW

    July 20, 2020 at 9:20 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Although I have (fortunately) been spared of ever having my kids in any serious danger, it’s one of my greatest fears, even though they’re both adults.

  164. 164.

    otmar

    July 20, 2020 at 9:21 am

    @rikyrah: all good. We should be back home tonight.

  165. 165.

    EmbraceYourInnerCrone

    July 20, 2020 at 9:25 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: Obama appointed her. She was just assigned the suit brought by Deutsche Bank investors against the bank.

    https://www.newsweek.com/judge-esther-salas-shooting-deutsche-bank-epstein-1518974

    “On July 15, four days before the shooting, Salas was assigned to the ongoing lawsuit brought by Deutsche Bank investors who claim the company made false and misleading statements about its anti-money laundering policies. The suit also alleged the bank failed to properly monitor “high-risk” customers, including convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.”

  166. 166.

    piratedan

    July 20, 2020 at 9:27 am

    @NotMax: worth finding their Marionberry Pie if its in stock.

  167. 167.

    SFAW

    July 20, 2020 at 9:27 am

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    Maybe I’m mis-remembering, but it seems like a lot of his history (i.e., since he was inaugurated) has been to (initially) do stuff slightly, or not-so-slightly, over the line, then going further and further beyond that line. And the too-frequent response has been “well, he’ll never do X,” and then he does “X,” and so on and so forth.

    Not saying you have been an apologist (or a “stop it, you chicken littles!” person), and maybe my pattern assessment is faulty, but I think it’s not unreasonable to worry about escalation on his part.

  168. 168.

    SFAW

    July 20, 2020 at 9:29 am

    @piratedan:

    Marionberry Pie

    Is that like “Cherry Garcia” from Ben & Jerry?

  169. 169.

    JAFD

    July 20, 2020 at 9:30 am

    Happy Moon Landing Day, jackals and jackalettes !

    When I get to Reading Terminal Market again, shall try the strawberry of Bassett’s and report back.

    Supposed to be in the high ninetys in New Jersey today, have to trek out to suboibs for eye exam.  Should have had one couplea years ago, but…  Glasses falling apart.

    Hope yo’all staying healthy, happy and hydrated.

    PS – I usually have ad blocker, not today {computer problems}  Ads today for gutter coverings {don’t own house}, auto insurance {don’t own car}, and cannabis delivery service {haven’t toked since the eighties}

  170. 170.

    OzarkHillbilly

    July 20, 2020 at 9:42 am

    @SFAW: I don’t care how old they get, the fear is always there. When my youngest got run over on the Pontchartrain bridge and I was told he went into the Ambo “unresponsive”? Everything inside of me just stopped. I felt nothing, I was void. It was a self defense mechanism, like going into shock because the alternative was not survivable.

  171. 171.

    Ken

    July 20, 2020 at 9:43 am

    @Brachiator: When someone else talked about visiting Europe, she got surprisingly sullen

    I wouldn’t be surprised if this woman has in fact visited Europe several times, or at least had plans to do so soon, and is now suffering the dissonance of realizing Trump has ruined that for her. But hey, stock market doing fine…

  172. 172.

    RAM

    July 20, 2020 at 9:44 am

    Wait…you mean every day’s NOT Ice Cream Day? Why wasn’t I informed about this?! And what can be done about it? Besides me taking the law into my own hands, that is…

  173. 173.

    Matt McIrvin

    July 20, 2020 at 9:47 am

    @Betty Cracker: EVERYTHING is projection. Anyone listening to Biden and Trump can tell that Trump is the one who can’t discuss any subject without going off on some rambling diversion about one of his perennial obsessions.

  174. 174.

    Frankensteinbeck

    July 20, 2020 at 9:49 am

    @SFAW:

    do stuff slightly, or not-so-slightly, over the line, then going further and further beyond that line.

    Not how I remember it.  I would say his pattern has only been for us to find out what he’s doing bit by bit.  He didn’t ease up to Ukraine, or get worse about it after the impeachment despite predictions here.  He didn’t ease up to his Muslim ban or transgender ban.  He went all in on breaking emoluments from day one.  He went straight to ditching South Korean exercises.  He didn’t ease up to the Suleimani assassination.  He went straight to trying to get Mueller fired, Sessions just wouldn’t do it so the wrangling went on and on as Trump looked for ways.  The tear gas photo op had no build-up unless you count Trmp stewing in humiliation for days.  Trump doesn’t ease up to things, he just does something new and awful every day and that feels like he’s building up.  Republican MO, which Trump shares, is to rush the most extreme option as fast as you can in the hopes no one finds a way to stop you.  These idiots in Oregon are not a test case for anything.  They are the best the current DHS guy could assemble and they’re not likely to get much bigger or worse.

  175. 175.

    MattF

    July 20, 2020 at 9:49 am

    @SFAW: Marionberry is a real berry. Didn’t know about it personally until I visited Seattle’s market some years ago. Being from the DC suburbs, I bought a bottle of marionberry jam, just because of the name.

  176. 176.

    narya

    July 20, 2020 at 10:06 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: The aunt who just died, my father, and one of his other two sisters ALL buried a child; that’s part of the reason this aunt was close to both of my parents. They didn’t talk about it much, but being with someone who knows the experience is really important. When I was visiting in December, Dad told me things he hadn’t ever shared before (possibly never told anyone else)–and my sister has been gone for 37 years.

  177. 177.

    rikyrah

    July 20, 2020 at 10:06 am

    @narya:

    Sorry for your loss ???

  178. 178.

    PST

    July 20, 2020 at 10:08 am

    @Baud: Very funny. For some crazy reason, I watched Airplane start to finish yesterday. These was an abundance of casual racism of a kind that passed right over my head back when it was new.

  179. 179.

    Subsole

    July 20, 2020 at 10:11 am

    @Frankensteinbeck: 

    A lie perpetuated by the Bernie left, it bears repeating.

  180. 180.

    narya

    July 20, 2020 at 10:13 am

    @rikyrah: Thanks–I’m sad to see this aunt go–she was droll, and clear-eyed, and i really liked her a lot. But she died peacefully in her sleep, and she was in her late 80s, so it’s kinda the best you can hope for at this point. I mean, my parents are 89 and 85, and held together with spit and duct tape! My longstanding wish for them is that they die quietly in their sleep, together; I would give up time with them for that outcome, and I know they’d agree.

  181. 181.

    Subsole

    July 20, 2020 at 10:14 am

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques:

    Martian Power?

    Is that a Sealab reference?

    Because I could really go for some Chopper Dave as moderator.

  182. 182.

    Obvious Russian Troll

    July 20, 2020 at 10:38 am

    @MattF: This was on the cruise we took to Alaska a couple years ago with my mother-in-law, but they served strawberry ice cream that they said was sweetened naturally (which I think just meant lots of strawberries).

    It was incredible.

    There is also no way in hell I’d get on another one of those boats.

  183. 183.

    Eunicecycle

    July 20, 2020 at 10:42 am

    @rikyrah: Good God this is happening in our country, not some third world country. But I guess we are third world now.

  184. 184.

    Ladyraxterinok

    July 20, 2020 at 10:46 am

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym:

    Years ago there was a place here that sold green gage plum ice cream. Remember it being very good.

    Another place sold mandarin orange chocolate ice cream. Superb!

  185. 185.

    Ladyraxterinok

    July 20, 2020 at 10:49 am

    @PST:

    Wasn’t there a shoot-up of a coutroom about the same time in a different part of the country?

  186. 186.

    Ladyraxterinok

    July 20, 2020 at 11:05 am

    @debbie:

    In the summer of 58, I was a camp counselor for a Camp Fire Girls camp run by the Grand Rapids Council.

    When several of us were running errands, we stopped at a Dairy Queen. It was peach season, and they had peach ice cream. Absolutely incredible! I’ve never before or since been ai a DQ that sold anything other than the standard menu. And I haven’t since then found anyplace selling peach ice cream

  187. 187.

    J R in WV

    July 20, 2020 at 11:27 am

    Regarding Ice Cream…

     

    We have in nearby Virginia the Homestead Dairy — which is a group of organic dairy farmers providing a wide variety of milk products for a whole bunch of people. In late fall their eggnog is superb.

    They make 4 flavors of ice cream,  vanilla,  chocolate, black raspberry,  and butter pecan. All are great,  the butter pecan is the best in the world! The black raspberry is also very,  very good!

    They share  a  name with a famous resort in the Virginia mountains,  but I don’t think they are actually related other than by location and the name. Doesn’t matter,  great Dairy products!

  188. 188.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    July 20, 2020 at 11:35 am

    @Amir Khalid: This is also part of the Biden argument for Biden: no one need ever watch the news dreading to hear what awful thing President Biden has said/done today.

    Which incidentally was the argument for Harding after Woodrow Wilson and all of Wilson’s racists nonsense.

  189. 189.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    July 20, 2020 at 11:40 am

    @Subsole: Yes, I predict Trump will go on national TV and declare Martian Law because Trump will screw up saying “Martial Law” and refuses to admit a mistake, just like Sea Lab foretold, because the situation is that dumb.

  190. 190.

    catclub

    July 20, 2020 at 11:55 am

    @MattF: Is there any brand of strawberry ice cream that’s better than ‘I guess that’s OK’?

     

    How about a strawberry daiquiri ice.?

    Frozen daiquiri ice is my favorite.

  191. 191.

    JustRuss

    July 20, 2020 at 11:57 am

    @MattF:  Marionberry pie is sublime.

  192. 192.

    Lapassionara

    July 20, 2020 at 12:13 pm

    @EmbraceYourInnerCrone: If we did not understand the depths to which these people will sink, this killing should serve as a wake up call. Unless it is proved otherwise, this has all the marks of a Russian monster hit.

  193. 193.

    Just One More Canuck

    July 20, 2020 at 12:21 pm

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: “that creature has stolen the space modulatorrrr!”

  194. 194.

    Subsole

    July 20, 2020 at 12:25 pm

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques:

    Long as he doesn’t try to hook up the cable and get us stuck in a time loop…

  195. 195.

    Brachiator

    July 20, 2020 at 1:19 pm

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    RE: what has happened to the people they may have detained.

    The people they detained said they were pressed to give up their right to remain silent, held for a few hours with no explanation, and then let go.  I’m pretty sure the courts will smack that down, hard, but it’s still utterly insignificant on a national level.  This is a pathetic attempt to make Trump feel tough.

    This is still illegal detention of people who were clearly exercising their constitutional rights. And it is not good when people have to spend time detained and wait for a judge to free them if the authorities don’t let them go.

    Also, you want to emphasize that Trump is only going after the helpless with pointless arrests. Apart from the fact that “pointless arrests” already crosses a line into illegal activity, the fact is that most people are helpless. They are not going to win a fight against even small bands of government goons.

    It has been noted in news stories that the local police appear to support the government squads, or do nothing to oppose their efforts.  This ain’t good. I don’t know what would happen if a governor called out the national guard or instructed the police to take the government squads into custody.

    Nor do I know whether Trump would push it further. But he has already done more than people might have expected.

    RE: Let’s hope that these are not famous last words.

    Panic about Trump sending his jack booted thugs to take over with a dictatorship has been going around constantly for three and a half years.

    You consistently belittle or downplay what Trump does, no matter how many people are affected or hurt. Trump is already responsible for the deaths of over 140,000 people, and he keeps doubling down on his efforts to block a rational response to the pandemic. No amount of rhetorical whiffs are bringing these people back.

    Trump has often been blocked when he tries to act rashly. But he just as often he continues to press forward to find a way to assert his will.

    Today, he has a small group of goons willing to obey him. How many does he need to put in play before he has enough to cause more damage?

    Many commenters thought that some of the Second Amendment Idiots might form ad hoc squads to cause mischief. I didn’t notice anyone predict that he would mobilize any federal resources to push his squalid promise to impose order on the cities.

    He has put his jack booted thugs on the street.

    And he has not pulled them back. Many people, including myself, have noted that Trump is essentially a coward.  But he has gotten friskier and more emboldened, and he has certainly crossed a line for me with his blithe dismissal of the pandemic deaths. He clearly does not care for anyone besides himself and his children. Some of them. Nothing good can come of this.

    Hey, remember when Trump was going to send the military around the country to gun down protestors?  Good times.

    I remember when Portland protestors were tear gassed and beaten. It is odd that you want to raise the bar to only include actual shooting, while ignoring violence committed against the protestors. Have any of the federal people involved been arrested?

    I have never been afraid of it, and I’m not afraid now.

    But it’s not just about you. It’s about those people who have been detained. It’s about children who have been put in cages. It’s about the families who have needlessly lost loved ones. It’s about all of us.

  196. 196.

    Uncle Cosmo

    July 20, 2020 at 2:24 pm

    @OzarkHillbilly: I suspect most people who COBRA’d only did it for a month or 2 and were in professions where demand far outweighed supply, so they could be confident in finding another job soon.

    (raises hand) Exception here. Back before the ACA, I’d planned to keep my part-time job (with partially-subsidized health insurance) till my 63-1/2 birthday & then retire so that COBRA would cover me (& my preexisting conditions) just long enough to slide into Medicare. Then I was laid off (without warning) at 62-1/4. Good luck finding a job at that age!

    Fortunately the state had created the Maryland Health Insurance Plan for the otherwise-uninsurable like me. Junk insurance, & it cost a bundle, but it did insure me (in the purest sense of the word) from losing my retirement savings to an expensive illness, which is what I needed.

  197. 197.

    Uncle Cosmo

    July 20, 2020 at 2:35 pm

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: …Marscopone ice scream…

    Does that come with Marvin’s Airlock Seal of Approval? Overindulge and die, Earthlings!

  198. 198.

    grandmaBear

    July 20, 2020 at 2:47 pm

    @evap: late to the thread, but I’ve been making ice cream since I was a kid. Yes, strawberries are watery, especially if you buy the really large ones that are popular in stores. I used to find much tastier small ones at the farmer’s market. Because of the wateriness you need to increase the ratio of cream to milk.

  199. 199.

    Uncle Cosmo

    July 20, 2020 at 2:59 pm

    June 1988, on a business trip, somewhere west of Plattsburgh NY,  had a very fine supper in a well-reviewed Italian restaurant, most of which I’ve forgotten – except for dessert: Made-on-the-premises passion fruit gelato.

    (BTW, can anyone recommend a decent low-carb/NSA ice cream? [I saw the rec for Blue Bunny earlier, thanks.] Breyer’s CarbSmart is the only one I’ve found whose taste wasn’t slightly off…)

  200. 200.

    Matt McIrvin

    July 20, 2020 at 3:14 pm

    @MattF: I became fond of gelato on a trip to Italy, but it’s meant to be eaten in fairly small quantities.

    I am not really a fan of strawberry ice cream, but black raspberry is one of my favorites. Mad Maggie’s in North Andover, MA does a black raspberry chocolate chip that may be the best ice cream in existence.

  201. 201.

    Matt McIrvin

    July 20, 2020 at 3:23 pm

    @OzarkHillbilly: One of the things about COBRA is that you have a 60-day grace period to choose to enroll, at which point it was technically active from the moment you lost your job. So if you expect to be employed again very soon, for a little while you can just do nothing, and elect COBRA if you need insurance or when the grace period is running out–though it may be that state insurance mandates like Massachusetts’ (or the federal one that used to exist for the ACA) complicate this a little if you go over a month.

    I suppose that if you actually have a serious medical emergency during this interval, it might be an additional pain to deal with all this. But I think a lot of people theoretically use COBRA as sort of the lazy default option when they don’t expect to be unemployed for long.

  202. 202.

    Matt McIrvin

    July 20, 2020 at 3:29 pm

    @Amir Khalid: Biden actually has a reputation as a “gaffe machine” who says embarrassing things a lot. But this is by the standards of pre-Trump or non-Trump politics. Put him next to Trump and there’s just no comparison–he’s not malevolent.

  203. 203.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    July 20, 2020 at 3:57 pm

    https://www.yahoo.com/news/just-started-wailing-veteran-speaks-201033895.html

    Portland Iron Man speaks out

    “Were any of you enlisted? Why are you not keeping your oath of office?” Mr David shouted at the officers over the noise of the crowd.

    The moment was described as chaotic from Mr David because the officers were already taking “aggressive” and “crazy” action against protesters within minutes of leaving the courthouse.

    “There didn’t seem to be any design, or strategy, or plan to what they were doing,” he said. “It was bizarre. It almost looked like they were scared.

    Of course there is “no plan” from Trump’s good squad. Probably Wolfe spewed talking point at them over Skype before ordering them out into the streets and that was their briefing.

  204. 204.

    Ken

    July 20, 2020 at 4:43 pm

    @MattF: double chocolate or nothing…

  205. 205.

    Ken

    July 20, 2020 at 4:48 pm

    @Betty Cracker: Biden campaign needs to do a set-up with this quote of trump’s followed by a montage of trump’s greatest linguistic hits.

  206. 206.

    Mary Ellen Sandahl

    July 20, 2020 at 7:04 pm

    Actually the official position of the Republican party is that’s a photo of Joe luring children in to harvest their adenochrome.

    The slew of repulsive replies on Twitter bears this out. Except they’re seemingly wallowing more in pedophilic accusations, less on chemical harvesting. I could only scroll down so far.

  207. 207.

    artem1s

    July 20, 2020 at 8:26 pm

    @Jeffro: 
    Twitter is telling me that John Kasich is supposedly going to speak at our Democratic (virtual) Convention next month,

    JFC I hope that’s not true. Kasich is a W wanna be – only surrounded by more corrupt people. He’s the ‘smart’ Trump we’ve all been worried about from the beginning. He’s exactly who the LP will turn to as a ‘reasonable’ conservative once they need to scrape Dumbass off their shoes.

Comments are closed.

Primary Sidebar

Image by MomSense (5/10.25)

Recent Comments

  • ColoradoGuy on Late Night Open Thread: #TSLA Troubles (May 21, 2025 @ 1:53am)
  • Matt McIrvin on Late Night Open Thread: #TSLA Troubles (May 21, 2025 @ 1:38am)
  • wjca on War for Ukraine Day 1,181: More Drone Swarms in the Small Hours Before Dawn (May 21, 2025 @ 1:35am)
  • kwAwk on Late Night Open Thread: #TSLA Troubles (May 21, 2025 @ 1:34am)
  • kwAwk on Late Night Open Thread: #TSLA Troubles (May 21, 2025 @ 1:33am)

PA Supreme Court At Risk

Donate

Balloon Juice Posts

View by Topic
View by Author
View by Month & Year
View by Past Author

Featuring

Medium Cool
Artists in Our Midst
Authors in Our Midst
War in Ukraine
Donate to Razom for Ukraine

🎈Keep Balloon Juice Ad Free

Become a Balloon Juice Patreon
Donate with Venmo, Zelle or PayPal

Meetups

Upcoming Ohio Meetup May 17
5/11 Post about the May 17 Ohio Meetup

Calling All Jackals

Site Feedback
Nominate a Rotating Tag
Submit Photos to On the Road
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Links)
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Posts)
Fix Nyms with Apostrophes

Hands Off! – Denver, San Diego & Austin

Social Media

Balloon Juice
WaterGirl
TaMara
John Cole
DougJ (aka NYT Pitchbot)
Betty Cracker
Tom Levenson
David Anderson
Major Major Major Major
DougJ NYT Pitchbot
mistermix

Keeping Track

Legal Challenges (Lawfare)
Republicans Fleeing Town Halls (TPM)
21 Letters (to Borrow or Steal)
Search Donations from a Brand

PA Supreme Court At Risk

Donate

Site Footer

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Comment Policy
  • Our Authors
  • Blogroll
  • Our Artists
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2025 Dev Balloon Juice · All Rights Reserved · Powered by BizBudding Inc

Share this ArticleLike this article? Email it to a friend!

Email sent!