Donald Trump’s own staff admits that he fails the most important test of being the American President: the duty to care — for you, for all of us. pic.twitter.com/mJf0xhEYZ5
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) July 24, 2020
Has there ever been a bigger PR challenge than making Joe Biden scary.
— James Palmer (@BeijingPalmer) July 23, 2020
86-14, Senate passes defense bill including Warren provision requiring that military bases named after Confederate generals change their name. Veto proof majority.
— Igor Bobic (@igorbobic) July 23, 2020
Cook Report now says Dems favorites to win back the Senate.
The pub rates ARIZONA Sen. McSally the most vulnerable R senator up for re-election // her seat now leans Dem. https://t.co/OWbVgFKAKX
— Josh Kraushaar (@HotlineJosh) July 23, 2020
Lo, a sighting of the Crazification Factor, in the Midwest!
From the Fox News Poll of Minnesota — among SUBURBAN WOMEN…
Black Lives Matter
68% favorable
27% unfavorableDonald Trump
28% favorable
71% unfavorable— Will Jordan (@williamjordann) July 23, 2020
is there some secret contingent of americans out there looking around thinking yeah yeah you know what 2020 has been awesome more of this please
— kilgore trout, new tone haver (@KT_So_It_Goes) July 24, 2020
Let me be clear: If vote-by-mail is good enough for Donald Trump and his administration, then it's good enough for all of us. pic.twitter.com/0qQW9ff0eG
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) July 23, 2020
debbie
That vote on renaming military bases is great news! Has anyone gamed out how long Trump is able to maintain this new compassionate conservative version of himself?
Baud
SUBURBAN WOMEN,
THE DEMOCRATS WILL LITERALLY BULLDOZE YOUR HOME AND USE YOUR CHILDREN’S BONES TO MAKE BLACK LIVES MATTER ICE CREAM!!! WHY WON’T YOU FEAR THEM???!!
Trump/Pence 2020.
debbie
@Baud:
The lone Trump household in my neighborhood finally moved one of his two Trump signs (there is another one safely inside the front window) outside, as close to the house as possible. It’s “Trump,” not “Trump Pence” (unless the “Pence” is in the fine print at the bottom).
OzarkHillbilly
It’s nice, but let’s be honest, it’s low hanging window dressing. I’ll celebrate when the senate votes by veto proof margins for the removal of qualified immunity for police.
Kay
August 2nd is the due date.
Ken
Trump voted by mail, but didn’t I also read a few eon-weeks ago that he technically committed voter fraud when registering in Florida? See, vote-by-mail is linked to vote fraud.
Betty Cracker
@Baud: I’m still boggled over the “Suburban Housewives of America” tweet. Good lord.
Sab
@Kay: I am holding my breathe in anticipation.
Ken
@Kay: Is that the plan that he gets to impose by decree because of the Supreme Court DACA decision? Did anyone ever come up with an explanation of how his misfiring neurons linked the two?
Ken
@Betty Cracker: After seeing that poll, they now have to pivot and figure out a way to suppress the suburban women vote.
MagdaInBlack
@Betty Cracker:
Wasn’t that just stunning. Dear Lord.
WereBear
I think all the Democrats need is Joe holding out a hand and the caption:
COME WITH ME IF YOU WANT TO LIVE
SFAW
@Baud:
I believe it’s “SOCIALIST DEMOCRATS DOING SOCIALISMING.” But outside of that, I think your characterization is spot-on.
Betty Cracker
@Kay: I’m guessing he’ll recycle the lies about selling insurance across state lines to lower premiums by 70% and give everyone access to full coverage. Maybe he’ll do an executive order to authorize selling junk insurance policies again. Or maybe it’ll be like Melania’s press conference about her immigration status…
snoey
@Ken: He violated a lot of agreements by using Mar-a-Lago as a residence, but since he did the voting part is ok.
NotMax
From the respite ranch: Sir Laurence Olivier relates an amusing enough that who cares if it’s true or not story about Marilyn Monroe.
Brought me a more than momentary grin.
Baud
@Kay:
They’ll put up a website and call it a day.
Chyron HR
@Baud:
Fake news, it’s actually called “Justice Remix’d”.
Kay
They lied to a court to assist Donald Trump in punishing his political enemies. Tens of thousands of ordinary people in NY were the collateral damage.
At what point do we admit we have a gargantuan, out of control federal police entity that serves only Donald Trump and the Trump Family?
They would have continued to lie to the court except they were sued:
Yesterday, they lied to the Mayor of Seattle. They were caught in the lie w/in 6 hours, but no one will be held accountable for it.
Ken
@Kay: I suppose that’s good news for New Yorkers, assuming Americans are ever allowed to travel abroad again.
Baud
@Kay:
IIRC, that’s the position that Barr tried hard to get his own person into.
Jeffro
Yeek, I had no idea…(yawn)…what else ya got, Donnie?
That Palmer tweet is so spot-on…not only is Biden the least-scary Democrat in the history of Democrats, he’s also just about the perfect figurehead for our coalition of progressive interests. He’s on board with where the party is at, at this moment, and the party is therefore on board with him.
Baud
Ken
@Baud: Yet another “acting” person. Maybe they should all give up acting and get real jobs, say in the food-service industry.
Kay
@Baud:
I felt sorry for the lawyers in this one. “Everything we filed was a lie”
This is the second time they’ve had to admit lying to the same judge. They also lied their asses off in the census case. If they succeed in winning these cases based on entirely false factual submissions there will be an entire record and line of cases resting on lies generated by Trump employees. It’s probably already happened.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Baud:
I’m pretty OK with this proposition. Suburban moms know deep down inside that children ruin everything (everyone knows this), and that few things are better than a bowl of tasty ice cream…
Baud
@Kay:
The judge gets to examine whether there should be sanctions. The judiciary will probably wait for a Dem misstep before exercising its muscle, however.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@OzarkHillbilly:
Wondering if the final straw on the bases was the multiple revelations by Vote Vets on how shitty those commanders were as military leaders?
Jeffro
Good (and sometimes funny, even though I doubt the author meant to make me laugh) profile of who Uncle Joe is listening to.
Apparently it’s not Twitter. Ok, now I’m 115% in!
He has my number and I’ve cleared my calendar. ;)
Ken
Which will surely be terrible, since Trump and his cronies won’t do any of the things they’re supposed to. No, worse than mere incompetence; they’ll actively sabotage.
I just hope he doesn’t appoint any Democratic senators to the cabinet, even from “safe” states.
Baud
@Jeffro:
Joe’s secret weapon.
narya
Kitchen not-much-to-update: So everything that can be done at this point is done. They’ll return when the tile and screen door are in, install both, then do any final patching and painting touch-ups. I don’t expect that to happen for three weeks, which is mildly frustrating. It won’t stop me from putting things in the cabinets and using the kitchen, and I will spend part of the weekend planning that out and doing it (after I get a footstool so I can reach the upper cabinets). I also took off next Thursday and Friday, because I do not expect to get even half of it done this weekend–everything needs to be cleaned before it can be put away, and, despite their meticulousness, there is still crud and dust. You will all enjoy the pictures!
WereBear
@Jeffro: They will forever be the FNYT to me…
Geminid
In the Virginia 5th Congressional race, Democrat Cameron Webb raised $850,000 in the second quarter, while Republican Bob Good raised 120,000. Ironically, Good’s job at Liberty University was fundraising for the athletic department. A poll taken right after Webb’s primary victory showed Good ahead 43%-41%. Its a conservative district; the same poll showed trump at net 3% positive rating. It looks like Webb has a good chance to flip a district that has been Republican all but two of the last 16 years. I expect this race will get a lot of national attention. The candidates show a sharp contrast personally and ideologically. And most of the district is just a few hours drive from DC.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
Why in hell is Tom Cotton running essentially unopposed?
Baud
One for Amir.
Baud
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
Our nominee dropped out under shady circumstances.
germy
Danielx
@Betty Cracker:
I’m guessing he doesn’t even remember having promised to come up with such a plan and sure as shit none of his minions want to remind the boss about it. Remember the Friedman Unit, a six month period? The Trump Unit is two weeks, and instead of an ongoing war/foreign policy crisis it applies to everything.
The boss has the attention span of an Irish setter on meth.
SFAW
@Baud:
More likely: They will follow the template followed by Chad Wolf’s Sturmabteilung in Portland, i.e. by “proactively” going after Dems who were in the same country (thus, in close proximity) as the Rethugs who actually did the criming.
Kay
The truth is that for white, low wage working class around here any urgency on “health care” is gone because Obama expanded Medicaid so they’re all covered.
They don’t care that Republicans offer nothing on health care because they all have public insurance. They can transition from Medicaid to Medicare when they’re eligible and never encounter the private health insurance market at all. Lower income children have had single payer public health plans since the late 1990’s, so for the younger adults it’s their entire lives.
OzarkHillbilly
Heh:
blackcatsrule
OT request from an infrequent commenter but avid reader.
Just over a year ago, we adopted a kitty. I don’t know the previous owner’s situation or circumstances, so I will be charitable and say that Buddy was ignored for quite a while before being brought to the shelter. But within a week he blossomed into a happy lap cat.
We hoped to give him many years of love to make up somewhat for his rough start. Unfortunately a month ago he was diagnosed with cancer and we are sending him on tomorrow as he is clearly declining.
I ask that the jackaltariat and their pets take a moment to send Buddy a loving thought, and/or power-of-the-paw so his gentle soul can feel as much love and comfort in the time he has left as he possibly can. He deserves it and I am so sad that we had such a short time with him. No need to even post; just good vibes are enough. Thank you.
Betty Cracker
@Danielx: Truth. IIRC, when Trump announced the Melania immigration status press conference, he said it would take place in two weeks. Then it fell off the radar forever. Maybe someone should look into that once he’s out of office.
geg6
@blackcatsrule:
You gave Buddy love and a home. I’m so sorry and I’m sending all my good vibes to him today. And to you. ❤️
Keith P.
@Betty Cracker: Yeah, yet another unforced error. I just hope he tries to clean this one up….it’s usually pretty entertaining when he does. It’ll probably include something about being friends with Lisa Vanderpump.
germy
CBS This Morning is doing video tributes to people of all ages who have died from the virus.
A 28 year old, a 31 year old, an 80 year old.
SFAW
@blackcatsrule:
So sorry to hear about Buddy. I’m glad he had a year of loving care from you, and loving you back, but this so hard.
zhena gogolia
@blackcatsrule:
Oh, I am so sorry. My first beloved (black) cat was named Buddy too. I will be thinking of you.
Dorothy A. Winsor
Baby otter! Cute noises! Yum, yum, yum.
JPL
@blackcatsrule: Buddy was lucky to have found true love.
zhena gogolia
I woke up this morning thinking, “I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW WHAT THE POTUS TALKED TO VLADIMIR VLADIMIROVICH PUTIN ABOUT ON JULY 23, 2020.”
OzarkHillbilly
You can’t stop it. I did ADA upgrades on fast food restaurants for a few years. It amazed me how many of them insisted on having the drive thru open. We’d seal off the kitchen with a solid wall of plastic but there is no tape in the world that will hold for long on all those grease infused surfaces. And I do mean infused, it gets absorbed by everything. I once tore out some drywall in a bathroom and found a solid 2″ of grease filled up in the bottoms of the wall cavities.
Think about that the next time you’re ordering up a happy meal.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@blackcatsrule: I’m so sorry. That’s hard.
OzarkHillbilly
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: It’s Arkansas.
Dorothy A. Winsor
Chicago requires two weeks of quarantine for people coming from something like 17 states now in a virus outbreak. Do you think any of Trump’s goons are from Texas, or Arizona, or other such states? Will they quarantine before they go out and start a riot?
blackcatsrule
@zhena gogolia: He is black as well! Thank you and everyone!
WereBear
@blackcatsrule: I’ve found in such circumstances it may be a short time: but it was very big for him :)
You gave him that.
Soprano2
@WereBear: Hahaha, I’ve been saying that for a couple of weeks now. I guess GMTA, and besides it’s pretty self-evident that this is true.
OzarkHillbilly
@Dorothy A. Winsor: Heehehehehehee
SiubhanDuinne
@blackcatsrule:
That’s heartbreaking. And you are doing right by Buddy.
I wish him a happy and peaceful transition. May the Rainbow Bridge lead him directly to the Milky Way, where he can lap at the starry cream forever.
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone ???
Aleta
@JPL: Same exact thought.
@blackcatsrule: ???? to Buddy and you. Thanks for letting us know. Been thinking of you two. Will be sending big love vibes he so deserves, today and tomorrow. Black rule + improve the world beyond measure.
narya
@blackcatsrule: Sending love your way, for the Walter of black cats . . .
Baud
@rikyrah: Good morning.
Aleta
@Aleta: Black cats rule + improve the world beyond measure.
mad citizen
Our remaining (from a high of 4) cat is a male black cat, so for sure thinking of you and Buddy blackcatsrule.
OzarkHillbilly
In the New Yorker: Blitt’s Kvetchbook
Trump Aces the Cognitive Test
Amir Khalid
@Baud:
In other news, the taxman would like former PM Najib Tun Razak to cough up US$396 million.
Soprano2
@germy:
I wish all the networks had been doing this since March. I think one reason so many people don’t seem that worried about the death toll is that it’s a huge, impersonal number, and it’s happening slowly; it’s a slow-motion disaster. The press should have made it their mission to make those people real to all of us. My hubby said something to me that I had never thought about before, but then agreed was true: to most of us, most people in the world don’t really exist. We know they’re there, but they’re not real to us in the way people we actually interact with are. Highlighting the lives of people who died from COVID would make them more real to all of us.
narya
@OzarkHillbilly: Yet another reason to not eat there (it’s been at least a decade, and possibly more, since I ate at a fast food place.
And, really, in addition to the dust created by the construction, I also haven’t been able to do my usual cleaning-up. I’m not the world’s neatest person, but still–there are dust buffalo roaming the halls and rooms.
Spanky
@blackcatsrule: Eight times I’ve made that trip. Best thoughts for you and your Buddy.
SFAW
@SiubhanDuinne:
Damn these pop-up dust storms.
Jeffro
@WereBear: Yeah, I hear you about their political coverage in general…but then there are some excellent progressive op-ed writers like Michelle Goldberg and Jamelle Bouie.
In fact, Mr. Bouie has a gem up right now: trumpov Doesn’t Speak For the ‘Silent Majority‘
Jeffro
@Geminid: Excited to see this! It was bad enough being “represented” by Denver Riggleman; having Good as my Rep would be intolerable.
GO WEBB!
Amir Khalid
@blackcatsrule:
I too have a black cat, 16 years old, whom I love very dearly. Her name is Bianca, and she and I send good thoughts out to you and Buddy.
Danielx
@blackcatsrule:
Feline residents Zoey, Boris and Natasha saluting Buddy on his way to the Rainbow Bridge.
Baud
@blackcatsrule:
I’m very sorry. Peace to Buddy.
Jeffro
Meanwhile, true-blue Virginia continues to impress: Confederate statues removed overnight from the Capitol
Baud
@Jeffro: Elections have consequences.
OzarkHillbilly
@narya: Just keep telling youself, “Almost there, just a little while longer, almost there…” I know it’s hard. I have worked on a number of houses for a year or more, while people lived in them. I don’t know how they survived.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@Soprano2: Nearly 20 years later I still remember the impact of seeing NYT obituaries every single day for 9/11 victims. Every single person, down to the waiters at Top Of The World, got a picture and a biographical write up.
Nearly 50 years ago, the weekly photo magazine Life started having a spread of names and pictures of soldiers who had died in Vietnam that week. Every single week, week after week. You can bet that brought the war home.
Jeffro
@WereBear: and then I see crap like Brooksie’s latest, where he tries to claim victim status and also claim that *he* represents the moderate middle…I don’t know which is worse; both claims irritate the living shit out of me…and I think, “You know, WereBear’s right”…
raven
@narya: Our contractor sealed ours off as well as we could. I moved the fridge and microwave intro the hallway and we lived with that and the gas grill for 2 months. I also worked from home the entire time our addition was being built and that was a real challenge.
raven
@raven: This was our kitchen.
It been 5 years now and 8 since we started the project (three involved negotiating with the city to move the sewer line that ran right through our addition). At one point our guy said “someday it will just be where you live”. It was true.
raven
More tape
raven
The Bodhi looking through the plastic.
Gin & Tonic
@Kay:
But why feel sorry for them? They’re grown-ups, they could have said “no, I’m not filing that with the court because it’s a lie.” People working for the US Attorney’s office have agency, and have a law license. Fuck them.
gkoutnik
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: During the Vietnam War, we stood at the Federal Building and read the names of the dead, 24 hours a day until we were done. They were in the Congressional Record; some Congressperson had read them in. We need to do this again.
Baud
@Gin & Tonic:
I don’t know about this case, but lawyers don’t always know when their clients are lying to them.
Aleta
@raven: Great picture.
Baud
SFAW
@OzarkHillbilly:
About 15 years ago, we had our house expanded, which included a complete demolish-and-rebuild of our kitchen, plus new heating (and ductwork). Our builder configured things so that the only time we had to leave the house was when the floors were urethaned (oil-based, I think), so we had to be away from the VOC. He did a great job. We were able to keep cooking even after the kitchen was demo’d, because he moved the stove to a different (protected) spot. All-in-all, it was not a difficult experience — but that was due to our builder’s intelligence, creativity, and planning. Oh, yeah — EVERY room in our house had work done on it — some modest, some major/significant.
Gin & Tonic
@Baud: In this case, to my IANAL mind, the lawyer and the client are one and the same.
Steeplejack
** DVR Alert **
I was browsing through the next week on TCM and found a few particularly noteworthy items:
3:30 p.m. EDT today: They Were Expendable (1945). John Wayne, Robert Montgomery, Donna Reed; directed by John Ford. PT boats in the Philippines at the start of World War II. Yes, it’s John Wayne, but he gives a surprisingly nuanced performance, and it’s a good John Ford outing. The movie has an almost elegiac tone, because the inevitable ending is not good. Probably acceptable because the movie was released after we won the war.
6:00 p.m. EDT Saturday: Jeremiah Johnson (1972). Robert Redford; directed by Sydney Pollack. Discussed in this week’s “Medium Cool” post.
2:00 a.m. EDT Monday: Yi Yi (2000). It’s hard to describe this epic Taiwanese family saga. A truly great film. Trailer here. Roger Ebert’s review here.
And, holy shnikeys, I can’t believe it, but it appears that the whole film is on YouTube. Dunno what’s up with that.
CliosFanBoy
@blackcatsrule: I am so sorry. thank you for giving him a happy, safe, loving home.
Gin & Tonic
@Baud: Business Insider is paywalled now?
CliosFanBoy
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: Life only did that one week. It had an impact though. (I have a copy and use it in my class when I cover Vietnam).
SFAW
@Baud:
Vladi? Really?
Yeah, I saw who it really is. I’ll believe it when we get to 12/31/2020 and we see proof that neither they, nor their proxies, contributed.
Baud
@Gin & Tonic:
Obviously, all are government, but they’re different people in different agencies of the government. Once again, I don’t know the particulars here, but DOJ attorneys defending an agency generally rely on agency attorneys to send them the relevant information in the case.
Baud
@Gin & Tonic: I don’t know. I was able to view it.
TS (the original)
Biden & his administration are going to be busy reversing the horror this admin has wraught.
zhena gogolia
@Steeplejack:
They Were Expendable is the only John Wayne movie I can stomach. Montgomery is brilliant in it, as is Donna Reed.
Ken
@TS (the original): So theoretically, could Executive Order 1 simply say “all executive orders by the previous occupant are revoked”?
Baud
@Ken:
It won’t but it could.
ETA: Executive Orders do not encompass everything the Trump administration has done
Another Scott
@Gin & Tonic: Yup, here too. They seem to have been rolling it out over the last few months.
Cheers,
Scott.
Baud
Trump’s health care plan?
Raven
@zhena gogolia: True Grit!!
Another Scott
@Baud: It may depend on how you got there. E.g. Sites often let links from FB or T through, but not direct links.
Dunno.
Cheers,
Scott.
Baud
mad citizen
@TS (the original): This is bad–hope it never happens. I watched this doc a while back–a reporter wonders what fish to eat that is best for the environment. The answer is wild Alaskan salmon. Granted, there are hatcheries helping the process, but googling tells me in 2018 the record sockeye run was 62 MILLION fish. We should risk damaging that. Think about it–we help these little fish to develop, they swim out into the ocean and then voluntarily come back to us so we can eat them. What a system!
I like salmon and try to eat it, but am still gunshy from getting some bad sockeye last year at costco that was old. Learned that they sometimes repackage it and move the freshness date forward. A worker there recommended the frozen sockeye fillets.
Another Scott
@Baud: Shocking.
(sigh)
It’s all so predictable, and senseless, and unnecessary.
Cue Tony Jay.
Cheers,
Scott.
zhena gogolia
@Raven:
I’ve never seen it . . . .
Mrearl
@OzarkHillbilly: Right. As we often say here in The Natural State, “Forget it Jake, it’s Arkansas.”
WereBear
@zhena gogolia: You can’t go wrong with Donna Reed. Criminally underrated.
Steeplejack
@zhena gogolia:
Yes! Plus Ward Bond and some other Ford regulars.
I also like Wayne in The Searchers, where he plays somewhat against type as a bigoted dick, and also in North to Alaska, which is a totally weird semi-cowboy rom-com. You don’t see that coming in a John Wayne movie. Oh, and almost forgot The Quiet Man.
Kristine
@blackcatsrule: a gentle virtual hug for Buddy and sympathies for you.
Ralphie
@blackcatsrule: As the proud daddy of a beautiful little black kitty, Smooch and I send along our bestest vibes and wishes.
Sab
@blackcatsrule: I am so sorry. At least he had you for a year.
SFAW
@Steeplejack:
It’s a great movie, arguably the best Western, and probably Ford’s best.
Uncle Cosmo
@Baud: Brought to you by the dark-money-funded astroturf organization “Suburban Housewives In Their Hatred Encouraging Assaults on Demonstrating Scum” – you know, S.H.I.T.H.E.A.D.S.
Steeplejack
@blackcatsrule:
Sending good thoughts to you and Buddy. ?
Uncle Cosmo
@Ken: No doubt they’re all paid-up members of Actors Inequity.
narya
@raven: Just . . . dang. I’ve managed this one pretty well–structured the food so that I had lots of beans and such available, did a good job cooking in one pan, bought an induction burner to use for the duration–but it is definitely getting old. I think part of it is that it’s in the middle of a pandemic, which makes shopping or going out anywhere stressful as well. Even w/o the pandemic I would not have gone out a lot, but I likely would have done it a couple of times. I don’t like take-out (I don’t like the quality of food I end up with), so that wasn’t available for respite. But this weekend I will start cleaning and putting things away!
mad citizen
Forgot to add a link to the doc I was talking about. A reporter/avid fisherman decided to eat only fish for meat for a year, while investigating what is best to ear from an environmental viewpoint. A Frontline episode.
https://www.krwg.org/post/what-fish-good-me-and-planet-new-documentary-explores
O. Felix Culpa
@Baud: No one could have anticipated this. /s
Gin & Tonic
@Baud: Maybe the writers can have January 20, 2021 be a Bobby-Ewing-in-the-shower moment and we can all pretend 2017-2021 were a bad dream.
Ken
@Gin & Tonic: There will certainly be enough Republicans saying “Trump who? I don’t think I ever met him….”
StringOnAStick
@TS (the original): Considering how much $ goes into building a mine, I wonder if the company owners are looking at the polls and deciding to go slow on initial investment. Eh, probably not; my RW asshole father is a mining engineer and a Bircher from way back; the management Wil figure that if enough work get a started then shutting them down will be that much harder. Alaskans in the fishing industry had better be paying attention.
TS (the original)
@mad citizen:
It appears to be happening today. There are going to be protests/legal pushes against it – hopefully time will out run trump. From the wapo link
SFAW
@O. Felix Culpa:
How fucking delusional do you have to be to even consider making that statement?
zhena gogolia
@WereBear:
I was recently amazed by her performance in The Last Time I Saw Paris.
Omnes Omnibus
@Gin & Tonic: Except for the dead people.
TS (the original)
@Gin & Tonic:
Stephen asked Mary Trump if this was possible
Start at about 2.45 min
Ken
Possibly they are – Alaska has been moved into the “tossup” column for the presidential race over at 270towin.
EDIT: So has South Carolina! The Cook map still has it red.
Gin & Tonic
@Omnes Omnibus: Yeah, whatevs. They were going to die anyway, amirite?
satby
@blackcatsrule: condolences, and loving vibes sent. He had his heaven on earth being saved by you.
TomatoQueen
@blackcatsrule: Black Cat extraordinaire and jackaltariat rescue Merlin sends his softest most tender Brrrrp to help ease Buddy’s way to the Bridge.
Yutsano
@Amir Khalid: Heh. Even Malaysia has constitutional tax protesters.
Parfigliano
@Gin & Tonic: The US Attys that filed the lies need to be brought before their state bar boards for disbarment proceedings. Ethically opposing council and or the judge are obligated to report them.
Ghost of Joe Lieblings Dog
@blackcatsrule:
I’m so sorry.
They ask for so little, and give so much — not even “in return” but just because. They meet us way more than halfway.
Ken
That is the position among some members of the Death Cult, yes. A person doesn’t die of COVID, but because they had some other pre-existing condition that would have killed them anyway in ten or twenty years.
Raven
@Steeplejack: it’s strange how bad the visual on JJ. There was something funny on the transfer and when you see the BluRay it’s almost a different film. It’s also really interesting to watch it with the commentary by Pollack, Redford and Milius
SFAW
@Ken:
Maybe I’m looking at the worng 270towin site, but SC shows up as “Likely” R, not “Tossup,” on my screen, as does Alaska. That’s for the “Consensus” screen. The “Polling” screen shows them as Tossup, but I question the value of that particular screen
ETA: Actually, I also question the “Consensus” screen, but only because I’m too lazy to find out what they call “Consensus.”
debbie
@Kay:
Bet Chris Christie was impressed, though.
sdhays
Why would they start to do any of the things they’re supposed to do a couple months before they’re shit-canned? I expect most of the transition time will be spent using the paper shedders and stealing whatever’s still not bolted down.
germy
So Tom Friedman went on the “Tooning Out The News” show, and it went as well for him as it did for Rick Wilson.
Ken
How bizarre. Did Friedman know what he was getting in for?
debbie
@OzarkHillbilly:
I heard it reported as a very good, socially distanced pithc.
opiejeanne
@Kay: What’s this about lying to the Mayor of Seattle, and getting caught? I can’t find an account of it.
rikyrah
Florida – 12,000+ new cases today.
so much winning.
germy
@Ken: They always think they can outwit the cartoon characters.
Yutsano
@Ken: Eligibility issues aside, why would Mohammed Bin Bonesaw want to become a US citizen? He would have to give up his immense wealth and power back home to be second fiddle to a 77 year old man? Not to mention his handling of the Khashoggi murder would be brought up constantly. Plus losing his endless stream of sycophants and suck-ups. There’s no upside to this for him*.
*Yes I am aware this is a completely unserious proposal.
cmorenc
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
However, the problem the Union had for the first couple of years of the Civil War was that the Union commanders were even shittier than the Confederate commanders, by a wide margin. Gen George McLellan, general-in-chief of the Union army for much of the first two years, couldn’t find his own ass (or Lee’s army) with both hands. Fortunately, Lincoln was able to eventually correct that situation when he recognized that Ulysses Grant (who had been in the Western part of the Civil War campaign) had the right stuff and put him in charge of the primary Union army against Lee, with the bonus of also finding that Grant’s second-in-command General Willam T. Sherman, was a solidly competent replacement for Grant in the western theater following Grant’s promotion.
Steeplejack
@Raven:
TCM has a good record on screening the best prints available, but, yeah, it’s TV, not Blu-ray.
Haven’t seen the commentary. I’ll have to check it out. All those snow scenes must have been hard to photograph. Lots of blue light.
Amir Khalid
@Steeplejack:
Against type? John Wayne was a bigoted dick.
Dorothy A. Winsor
Oh here you go. Sarah Cooper talks about person, woman, man, camera, TV
zhena gogolia
@Amir Khalid:
I think Steeplejack was being ironic.
zhena gogolia
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Oh, thanks. She nailed it.
I love all the people on twitter having their kids and dogs say it.
germy
@Amir Khalid:
I wonder if his fans watching The Searchers in 1956 understood he was playing a bigoted dick, or if they just nodded along and thought he was playing a sympathetic character?
Steeplejack
@Amir Khalid:
Against the type that he played in his roles. But of course you know that.
Ken
Well, yes, but his characters usually weren’t. Sort of like Errol Flynn playing the romantic lead. In a way, it shows Wayne was a better actor than you might think from his monotone delivery and uncomfortable body language.
Amir Khalid
@germy:
You should check out the guy’s full name:
His patronymics go back eight generations! What is he trying to compensate for?
mrmoshpotato
Ewwww, Dump’s disgusting, fat, orange, fascist face.
Cameron
@debbie: He dropped his Pence? That’s not very polite.
StringOnAStick
@Ken: All active sabotage of the transition process needs to be documented on our TV screens every damned night for as long as it takes to cover it all.
germy
blackcatsrule
THANK YOU so much everyone! I am reading the comments to Buddy and he is feeling very loved.
@Aleta: I have been thinking about you as well and hoping things are going as well as they can at this point.
Another Scott
@mad citizen: Thanks for the pointer.
Note all the caveats though. The problem with wild fish is that it’s not scalable these days – there are too many people and too much demand. Commercial farming has to be a big part of the solution, and ways have to be found to make it safer and more efficient.
Cheers,
Scott.
James E Powell
@Steeplejack:
My favorite John Wayne films are The Shootist, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, and The Sons of Katie Elder.
Related hot take: The Jeff Bridges/Hailee Steinfeld True Grit is superior to the John Wayne/Kim Darby version.
germy
@blackcatsrule:
Please give him a nudge and a kiss for me.
Black cats rule, I agree.
Thank you for all the love and care you’re giving him.
opiejeanne
@TS (the original): The Pebble Mine. My daughter, the one who works for a shipping company in Seattle, told me about this proposed mine and how it will destroy the fishing industry in the last pristine salmon run in the country. Her job right now is shipping fish, which is seasonal for her company, and she’s very busy. They ship year round, at least three barges a week. She’s considered an essential worker because without her Alaska would be pretty hungry.
opiejeanne
@James E Powell: Absolutely, and it’s true to the book.
Ruckus
@Ken:
I don’t want them anywhere near food the rest of us have to eat. Plus they would take away jobs from people that need them.
How about in the funeral business, handling all the dead bodies from their bosses fuckups and bullshit? Or even a better one – in boot camp the real fuckups had to dig deep holes in sand, all day long, then fill them back in. Over and over until they learned. Some of these assholes would be digging for decades. Pity. In case you were wondering, about 6 feet deep, which is a lot of sand as you have to make it a lot wider at top than one might imagine, so it doesn’t collapse on you when it gets deep, also so you can get in and out. And each digger had 2 marine armed guards to insure you got it right. You fucked around you found out what professional fucking around was.
Just Chuck
Oh but Biden is looking very scary … to the current maladministration.
Just Chuck
@Amir Khalid: “bin” it is then.
Ruckus
@Ken:
Biden as a past VP will help here, he’s been through the process. Also his previous boss seemed to actually like him and might help out as well. I think this is one of Joe’s really good points. He is familiar with the job requirements and daily structure, he is not an unreasonable choice here, because he was first in line to the job for 8 yrs. He’s the exact opposite of the orange Mussolini.
Ruckus
@Danielx:
Are you saying that the orange Mussolini is barking mad?
Ken
@Ruckus: Not mad, just that he can’t remember anything past two weeks. Which is being generous, I would say two days. Except for personwomanmancameratv of course, that stick with him forever.
The Moar You Know
Making Donald Trump an acceptable candidate for president. And they pulled that one off with no problems. I have faith the media can make this as close a race as they like, because Americans are morons.
Ruckus
@OzarkHillbilly:
I remodeled my house – and lived there doing it. Maybe that made it easier. Or not. If you have a vision of the final results and it ends up being close or better than anticipated I think it’s easy to live with it. Also I attacked one room at a time, so it wasn’t all that difficult, other than the kitchen, which was a major effort. But I also didn’t have unrealistic expectations about the time or amount of work and I think that’s hugely helpful.
yellowdog
@Ken: His misfiring neuron is named John Yoo.
Ruckus
@Ken:
Not only is the timeframe short but so is the list of things he can remember. It’s two things only, is it what he wants, does it piss him off. The percentage of those are, is it what he wants 2%, does it piss him off 98%. And mostly this is because he can’t actually remember what he wants for more than 2 minutes so everything makes him think that everyone is out to get him, ergo 98% pissed off. He’s a 4 yr old who doesn’t like the new set of blocks, which is the one he asked for an hour ago, but he changed his mind so now they aren’t the blocks he wanted. The blocks are the same, come from the same factory, but the box is different, the name is different and of course he didn’t see the box the blocks came in so they must be the wrong ones. Spoiled. Brat. 4 yrs. Old.
catclub
I am still waiting for Mississippi to rename Jefferson Davis County
and Forrest County. Any estimates of how long THAT will take?
mrmoshpotato
So Putin’s bitch is also afraid of baseballs?
catclub
I think Trump has been to zero funerals. Can You imagine how many Obama or Biden or Hillary would have attended by this time?
Ken
@catclub: Speaking of which, any update on Herman Cain? Last things on Google News search are his hospital admission 22 days ago, and a review of his career 17 days ago by USA Today.
Jess
My black cat Maya and I send our love to Buddy. We’re glad he landed in a good lap for his last year.
trnc
Um, I think the main problem is not being able to recognize America now.
misterpuff
Suburban Housewives of America is obviously a reality show on A&E. With lots of wine-drinking.
trnc
You’re right, but how likely would this vote count have been a year ago? For that matter, how likely is it that the bill would have even gotten a vote under Mitch?
Jess
I’m much more impressed by Biden than I expected to be–I think he’s hitting exactly the right tone here. Very presidential. When he and trump are side by side, viewed by mainstream voters, I think Biden’s dignity and composure will make trump look extra trashy in comparison.
Subsole
@Amir Khalid:
Isn’t that pretty standard for royalty though? If 90% of my worth came from who I happened to fall out of on my first day here, I’d keep track of it too.
artem1s
@Kay:
created by the Bush Crime Family to cover up their illegal wars and other criminal activities. Weird considering the GOP is all about small government. Yes DHS should be broken up. It was created as a work around Congress. Time for it to go along with Citizens United.
Mo Salad
@Amir Khalid: Has to go back until he lands on a Saud. You know, to show legitimacy.
eddie blake
@blackcatsrule:
so sorry.
Origuy
@blackcatsrule: Sorry to hear about Buddy. My housemates adopted a black kitten about a month ago, named Aswad (Arabic for black.) He has a lot of personality.
Ruckus
@SFAW:
Well, conservatives want to go back what, a few hundred years in political time to have a monarchy that rules however it feels on any given day but wherein all the “citizens” are subject to whatever whim the wealthy decide and where the king is in power as decreed by his wealth. All woman are concubines, wives are an unnecessary roadblock to domination and are there for procreation and pleasing her owner only and racism is not just allowed but law of the land. Public schools are not just not necessary but will be outlawed because that causes human beings to understand that they are in control in any degree with their lives. Also educated persons are not as likely to be obedient slaves, costing more money for domestic beatings and beheadings.
So, rather fucking delusional.
Holding this view does allow them the concept that delusion is a fine and noble art of subjects.
Ruckus
@O. Felix Culpa:
Conservatives world wide want to have their fiefdoms and be fortressed against all the other fiefdoms of the world. They don’t want better, they want closed societies. They think that the world has changed for the worse because we actually attempt to be part of it rather than a dominating power. What our conservatives fail to realize is that we got lucky in WWII, we didn’t get destroyed, we didn’t have fighting on our shores. That put us ahead, in the coming technology race, not having to do nearly as much to get over WWII. But what it really did was give the US a mantle of mystic superiority, that we could rule and let the plebes manufacture stuff because they would always look up to us. We, in great part because of our success, decided that moving money was all we needed to do to stay in the same position, that no one would catch up to us. Japan rebuild and made better cars and household goods, Germany rebuilt and made a decent government, and China became a production powerhouse. The world healed and we strutted. In so many ways some of us are still looking backwards towards what we had for a rather short time as the be all end all of growth of country. We’ve told ourselves that we are the greatest country long enough that people believed it no matter the evidence that we are just part of the far different whole than what was imagined 75 yrs ago. It’s hard to move on to a whole new way of looking at earth, lot’s of people can not do this at all. But the past marches on to the future in it’s own way no matter what we think it should do and be. We are what, 4% of the worlds population and believe that everyone else should just get in line and do our bidding? That’s insane. And the world is rightfully laughing at us and closing us out and the reality is there is nothing we can do about this because of our own conservatives. The UK and Australia are in the same boat, and most of it is due to conservatives, and one in particular, Rupert Murdock and his wayback publishing/broadcasting empire.
rikyrah
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
I smell a payoff. It was all quite suspect – how the Democrat ‘ dropped out’.
rikyrah
@blackcatsrule:
Prayers for all of you :(
NotMax
@Amir Khalid
Fortunately he is well off enough financially to order custom made checks. Two feet long in order to be able to fit his signature.
:)
rikyrah
@Soprano2:
Nicole Wallace has been pretty good about this.
Captain C
@Kay: How are they not held in contempt for this?
Mary Ellen Sandahl
Lots of sympathy to you and dear Buddy. As a long-time cat person with lots of memories, I know you and he have done each other all kinds of loving goodness for each other. Comfort and peace to you both.
No One You Know
@Ken: We could shoot at or gas the Moms and the mayors, like they did in my city.
Portland is so angry today that the very air shakes with rage.