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You are here: Home / Politics / Domestic Politics / 100 Days (Open Thread)

100 Days (Open Thread)

by Betty Cracker|  July 26, 20209:01 am| 571 Comments

This post is in: Domestic Politics, Open Threads, Politics, Republican Stupidity

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Maybe basements are good. I wouldn’t know, having lived most of my life in a place where, if you dig a hole, it immediately fills up with water, so very few basements. But in addition to the largely media-created narrative that Biden is benefiting from a “stay in the basement” strategy, a similar approach may be benefiting Democrats not named Biden, according to an article in The Post.

Republican incumbents like Susan Collins, Thom Tillis and Joni Ernst are begging opponents to debate them in hopes of a game-changing gaffe by less experienced candidates. Democrats are saying, “Nah, I’m good.”

“Democrats continue to meet with and hear from voters across their states, and they didn’t need a manufactured debate over debates from desperate incumbents to do it,” said Lauren Passalacqua, spokeswoman for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

The “basement” narrative is mostly bullshit. Biden and other Democratic challengers are less visible in traditional campaign settings right now because we’re in the midst of a raging pandemic, and that’s the responsible way to behave, as circumstances recently forced even Trump to acknowledge. Trump is the incumbent president and an idiot, and the incumbent senators are his enablers, so of course their higher profiles aren’t helping. That’s how being stupid in public works.

As for the Democratic candidates, their policies are out there for anyone who wants to compare them to their opponents’ proposals and records. Anyone curious about how Democrats stack up rhetorically against a Republican opponent can easily find the material for that analysis — that goes for Biden vs. Trump and the Democratic candidates for the senate and their opponents too.

What’s not on offer this year (at least so far) are the usual building blocks for lazy political narratives — campaign-friendly meet-and-greets at hog fries and corn fritter fests that might yield “campaign tracker” soundbites that can be spun up into mini-scandals at the senate level.

At the presidential level, the conventions and debates (if the latter happen) will provide some of that fodder, but from the GOP perspective, much time has been lost. Trump’s catastrophic mismanagement of the pandemic cost lives, jobs, national dignity — and political opportunities. Each time the sun sets on a day without an event that shakes up the race is another day Trump marinates in loser juice.

That’s an argument in favor of a basement strategy, whether it’s conscious or wholly imposed by external circumstances. This is such a weird time too, for everyone. I’m not convinced regular people (as opposed to political junkies) will pay attention in great numbers even when there are events to cover and this telescoping dystopia of a summer finally ends.

I could be wrong, but my feeling is a lot about this race is baked in already. As a nation, we’re sick. We’re tired. We’re humiliated. We’re ready for this endless shit-show to be over.

We’re also in countdown mode: 6 days until Biden is expected to announce a running mate (or will begin to be hounded in earnest about that decision) and 100 days until Election Day. Early voting starts in September in my state. Predictions?

I suck at prognostication, but my guess is Biden-Harris defeat Trump-Pence (EC: 349 to 187), the Dems take the Senate and make modest gains in the House. We just have to make it through today and the next 99 days. (Then there’s the perilous transition period, but let’s jump off that bridge if/when we get there…)

Open thread.

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Reader Interactions

571Comments

  1. 1.

    Baud

    July 26, 2020 at 9:04 am

    “Hillary won’t hold press conferences,” updated for 2020.

    Fuckem’

  2. 2.

    Patricia Kayden

    July 26, 2020 at 9:05 am

    ??????? Scotland sending a strong message. Bravo! ???????The Scottish Parliament has called for the immediate suspension of exports of riot gear, tear gas and rubber bullets to the United States.#BlackLivesMatter #cdnpoli #HumanRights #Protests https://t.co/HjhOYKrKQI— Meanwhile in Canada (@MeanwhileinCana) July 26, 2020

  3. 3.

    JPL

    July 26, 2020 at 9:07 am

    @Patricia Kayden: do we import that stuff from Scotland?

  4. 4.

    ant

    July 26, 2020 at 9:08 am

    I feel like it’s like coke and pepsi at this point.  People are not going to change brands.

     

    The difference will be people who don’t drink soda deciding to do so, and younger people choosing what brand they like, replacing older people who pass away.

  5. 5.

    RSA

    July 26, 2020 at 9:09 am

    another day Trump marinates in loser juice.

    Such a way with words you have, Betty.

  6. 6.

    Jamie

    July 26, 2020 at 9:10 am

    @RSA: Exactly what I was gonna say, about exactly the same phrase.

  7. 7.

    geg6

    July 26, 2020 at 9:12 am

    Every word of this.

  8. 8.

    JPL

    July 26, 2020 at 9:15 am

    Biden is doing what is necessary in order to stay safe.

  9. 9.

    satby

    July 26, 2020 at 9:17 am

    This was released two weeks ago, but the Lincoln Project is working on helping the Democrats win the Senate too.

  10. 10.

    NotMax

    July 26, 2020 at 9:17 am

    Basement trumps the base.

    ;)

  11. 11.

    Spanky

    July 26, 2020 at 9:22 am

    @NotMax:  “The base”? I wonder what that is in Arabic.

    All efforts at this point should be directed at blocking attempts at voter suppression. Keep Trump’s Little Green Men occupied, but don’t let them win. Continue blocking govt actions in the courts. Whatever else it takes.

  12. 12.

    Betty Cracker

    July 26, 2020 at 9:22 am

    @satby: I loved seeing them go after Rubio and Cruz, who aren’t even up for reelection this year. The LP people blew up every bridge, and there aren’t enough of them to really influence the direction of the Democratic Party, so win-win.

  13. 13.

    dr. bloor

    July 26, 2020 at 9:22 am

    I wouldn’t be at all disappointed if this election cycle killed off “debates” altogether in the future.  Putting two (or ten!) candidates in the same room in a totally artificial interaction dictated by campaigns, networks, and mental midgets like Chuck Toddler is worse than useless.

    I suck at prognostication, but my guess is Biden-Harris defeat Trump-Pence (EC: 349 to 187),

    Your lips to the Goddesses ears.  The Boston Globe has an article today on the potential clusterfuck arising from anything close, and it’s fugly in every way you can think.  Job 1A, or 1B, or 1something for the next Congress and Administration is codifying a transition process that acknowledges some people don’t give a flying fuck about “rules” or “precedence.”

  14. 14.

    MattF

    July 26, 2020 at 9:23 am

    There’s a long list of unknowns and WTFs. What about people who don’t have access to social media? What about people who do have access but have gotten into weird rabbitholes e.g., QANON or virus denial? How do many individual information bubbles add up to a real effect?

  15. 15.

    ant

    July 26, 2020 at 9:24 am

    A friend of my husband, works in a mattress factory off in the trump-tribal lands of small town WI. Anyways, she was having coughing fits at work (claiming allergies), so they told her to go get a covid test. She said no, she wouldn’t do it. Refused. They said, OK, you need to go home and quarantine for two weeks then. She nope, wont do that either, I quit.

     

    These are trump people. In their world, the rona is a democrat hoax – a political weapon being used on Trump. Nobody they know has gotten sick or died, so it’s not a real threat. Getting tested, or having a positive test just means more cases, just like trump says.

    They want to drink in bars, go to music concerts, eat in restaurants, and go to water parks. They resent any restrictions on their choices.

     

    I ain’t never seen no plants growing out of no toilet!

  16. 16.

    debbie

    July 26, 2020 at 9:24 am

    Tangential, but also nice to see this:

    Another video from the large-scale #protest march today in #Khabarovsk, eastern #Russia, where estimated 95,000 people are protesting against Putin:

    pic.twitter.com/2UyOIfttDn
    — Alex Kokcharov (@AlexKokcharov) July 25, 2020

  17. 17.

    Baud

    July 26, 2020 at 9:28 am

    @JPL:

    All supply chains are international these days.

  18. 18.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    July 26, 2020 at 9:29 am

    Yeah, at the moment, we’re hunkering down and following the Hamilton strategy: Stay alive. That would be enough.

  19. 19.

    debbie

    July 26, 2020 at 9:29 am

    I’m hoping debates are becoming a thing of the past.* Dems have found new ways to communicate their messages with voters. This is no different than the Asshole in Chief using Twitter as his communication platform.

    (I don’t think debates are ever productive. Town halls provide much more information about the candidate.)

  20. 20.

    Jerzy Russian

    July 26, 2020 at 9:31 am

    There are not that many basements here in Southern California.    Unlike the situation with Betty Cracker, instant flooding of newly dig holes is not the reason for the lack of basements.    I really don’t know why basements are rare here.  Maybe since we don’t get frost here, there is no need to sink a foundation deep into the ground.

  21. 21.

    Gvg

    July 26, 2020 at 9:32 am

    In some ways, the basement theme just makes a positive out of the problem democrats normally have in not being able to get media attention away from the various flash Frankensteins that the GOP has presented even before Trump. People would say why don’t the democrats say something about subject x, and not even know that democrats had policies and legislation and speeches about subject x but the media wasn’t covering them. Even Obama had that problem after he was elected when his newness wore off.

    Biden says plenty, and has policies but the media is still not covering them, only now, everyone assumes it’s because he is sheltering responsibly and it makes them like him, instead of noticing how lazy the media is. In this modern era, there is no reason shelter in place equates to being quiet and not being in the news. The media is still wired for clown shows.

    when Biden is elected, he is going to find the same problem as soon as people relax. I hope he makes plans for this. Possibly some high exposure prosecutions will keep the public’s interest.

  22. 22.

    satby

    July 26, 2020 at 9:34 am

    @ant: These are trump people. In their world, the rona is a democrat hoax – a political weapon being used on Trump. Nobody they know has gotten sick or died, so it’s not a real threat. Getting tested, or having a positive test just means more cases, just like trump says.

    Yep. I see them all the time. Key words  “no one they know has gotten sick or died”. So they completely behave as if nothing at all is going on. Someone they know is going to get sick or die soon enough, but it will be too late for a lot of them to avoid getting it themselves at that point. So thoughts and (no) prayers.

  23. 23.

    RepubAnon

    July 26, 2020 at 9:37 am

    I recall a Hunter S Thompson article about the LA demonstrations in the 1960s. When the organizers tried to get press coverage, they told HST that most big newspaper and TV outlets wouldn’t cover the event – unless it was held in a nice hotel and had an open bar.

     

    The one reporter who would cover such events was killed by police firing a teargas round at his head.

  24. 24.

    Danielx

    July 26, 2020 at 9:37 am

    @dr. bloor:

    ….transition process that acknowledges some people don’t give a flying fuck about “rules” or “precedence.”

    This is true. If, FSM forbid, RBG dies on January 15th, that sonofabitch McConnell will have Trump nominate somebody on the 16th and try to ram the nominee through in three days if Trump gets beaten in November by a 3 to 1 margin. Especially if he gets beaten himself – as a final fuck-you to the electorate and the country in general.

  25. 25.

    SFAW

    July 26, 2020 at 9:39 am

    @JPL: 

    do we import that stuff from Scotland?

    Tons of it: Strategic sporrans, tartan tear gas, kick-their-ass kilts, all SWAT-approved.

  26. 26.

    NotMax

    July 26, 2020 at 9:39 am

    @satby

    “no one they know has gotten sick or died”

    By the time of election day, not so much.

    Sadly.

  27. 27.

    NotMax

    July 26, 2020 at 9:41 am

    @SFAW

    The haggis gas alone is enough to curl one’s toes.

    ;)

  28. 28.

    Baud

    July 26, 2020 at 9:43 am

    @Danielx:

    If we take back the Senate, McConnell is out of power on Jan. 3.

  29. 29.

    dr. bloor

    July 26, 2020 at 9:43 am

    @Danielx:  The upside there is that it will make expanding the SCOTUS to 13 seats a much easier sell on January 21st.

  30. 30.

    SFAW

    July 26, 2020 at 9:44 am

    @Gvg:

    instead of noticing how lazy the media is.

    They’re certainly lazy, but I think not covering Dem policy plans/statements is more malice than laziness. How many times did we hear that “Hillary doesn’t have a policy on that” — even though she had detailed policy statements on most/all issues — during 2016?

  31. 31.

    The Thin Black Duke

    July 26, 2020 at 9:44 am

    @NotMax: Whatever works.

  32. 32.

    NotMax

    July 26, 2020 at 9:46 am

    @Baud

    If After we take back the Senate

    Fix’d. It’s in the cards.

  33. 33.

    karensky

    July 26, 2020 at 9:47 am

    “Marinate in loser juice…”  I love it!

  34. 34.

    Jerzy Russian

    July 26, 2020 at 9:49 am

    I finally finished watching all 12 seasons of the original Hawaii Five-O.  Random observations:

    They filmed a lot of scenes outdoors.

    They recycled lots  of footage.  For example, they fished the same car out of the harbor at least 4 times.  The same scenes of McGarrett running out of the building, cars speeding around corners, etc. were seen repeatedly.  They even reused a scene of a man’s final minutes in the ER twice (the episodes were a few seasons apart).

    There seemed to be a limited pool of guest actors.  It seems like there were a core of a dozen or so people who all played at least a dozen different roles.  In many cases the same actor would play a good guy in some of the shows, and a bad guy in others.

    Computers became frequent around season 5 or 6 (early 1970s).

    Steve McGarrett really could have made use of a cell phone.

    The quality seemed to fall off in the last few years.  Still, it was good fun overall.

    Up next:  the original Mission Impossible.

  35. 35.

    Ken

    July 26, 2020 at 9:50 am

    @dr. bloor: expanding the SCOTUS to 13 seats

    21 seats.

    At least, that’s the starting ask – the Democrats’ equivalent of anthrax and tire rims. Then show that they’re willing to compromise by bargaining down to 13 seats – giving up far more than half of the original deal.

  36. 36.

    Ella in New Mexico

    July 26, 2020 at 9:51 am

    @Jerzy Russian:

    I really don’t know why basements are rare here. Maybe since we don’t get frost here, there is no need to sink a foundation deep into the ground.

    Yep, that’s it. New Mexico, too. Rare basements anywhere here, even in the coldest places, unless their houses were built in the last century.

    It’s a source of ongoing irritation to me and my husband, who grew up in houses with basements that were so essential to everyday life for things like storing root veggies or all our family junk, setting up a laundry or work bench area, or just having a nice place to play and ride our bikes during socked-in winter snow days. Basements generally increase the overall available living and working space in houses from where we grew up. We really miss having one instead of the damn concrete slabs we have now

    Of course the one thing he and I both remember that was a big downside to basements back in PA and NY was that in some places, you could get a build up of radon gas seeping through those basement walls, especially if they were “dirt basements” like my grandmother and grandfather had on their farm. So, there’s that one bene.

  37. 37.

    Benw

    July 26, 2020 at 9:51 am

    The debates suck, sure, but I will be forever happy and grateful that “please proceed, Governor,” exists

    :)

  38. 38.

    zhena gogolia

    July 26, 2020 at 9:52 am

    Good essay.

    Since 11/9/2016 I don’t make predictions. I’d be happy with Biden-Harris, Biden-Demings, or Biden-Katy Perry. Let’s crush these mofos.

  39. 39.

    Aleta

    July 26, 2020 at 9:52 am

    Thanks Betty.

  40. 40.

    germy

    July 26, 2020 at 9:53 am

    @debbie:

    Protests in Russia against Putin,  protests in Israel against Bibi, protests here against the Donald.

  41. 41.

    Immanentize

    July 26, 2020 at 9:54 am

    I ain’t never seen no plants growing out of no toilet!

    Then you have never been to Potsdam, New York!

  42. 42.

    Aleta

    July 26, 2020 at 9:55 am

    @NotMax: Went to see the gypsy?

    (Outtake: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2x7HendVf0)

  43. 43.

    Ken

    July 26, 2020 at 9:55 am

    @germy: Anything happening in Brazil, India, Hungary, Saudi Arabia? All those dictators and authoritarians – did no one warn them that everything Trump touches dies?

  44. 44.

    Baud

    July 26, 2020 at 9:55 am

    @Immanentize: Welcome back.  People missed you.

  45. 45.

    NotMax

    July 26, 2020 at 9:56 am

    @Jerzy Russian

    Up next: the original Mission Impossible.

    Count the number of different ways telephone is spelled on the same phone booth in various ‘foreign’ countries.

    :)

  46. 46.

    Ohio Mom

    July 26, 2020 at 9:56 am

    If you live where tornados are a possibility, you want a basement.

    When we were house-hunting, that was a requirement.

  47. 47.

    Brachiator

    July 26, 2020 at 9:57 am

    But in addition to the largely media-created narrative that Biden is benefiting from a “stay in the basement” strategy

    I don’t follow as much of the election coverage as last time, but I recall when this “basement” strategy first popped up. I am almost surprised that it’s still a thing. The press must be tired and extra lazy. The press should be focusing more on Trump, there’s plenty of dirt to be uncovered.

    We’re also in countdown mode: 6 days until Biden is expected to announce a running mate (or will begin to be hounded in earnest about that decision) and 100 days until Election Day. Early voting starts in September in my state. Predictions?

    Had a conversation with some friends this weekend and noted that I don’t care who the VP choice is as long as it is not anyone as old as Biden. I think that the choice of a woman or a non-white person would invoke intense resentment and a counter-reaction amongst conservative voters, and an open call from some pundits and from Trump for white minority rule no matter what the election result.

    As for the election, I think that national polls are largely worthless, but again journalistic laziness keeps them coming. However, I also believe that the tilt towards Biden is real and will increase as Trump continues to screw up.

    But these are crazy times. Republicans should be backing early voting and mail voting, to make sure that their base can cast their votes and live, and yet they continue to embrace their death cult instead.

  48. 48.

    Sally

    July 26, 2020 at 9:57 am

    @Ken: I think It should be expanded to 15. That’s enough to make it harder for R’s to expand again. And gives us 6 properly qualified, new, young (!) justices to thump the 5 partisans.

  49. 49.

    LevelB

    July 26, 2020 at 9:59 am

    I was just thinking this morning that what is missing from this campaign is the home-spun wisdom of real americans sitting in a small town diner, complaining about how those people, millennials (or Kids These Days), immigrants, pushy women are too lazy, stealing our jobs, not paying taxes, using the wrong bathroom, etc.  I think cable news and print media both sorely miss those easy visuals and soundbites.

     

    B.

  50. 50.

    Denali

    July 26, 2020 at 9:59 am

    I hope your prediction comes true, but we are in very strange times. Never letting a crisis-a pandemic-  go to waste- has long been a Republican mantra.  We are seeing it play out in the  Federal response to the violence in the cities meme. Frustration is very high on both sides. Just when the logical response to holding an election in a pandemic is voting by mail, suddenly the Postal Service is not reliable. Amazing. What a coincidence! In chaotic times, people cling to authority. I am very worried that the protests will spread across the country – I am also old and really don’t want to get tear gassed or shot.  We have already seen violent suppression of protesters in Washington.  It won’t stop.

  51. 51.

    Baud

    July 26, 2020 at 9:59 am

    @Brachiator:

    We know with 100% certainty that it will be a woman.

  52. 52.

    Ken

    July 26, 2020 at 9:59 am

    @Ohio Mom: Technically tornados are a possibility in every state, but I would still want a basement – assuming it was possible to dig one without it filling with water and alligators.

  53. 53.

    sdhays

    July 26, 2020 at 10:02 am

    I’m so old, I remember when Dump didn’t join a Fox debate because he was scared of Megyn Kelly and then ran a scam charity event that he tried to steal the proceeds from.

  54. 54.

    Jerzy Russian

    July 26, 2020 at 10:02 am

    @NotMax:   I am only a few episodes into the first season, but so far all of the foreign countries our heroes have visited have had English with a foreign accent as the primary language.

  55. 55.

    donnah

    July 26, 2020 at 10:03 am

    Where we live, basements are useful spaces for a lot of things. Living space, game space, laundry and storage space. But it’s also a safe space when tornado season blows in. More then once we’ve gathered up our pets and headed for the basement.

    Safe space. I am perfectly fine with Biden and other Democrats simply staying put during stormy times. Let the loudmouth challengers get out and mingle with the Covid carriers and let them throw out baseless lies, because we’ll be waiting right here to listen the the quiet voices of reason and vote for those who have the smarts to be patient.

  56. 56.

    Immanentize

    July 26, 2020 at 10:04 am

    @Jerzy Russian:
    Zulu as Kono,
    Cam Fong as Chin Ho….

  57. 57.

    Immanentize

    July 26, 2020 at 10:06 am

    @Baud: Thanks.

  58. 58.

    Karen S.

    July 26, 2020 at 10:08 am

    @ant: Nice touch with the Idiocracy reference in an otherwise dispiriting anecdote. That woman walked away from what was probably a decent enough job for small town WI. If she ever comes to her senses and wants her old job back, I doubt they’ll rehire her.

  59. 59.

    Ken

    July 26, 2020 at 10:09 am

    @Jerzy Russian: Da, comrade. How else vould they speak?

    If you want a game, count the number of times Peter Lupus’s character is told to lift or bend something.

  60. 60.

    different-church-lady

    July 26, 2020 at 10:09 am

    We just have to make it through today…

    Fuck, I knew there was a catch…

  61. 61.

    NotMax

    July 26, 2020 at 10:10 am

    @Jerzy Russian

    Scenes we ‘d like to see.

    “Your mission, should you decide to accept it.”

    “Are you nuts? No effin’ way!”

  62. 62.

    Frankensteinbeck

    July 26, 2020 at 10:11 am

    @Brachiator:

    I think that national polls are largely worthless

    The state polls say that, without including toss-up states, Biden has enough electoral votes to win already.  People seriously, seriously hate Trump.

  63. 63.

    different-church-lady

    July 26, 2020 at 10:12 am

    @Jerzy Russian: It’s because Californians are afraid of stairs.

  64. 64.

    cope

    July 26, 2020 at 10:13 am

    @Ella in New Mexico: Another downside:  sumps and sump pumps.  I remember my folks deep in water of dubious quality cursing and hacking at the sump pump as they tried to replace it when it failed.

  65. 65.

    Amir Khalid

    July 26, 2020 at 10:13 am

    @ant:

    This raises a very important question: what about those who go for Royal Crown?

  66. 66.

    NotMax

    July 26, 2020 at 10:15 am

    @Frankensteinbeck

    “Our internal polling shows slightly more than 50% approval.”

    “Really>? Who did you poll?”

    “White House staff.”

    :)

  67. 67.

    Brachiator

    July 26, 2020 at 10:16 am

    I’ve been hearing that the Comic-Con at Home virtual convention is doing well. And it’s free. Because it is all remote, more people are actually able to “attend” more of the panels because they don’t have to worry about rushing from room to room or building to building before the doors close.

    Instead of trying to “return things to normal, the convention organizers got creative and adapted to present circumstances.

    A variation of this might work for the political parties as well. The Democrats might be able to increase outreach to people who don’t need to worry about the hassle and expense of traveling to a host city, but who would like to be part of the festivities.

  68. 68.

    Ken

    July 26, 2020 at 10:16 am

    @Brachiator: Republicans should be backing early voting and mail voting, to make sure that their base can cast their votes and live, and yet they continue to embrace their death cult instead.

    A fairly large number of Republican governors are backing it. They may be worried about being able to staff the rural districts by fall.

    I wonder what would happen if the Post Office announced that, purely as a business decision to cut costs, they would only provide daily mail delivery for people within ten miles of a sorting facility.

  69. 69.

    sdhays

    July 26, 2020 at 10:17 am

    @Amir Khalid: So far, the Green and Libertarian candidates aren’t seeming to attract much interest this cycle.

  70. 70.

    SFAW

    July 26, 2020 at 10:17 am

    @Immanentize:

    Cam Fong as Chin Ho Kelly

    You left out an important part.

    And, of course, the inimitable Khigh Dhiegh as Wo Fat

    ETA: And I just found out (per Wikipedia) that Khigh Dhiegh was born “Kenneth Dickerson,” and he was “of Anglo-Egyptian Sudanese ancestry.” I guess Sidney Toler and Warner Oland were unavailable

    ETA2: Glad to see you back, by the way.

  71. 71.

    NotMax

    July 26, 2020 at 10:18 am

    @Amir Khalid

    I believe that’s technically referred to as statistical noise.

    ;)

  72. 72.

    Jerzy Russian

    July 26, 2020 at 10:18 am

    @different-church-lady:    We make a distinction between stairs going down (to the basement) and stairs going up.

  73. 73.

    Ken

    July 26, 2020 at 10:19 am

    @NotMax:

    “Your mission, should you decide to accept it.”

    “Are you nuts? No effin’ way!”

    I sometimes wondered what would happen in that case. I ended up leaning toward “the sniper stationed outside takes care of it”.

    In some ways my favorite part of the show was the tape exchange at the beginning, especially the code phrases.

  74. 74.

    Jerzy Russian

    July 26, 2020 at 10:20 am

    @SFAW:   I liked Chin Ho Kelly.  He went out in style at the end of season 10.

    Wo Fat finally got his ass kicked at the end of season 12.

  75. 75.

    Suzanne

    July 26, 2020 at 10:21 am

    @Jerzy Russian: 

    I really don’t know why basements are rare here.

    Basements are rare where the ground is hard enough to support a slab on grade foundation (cheaper) without sliding, heaving, flooding, or other sort of failure.

  76. 76.

    craigie

    July 26, 2020 at 10:21 am

    @Jerzy Russian: 
    I think there are two reasons:
    The weather (nobody wants to be in a dark basement when it’s sunny outside) and earthquakes.

  77. 77.

    SFAW

    July 26, 2020 at 10:23 am

    @Jerzy Russian:

    I had stopped watching it long before then, so thanks for the spoiler update.

  78. 78.

    Jerzy Russian

    July 26, 2020 at 10:23 am

    @NotMax:   I suppose those episodes where he refused to accept the mission ended up on the cutting room floor.

  79. 79.

    Aleta

    July 26, 2020 at 10:24 am

    Octopus babies hatching

    https://twitter.com/planetpng/status/1280558477363085312

  80. 80.

    Brachiator

    July 26, 2020 at 10:24 am

    @Baud:

    We know with 100% certainty that it will be a woman.

    Yep. My friends rattled off a list. Anyone younger than 65 were fine by me. And in the end, any woman he chooses will be fine by me. Hell, if he made a last minute flip and chose Bernie Sanders, still fine by me.

  81. 81.

    dr. bloor

    July 26, 2020 at 10:24 am

    @Sally: At least that many.  The assholes are going to lose interest when they find themselves pissing into the wind case after case, and could lead to a retirement or two.

  82. 82.

    Citizen_X

    July 26, 2020 at 10:24 am

    @NotMax: I always thought the “the Secretary will disavow any knowledge” part referred to the dude’s secretary. “Hell-ooo? Impossible Mission team? Nope, don’t know ’em. Sooorry!”

    Wasn’t till years later that I realized they meant the Secretary of State.

  83. 83.

    Jackie

    July 26, 2020 at 10:24 am

    @Danielx: The new senate is sworn in Jan 3. So HOPEFULLY McConnell is either retired or is part of the new minority senate.????

  84. 84.

    Jerzy Russian

    July 26, 2020 at 10:26 am

    @SFAW:   The statute of limitations for spoilers runs out after 40 years, so I think I am good (by a few months in this case).

  85. 85.

    Suzanne

    July 26, 2020 at 10:27 am

    I will also note that I officially became a Pittsburgh homeowner last week, and this is the first time that I’ve had a basement since I was a kid living on Long Island. Arizona doesn’t do basements, since the ground is so hard. As much as I like having the storage space, the basement is going to be a constant maintenance issue. In some ways, these old houses are amazing. In other ways…. building science has come a long way in the last 100 years.

  86. 86.

    oatler.

    July 26, 2020 at 10:27 am

    @NotMax: 
    It was Gellerese.

  87. 87.

    NotMax

    July 26, 2020 at 10:27 am

    @Suzanne

    One set of grandparents had a pool table in the basement. In a room so narrow one couldn’t avoid bumping into the wall when pulling the cue stick back to make a shot.

    Whereas parents’ house had a TARDIS basement, which seemed to be like three times the size of the house above.

  88. 88.

    Suzanne

    July 26, 2020 at 10:28 am

    Also, WTF with these house painters who just painted over doorknobs and switch plates and switches?! WTF?!

  89. 89.

    Ken

    July 26, 2020 at 10:29 am

    @Citizen_X: Wasn’t till years later that I realized they meant the Secretary of State.

    Everyone makes that mistake. The IMF worked under the Secretary of Agriculture, because the Russians Ruritanians would never suspect it.

  90. 90.

    Olivia

    July 26, 2020 at 10:29 am

    Debates in recent decades have been increasingly worthless and not really what a debates are supposed to be, that is, having a topic discussed and presenting opposing views. Debates in recent years have produced no new clarifications or revelations of the candidates’ positions. I can’t imagine them ever improving.
    The trump/Clinton debates were the absolute low in the history of presidential candidate debates and had no resemblance to a real debate. Clinton was speaking rationally and clearly with trump hulking around mocking her and mumbling lies and nonsense. The result was Republicans insisting trump won the debates because he shouted her down. In reality, trump voters can’t understand or lose interest in words having more than four letters and sentences containing more than five or six words.
    Town hall type events probably have more value than debates.

  91. 91.

    Suzanne

    July 26, 2020 at 10:31 am

    @NotMax: My Long Island house had a big sprawling basement like that. The house we just closed on…. the basement is just one big room the size of the footprint of the house. It’s got some heaving under the slab which will require structural work.

    There’s something to be said for slab-on-grade construction.

  92. 92.

    cmorenc

    July 26, 2020 at 10:31 am

    Hopefully not if, but when Biden wins and Ds take the Senate, the transition period could be not merely choppy, but the storminess of the ocean in a major hurricane if in that interim, there is a SCOTUS vacancy.

  93. 93.

    O. Felix Culpa

    July 26, 2020 at 10:32 am

    @Brachiator: I’m a DNC delegate this year. First-timer. We haven’t received much info about the convention structure yet and I’m very curious to see how they’ll organize it.

  94. 94.

    Matt McIrvin

    July 26, 2020 at 10:32 am

    I’ll be honest, I still don’t entirely believe that the Democrats will be allowed to win this one.

  95. 95.

    Brachiator

    July 26, 2020 at 10:33 am

    @Jerzy Russian:

      I am only a few episodes into the first season

    Ah yes, the Steven Hill season. And almost every foreign country was the studio back lot. And no matter the country, if they needed a big truck, it would look like the one they had abandoned in a previous episode.

    Still a fun show. Good character actors as bad guys.

    And I liked the idea that some of the IMF team were not secret agents, but civilians with special talents.

  96. 96.

    Citizen Alan

    July 26, 2020 at 10:34 am

    @Danielx:  The new Senate will be sworn in on January 3, 2021. But I agree that if RGB died on Christmas Day, Moscow Mitch would have another Federalist Society rapist rushed through by New Year’s Day.

  97. 97.

    Matt McIrvin

    July 26, 2020 at 10:35 am

    @Brachiator: The people I know are all trying to game out whether in-person voting or mail voting will be easier for Trump to fuck up. Lots of people opting NOT to fill out the mail-voting application that the state sent everybody, and planning to vote in person COVID or no COVID, because they don’t trust mail voting to work.

  98. 98.

    Viva BrisVegas

    July 26, 2020 at 10:35 am

    @Jerzy Russian: Every place has it’s own idiosyncrasies. Here in Queensland the traditional house structure was put on stumps about 4 to 6 feet off the ground, with a metal barrier between the house and the stumps. This improved ventilation during hot summers, but it was mainly to prevent the house from being eaten out by termites before you’d get a chance to move into it. With the development of modern termicides and air conditioning, nowadays they just put down a concrete slab and build on that.

    Except for some very early colonial examples, basements are virtually unknown.

  99. 99.

    Immanentize

    July 26, 2020 at 10:36 am

    @SFAW: I just checked the trailer.  It is as I remember from childhood:

    “Zulu as Kono” next image:
    “Cam Fong as Chin Ho” (no Kelly)

    As kids we found that amusing. That’s why I remembered it. But no different than say Brad Pitt as Anthony Fauci.

    But let’s update:
    Aloha Steve and Danno by Radio Birdman
    Shredding guitar solo! Yes I got this on vinyl when it came out (still have it). Why do you ask?

  100. 100.

    ant

    July 26, 2020 at 10:36 am

     

     

    @Karen S.: walked away from what was probably a decent enough job for small town WI

     

    That’s the thing though. I’ve known her for 15 years. She’s a smart and very resourceful girl. She quits jobs on the regular, and doesn’t have problems finding new ones. She learns fast.

    But it’s her (not so bright) husband, and alllllll the people around her that’s influencing her world view. The whole community is well steeped in trump culture. She’d be shunned if she didn’t go along with it.
    Ive just simply avoided talking about any of it with them for years now to keep the peace. I actually like them, and consider them my friends.
    But corona has thrown a wrench into into works, cause I don’t want my husband bringing it home after hanging out with her, and doing all the public crap that she wants to do.

    It’s causing friction. I am careful to not interfere in the friendships of my husband.

  101. 101.

    SFAW

    July 26, 2020 at 10:38 am

    @Jerzy Russian:

    Back in the early days of National Lampoon, it ran (at least once, maybe more) a piece called “Spoilers.” They were grouped by genre or type. One of my favorites, under “Monsters” (wherein the spoiler was what killed the monster, of course), was for King Kong: “Beauty and/or twin-mounted Vickers 30-30 machine guns.”

     

    I hope I didn’t ruin it for you.

  102. 102.

    Danielx

    July 26, 2020 at 10:40 am

    @Baud:

    Thanks – I thought his term was like presidential term.

    Okay, change date to December 15th.

  103. 103.

    Amir Khalid

    July 26, 2020 at 10:41 am

    @Brachiator:

    I’d be disappointed if Biden chose Wilmer. I have no confidence in Wilmer as an executive, or as a politic l liaison between a Biden administration and anybody.

  104. 104.

    SFAW

    July 26, 2020 at 10:41 am

    @Immanentize:

    “Zulu as Kono” next image”
    “Cam Fong as Chin Ho” (no Kelly)

    Yeah, I remember the opening. I was just being inappropriately pedantic (or whatever substitute word for “assholish” you want to use), and was unconcerned with the trailer/opening.

  105. 105.

    Kristine

    July 26, 2020 at 10:41 am

    @Jamie @RSA : me three.  Or maybe four or more by this point.

  106. 106.

    frosty

    July 26, 2020 at 10:41 am

    @Suzanne: Welcome to the ‘burgh. I’ll wave when I go see my son in a couple of weeks. He just bought a house near South Park (honest!).

  107. 107.

    MomSense

    July 26, 2020 at 10:42 am

    @satby:

    Why did they include Cruz and Rubio? Neither are up for re-election.  Why not go after Cornyn who is up for re-election? He has been horrific on Covid and thousands are dying in his state.

  108. 108.

    Suzanne

    July 26, 2020 at 10:43 am

    @Viva BrisVegas: Most hot/humid places around the world built some version of that before modern building technologies. One of the most interesting books I read in architecture school was called “Sun, Wind, and Light”, and it’s about how building typologies in various places responded to climatic conditions and and how they controlled the elements. Throughout human history, people have figured this out using locally available materials and whatever skilled labor they had.

  109. 109.

    frosty

    July 26, 2020 at 10:43 am

    @Suzanne: Good luck when you decide to replace the painted switches. I’m on my second house that still had knob and tube wiring.

  110. 110.

    Jerzy Russian

    July 26, 2020 at 10:44 am

    @Immanentize:

    “Zulu as Kono” next image”
    “Cam Fong as Chin Ho” (no Kelly)

    I think it was Kam Fong, with a K. My memories of the title sequence from childhood were when they zoomed in on McGarrett standing at the top of that hotel, and when Danny looked through the broken glass. All of the episodes had that McGarrett scene, and I think they started using the broken glass thing with Danny around season 4 or 5.

  111. 111.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    July 26, 2020 at 10:44 am

    and that’s the responsible way to behave, as circumstances recently forced even Trump to acknowledge

    It also supports the Dem argument that they are taking the pandemic seriously, unlike the Republicans

  112. 112.

    NotMax

    July 26, 2020 at 10:45 am

    @SFAW

    I guess Sidney Toler and Warner Oland were unavailable

    Leave us not forget Boris Karloff’s string of Mr. Wong films.

    ;)

  113. 113.

    Ella in New Mexico

    July 26, 2020 at 10:46 am

    @cope: OMG yes. How could I forget hearing my Dad shouting “The Goddamned Sump Pump’s not working!!” from down stairs…

  114. 114.

    Immanentize

    July 26, 2020 at 10:46 am

    @MomSense: That is a great question.  Cruz and Rubio ran for President and have much broader name recognition?  Both were vocal Trump opponents and now bow to kiss his ring (unlike Cornyn who never opposed Trump that I recall)?  Because the LP folks are happy to use race when it suits them?  Mysteries abound.

  115. 115.

    Ken

    July 26, 2020 at 10:46 am

    @NotMax: The low point is surely Mickey Rooney in Breakfast at Tiffany’s.

  116. 116.

    Marcopolo

    July 26, 2020 at 10:47 am

    Good morning everyone. Happy Sunday.

    So y’all might remember a story from May about a R PA state legislator who tested positive for Covid-19 but didn’t tell his D colleagues.

    The woman running to oust him, Brittany Rodas, is a RunForSomething candidate and has a great campaign video, 7 Dollars, explaining why she is running. If you have a couple minutes and want to be proud of yet another great D candidate please watch it. If you have a few bucks, maybe throw them into her campaign. PA Ds are trying to flip 9 state house seats to flip the entire PA House to the Ds, Brittney’s race is one they are hoping to win.

    Did I mention she’s only 25 and would be the youngest member ever elected to the PA State House?

    A @runforsomething candidate, obvs. https://t.co/uJfFseuBrU— Amanda Litman (@amandalitman) July 24, 2020

    Edit: video link

  117. 117.

    Suzanne

    July 26, 2020 at 10:47 am

    @frosty: This house still has a bit of knob and tube! We are in the South Hills area. Not sure if that’s too close to your son in South Park.

    I’ve been looking up ways to soak the paint off the doorknobs and switch plates. Apparently it can be done in a CrockPot.

  118. 118.

    Brachiator

    July 26, 2020 at 10:47 am

    @Matt McIrvin: 

    Lots of people opting NOT to fill out the mail-voting application that the state sent everybody, and planning to vote in person COVID or no COVID, because they don’t trust mail voting to work.

    In Los Angeles county, the primary election was a mess because of new voting machines and changes to voting locations. Fortunately, there was early voting, but still the process was a shambles. Adding mail ballots just increases potential confusion.

    I fear that some might spoil their ballots by not signing them or not signing in the right place. And I can never remember if a mail ballot has to be postmarked by election day or actually received by the registrar by election day.

  119. 119.

    Immanentize

    July 26, 2020 at 10:50 am

    @Jerzy Russian: Yes of course.  K

  120. 120.

    NotMax

    July 26, 2020 at 10:53 am

    @Suzanne

    That’s when you discover the place was owned by a rumrunner and they’re made of solid gold.

    ;)

  121. 121.

    geg6

    July 26, 2020 at 10:54 am

    @frosty:

    Ha! My ex and I bought and completely remodeled a 1905 3 story four square here in Beaver County.  Not only did it still have all knob and tube, but the previous owners spliced in extension cords to it.  I can’t believe it didn’t burn down around them.  OTOH, it had cool things like awesome woodwork, a servants staircase and a laundry chute.

  122. 122.

    Scout211

    July 26, 2020 at 10:54 am

    @Brachiator:

    One of the good things here in California is that we now have community drop boxes for our mail-in ballots. We were one of the group of counties that went all mail-in in the last election and they added drop boxes all over the county. Since the whole state is mail-in, I would guess all counties will add drop boxes so you don’t have to send it in the mail.

    The closest one to us was in the local Ace Hardware. It took about a week for our ballots to register on the check my ballot site, but it was faster than when we used to mail them.

  123. 123.

    Brachiator

    July 26, 2020 at 10:55 am

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    The state polls say that, without including toss-up states, Biden has enough electoral votes to win already. People seriously, seriously hate Trump.

    I agree that things look good, but you only have enough electoral votes to win when people actually vote and you get those votes.

    Hatred of Trump has to become love of Democrats and their policies.

    And we don’t know whether Biden’s choice for VP will have any impact on voters’ decisions.

    Again, the good thing is that among sane people there is a strong lack of confidence in Trump and disgust at his bungling of the federal response to the pandemic.

    The Orange Nightmare has every right to be worried.

  124. 124.

    Kay

    July 26, 2020 at 10:55 am

    I think we probably white knuckle it to election day.

    Just had to cancel another visit with my only grandchild. Her parents work in health care in NY and they’re following the NY guidelines for higher risk states, which has special import for them because both of them feel a duty not to add risk for their compromised or elderly patients.

    I have never seen this country so bad off and it isn’t just me- the right track/wrong track polling is at historic levels of pessimism. If we can’t get rid of these assholes in the next round you can just stick a fork in us- we’re a different, much worse country. As bad as it is now imagine how bad it will be when they don’t have to worry about reelection. They’ll literally kill large numbers of us, either thorough incompetence or actual malice or both, but it doesn’t matter which.

  125. 125.

    Marcopolo

    July 26, 2020 at 10:55 am

    @Danielx:   This wouldn’t work if the Ds take back the Senate.  The new Senate would be sworn in on January 3.  Whoever was the D Majority Leader could just laugh in Trump’s face after that happens.

  126. 126.

    Richard Guhl

    July 26, 2020 at 10:55 am

    The rightwing website Realclearpolitics, in their no tossups analysis, concedes that Biden leads 352-186, with Georgia, Iowa and Texas as possibilities. Meanwhile, the Cook Report, known as being super cautious in their calls, says they can easily see a 3-5 seat pickup for the Democrats in the Senate now, with others as strong possibilities.

  127. 127.

    Matt McIrvin

    July 26, 2020 at 10:55 am

    @Brachiator: I filled out the application. I figure Massachusetts could be armpit-deep in its second COVID wave by November and it might be hard to run the vote normally–and this is probably more likely than the Postal Service not working at all by then. But it’s a worry. I know that the Postal Service is under orders to deliberately delay the mail right now, and if some states have a received-by-election-day rule they may try to game that by slowing it down. But Mass. actually wants people to vote and probably isn’t going to actively play along with suppression measures.

  128. 128.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    July 26, 2020 at 10:56 am

    @debbie:

    (I don’t think debates are ever productive. Town halls provide much more information about the candidate.)

    hear, hear

    @Immanentize:

    That is a great question.  Cruz and Rubio ran for President and have much broader name recognition?

    once and future presidential candidates, it’s already clear that Cruz wants to run on trumpism. Wee Marco will do whatever his finger in the wind tells him in 2020

  129. 129.

    Cermet

    July 26, 2020 at 10:56 am

    Been talking about this problem for awhile and most don’t pay much attention. Finally, the Times is, at least, making it a major series: the great migration that AGW will cause; yes, billions will be forced to migate to …well, no one has that answer outside of dying. Their time scale is, like most of AGW predictions, far away too optimistic – more like in 30 to 50 years all this will come to pass.

     

    According to a pathbreaking recent study in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the planet could see a greater temperature increase in the next 50 years than it did in the last 6,000 years combined. By 2070, the kind of extremely hot zones, like in the Sahara, that now cover less than 1 percent of the earth’s land surface could cover nearly a fifth of the land, potentially placing one of every three people alive outside the climate niche where humans have thrived for thousands of years. Many will dig in, suffering through heat, hunger and political chaos, but others will be forced to move on. A 2017 study in Science Advances found that by 2100, temperatures could rise to the point that just going outside for a few hours in some places, including parts of India and Eastern China, “will result in death even for the fittest of humans.”

  130. 130.

    PJ

    July 26, 2020 at 10:56 am

    @Jerzy Russian: you are doing God’s work.  I doubt even anyone who worked on the series watched every episode of Hawaii 5-O.  (I would tune in just for the theme song.)

  131. 131.

    Zelma

    July 26, 2020 at 10:56 am

    @Suzanne:

    Congratulations on home ownership. Were you stunned by the low cost of houses?  Most people who move there are.

    Where did you buy?  I lived in Mt. Lebanon/Scott Twp.  When I was young and childless, I lived in Squirrel Hill.  I loved telling non-Pittsburghers that.

  132. 132.

    Matt McIrvin

    July 26, 2020 at 10:57 am

    @Kay: They are killing large numbers of us NOW. The US COVID-19 death toll is at approximately one Hiroshima. I remember back when they were warning us about the smoking gun being a mushroom cloud.

  133. 133.

    Kay

    July 26, 2020 at 10:59 am

    I was reading about the Israeli protests last night- their incompetent authoritarian government is trying to silence protests to the same extent as ours and what is also the same is the political rhetoric from the government. It’s shocking. “Fake news”, “radical Left”, lying, denying the blatant and rampant corruption – identical language.

  134. 134.

    Kelly

    July 26, 2020 at 10:59 am

    @Sally:I think It should be expanded to 15. That’s enough to make it harder for R’s to expand again. And gives us 6 properly qualified, new, young (!) justices to thump the 5 partisans.

    Instead of a fixed number of justices change the law to appoint a new justice when a sitting justice reaches 70. Old justice retains lifetime tenure currently granted by the Constitution. This is similar to how the lower courts work. We get 4 new seats immediately. Change the age to 65 for all federal judges to get 5 new supreme court justices and a bunch of lower court judges. Also avoids gaming retirements.

  135. 135.

    Kristine

    July 26, 2020 at 10:59 am

    @Suzanne: I recall a Rehab Addict episode in which Nicole Curtis cooked several layers of paint off of some cabinet hardware in a Crockpot.

  136. 136.

    geg6

    July 26, 2020 at 10:59 am

    @Suzanne:

    South Hills is pretty much where South Park is.  It’s actually not all that far from me.  Where at in the South Hills?  Mt. Lebanon? Upper St. Clair? Southpointe?  Carnegie? South Fayette?

  137. 137.

    Brachiator

    July 26, 2020 at 11:00 am

    @Scout211:

    One of the good things here in California is that we now have community drop boxes for our mail-in ballots.

    We do? I missed that. But the local voting site was closer to me than the old location, so I just voted in person early.

    The crazy thing is that what I do in November will in part depend on the weather and the status of the pandemic.

    It is gonna be crazy.

  138. 138.

    trollhattan

    July 26, 2020 at 11:04 am

    @Patricia Kayden: @JPL:

    Only that cruelest of riot controls–the bagpipe.

    Wait, I almost forgot the haggis cannon.

  139. 139.

    mrmoshpotato

    July 26, 2020 at 11:05 am

    Biden and other Democratic challengers are less visible in traditional campaign settings right now because we’re in the midst of a raging pandemic, and that’s the responsible way to behave

    “Waaaaahhhh, the Democrats aren’t out on the campaign trail!”

    Guh duh, you stupid Russthuglicans.  Raging pandemic and all.  Go to a Texas bar and STFU!

  140. 140.

    Barry

    July 26, 2020 at 11:05 am

    @Karen S.: “That woman walked away from what was probably a decent enough job for small town WI. If she ever comes to her senses and wants her old job back, I doubt they’ll rehire her.”

     

    Unless she has connections there, she’ll be behind the loooooooooooooooooooooooooong line of people who need a job and won’t complain about masks.

  141. 141.

    WaterGirl

    July 26, 2020 at 11:06 am

    @Suzanne:  Because of your training, I bet you look at completely different things when buying a house!

  142. 142.

    Barry

    July 26, 2020 at 11:07 am

    @cope: ” Another downside: sumps and sump pumps. I remember my folks deep in water of dubious quality cursing and hacking at the sump pump as they tried to replace it when it failed.”

     

    SPOILERS FOR PARASITE:

     

     

     

    SPOILERS FOR PARASITE:

     

    The poor Korean family lives at the very bottom of the hills in their town.  In a basement appartment. Cue torrential thunderstorms.

  143. 143.

    Brachiator

    July 26, 2020 at 11:07 am

    @Cermet:

    by 2100, temperatures could rise to the point that just going outside for a few hours in some places, including parts of India and Eastern China, “will result in death even for the fittest of humans.

    The year 2100 is so far into the future that we don’t need to worry about that now. I mean, that’s like 80 years.

    More seriously, I downloaded the report.

    Thanks.

  144. 144.

    mrmoshpotato

    July 26, 2020 at 11:08 am

    @trollhattan:

    haggis cannon 

    Isn’t that banned under the Geneva Convention?

  145. 145.

    trollhattan

    July 26, 2020 at 11:08 am

    @Baud:

    100%?

    “That’s no woman, that’s a man, baby!”

    /A. Powers

  146. 146.

    Patricia Kayden

    July 26, 2020 at 11:08 am

    @JPL: Not sure but I assume that this is a symbolic gesture by Scotland in solidarity with the besieged BLM protesters.

  147. 147.

    Patricia Kayden

    July 26, 2020 at 11:08 am

    Appears @MattGaetz may have violated House ethics rules, spending thousands in taxpayer dollars for a TV studio in his father’s home, as well as on a speechwriter consultant who was ousted from Trump administration, in direct conflict with House rules. https://t.co/vK2VxjoSXE pic.twitter.com/PYAxF9TBFf— AprilDRyan (@AprilDRyan) July 26, 2020

  148. 148.

    trollhattan

    July 26, 2020 at 11:09 am

    @mrmoshpotato:

    It is, and ironically, so’s tear gas. ‘Orrid, the both.

  149. 149.

    WaterGirl

    July 26, 2020 at 11:09 am

    @MomSense: Perhaps potential presidential runs down the road?

  150. 150.

    Suzanne

    July 26, 2020 at 11:09 am

    @Zelma: Yes, we were very happy about the home values here. We bought a three-story four-square in Brookline, right behind those shops on the boulevard. We love the location and the house has a great garage, but it def needs some interior work!

  151. 151.

    WaterGirl

    July 26, 2020 at 11:10 am

    @Immanentize: So glad to have comments like this from you again.

  152. 152.

    Kristine

    July 26, 2020 at 11:10 am

    I’ve served as an election judge for the last few years, and worked during the March primary–there were so many cancellations because the pandemic was just starting and folks were jumpy. Our site lost several judges who needed to be moved to other sites to fill in. I know that the call will be going out soon for the general, and I am seriously considering skipping it. I know they’re going to have a devil of a time staffing the sites, and Illinois is doing better than most Midwest states for now. But I don’t want to risk catching this thing.

    I may get antibody testing on the off chance I was one of the asymptomatics.

  153. 153.

    trollhattan

    July 26, 2020 at 11:11 am

    @Patricia Kayden:

    I’ll allow just one thing about Gaetz, he’s given Ted Cruz fierce competition for congress’ most-punchable face. A truly horrid little man.

  154. 154.

    Kay

    July 26, 2020 at 11:11 am

    @Matt McIrvin:

    I wonder if they genuinely don’t know how bad it is “out here”. They see the polling and they see the threat to their keeping power (in fact, that’s ALL that got their attention and only beginning in June) but I don’t get ANY sense they have any real appreciation of the level of stress and anxiety.

    I’ve been looking at Right wing senators twitter feeds. It’s 100% cable news and online political posturing. They don’t even mention their states let alone that their states are in crisis. Ted Cruz talks more about cancel culture than he does that Texas is on fire. They seem to have taken this cue from Trump that all national crisis is solely the responsibility of governors. They’re horrible, true, but maybe more importantly they are useless and irrelevant to anything real. 

  155. 155.

    Suzanne

    July 26, 2020 at 11:11 am

    @WaterGirl: I am a pain in the ass about houses. I work on large-scale commercial buildings, which are built completely differently. I get grossed out by houses.

  156. 156.

    WaterGirl

    July 26, 2020 at 11:11 am

    @Marcopolo: I am not getting a video when I click on your link.

  157. 157.

    NotMax

    July 26, 2020 at 11:13 am

    @Barry

    At one point moved from a second floor apartment to a basement apartment in Queens. Double the size, half the rent, private entrance.

    Pro tip: Never move to an apartment in the same building. “We’ll just carry things from one place to another a little at a time” is a bitch.

  158. 158.

    gkoutnik

    July 26, 2020 at 11:14 am

    @O. Felix Culpa: Please keep us up-to-date on the convention, such as it will be.  I was a delegate in 2012 and it was a fabulous experience (and I only went to one party).

    So – let us know what it’s like!

  159. 159.

    Danielx

    July 26, 2020 at 11:15 am

    @NotMax:

    Weirder things have happened. Friend of my brother’s bought a house from the estate of an elderly guy who died without any heirs. So she and her brothers are remodeling and find all these buckets of sand – like 25 of them – in the basement close to the end of the working day one day. One of the brothers hauls out like three of them, and the sand is damp and these are some seriously heavy objects. He schleps them out and puts them in a dumpster, which gets picked up and replaced about 8 next morning. He hauls out another one, and about then (cough) the coin drops and they wonder why all these buckets are in the crawl space. So they dump one out….turns out each bucket has about three inches of sand  on top, with the rest of the bucket filled with collector grade silver dollars.

  160. 160.

    WaterGirl

    July 26, 2020 at 11:16 am

    @gkoutnik: Too busy with all the hookers to attend parties?  :-)

    Or is it just the Rs who do that?

  161. 161.

    Matt McIrvin

    July 26, 2020 at 11:16 am

    @Kay: I think they know they can’t make any positive case for themselves whatsoever–all they can do is sow fear of the opposition. So they’re trying that. And they may try to just steal it one way or another.

  162. 162.

    mrmoshpotato

    July 26, 2020 at 11:17 am

    What’s not on offer this year (at least so far) are the usual building blocks for lazy political narratives — campaign-friendly meet-and-greets at hog fries and corn fritter fests that might yield “campaign tracker” soundbites that can be spun up into mini-scandals at the senate level.

    I can’t say I miss candidates going to town on Iowa state fair fried foods.

    We will forever have Rick Perry and Michelle Bachmann.

  163. 163.

    NotMax

    July 26, 2020 at 11:17 am

    @Danielx

    Yoicks!

  164. 164.

    Matt McIrvin

    July 26, 2020 at 11:19 am

    @Brachiator: …for me, part of the reason I did opt for mail voting is that I really want to vote in the September 1 state primary to support Ed Markey against Joe Kennedy (futile as that may be), and this will make it that much easier.

  165. 165.

    EthylEster

    July 26, 2020 at 11:19 am

    @dr. bloor: A precedent is “something done or said to serve as a rule or example.” The similar sounding precedence is a separate word meaning “priority” and is usually paired with “give” or “take,” such as when something more important “takes precedence” over something else.

  166. 166.

    J.

    July 26, 2020 at 11:20 am

    I suck at prognostication, but my guess is Biden-Harris defeat Trump-Pence (EC: 349 to 187), the Dems take the Senate and make modest gains in the House.

    Please be right, Swami Betty. I can’t take four more years of this (or even four more months, weeks, days).

  167. 167.

    Kay

    July 26, 2020 at 11:20 am

    One of the ads they run in Ohio says “Trump Cares”

    I guffawed. If you have to tell people that an incumbent President “cares” about them (or cares about…something) I would suggest that your problem is the candidate.

    I love the bizarre sledge hammer aspect of the “messaging” there. Trump cannot even successfully IMITATE a person who “cares” so they have to use the actual WORD.

    “Trump cares” on the tv while the actual Trump is triumphantly cheering that his thugs gassed the Mayor of Portland, then going golfing. And Tweeting a picture of golfing! Just to sort of rub it in that he’s golfing with celebrities and you’re trapped in one of the 20 “cases rising” states, NOT seeing your family members- especially those family members who are adorable babies-  and fretting that in about 2 weeks the economy is going to fall through the floor it’s resting on.

  168. 168.

    Ken

    July 26, 2020 at 11:21 am

    @Danielx: An addition to the list of weird things found when remodeling:  A secret 19th century diary written on the floorboards.

  169. 169.

    geg6

    July 26, 2020 at 11:23 am

    @Suzanne:

    Ah, Brookline!  So closer to the city then.

  170. 170.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    July 26, 2020 at 11:24 am

    @WaterGirl:

    Perhaps potential presidential runs down the road?

    There could also be a degree of personal score-settling. I think Wilson started out in 2016 supporting Rubio. The revenge of the duped.

    When recovering from shoulder surgery in the spring of ’16, I tried to read McKay Coppins book about the R primary and party, IIRC written quickly and published while the primary was still going. It was weird to read about Jeb(!) as a towering figure in politics, and Rubio as a smart and aggressive young comer, when in real time both had already been pantsed by The Beast, and by themselves (‘please clap’.. ‘let’s dispel with the notion…’). I made it through the chapter on Paul Ryan, that read like it was written by his mother and edited by his campaign manager. The next chapter was on Reince Priebus and I had to bail.

  171. 171.

    EthylEster

    July 26, 2020 at 11:24 am

    @NotMax: “no one they know has gotten sick or died”

    This is true for me but I will still continue to hunker down.

  172. 172.

    patrick II

    July 26, 2020 at 11:24 am

    Up next: the original Mission Impossible.

    I still haven’t forgiven Tom Cruise for making Jim Phelps the bad guy in the first movie MI. I rooted for Phelps for ten years, he was honest, brave, and a patriot. It was a shitty thing to do to villainize him so he could grab the hero badge from him.

  173. 173.

    Hoodie

    July 26, 2020 at 11:25 am

    @Kay: It may be that this is the only way they know how to operate.  A lot of these guys are either freaks that are a product of the Fox/TalkRadio ecosystem, or older, legacy senators like Collins or Alexander that have long outlived whatever real political abilities they might have had.   These types of candidates can thrive when their constituents are largely insulated from real threats and have the luxury of indulging in fantasy villains and conspiracy theories that have no direct effect on their lives.  For example, “economic anxiety” was one of the big lies in 2016; a significant number if not a majority of Trump voters did not experience economic anxiety that was linked to any real, immediate threat to their economic well being.  Their bogeymen were imaginary, and a lot of these GOP senators and congresspeople made their careers exploiting fears of imaginary bogeymen. They don’t know how to deal with real ones because that would require actual skill at doing things other than flapping their gums.

  174. 174.

    Kay

    July 26, 2020 at 11:25 am

    @Matt McIrvin:

    I’m not as worried as you-all are about election day interference. Any election day DHS Trump Army they deploy to polling places just creates chaos. No one can dice it that fine. We just saw them shoot themselves in the fucking foot with the mail- in ballots. The morons scared their own voters away from mail in ballots.

    This idea that the Trump people are sitting in a command center with blinking lights parsing troop deployment down to the precinct level ignores that they’re also idiot incompetents managed mostly by Jared Kushner. There’s plenty to worry about without giving them genius mastermind status.

    The polls will tighten because +/- 5 of Republicans will come home. They always do. Assume that and go forward.

  175. 175.

    SiubhanDuinne

    July 26, 2020 at 11:25 am

    @Olivia:

    Town hall type events probably have more value than debates.

    I agree in theory, although you can still be at the mercy of the moderator. Remember that dreadful “Commander in Chief” forum that Matt Lauer did with Trump and Clinton? Softballs to Trump, but half of Hillary’s time was on her emails, and in the remainder he kept telling her to keep her answers short, and was generally patronising and condescending.

  176. 176.

    NotMax

    July 26, 2020 at 11:26 am

    @Ken

    “Continued in next chateau.”

    :)

  177. 177.

    Marcopolo

    July 26, 2020 at 11:26 am

    @WaterGirl:  Apparently I was sloppy and didn’t check what I had on my clipboard.  Here is the video explaining why she is running.

    Once again, this is Brittney Rodas, a 25-year-old running to flip a PA State House district.

  178. 178.

    marv

    July 26, 2020 at 11:27 am

    Dang, a post so nice I read it twice (actually three times, but I don’t think anybody says thrice anymore) – both the content and the wordsmithing.

  179. 179.

    SiubhanDuinne

    July 26, 2020 at 11:29 am

    John Lewis is about to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge for the last time. CNN and MSNBC both carrying it live.

  180. 180.

    Baud

    July 26, 2020 at 11:29 am

    @Kay:

    “I am not a crook monster.”

  181. 181.

    Lyrebird

    July 26, 2020 at 11:30 am

    @zhena gogolia:  I’d be happy with Biden-Harris, Biden-Demings, or Biden-Katy Perry.

    Thanks for the laugh!  Biden-Bass would be an awesome ticket imnsho, but yes, I would campaign my heart out for Biden-Perry too.

  182. 182.

    EthylEster

    July 26, 2020 at 11:30 am

    @Jerzy Russian: the original Mission Impossible.

    A favorite of mine especially the first two seasons. And you get to see Stephen Hill as a very young actor (DA Adam Schiff on original Law and Order…which I binged on a couple of months ago).

    PS I never understood the appeal of Hawaii 50. Or Magnum PI. Or Miami Vice.

  183. 183.

    SiubhanDuinne

    July 26, 2020 at 11:30 am

    @marv: I say “thrice” frequently.

  184. 184.

    Amir Khalid

    July 26, 2020 at 11:31 am

    @marv:

    My old newspaper allowed “thrice” in copy because it’s shorter than “three times”.

  185. 185.

    frosty

    July 26, 2020 at 11:32 am

    @Suzanne: Looks like the same general area.

    Crock pot! I wonder if an InstaPot would be faster LOL. I just replaced everything.

    PS While you’re at it buy the foam inserts that block air infiltration in the winter.

  186. 186.

    mrmoshpotato

    July 26, 2020 at 11:33 am

    @dr. bloor:

    Chuck Toddler 

    Never seen that one before.  I LIKE it!

  187. 187.

    WaterGirl

    July 26, 2020 at 11:33 am

    @mrmoshpotato: What about Bachman’s husband?  That one was the worst, I thought.  It’s been awhile, though, and I have to say i wish I could un-see what I just saw at the link.

  188. 188.

    MattF

    July 26, 2020 at 11:35 am

    @Kay: The sentence doesn’t have an object, for obvious reasons. Is there anyone who doesn’t know those reasons? I’m in favor of a set of ads, each one focusing on a specific Trump trait. Liar. Criminal. Racist. Bully. Moron. Et cetera.

  189. 189.

    Marcopolo

    July 26, 2020 at 11:35 am

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:   Your comments remind me of this:  Young Guns: A New Generation of Conservative Leaders

    Let’s see, where are they now: Paul Ryan is sucking at the teat of Fox (and apparently also on the faculty at Notre Dame; Eric Kantor works at an investment bank; and McCarthy is the feckless R minority leader.  It would be funny except for all the damage these @ssholes have caused this century.

  190. 190.

    WaterGirl

    July 26, 2020 at 11:35 am

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I would have bailed long before that!  You have perseverance!

  191. 191.

    Chyron HR

    July 26, 2020 at 11:35 am

    @Amir Khalid:

    I’d say there’s at least 50/50 odds that Bernie’s actual literal paid campaign staff would stop spreading fake rape accusations about Biden if Sanders was on the ticket, so that’s a potential upside of picking him.

  192. 192.

    frosty

    July 26, 2020 at 11:35 am

    @geg6: We’re in a 1923 foursquare. I love the layout. We built an addition on the back and the architect designed it so it didn’t block any of the existing windows.

    “Light on two sides of every room” One of my favorite design guidelines from A Pattern Language.

  193. 193.

    Uncle Cosmo

    July 26, 2020 at 11:37 am

    @Jerzy Russian: I have the strangest feeling that MI’s producers in 1960-something thought subtitles would lose them viewers. Not just illiterates, but people who hadn’t seen them before & might have trouble getting the hang of reading them quickly & refocusing on the action.

    And they were probably right – the subtitle-sophisticated no doubt made up a vanishingly small fraction of the target viewership.**

    Not to mention the hue&cry if they set the action in a nation that actually existed… (I still have somewhat fond childhood memories of Tom Swift Jr. pattyduking it out with the baddies from Brungaria…)

    ** In the same way that the typical Jackal is part of a vanishingly-small segment of the US electorate…but I digress.

  194. 194.

    EthylEster

    July 26, 2020 at 11:38 am

    @Ohio Mom: If you live where tornados are a possibility, you want a basement. When we were house-hunting, that was a requirement.

    Special bonus: this requirement will prevent you from ever living in many locations in the south where basements are not possible and tornadoes are a fairly regular occurrence. So there’s that.

  195. 195.

    WaterGirl

    July 26, 2020 at 11:38 am

    @Marcopolo: I added the video to your comment with an edit.

    Watching now.

  196. 196.

    Jinchi

    July 26, 2020 at 11:38 am

    @MomSense: Why did they include Cruz and Rubio? Neither are up for re-election.

    Playing a long game, damaging the brand and making them take hits for their support of Trump while it’s high on the minds of voters and the media. Trump may not be our top concern in 2 to 4 years, but when they’re back out campaigning and someone says “Hey remember when this ass sat on his hands while hundreds of thousands of Americans died, just because he was to much of a  coward to confront Trump?” Voters will say “Yeah. I do.”

  197. 197.

    Suzanne

    July 26, 2020 at 11:38 am

    @geg6: Yes, a bit closer in. I wanted to be within about 20 minutes of my office (in East Liberty) and my main client (Oakland). One of the great frustrations of living in Phoenix is that everything is a long drive on ugly urban highways to get around.

  198. 198.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    July 26, 2020 at 11:39 am

    @Marcopolo: that Young Guns schtick cracked me up (that video! middle aged congressmen pretending to be in a boy band) because I had both feet firmly planted in middle age and was younger than all but one of the Young Guns (Ryan).

    Paul Ryan is sucking at the teat of Fox (and apparently also on the faculty at Notre Dame

    God how embarrassing. Cause Jeebus and his mom would totally have supported sexually-assaulting racist if it meant cutting taxes for the most among us and leaving those lazy poors to learn about boot straps.

  199. 199.

    Kelly

    July 26, 2020 at 11:39 am

    @Kay:If you have to tell people that an incumbent President “cares” about them (or cares about…something) I would suggest that your problem is the candidate.

    George H. W. Bush 1992 “Message: I care”

  200. 200.

    O. Felix Culpa

    July 26, 2020 at 11:40 am

    @gkoutnik: Will do. I’m still hoping for swag. ;)

  201. 201.

    Sab

    July 26, 2020 at 11:41 am

    @Kay: My stepdaughter lives next door. We see them in the yard and wave. Her kid is six and autistic. She wants to hug grandpa. He has to say no. Do you have any idea how hard it is to say no when an autistic kid actually wants to hug you?

  202. 202.

    JPL

    July 26, 2020 at 11:41 am

    CBS News is covering the Lewis funeral and both Schieffer and Margaret Brennen are in tears and now so am I

  203. 203.

    Kay

    July 26, 2020 at 11:42 am

    @MattF:

    I think you could just do ads of Biden in conversation with another person. Quiet ads. Ads that comfort and don’t inspire anxiety. Honestly he mostly doesn’t have to talk. Let the other person talk.

    We’re tired and sad. Well, “we”. Me :)

    I do think that though- I think one of the things that is appealing about Biden is his quality of attentiveness to others- he listens to people.

  204. 204.

    SFAW

    July 26, 2020 at 11:43 am

    @NotMax:

    I’ll see your Karloff, and raise you a Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll.

  205. 205.

    WereBear

    July 26, 2020 at 11:43 am

    @Jerzy Russian: Two favorites, so it was all good!

    At the time, Hawaii did not have a huge pool of actors, such as NY or LA. They largely had to train their own crews. And importing other actors had higher transport costs.

    So considering how well it did, they did very well :)

    I’ll never forget Big Chicken.

  206. 206.

    Suzanne

    July 26, 2020 at 11:43 am

    @frosty: That’s about the age of the one we bought. I like the foursquare plan, too. Arizona has a lot of “open concept” floor plans and ranch houses, and I am so tired of constantly living with everybody in the same room. However, Mr. Suzanne, who is not a short man, wants to look into enlarging the interior framed openings.

  207. 207.

    patrick II

    July 26, 2020 at 11:43 am

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    They should have renamed it the John L. Lewis before the trip. It would be a great picture of him passing under a new sign with his name on it.

  208. 208.

    jackmac

    July 26, 2020 at 11:44 am

    @Jerzy Russian: Intro to the original Hawaii 5-0 was and remains a classic! Great camera work, editing and the music can’t be beat.

  209. 209.

    frosty

    July 26, 2020 at 11:44 am

    @Suzanne: My son’s first apartment was at the intersection of Brookline Blvd with Pioneer Ave. I really liked the neighborhood.

  210. 210.

    Baud

    July 26, 2020 at 11:44 am

    @patrick II:

    Someone here said Lewis didn’t want it renamed after him.

  211. 211.

    WaterGirl

    July 26, 2020 at 11:45 am

    @Marcopolo: Wow.  First goosebumps, then tears.  Good for her.

    Why don’t you send email to doug suggesting that he feature her in one of his fundraising posts?

    If you don’t want to write to DougJ, i can.  Let me know.

  212. 212.

    Baud

    July 26, 2020 at 11:46 am

    @Kay:

    Biden does a good fireside chat, especially when he’s talking to people.

  213. 213.

    WereBear

    July 26, 2020 at 11:46 am

    @Ken: All those dictators and authoritarians – did no one warn them that everything Trump touches dies?

     
    Let’s all be glad he touched the Republican Party!

  214. 214.

    Kay

    July 26, 2020 at 11:47 am

    @Sab:

    I feel useless to them, which is the worst for me. I would like to help them with the baby. I am a driving enthusiast and self employed and the PLAN was I would travel there and help them- a lot- monthly-  because they have really demanding jobs and not a lot of help.

  215. 215.

    Nora

    July 26, 2020 at 11:47 am

    @Kelly: That’s a brilliant idea.  Not only does it get us around the Constitutional problem of lifetime appointments, but it also saves us the deadlocked court problem when one of the older justices dies in office, as becomes more and more likely when older justices don’t retire at 80 or at any particular age.

  216. 216.

    Danielx

    July 26, 2020 at 11:48 am

    @Ken:

    It’s a little secret, just the Robinsons’ affair….

  217. 217.

    MattF

    July 26, 2020 at 11:48 am

    @Kay: Essay about Biden, by Fintan O’Toole.

  218. 218.

    Kay

    July 26, 2020 at 11:49 am

    @Baud:

    Right? Mix it up. Chat with Obama but also chat with “I lost my restaurant which I worked 30 years to build”. Or, “this is what it’s like to be a health care worker in a pandemic”. People have these pandemic stories. Everyone has one.

  219. 219.

    Salty Sam

    July 26, 2020 at 11:49 am

    @Kay: If we can’t get rid of these assholes in the next round you can just stick a fork in us- we’re a different, much worse country.

    I would argue that we are already there, and there is no going back to the way things were.

    In some ways, that’s good- the changes that need to be made are long overdue.  It’s gonna be a long, hard slog with no guarantee of succeeding, but better than status quo.

  220. 220.

    rikyrah

    July 26, 2020 at 11:49 am

    Stay in the basement, Joe?

  221. 221.

    EthylEster

    July 26, 2020 at 11:49 am

    @Amir Khalid: This raises a very important question: what about those who go for Royal Crown?

    You have RC Cola in Malaysia?

    I’m impressed.  I have to go back to Florida to find that stuff.

  222. 222.

    Benw

    July 26, 2020 at 11:49 am

    @Baud: yeah, Rep. Lewis said many others crossed the bridge same as him

  223. 223.

    NotMax

    July 26, 2020 at 11:51 am

    @SFAW

    Well, radio isn’t an inherently visual medium.

  224. 224.

    mrmoshpotato

    July 26, 2020 at 11:51 am

    @Brachiator:

    I don’t follow as much of the election coverage as last time, but I recall when this “basement” strategy first popped up. I am almost surprised that it’s still a thing. The press must be tired and extra lazy. The press should be focusing more on Trump, there’s plenty of dirt to be uncovered.

    Tired and extra lazy?  Just give them 3 emails, and they’ll scream their heads off 25 hours a day!

    As for uncovering dirt on Dump, it’s out in the open, but not spoken about.  Do you think they want a mean tweet from the Soviet shitpile mobster manbaby?

  225. 225.

    patrick II

    July 26, 2020 at 11:51 am

    @Baud:

    Did they mention the reason why?

  226. 226.

    Baud

    July 26, 2020 at 11:51 am

    @Kay:

    I think the hard part would be making it a 30 second TV ad.

  227. 227.

    germy

    July 26, 2020 at 11:51 am

    The Donald was telling the “sir” stories back in 1990:

    BARBARA WALTER WAS DONE WITH DONALD’S BS IN 1990 ? pic.twitter.com/sp5KAZCMPy

    — ꧁???????꧂ (@BLONDIE_007_) July 21, 2020

  228. 228.

    Benw

    July 26, 2020 at 11:51 am

    @rikyrah: if Joe wants to go out the the garage to tinker with the Trans Am, that’s cool too

    :)

  229. 229.

    Danielx

    July 26, 2020 at 11:52 am

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    I graduated from a Jesuit prep school, and know a lot of ND grads. Considering the percentage that are irredeemable assholes, I’m sure Ryan fits right in

  230. 230.

    Baud

    July 26, 2020 at 11:52 am

    @patrick II:

    See @Benw at #222.

  231. 231.

    marv

    July 26, 2020 at 11:53 am

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    I am glad to hear that. Plan to get the word back in my working vocabulary.

  232. 232.

    Sab

    July 26, 2020 at 11:54 am

    @Kay: My sister is stuck in California with four grandchildren (two moms) in Ohio who need help and can’t get it.

    My oldest grandchild needs to be in college but she is tending the youngest because I can’t.

  233. 233.

    Marcopolo

    July 26, 2020 at 11:54 am

    @WaterGirl:  It’s a testament to how many amazing people are running as Ds across the country that I think I send him a recommendation every week.  Most recently it was Adrian Perkins running for Senate in LA.  He’s probably tired of hearing from me so go ahead & psss her info along yourself.

    Watching John Lewis crossing the Petty’s bridge for the last time right now.  wow.

  234. 234.

    MomSense

    July 26, 2020 at 11:55 am

    @Immanentize:

    I guess my bias is that I do not trust any of the Lincoln Project guys.  I don’t see why they wouldn’t add Cornyn.  They spend more time on Cruz and Rubio than Cotton or Inhofe.
    My Spidey sense tells me they really don’t want Republicans to lose the majority in the Senate because they actually don’t want Democrats to pass our agenda.  They just don’t like Trump because he didn’t stick to their dog whistling script.  I consider Wilson to be the ultimate deplorable and I’m sorry so many Democrats have contributed to his bottom line with book sales, etc.

  235. 235.

    Suzanne

    July 26, 2020 at 11:55 am

    @frosty: That is about three blocks away from our place. Small world!
    The house we bought was owned for over 60 years by the same couple. He passed away about six years ago, she just went into assisted living. They took pretty good care of the house, but holy cannoli did they have goofy taste.

  236. 236.

    Amir Khalid

    July 26, 2020 at 11:55 am

    @Chyron HR:

    I see you’re not disputing my main objection that Sanders wouldn’t be able to pull his weight in a Biden administration.I’d take my chances with the Wilmerista dead-enders. .

  237. 237.

    WaterGirl

    July 26, 2020 at 11:56 am

    @Sab:

    Do you have any idea how hard it is to say no when an autistic kid actually wants to hug you?

    I think that could probably break a person.  Hang tough. I am so sorry.

  238. 238.

    Baud

    July 26, 2020 at 11:56 am

    @MomSense:

    I enjoy the ads, but I also cringe when I hear about people sending them money.

  239. 239.

    NotMax

    July 26, 2020 at 11:56 am

    @Kelly

    The bugaboo being that would require a Constitutional amendment. A task Sisyphus would look at and say “Nope. I’ll stick with the boulder, thanks.”

  240. 240.

    Elizabelle

    July 26, 2020 at 11:57 am

    @SiubhanDuinne:   That was very moving.

    Does anyone remember MLK’s funeral?  I do not.

  241. 241.

    dww44

    July 26, 2020 at 11:58 am

    I’ve not read the comments so this may have been covered already, but the “stay in the basement” strategy may well work for Biden at the top of the ticket, albeit that the many GOP’ers in my circle, use that strategy to further bolster their meme that Biden can’t string 2 intelligible words together and is way too old.

    The other point, on a more direct level, is that Trump and Perdue and Loeffler and Collins are flooding the airwaves here: TV, internet, streaming TV, radio with their pointed ads and we are NOT pushing back at all.  Ossof is running only one ad which is a nice esoteric sort of ad with no real message to counter that of Perdue’s.

    I’ve thought all along that he was the worst possible candidate to come out of the primary.  One of the women Dems would have been far more effective.  Ossof does not counter punch much less punch in the first place.  He is a weak campaigner.  In my view he won solely because he ran an endorsement ad by John Lewis.  Before that Lewis ad, Ossof was virtually invisible on my TV and he never showed up outside the Atlanta metro area, the pandemic not withstanding.

  242. 242.

    Baud

    July 26, 2020 at 11:58 am

    @Amir Khalid:

    Unless Bernie is transitioning, he isn’t in the running.

    BTW, one of the genius aspects of Biden announcing early that his Veep would be a woman is that it spared us months of a Rose Twitter “Draft Bernie” movement.  Good job, Joe.

  243. 243.

    Sab

    July 26, 2020 at 11:59 am

    @Kay: My dad’s nurse’s aide is risking her life daily to take care of  him. I should help but I am not allowed in. Meanwhile she cannot even visit her own grandchildren. Her daughter needs help and isn’t getting it.

    So many normal lives disrupted.

  244. 244.

    marv

    July 26, 2020 at 11:59 am

    @Amir Khalid:

    Reminds me of a Mark Twain anecdote I read over 50 years ago. In his journalist days he didn’t have room in a story for the word Jesus, so substituted JC. Thoroughly reamed out by his editor. Next time it came up he wrote Jesus H. Christ. First time I ever heard that expression. Find it still comes in handy from time to time.

  245. 245.

    NotMax

    July 26, 2020 at 12:01 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne

    “Woe, woe, and thrice woe!”
    – Up Pompeii (soothsayer in pretty much any episode)

    :)

  246. 246.

    mrmoshpotato

    July 26, 2020 at 12:01 pm

    @NotMax: Scenes We’d Like To See

  247. 247.

    EthylEster

    July 26, 2020 at 12:01 pm

    @Matt McIrvin: I know that the Postal Service is under orders to deliberately delay the mail right now…

    Uh, I haven’t heard that. Why? And linky?

  248. 248.

    raven

    July 26, 2020 at 12:01 pm

    @Sab: And when the extra benefits run out it’s going to explode even more.

  249. 249.

    Elizabelle

    July 26, 2020 at 12:01 pm

    WRT John Lewis:  it’s eerie to see the mask and top hat and tails on the cart’s driver.

  250. 250.

    germy

    July 26, 2020 at 12:02 pm

    I’m not much of a YouTube user but it seems like literally every ad I see there now is this Orwellian crazy nonsense from the Falun Gong. Must be expensive. https://t.co/1MMQirwT93

    — southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) July 26, 2020

  251. 251.

    mrmoshpotato

    July 26, 2020 at 12:02 pm

    @Amir Khalid: Mmmmmmm RC.

  252. 252.

    Kelly

    July 26, 2020 at 12:03 pm

    @Nora: Not an original idea of mine. Don’t remember where I stole it from. Undermines the “packing the Court” whining a little. This is just an administrative tweak nothing to see.

  253. 253.

    germy

    July 26, 2020 at 12:03 pm

    @EthylEster:

    thread:

    I run a small online business and I use the USPS for all my shipping. I probably mail 100 packages a week, and have been doing so for years.

    I don't think most people understand the scope of what has been happening over the last month or so in terms of delays.

    — Cassie LaBelle (@CassieCeleste) July 23, 2020

  254. 254.

    Amir Khalid

    July 26, 2020 at 12:04 pm

    @Baud:

    Bernie’s transitioning!? Why haven’t I heard this before? //

    Seriously, this particular speculation — Bernie for VP — shows up here every once in a while, and I don’t take it any more seriously than you do. Even if Bernice Sanders shows up.

  255. 255.

    dww44

    July 26, 2020 at 12:04 pm

    @Baud: Count me as one who agrees with Lewis.  To rename the Edmund Pettis Bridge is to alter history.   There are other ways to appropriately honor ihim.  I’d personally love it if they renamed Reagan National Airport in D.C.  I’m sure that will happen. What about one of the Government buildings in D.C.?  A prominent one.

  256. 256.

    L85NJGT

    July 26, 2020 at 12:04 pm

    @WereBear:

    They’ve gone back and forth with 5-O and Magnum P.I. production.

  257. 257.

    WaterGirl

    July 26, 2020 at 12:04 pm

    @Suzanne:

    holy cannoli

    That needs to get used more.

  258. 258.

    dww44

    July 26, 2020 at 12:06 pm

    @Kelly: Dumb question, but does Congress or the Constitution set the number of justices?

  259. 259.

    raven

    July 26, 2020 at 12:06 pm

    @Baud: Family members don’t.

  260. 260.

    NotMax

    July 26, 2020 at 12:06 pm

    Big rains from hurricane Douglas were predicted to move in at 5 a.m. Turns out to be 6 (as in right now, judging from the sounds outside). I’d still rate that a bullseye for the weather services.

  261. 261.

    different-church-lady

    July 26, 2020 at 12:06 pm

    @Chyron HR:

    I’d say there’s at least 50/50 odds that Bernie’s actual literal paid campaign staff would stop spreading fake rape accusations about Biden if Sanders was on the ticket

     

    a) No, they’d just pivot to “Biden should step down.” If you were a Bernie dead-ender three months ago, you were already divorced from a reality that’s gotten so much worse since then. They will never come around.

    b) It doesn’t really matter anymore, because with people dying by the thousands and a president who wants to declare war on his own population, there’s no oxygen left in the media room for their bullshit.

  262. 262.

    WaterGirl

    July 26, 2020 at 12:06 pm

    @Baud: Yep.  I hadn’t noticed the “please donate here” part at the end of the videos until a couple of weeks ago.  I thought, “uh oh”.

    No idea whether it was there on all of them, or the goal was for people to get pumped up and feeling positive about them before they started adding that.

    Either way, ugh.  Though the videos are good.

  263. 263.

    Elizabelle

    July 26, 2020 at 12:07 pm

    @Marcopolo:  “Young Guns” has been available in various Virginia Dollar Tree stores for years now.  Years.  Makes me snicker every time I see it.

    How is it they have such a large stock to sell?  I don’t see other titles popping up, months apart.

  264. 264.

    Amir Khalid

    July 26, 2020 at 12:07 pm

    @EthylEster:

    We used to. I haven’t seen RC Cola here since my teens.

  265. 265.

    Baud

    July 26, 2020 at 12:08 pm

    @Amir Khalid:

    Even if Bernice Sanders shows up.

    Wilmerina?

    As bad as things are right now, it’s nice that we’re all on the same page when it comes to fighting fascism.

  266. 266.

    raven

    July 26, 2020 at 12:08 pm

     

    White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow on Sunday said the Trump administration plans to “lengthen” the four-month federal eviction moratorium that is set to expire Friday.

    Kudlow abruptly announced the decision during the final moments of his interview with CNN’s “State Of The Union.” The National Economic Council director had been discussing the terms of the next economic stimulus package.

    “People need that money as soon as possible,” host Jake Tapper said. “People are worried about being evicted in days, literally days.”

    “And by the way, we will lengthen the eviction,” Kudlow said. “We will lengthen it. Alright, thanks, Jake. Appreciate it.”

  267. 267.

    NotMax

    July 26, 2020 at 12:08 pm

    @dww44

    The Congress retains that ability.

  268. 268.

    Spanky

    July 26, 2020 at 12:08 pm

    @Suzanne:  Baldwin ex-pat here. My aunt & uncle lived on Bellaire. My other aunts lived on Pioneer.

  269. 269.

    Elizabelle

    July 26, 2020 at 12:09 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne:   I remember where I was when I heard that Scalia had died, and when I heard that Matt Lauer had been fired.

    Good days, both of them.

  270. 270.

    germy

    July 26, 2020 at 12:09 pm

    In the early days of #COVID19, Congress created a bipartisan (!) plan that would give $13B to the Post Office. Both sides of the aisle agreed that this was a critical issue. But Trump nixed it. In fact, he said he'd refuse ANY funding for USPS. https://t.co/Q8MU0xrS61 6/ pic.twitter.com/uj6UTD94nd— Save the Post Office (@USPostOffice911) July 21, 2020

    And then there's DeJoy. In June, Trump appointed Louis DeJoy to be the Postmaster General. Does your nose tickle? That's probably the swampiness reeking off him. DeJoy is the first person ever appointed Postmaster General who was not a letter carrier. But wait, there's more… 7/— Save the Post Office (@USPostOffice911) July 21, 2020

  271. 271.

    MomSense

    July 26, 2020 at 12:09 pm

    @Baud:

    I mean the ads are clever and sometimes cathartic, but I’m not persuaded that the things we find cathartic are effective with the right people.
    It doesn’t make sense to me that they are playing a long game about possible future presidential candidates in an ad that is supposed to be about senators who are enabling trump.  I think you could make a pretty compelling anti Cornyn ad saying he thought Covid was a big joke and did nothing to protect Texans – who are now suffering and dying.  We know Wilson can be brutal.  Look at what he did to the thoroughly decent veteran Max Cleland.
    I’m not buying it.  Where are those ads running?  Are they even in the same media markets as the important Senate races?

  272. 272.

    Kelly

    July 26, 2020 at 12:09 pm

    @NotMax: Nope this avoids a constitutional amendment. Justices retain lifetime tenure we just add a new Justice as sitting justices pass the senior judge age.

  273. 273.

    Salty Sam

    July 26, 2020 at 12:10 pm

    @Hoodie:

    Excellent point- they are like hothouse tomatoes that would wither and die if put out in a garden.   The have lost the ability to govern.

  274. 274.

    Baud

    July 26, 2020 at 12:11 pm

    @MomSense:

    To my knowledge, they don’t air anywhere except maybe DC.  I thought they were primarily internet ads for social media consumption.

  275. 275.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    July 26, 2020 at 12:12 pm

    @Baud:

    BTW, one of the genius aspects of Biden announcing early that his Veep would be a woman is that it spared us months of a Rose Twitter “Draft Bernie” movement.  Good job, Joe.

    Heh. That never occurred to me. It has been a blessing to be spared that.

  276. 276.

    raven

    July 26, 2020 at 12:12 pm

    @Spanky: We’re you at this gig?

     

    Boston Common, 8/17/71 is a live album by the rock group the Allman Brothers Band. As the name suggests, it was recorded at Boston Common in Boston, Massachusetts, on August 17, 1971.

  277. 277.

    mrmoshpotato

    July 26, 2020 at 12:12 pm

    @Viva BrisVegas: I’d be scared to have a basement in Queensland with last year’s summer flooding.

  278. 278.

    SFAW

    July 26, 2020 at 12:12 pm

    @NotMax:

    Well, radio isn’t an inherently visual medium.

    Spoilsport.

    On the plus side, I have often been told I have “a face made for radio.” So, as they say, I got that going for me.

  279. 279.

    Jay C

    July 26, 2020 at 12:12 pm

    @dww44:

    Dumb question, but does Congress or the Constitution set the number of justices?

    Not dumb: while the Constitution specifies that the Government will have *A* Supreme Court, the number of justices isn’t specified: and has, in fact, varied over our history. The number was last set at nine in 1869, and hasn’t been changed since. And the number IS variable by Congressional legislation

  280. 280.

    Kelly

    July 26, 2020 at 12:12 pm

    @dww44: Congress sets the number of Justices

  281. 281.

    L85NJGT

    July 26, 2020 at 12:13 pm

    All the Greek restaurants around here used to have RC on the fountain. I prefer it over Pepsi, which is what is now on offer.

  282. 282.

    Sab

    July 26, 2020 at 12:14 pm

    Betty,

    When I was a kid in Florida (Ormond Beach) my neighbors were RWNJs from Massachusetts. They had an actual bomb shelter, which was the closest we ever saw to a basement. Of course a king snake moved in, and they of course thought it was a coral snake. Poor snake.

  283. 283.

    Brachiator

    July 26, 2020 at 12:15 pm

    Olivia de Havilland, one of the stars of Gone With the Wind has died. She was 104.

  284. 284.

    Salty Sam

    July 26, 2020 at 12:15 pm

    @frosty: A Pattern Language

    That was my lodestone when I designed/built our straw bale home in late ‘90’s. Excellent reference!

  285. 285.

    Kay

    July 26, 2020 at 12:16 pm

    @Sab:

    It’s hard on families. I’m warring with my youngest. To the extent that I went to his friend’s house last night and took the car. So when he finally mosied out of there at 1 am he had to walk home. He’s the youngest and really easy to get along with and a generally good kid so he has not seen this side of the parental interference, but he’s about to. The fact that he can’t go to school doesn’t mean we don’t have any rules. He’s not playing video games until 2 am the next 6 months.

  286. 286.

    Baud

    July 26, 2020 at 12:17 pm

    Via Reddit

    Boris Johnson’s government is privately ‘desperate’ for Trump to lose the election to Joe Biden

  287. 287.

    trollhattan

    July 26, 2020 at 12:17 pm

    @Danielx:

    They bought the Hunt brothers’ house?

  288. 288.

    trollhattan

    July 26, 2020 at 12:17 pm

    @Baud:

    Leadery leadership yet again from BoJo. Fuck that guy.

  289. 289.

    Ben Cisco

    July 26, 2020 at 12:18 pm

    @Kristine: Mama Cisco has worked as an elections official for over 30 years – they recently had a training day. She is considering asking an alternate to stand in for her this year (but is only willing to do so b/c the alternate is also black and would be the only one in the precinct).

    Voting for our lives, and risking our lives in the process. Same as it ever was.

  290. 290.

    Salty Sam

    July 26, 2020 at 12:20 pm

    @Kay:  that’s a very good observation, and ads like that would be very effective, IMO.

  291. 291.

    Kay

    July 26, 2020 at 12:20 pm

    @Baud:

    One of the reasons I’m not as afraid of them defying the results is I think Republicans in Congress want to get rid of him. He causes a lot of problems for them. They’d much rather strut around and pretend Biden is a socialist and live to fight another day.

  292. 292.

    Ken

    July 26, 2020 at 12:22 pm

    @trollhattan: You have to admire Johnson’s idea that Britain should join the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Well, “admire” may not be the best word.

  293. 293.

    germy

    July 26, 2020 at 12:23 pm

    George Carlin still speaking the truth decades later. It's time we have people that aren't bought. That aren't part of the elite. A Vote for me is a vote for all of us. I am not in the pocket of anyone. I will fight for us, because I am one of you!pic.twitter.com/JKnCUoSOyY
    — Russell Foster for Texas (@RussellFosterTX) July 26, 2020

  294. 294.

    Baud

    July 26, 2020 at 12:23 pm

    @Kay:

    Republicans have to be thinking that they’ll come back again in two years stronger and more reactionary than ever.  That’s been the story with our last two Dem presidents.

    Plus, of course, on an individual level, Republicans also benefit from Democratic governance.

  295. 295.

    trollhattan

    July 26, 2020 at 12:23 pm

    @dww44:

    How about “The John Lewis Edmund Pettis Memorial Bridge brought to you by Burger King”? The sponsorship money can go to keeping it painted and such.

  296. 296.

    L85NJGT

    July 26, 2020 at 12:23 pm

    @Ken:

    Boris Johnson is to tell millions of overweight Britons to get on a bike to shed the pounds and survive COVID-19.

  297. 297.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    July 26, 2020 at 12:24 pm

    @Aleta:

    One if my coolest dives ever was nondescript until we spotted a pair of mating octopi (I started to say “came upon”, but that had porny implications, so….

  298. 298.

    Spanky

    July 26, 2020 at 12:24 pm

    @raven: Nope, still in Pittsburgh, probably in band camp before my senior HS year.

  299. 299.

    Kay

    July 26, 2020 at 12:25 pm

    @Salty Sam:

    I was struck by it in the debates. He has a focus when he’s listening that is admirable. Because in that context- an adversarial situation- you really have to fight your tendency to not listen but instead compose your rebuttal. It’s a quality of attention. He has that.

  300. 300.

    Aleta

    July 26, 2020 at 12:25 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: Thanks.  Even more moving than I expected.

    ——

    Berlin Philharmonic on its website is offering
    five cello concertos – from the First Viennese School to the 20th century

    to watch free (must register or log in).

  301. 301.

    raven

    July 26, 2020 at 12:26 pm

    @Spanky: I hitched from Champaign to NYC and then up to Beantown to see them twiced!

  302. 302.

    Jess

    July 26, 2020 at 12:26 pm

    @Immanentize: You’re right–guitar solo shreds!

  303. 303.

    Nora

    July 26, 2020 at 12:27 pm

    @Elizabelle: I was in a restaurant when I heard Scalia died.  I whooped and jumped up and down.

    Of course, that was when I still believed the system wasn’t irrevocably fucked.

  304. 304.

    Spanky

    July 26, 2020 at 12:27 pm

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:  Like the “midnight clear” in the Christmas carol.

  305. 305.

    patrick II

    July 26, 2020 at 12:28 pm

    @Baud:

    What a humble man.

    So what should it be called then (it shouldn’t stay the same).

    Freedom March Bridge for all of the people that crossed that day?

  306. 306.

    J R in WV

    July 26, 2020 at 12:28 pm

    @Danielx:

    This is true. If, FSM forbid, RBG dies on January 15th, that sonofabitch McConnell will have Trump nominate somebody on the 16th and try to ram the nominee through in three days if Trump gets beaten in November by a 3 to 1 margin.

    McConnell can try, up to the date in early January (the 6th maybe? I’m bad with dates…) when the new Senate is seated. [ETA: I see I was close but  no seegar, Jan 3rd, so even better, thanks Raven!]

    After that, WE HOPE that McConnell has less power that Chuck Schumer has today, the power to speak to the press when the press asks for his opinion.

  307. 307.

    trollhattan

    July 26, 2020 at 12:28 pm

    @Ken:

    Wha? Does Boris think the UK still owns ports on the Pacific? “The sun never sets….”

    Am amused that they Just Now realize the depth of Russian interference in the Brexit referendum. Gee guys, ya think? At least you’ll be rid of all those Polish guest workers who bugged you with their hanging about, speaking Polish.

  308. 308.

    Jerzy Russian

    July 26, 2020 at 12:29 pm

    @jackmac:   The percussion section of our high school band (circa 1984) played that theme once or twice, and it was awesome.

  309. 309.

    Kay

    July 26, 2020 at 12:30 pm

    @Baud:

    That’s why they’re mad at Cheney. She’s jumping the gun to positioning for dominance in the post Trump Party. They want her to walk the plank with them, but getting in earliest is smart.

    This thing worked for them because as long as they were all following Trump like pathetic puppies they were all at the same disadvantage. If one of them breaks away that person has gained an advantage in the competition within the Party. It only works if everyone does it.

  310. 310.

    L85NJGT

    July 26, 2020 at 12:30 pm

    @trollhattan:

    That bridge is eighty years old, functionally obsolete, and at the end of its structural lifespan. I’d guess they’ll quietly rename the replacement structure.

  311. 311.

    mrmoshpotato

    July 26, 2020 at 12:32 pm

    @Suzanne:

    I get grossed out by houses. 

    Sorry.  We need at least 50000 square feet of living space! :)

  312. 312.

    trollhattan

    July 26, 2020 at 12:33 pm

    @Kay:

    Agree, Biden exudes empathy in those settings, which could well be the most prominent of his many differences from the Orange One.

    Interestingly, Hillary is excellent in one-to-one and small group settings, it may actually be her best quality. I will never forget nor forgive our media for their struggles to “protect” us from that fact. Horse races for everybody!

  313. 313.

    Kay

    July 26, 2020 at 12:33 pm

    @Baud:

    Mitt Romney is BY FAR the best leader of the GOP post-Trump they could find, but they won’t pick him. Because their base is insane.

  314. 314.

    Jerzy Russian

    July 26, 2020 at 12:33 pm

    @Uncle Cosmo:

    Not to mention the hue&cry if they set the action in a nation that actually existed…

    In most cases on Hawaii Five-O, revolutionaries, spies, foreign bad guys, etc. came from unnamed countries. There were some exceptions, like Wo Fat, who apparently came from China.

    Getting back to Mission Impossible, there already have been a few times early in Season 1 where some of our heroes impersonate officials of foreign countries, and the interact with others from same country by speaking English…

  315. 315.

    Jinchi

    July 26, 2020 at 12:34 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Paul Ryan is sucking at the teat of Fox (and apparently also on the faculty at Notre Dame

    I’ve read rumors that Paul Ryan is thinking of coming out strongly against Trump after November.

  316. 316.

    Baud

    July 26, 2020 at 12:34 pm

    @Kay:

    I think (hope) that dynamic accelerates after the conventions.

  317. 317.

    Amir Khalid

    July 26, 2020 at 12:34 pm

    @Ken:

    BoJo’s grasp of geography is about on par with Trump’s, it seems.

  318. 318.

    Baud

    July 26, 2020 at 12:35 pm

    @Jinchi: Haha.  I see what you did there.

  319. 319.

    Baud

    July 26, 2020 at 12:36 pm

    @Amir Khalid:

    Someone should ask BoJo if he can repeat the Five Words.

  320. 320.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    July 26, 2020 at 12:37 pm

    @Baud: whisky… gin… champagne… claret… port…

  321. 321.

    Vhh

    July 26, 2020 at 12:37 pm

    @Jerzy Russian:  also, too, earthquakes.

  322. 322.

    mrmoshpotato

    July 26, 2020 at 12:38 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: To hell with Matt Lauer!

  323. 323.

    Kay

    July 26, 2020 at 12:38 pm

    @trollhattan:

    I just think it’s delicious that “political media won’t cover Democrats” has gone from being an advantage to Republicans to a disadvantage. Nothing changed. It’s just that it doesn’t work for them because their President is a huge douchebag.

    They didn’t cover Democrats in the ’18 midterms either. It’s not new.

  324. 324.

    NotMax

    July 26, 2020 at 12:38 pm

    trollhattan

    Does Boris think the UK still owns ports on the Pacific?

    Pitcairn Islands.

  325. 325.

    TerryC

    July 26, 2020 at 12:39 pm

    @cope:  Many such Michigan basement memories of sump pump repair in our 1870 farmhouse, including rainstorms flooding the basement. We have seen rattlers down there twice.

  326. 326.

    Mike in NC

    July 26, 2020 at 12:39 pm

    @jackmac: When we visited Honolulu in 2005 I wanted to see as many of the landmarks shown in the Hawaii Five-O intro as we could locate, and we did a pretty good job of it.

  327. 327.

    Kathleen

    July 26, 2020 at 12:42 pm

    Excellent commentary from Jennifer Rubin on how to minimize 2020 election BS:

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/07/26/how-we-minimize-2020-election-chaos/

  328. 328.

    germy

    July 26, 2020 at 12:42 pm

    GOP Coronavirus Relief Package to Include Romney Bill That Would ‘Fast-Track Social Security and Medicare Cuts

    Rep. John Larson (D-Conn.), chairman of the House Ways and Means Social Security Subcommittee and co-sponsor of legislation that would expand benefits, called Romney’s TRUST Act “a direct assault on Social Security” that must be opposed.

  329. 329.

    Jinchi

    July 26, 2020 at 12:42 pm

    @J R in WV: McConnell can try, up to the date in early January (the 6th maybe? I’m bad with dates…) when the new Senate is seated.

    I heartily approve of this universal assumption that Democrats will win the Senate in November.

  330. 330.

    Gaffa

    July 26, 2020 at 12:43 pm

    @WaterGirl: I will note that the ad buys the Lincoln Project gang are putting out do cost a lot of money — that their total operating budget is now probably approaching $100 million dollars (home editor note: I have no idea where it is, picked a number that was nice and round) is completely believable, because ad buy-ins across the nation are expensive as fuck, because that’s another way to drain money out of the system if you’re a network owner.

    I have no doubt the actual Project employees are making money off of it, but the more they expand their ad buys, the more money they’ll need; hundreds of millions is the least they’ll require over the next 100 days until Election Day just to buy the ad space. And since they’re obviously not associated with any major party and aren’t being funded by a GOP-assisted sugar daddy…yeah, they’re asking for funds.

    I’m less upset by them making money from it than this showing one of the fundamental flaws of our election process — the total nonsense amount of money charging for air space is allowed to reach (and not just for political advertising, but that’s another thing). Removing the profit margin from political advertising would go a long way in restoring normalcy to any political race, because all politicians wouldn’t have to resort to fundraising as their major occupation instead of legislating.

  331. 331.

    Kay

    July 26, 2020 at 12:43 pm

    Andrew Sullivan
    @sullydish
    It really troubles me I don’t truly know what’s really going on in Portland and I no longer trust any mainstream news source to tell the truth.

    Poor cancel-culturers. It’s gotten so bad they don’t know if they should be calling the Portland protesters a “5th column” or defending political speech. Are they MARXISTS? Or, is this a federal police action to shut them the fuck up? Who’s to know when the action is located in this strange, far away NW territory outpost of “Portland”?

  332. 332.

    mrmoshpotato

    July 26, 2020 at 12:44 pm

    @WaterGirl:

    It’s been awhile, though, and I have to say i wish I could un-see what I just saw at the link.

    Haha :)

    The ‘dueling corndogs’ video is worse.

  333. 333.

    PST

    July 26, 2020 at 12:45 pm

    @Zelma: I have friends in Squirrel Hill. What a beautiful neighborhood that is. All old and shady.

  334. 334.

    Baud

    July 26, 2020 at 12:45 pm

    @Kay:

    To be fair, it’s harder when people on both sides are mostly white.

  335. 335.

    NotMax

    July 26, 2020 at 12:47 pm

    @PST

    All old and shady.

    You rang?

    :)

  336. 336.

    Aleta

    July 26, 2020 at 12:47 pm

    @PJ:  In band we played that theme song whenever the jr. high school director needed to calm and focus the horn section away from their rowdy practical jokes.  Therefore almost every practice.  It’s in my bones.

  337. 337.

    Kay

    July 26, 2020 at 12:48 pm

    Someone should tell Homeland Security that whether or not the protesters are “Marxists” they’re not allowed to beat the shit out of them and shut them up. They can BE “Marxists”. Do they understand they’re both bemoaning the cancelling of Paw Patrol and creating an actual “thought crime”?

  338. 338.

    Matt McIrvin

    July 26, 2020 at 12:49 pm

    @MattF: It’s a good essay, but also one that reminds me that January was a million years ago.

  339. 339.

    piratedan

    July 26, 2020 at 12:50 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: another reason for pointing them out versus someone like Ben Sasse, is that their national media footprint in the public consciousness and that Cruz and Rubio are also senators in what are turning out to be Presidential Swing states.  This is one is a placing a political marker ad.

  340. 340.

    Ken

    July 26, 2020 at 12:50 pm

    @Jerzy Russian: [Mission Impossible] heroes impersonate officials of foreign countries, and they interact with others from same country by speaking English…

    That’s the Universal Translator.

    Oops, sorry, wrong Desilu production.

  341. 341.

    Kay

    July 26, 2020 at 12:52 pm

    @Baud:

    I was greatly entertained by how political media treated “Chicago” when Obama burst out to national status.

    “We know NOTHING about this person! CHICAGO? Who ever heard of such a thing?”

    They actually annointed a Chicago reporter to explain Chicago to them. “Lynn- where is Chicago?” She was the official Obama news source for 8 years, purely based on geography.

  342. 342.

    Ruckus

    July 26, 2020 at 12:52 pm

    @Jerzy Russian:

    A basement is not normal in socal because it’s not necessary and costs money to build. To be done properly the walls must withstand the forces in the ground, be they water (as in FL), earth movement (as in CA), cold temps (as in the northern 1/3 of the eastern half of the country or the Rockies) I’ve lived in houses with basements in CA and in OH. When something goes wrong, and it does more often than one might imagine, it’s a very costly thing to fix. Ground water pressure was the problem for me in OH. The law when my house was built didn’t require the walls of the basement to be reenforced. So of course they weren’t. It is BTW far more costly to do this after the fact. Ask me how I know.

  343. 343.

    Tdjr

    July 26, 2020 at 12:53 pm

    @Suzanne: Oh make sure you go to Pitaland. Their pita chips are the best ever! I’m from Forest Hills and make the multi-bridge, multi-tunnel trip periodically. ?

  344. 344.

    Zelma

    July 26, 2020 at 12:54 pm

    @Suzanne:

    Great area.  I used to drive down Brookline Blvd. to avoid the traffic on Banksville. I understand there are some good Mexican restaurants in the neighborhood now.  That was something that was missing when I lived there.  I’ve been gone for 12 year now having absconded to the shore.  Are you a Steelers fan yet?

  345. 345.

    Salty Sam

    July 26, 2020 at 12:55 pm

    @Kay: re: Biden in the debates-  yeah what you said, plus laughing Paul Ryan off the stage and out out the door..?

  346. 346.

    TaMara (HFG)

    July 26, 2020 at 12:56 pm

    @geg6: What, no dumbwaiter?

  347. 347.

    Salty Sam

    July 26, 2020 at 12:59 pm

    @Baud: Someone should ask BoJo if he can repeat the Five Words

    …I thought there were fourteen?

  348. 348.

    Mike in NC

    July 26, 2020 at 12:59 pm

    Olivia de Havilland has left us at age 104.

  349. 349.

    Scout211

    July 26, 2020 at 12:59 pm

    @germy:

    This is why we plan to drop off our mail-in ballots in the community drop box.

    Our son recently sent my husband a birthday card from Fresno on June 25th to our home in Calaveras County.  (His birthday is June 29th). He got that card on July 17th!  We can actually drive to their home in Fresno in a little over 2 hours.

    What is happening here? What it is, is exactly clear.  :(

  350. 350.

    Ken

    July 26, 2020 at 1:00 pm

    @Kay: @Jinchi: I think Cheney, Ryan, and other Republicans are missing something (other than empathy and a soul).  If Trump loses, he’ll still be eligible to run in 2024. In fact, he’d be the obvious candidate, if only in his own mind..

    Post-January, I also expect he’ll be label any Republicans who try to re-position themselves, or put themselves forward as the new leadership of the party, as betrayers.

  351. 351.

    Kathleen

    July 26, 2020 at 1:01 pm

    @jackmac: I never tire of the Magnum PI opening either. I used to watch reruns faithfully every night on Encore.

  352. 352.

    Barbara

    July 26, 2020 at 1:02 pm

    @Suzanne: My childhood home (in the vicinity where you just moved) had a basement, and I didn’t know that there were houses without basements until I moved to other parts of the country.  The biggest issue in Western Pennsylvania is the moveability of the soil — sometimes due to coal mine subsidence — sometimes not.  My parents didn’t make the issue better by planting deep rooted plants at the front of the house, because they pushed against the foundation.  I was so afraid that we would not be able to sell the house because of the bowing and cracking, even though mother had the foundation shored up multiple times and we had a transferable warranty.   Where I live now, the earth is hard packed clay and nothing moves around the same way.

  353. 353.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    July 26, 2020 at 1:04 pm

    @Mike in NC: Wow, the last of the old studio system stars? I can’t think of any others who are still with us.

  354. 354.

    Aleta

    July 26, 2020 at 1:04 pm

    (Post) Protesters in Washington, D.C. planned to hold a demonstration on Sunday at the Virginia home of Chad Wolf, the Secretary of Homeland Security, in response to the deployment of federal agents in Portland.

    Anyone know how that’s going?

  355. 355.

    Kay

    July 26, 2020 at 1:06 pm

    They’re REALLY going to propose cutting Social Security and Medicaid when people are this anxious about the future.

    PULL that small measure of security RIGHT out from under them. They can’t see their extended family, or go to school and most of them don’t know if they’ll have a job in a month so it’s time to just cut em loose. They’ll be living under a fucking bridge but they’ll have an elaborate police apparatus stuffed to the gills with funding, to keep them in line.

  356. 356.

    zhena gogolia

    July 26, 2020 at 1:07 pm

    Wow, another monster thread.

  357. 357.

    Jerzy Russian

    July 26, 2020 at 1:09 pm

    George Takei is in Episode 10 of Season 1 of Mission Impossible.   Looks interesting…

  358. 358.

    mrmoshpotato

    July 26, 2020 at 1:10 pm

    @Baud: Glad BoJo wants Dump to lose, but BoJo is still a schmuck.

  359. 359.

    Amir Khalid

    July 26, 2020 at 1:12 pm

    Some sportsball news. Liverpool conclude their title-winning English Premier League season with a 1-3 away win at Newcastle. Goals from Virgil van Dijk, Divock Origi, and Sadio Mané. Liverpool finish on 99 points, their highest ever season total. A short close season, and then in September they go again.

    The Emirate of Mancunia thrash bottom-of-the-table Norwich City 5-0 to finish as runners-up with 81 points.

  360. 360.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    July 26, 2020 at 1:13 pm

    @mrmoshpotato: and BoJo, and Macron, and Merkel, and other allies who agree with him are probably not willing to do the things that those who want to see trump win again (Vlad, Xi, MBS, Bibi, KJU) are eager to do.

    I try to keep my tinfoil hat in a drawer, but sometimes I find myself wearing it around the house.

  361. 361.

    Barbara

    July 26, 2020 at 1:14 pm

    @Ruckus: We have a second house in an area with high ground water, and the builder begged the original owner not to add a basement.  It ‘constantly threatens to be an issue, but we have dealt with it so far.  The dehumidifier runs a lot of the time and we would never even try to use it as living space.

  362. 362.

    satby

    July 26, 2020 at 1:14 pm

    @Baud: they have made targeted ad buys in local media. My kid was telling me about one playing in Lexington against McConnell. But the best way to reach the millennial and *younger than us* crowd is via social media and they’re killing it there: Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook that I’m aware of. Would not be surprised to hear they were using TikTok too.

  363. 363.

    Matt

    July 26, 2020 at 1:15 pm

    “Sure, the bus driver appears to be steering us straight towards that cliff, but just you wait until the next driver election, we’ll get ’em then!”

  364. 364.

    Ruckus

    July 26, 2020 at 1:17 pm

    @different-church-lady:

    @Jerzy Russian:

    Going up stairs is just effort. No big deal.

    Going down stairs has 2 speeds, paying a lot of attention, and falling. (I may be old with a specific issue that makes those two speeds probable and preditctable.)

  365. 365.

    frosty

    July 26, 2020 at 1:17 pm

    @Zelma: My son is the only Ravens fan in Pittsburgh!

  366. 366.

    jc

    July 26, 2020 at 1:19 pm

    @Olivia: I agree that debates have been increasingly debased. But — it’s crucial that Trump be forced to appear in a venue where he doesn’t control the questions or the answers. It’s crucial that he face someone directly who will challenge him in the most fundamental way when he does his usual sleight-of-hand with the truth.

    Biden is not going to let “you’re Putin’s puppet” go to waste. He’s not going to let Trump get away with “No puppet, you’re the puppet.”

  367. 367.

    satby

    July 26, 2020 at 1:21 pm

    @Jinchi: yep, this:

    Playing a long game, damaging the brand and making them take hits for their support of Trump while it’s high on the minds of voters and the media. Trump may not be our top concern in 2 to 4 years, but when they’re back out campaigning and someone says “Hey remember when this ass sat on his hands while hundreds of thousands of Americans died, just because he was to much of a  coward to confront Trump?” Voters will say “Yeah. I do.”

  368. 368.

    Elizabelle

    July 26, 2020 at 1:21 pm

    @Kay:   Paw Patrol has not been cancelled, as you probably know.  Although Trump’s deplorable blonde press secretary either lied or is dumb enough to think it was.  The BBC, from yesterday.

    I am so sick of all the goddamned liars on the right.

    Children’s programme Paw Patrol has not been cancelled, its makers have said, after the White House press secretary appeared to fall for rumours it had.
    Kayleigh McEnany said the cartoon about patrol dogs, some of whom run a police department, was among programmes and games axed due to “cancel culture”.

    But the series swiftly reassured fans that there was “no need to worry”.

    … In Friday’s briefing, Ms McEnany said … Trump was opposed to “cancel culture” – a term for when individuals or companies face swift public backlash and boycott over offensive statements or actions – and “specifically as it pertains to cops”.

    “We saw a few weeks ago that Paw Patrol, a cartoon show about cops, was cancelled. The show Cops was cancelled, Live PD was cancelled,” she said.

    She also repeated a claim – previously tweeted by the president’s former campaign manager Brad Parscale in early June – that toymaker Lego had withdrawn police-themed merchandise.

    Lego responded at the time to clarify that none of its sets had been removed from sale.

    While the press secretary’s statements about Paw Patrol and Lego merchandise were incorrect, the TV series Cops and Live PD have both been cancelled in recent weeks – although both had faced controversy.

    Cops, which had run for more than three decades, had been strongly criticised over its portrayal of policing and the ethics of how it was filmed. The podcast Running From COPS investigated the series last year, and found that many suspects had not given their consent to appear in the show and that the programme misrepresented policing in the US.

    Live PD was another US reality TV programme that followed police on patrol. The A&E network paused transmission of the series after George Floyd’s death before cancelling it in June, following reports it had filmed an incident between police and an African-American man, which resulted in his death.

  369. 369.

    Ghost of Joe Lieblings Dog

    July 26, 2020 at 1:24 pm

    @Jerzy Russian:

    I knew a screenwriter who, for a time, was assigned an office at the studio across the hall from the writers working on the original TV Mission Impossible. 

    Writers being writers, they started to hang out together and so he sometimes ended up back in their office after lunch.

    He told me that they’d had a sign made.  It hung above the office door.

    It read, Don’t ever go through a door when you can dig a 200-foot tunnel instead.

    I hope it’s true.

  370. 370.

    Ruckus

    July 26, 2020 at 1:25 pm

    @Barbara:

    Mine was because there was an underground spring under my house, leading to/from a river about 3/8 of a mile away, not an unusual occurrence in that area. It of course got worse in a year with a lot of rain. There was an entire line of business based upon fixing basements that fail, specialized equipment – etc, quite profitable.

  371. 371.

    mrmoshpotato

    July 26, 2020 at 1:26 pm

    @Kay: I thought Sully was going to fuck off.  No?

    Related – anyone know if Governor Hedgefund (Russthuglican former IL governor Bruce Rauner) has fucked off to Italy yet?

  372. 372.

    debbie

    July 26, 2020 at 1:26 pm

    @Suzanne:

    That’s what all my friends with old houses say. Also that it’s hell to move out because of all the stuff they’ve stored in their basements.

  373. 373.

    Spanky

    July 26, 2020 at 1:28 pm

    @Zelma: Banksville! God, what a crappy drive that was, and my last trip there was 30 years ago.

    OTOH, the climb up Potomac from Banksville (towards Brookline, btw) is one of those hills that says “welcome to Pittsburgh”.

  374. 374.

    mrmoshpotato

    July 26, 2020 at 1:29 pm

    @Kay: LMAO!

  375. 375.

    debbie

    July 26, 2020 at 1:29 pm

    @Kay:

    How long until Ohio’s next shutdown?

  376. 376.

    satby

    July 26, 2020 at 1:29 pm

    @satby:  Would not be surprised to hear they were using TikTok too.

    And of course, the L.P. is on Tik Tok. They’re seriously nailing reaching all age demographics on their social media of choice.

  377. 377.

    Zelma

    July 26, 2020 at 1:30 pm

    @frosty:

    A brave and foolish person!

  378. 378.

    debbie

    July 26, 2020 at 1:31 pm

    @Jerzy Russian:

    Don’t even bother with Lost in Space. It’s unwatchable.

  379. 379.

    Spanky

    July 26, 2020 at 1:31 pm

    @frosty: Whereas the diaspora in the late 70s/early 80s from Pittsburgh ensures that there are zillions of Stiller fans everywhere – including and maybe especially here in the DC/Balmer corridor.

  380. 380.

    Brachiator

    July 26, 2020 at 1:32 pm

    @Baud:

    Boris Johnson’s government is privately ‘desperate’ for Trump to lose the election to Joe Biden

    Wow. This would really represent a change of plans, especially since BoJo often comes across as Trump’s mini me.
    From the article.

    “The venal corruption of the Trump family and the nasty narcissistic aspects of his behavior — all that will go with a different sort of president,” they said.

    Many say exactly the same thing about Boris Johnson’s government and behavior.
    The Times has always been a BoJo supporter. I wonder if they are trying to give him cover as he shambles towards a no- deal BREXIT. He is rejecting a deal with the EU. It would be cagy to also be in a no-deal position with the US as well.

  381. 381.

    debbie

    July 26, 2020 at 1:33 pm

    @WaterGirl:

    I think it’s just vengence, and I’m fine with it.

  382. 382.

    Zelma

    July 26, 2020 at 1:33 pm

    @Spanky:

    I don’t think anyone who hasn’t driven up or down Potomac would believe there is a road like that.  You sort of felt your car had to get a running start.

  383. 383.

    Cameron

    July 26, 2020 at 1:34 pm

    @trollhattan: He’s also bucking for Louie Gohmert’s title of Stupidest Man in the House (formerly held by Mike Pence).

  384. 384.

    mrmoshpotato

    July 26, 2020 at 1:36 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Not sure if you’d count him as an old studio system star but Norman Lloyd is 105 (106 in November).

  385. 385.

    EmbraceYourInnerCrone

    July 26, 2020 at 1:36 pm

    @Cermet: reason number one I hope my daughter chooses not to have children. I would love a grandchild but I just don’t think things are going to get better…

  386. 386.

    Sab

    July 26, 2020 at 1:37 pm

    @debbie: My guess os next week. DeWine warned us last week about masks, and this week about shutdowns.

  387. 387.

    frosty

    July 26, 2020 at 1:39 pm

    @Spanky: From the flags on the houses here in South PA I think it’s about 50/50. We’re really a Baltimore suburb though. Growing up, everyone was a Colts / Orioles fan.

  388. 388.

    debbie

    July 26, 2020 at 1:39 pm

    @Baud:

    Compared to his competition, who wouldn’t.

    @Baud:

    It could be a series of ads.

  389. 389.

    Origuy

    July 26, 2020 at 1:40 pm

    I should be in the Lake Tahoe area this week. My orienteering club was awarded the North American Championships. We had planned for two weeks of events, starting in the Bay Area with events in San Francisco and Santa Cruz, then moving up to Truckee for the championships and a few other events, ending with the World Rogaining Championships. Rogaining is a form of orienteering where teams of two or more are given maps with many checkpoints scattered around a large area. Instead of following a specific route, they have to try to maximize the number of points with a set time limit. For the world championships, that’s 24 hours.

    We had more than 700 people signed up in March, when we decided to postpone it until next year. I’m not sure now if we will even be able to hold it then. The NAOC is held every other year, alternating between the US and Canada.

  390. 390.

    cmorenc

    July 26, 2020 at 1:41 pm

    @dr. bloor:

    @Danielx:  The upside there is that it will make expanding the SCOTUS to 13 seats a much easier sell on January 21st.

    Unfortunately, that is NOT a durably viable strategy for retaking a SCOTUS majority – the moment the GOP has the Presidency and Senate back, SCOTUS gets expanded to 15 seats…and so on.

    A FAR better strategy would be to pass a constitutional amendment substituting a single non-renewable 20 year term for SCOTUS justices in place of lifetime tenure, along with provision that the Senate is required to conduct a confirmation vote for a Presidential nominee for a vacant SCOTUS seat within 30 days of such nomination, irrespective of any conflicting Senate procedural rules.

  391. 391.

    Matt McIrvin

    July 26, 2020 at 1:41 pm

    @debbie: About a month ago, we took a week-long vacation and spent basically all of it emptying junk from our basement into a 15-cubic-yard dumpster. Lots of stuff we’d moved in with over a decade ago and never taken out of the boxes. But it was still painful to throw some of it out.

  392. 392.

    Steeplejack

    July 26, 2020 at 1:41 pm

    @Gaffa:

    Your entire comment is based on the proposition that the Lincoln Project is doing humongous ad buys all across the country. Do you have any evidence at all of this? The only thing I have seen is that they did a carefully targeted buy on one D.C. Fox station or cable channel to get in front of TV Viewer 1.

  393. 393.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    July 26, 2020 at 1:42 pm

    @mrmoshpotato: oh yeah! he was a hundred years old and appearing in, of all things, Amy Schumer’s movie.

  394. 394.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    July 26, 2020 at 1:42 pm

    I had to google Paw Patrol. How low have we sunk?

  395. 395.

    Jay C

    July 26, 2020 at 1:43 pm

    @Brachiator:

    Yeah: reading between the lines, it looks like Johnson and his gang have belatedly realized that pinning their hopes on sweetheart trade deals with the US (i.e., their “pals” in the Trump Admin) to mitigate the economic fallout from Brexit was/is a fool’s errand. And that because the White House is occupied by the biggest fool in US history.

    No surprise the Brexit negotiations with the EU aren’t moving along: the Tories’ best scenario is to simply string them along long enough so that they can generate the “proper” narrative to try to avoid responsibility for any economic fallout – i.e. that it is (as always) Somebody Else’s Fault.

  396. 396.

    Baud

    July 26, 2020 at 1:43 pm

    @Origuy:

     the World Rogaining Championships. Rogaining is a form of orienteering where teams of two or more are given maps with many checkpoints scattered around a large area.

    Thanks for the explanation.  The idea of a hair growing competition had me scratching my head.

  397. 397.

    mrmoshpotato

    July 26, 2020 at 1:44 pm

    @Spanky: Everyone loved Jerry.

  398. 398.

    MomSense

    July 26, 2020 at 1:44 pm

    @EmbraceYourInnerCrone:

    Ugh.  I feel that.  My youngest jokingly asked if his generation was called z because it is the last one.

  399. 399.

    Baud

    July 26, 2020 at 1:45 pm

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    Is Paw Patrol that bad?

  400. 400.

    debbie

    July 26, 2020 at 1:45 pm

    @MomSense:

    I think their hate for Trump is so consuming, they may be okay with losing the Senate in November and then working to get it back in the future.

  401. 401.

    Jerzy Russian

    July 26, 2020 at 1:45 pm

    @debbie:

    Don’t even bother with Lost in Space. It’s unwatchable.

    A lot of those old shows are so bad they are good. I want to dig out Space 1999 and watch that, since Martin Landau and Barbara Bain from Mission Impossible are the stars.

  402. 402.

    debbie

    July 26, 2020 at 1:47 pm

    @Matt McIrvin:

    It’s tough. The only thing that’s saved me over the years is I’ve always lived in apartments. Space limitations required periodic purges. Assuming I didn’t want to end up a hoarder.

  403. 403.

    rikyrah

    July 26, 2020 at 1:47 pm

    400 replies??!?!?

    Mercy!

  404. 404.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    July 26, 2020 at 1:49 pm

    @dr. bloor:

    On the second Friday in June, a group of political operatives, former government and military officials, and academics quietly convened online for what became a disturbing exercise in the fragility of American democracy.
    The group, which included Democrats and Republicans, gathered to game out possible results of the November election, grappling with questions that seem less far-fetched by the day: What if President Trump refuses to concede a loss, as he publicly hinted recently he might do? How far could he go to preserve his power? And what if Democrats refuse to give in?
    “All of our scenarios ended in both street-level violence and political impasse,” said Rosa Brooks, a Georgetown law professor and former Defense Department official who co-organized the group known as the Transition Integrity Project. She described what they found in bleak terms: “The law is essentially … it’s almost helpless against a president who’s willing to ignore it.”

    What the fuck happened to Trump simply being removed from the residence as a trespasser after noon on Jan 20th and no longer being President?

  405. 405.

    debbie

    July 26, 2020 at 1:49 pm

    @Sab:

    If that long. They reported 1,438 new cases for yesterday. ?

  406. 406.

    Spanky

    July 26, 2020 at 1:49 pm

    @frosty: And iirc, NO love for the iggles.

  407. 407.

    Ken

    July 26, 2020 at 1:49 pm

    @debbie: The first season is fairly good, before every week’s introduction became “Will, Doctor Smith, and the Robot are….”

  408. 408.

    Yutsano

    July 26, 2020 at 1:50 pm

    @Jerzy Russian: The first full episode of Space:1999 is on YouTube. The quaint handwaving of physics in the show is so laughable it’s compelling.

  409. 409.

    Ruckus

    July 26, 2020 at 1:50 pm

    @Brachiator:

    But these are crazy times. Republicans should be backing early voting and mail voting, to make sure that their base can cast their votes and live, and yet they continue to embrace their death cult instead.

    Republicans are against pretty much anything that was originated after Ben Franklin, and aren’t too hot on some of his stuff. They are the original heads in the sand party. Unless of course it only helps them. The phrase “Heads up their asses” came about because of republican politics. New scares them. They have to learn things and that may change their entire concept of living and existing. They will put up with corrupt politicians because all of theirs are so everyone else must be as well. Men are pigs, why fight it. Etc, etc. Sure it’s stereotypes, but some people are followers, and would run off the cliff if their leaders do. Right now we are seeing people who follow, shitforbrains follows his leader, republican politicians are following their leaders, republican voters are following their leaders. And they get mad when you call out their leaders or question their leaders. We all wonder why anyone would follow shitforbrains or Lindsey Graham, they don’t, they are their leaders. To followers it doesn’t have to make sense or even have truth involved, they are followers. Johnstown is a perfect example of followers, Evangelical churches are also perfect examples. It’s not complicated at all, they are followers. Following requires no work, no effort, no energy and they get pissed when they have to provide any reason why they are followers. shitforbrains doesn’t wear a mask (because he’s an idiot) his followers don’t wear them because their leader doesn’t. Their leader gets pissed at anyone questioning his “thinking.” They get pissed when anyone questions their following his lead.

    We have representatives and senators and a president, who works for us. We have laws to protect those who can’t protect themselves, republicans have leaders to follow. It’s not just a difference in politics, it’s a fundamental difference in humanity.

  410. 410.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    July 26, 2020 at 1:51 pm

    @Baud:

    Is Paw Patrol that bad?

    Well, considering it’s aimed at toddlers and small children, yeah I’d say it’s probably bad from the perspective of anybody above the age of 5

  411. 411.

    Steeplejack

    July 26, 2020 at 1:52 pm

    @Steeplejack:

    Politico, June 27:

    In the past few months, the Lincoln Project—a PAC with not much funding, as far as PACs go—has successfully established itself as a squatter in Trump’s mental space, thanks to several factors: members each boasting hundreds of thousands of social media followers, rapidly cut ads that respond to current events and a single-minded focus on buying airtime wherever Trump is most likely to be bingeing cable news that day, whether it’s the D.C. market or his golf courses across the country. [. . .]

    As far as spending goes, the Lincoln Project is hardly blitzing the nation with those ads. Since the group launched, the group has spent $2.75 million on TV ads, as well as another $1.2 million on Facebook ads — far short of the tens of millions some larger super PACs have planned for 2020.

  412. 412.

    JPL

    July 26, 2020 at 1:53 pm

    @Baud: haha When the entire work at home thing happened, my grandsons parents went from no tv, to omg he doesn’t like Sesame Street. They finally discovered Paw Patrol. He’s been watching that since he was fifteen months.

  413. 413.

    Ben Cisco

    July 26, 2020 at 1:53 pm

    @Jerzy Russian: There are full episodes available on YouTube at the moment.

  414. 414.

    evodevo

    July 26, 2020 at 1:54 pm

    @Ken: If my old coot and entitled Karen mail route customers are any indication, they would be in the streets burning shit up tomorrow lol

  415. 415.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    July 26, 2020 at 1:54 pm

    @Baud: It’s a cartoon. The Rs are trying to gin up a fight over a cartoon. And it hasn’t even been cancelled. There’s a pandemic and an economic calamity and troops in the streets and they’re talking about a cartoon.

    I’m reading THE LINCOLN CONSPIRACY, about an 1861 plot to assassinate Lincoln. It’s amazing how many of the political themes are relevant today, starting (and possibly ending) with racism.

  416. 416.

    Amir Khalid

    July 26, 2020 at 1:55 pm

    @dr. bloor:

    “The law is essentially … it’s almost helpless against a president who’s willing to ignore it.”

    That right there is why heads of government should not be immune from criminl prosecution.

  417. 417.

    Yutsano

    July 26, 2020 at 1:55 pm

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): My brother recommends Bluey instead. It has the advantage of being Australian with just enough winks and nudges to the parents to make it relatable. It’s in the Disney empire but it’s really stinking cute.

  418. 418.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    July 26, 2020 at 1:55 pm

    @Jerzy Russian:

    Probably because of earthquakes

  419. 419.

    BellyCat

    July 26, 2020 at 1:55 pm

    Each time the sun sets on a day without an event that shakes up the race is another day Trump marinates in loser juice.

    Purrrrrrfect!

  420. 420.

    Ken

    July 26, 2020 at 1:55 pm

    @Jerzy Russian: Space 1999

    In space, no one can hear you speak, because everyone whispers.

  421. 421.

    Baud

    July 26, 2020 at 1:58 pm

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    It would be awesome if they made a Paw Patrol where they arrest Trump on Biden’s  Inauguration Day.

  422. 422.

    James E Powell

    July 26, 2020 at 1:58 pm

    @jc: 

    But — it’s crucial that Trump be forced to appear in a venue where he doesn’t control the questions or the answers.

    If the venue is television, he will dominate because that is exactly what the people who run television want him to do.

    We need somebody – no, several somebodies – to say it out loud: Trump is a liar. There is no point in any “debate” with him. It only gives him another opportunity to lie.

    If Trump wants to debate, tell him to release his tax returns.

  423. 423.

    Lapassionara

    July 26, 2020 at 2:00 pm

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Trump’s term is over at noon on Jan. 20. Unless he wins the election, he will not be president after that date. It doesn’t matter where he is, he will not have the power of the office.

    Election results are usually counted and certified first at the county level, then at the state level. Dems need to have poll watchers at every precinct, and lawyers available should trouble start.

  424. 424.

    WaterGirl

    July 26, 2020 at 2:03 pm

    @Ben Cisco:

    Voting for our lives, and risking our lives in the process. Same as it ever was.

    Hopefully not for too much longer.  We may soon be at a pivotal point where we can make things a lot more right than before.  Or not.  It all depends on who gets to vote this time, and how hard and dangerous they make it.

  425. 425.

    Salty Sam

    July 26, 2020 at 2:03 pm

    @rikyrah:   Are we trying for a Tbogg unit?

  426. 426.

    WaterGirl

    July 26, 2020 at 2:06 pm

    @Gaffa: I see what you’re saying.

    But let them make money from disenchanted Republicans!

    We need every penny of our money to go to Dems, not to line powerful republican pockets.

  427. 427.

    bemused

    July 26, 2020 at 2:07 pm

    @ant:

    Reality really pisses them off.

  428. 428.

    Origuy

    July 26, 2020 at 2:09 pm

    @Baud: The name Rogaine comes from Australia, where minoxidil has a different brand name. It derives from the inventors’ names, ROd, GAil, and NEil.

    Properly built, basements should improve earthquake resistance. As far as I can tell, the reason they aren’t used in California is that it’s cheaper.

  429. 429.

    Salty Sam

    July 26, 2020 at 2:09 pm

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):   And what if Democrats refuse to give in?

    Don’t you love how this question is set up?  With all the questions surrounding “what happens if Trump refuses to concede” they assign equal weight to Dems just giving up and walking away, leaving Trump in power!?!

    Both-siderism is one helluva drug…

  430. 430.

    Immanentize

    July 26, 2020 at 2:09 pm

    @mrmoshpotato: Sully always needs to fuck off:

    One the one hand, the people who say it’s best to ignore Andrew Sullivan make a good point.On the other hand, I really do want to note that Sullivan is arguing that the real racists are the people who do not want to measure black penises. pic.twitter.com/r8Zcu1fe34— Jeet Heer (@HeerJeet) July 26, 2020

  431. 431.

    Brachiator

    July 26, 2020 at 2:14 pm

    Okay, 430 comments and my browser is starting to hiccup (Brave browser on an Android phone).

  432. 432.

    Steeplejack

    July 26, 2020 at 2:14 pm

    @JPL:

    I’ll put in plugs for Bubble Guppies and Masha and the Bear. (Niece, 5½; nephew, 4.)

  433. 433.

    James E Powell

    July 26, 2020 at 2:14 pm

    @Salty Sam:

    Are we trying for a Tbogg unit?

    I was wondering the same thing. Related question: what’s the record for most comments on B-J?

  434. 434.

    Quaker in a Basement

    July 26, 2020 at 2:14 pm

    Basements are cool.

  435. 435.

    Elizabelle

    July 26, 2020 at 2:15 pm

    @Salty Sam:   I don’t read any of those stories about “what if Trump …?”  Time you never get back.  I think it’s just “content.”  There’s so much better stuff to read.

  436. 436.

    Ken

    July 26, 2020 at 2:15 pm

    @Salty Sam:

    The comments will continue until morale until a new open thread is posted.

  437. 437.

    gkoutnik

    July 26, 2020 at 2:17 pm

    @WaterGirl: Ha!  Actually, there was a lot of free time, even if you went to the panels.  I never heard anything about the wild nightlife; thinking maybe it’s a myth.

  438. 438.

    Salty Sam

    July 26, 2020 at 2:17 pm

    @Elizabelle: yeah, I didn’t bother to read it either.  They’re like the internet version of medieval scholars debating how many angels on the head of a pin…

  439. 439.

    Jerzy Russian

    July 26, 2020 at 2:18 pm

    @James E Powell:

    I was wondering the same thing. Related question: what’s the record for most comments on B-J?

    I think the thread where Mr. Cole announced the passing of Tunch reached over 1000 comments.

  440. 440.

    The Thin Black Duke

    July 26, 2020 at 2:18 pm

    @Immanentize: Thankfully I think Sullivan’s fifteen minutes is up.

  441. 441.

    lowtechcyclist

    July 26, 2020 at 2:19 pm

    We just have to make it through today and the next 99 days.

    Unfortunately, probably 90,000 or so Americans won’t make it through today and the next 99 days, on account of the coronavirus.

    I know, I’m boring and irritating in thinking their lives should matter.  Back to your regularly scheduled programming.

  442. 442.

    Sister Golden Bear

    July 26, 2020 at 2:19 pm

    @germy:  No more expensive than their annual carpet-bombing of Shen Yun ads.

    You could tell the seasons by when they’d start appearing. It actually threw me off when they changed their schedule last year.

  443. 443.

    Steeplejack

    July 26, 2020 at 2:20 pm

    @James E Powell:

    I think we hit 700 one time, but I don’t remember the details.

    My database does include the fact that different-church-lady possibly coined the term “TBogg unit” back in 2013.

  444. 444.

    JaySinWA

    July 26, 2020 at 2:21 pm

    @Quaker in a Basement:

    Basements are cool.

    Pedantically at least. Sometimes they are just a PITA. But then again a crawlspace is often a literal pain.

  445. 445.

    Immanentize

    July 26, 2020 at 2:23 pm

    @The Thin Black Duke: I think so too.  He got out at a good moment for him.  Coming back is stupid and just so, well, Sullivan.  I bet he thinks BoJo will carry him.

  446. 446.

    Steeplejack

    July 26, 2020 at 2:24 pm

    @Jerzy Russian:

    “RIP, Tunch, the Best Cat Ever” hit 1,036 comments.

    ETA: Major trigger warning for that post.

  447. 447.

    JPL

    July 26, 2020 at 2:24 pm

    @Steeplejack: I’ll pass it on.    My grand imp will be eighteen months in a few weeks so he’ll be ready.

  448. 448.

    Steeplejack

    July 26, 2020 at 2:28 pm

    @JPL:

    Masha and the Bear is particularly good, because it’s Russian and (I think) they deliberately made it with as little dialogue as possible to help international marketing. Lots of slapstick visual humor. There are some episodes or clips on YouTube.

  449. 449.

    Origuy

    July 26, 2020 at 2:29 pm

    RIP Olivia de Havilland, aged 104.

  450. 450.

    germy

    July 26, 2020 at 2:29 pm

    @Lapassionara:  I think it will be many, many weeks after election day before we know the results of the race.

  451. 451.

    Yutsano

    July 26, 2020 at 2:30 pm

    And still no new thread…

  452. 452.

    mad citizen

    July 26, 2020 at 2:33 pm

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Exactly (trying to contribute to this long thread).  I am SO tired of the stories “What if Trump doesn’t accept the election results/doesn’t leave the WH?”  Who the hell cares.  He is out.  After this Person Woman Man Camera TV week, why would anyone legitimize anything Trump?

    Still think he has dementia but is on some good drugs hiding the jerking symptoms.  The couple minutes I could stand watching him this week, I still noticed some left shoulder jerking.  I still think there is a good chance he packs it in by or before Labor Day.  Games it out and goes to Florida.  They have thrown pretty much everything at us and nothing is moving the needle his way.

  453. 453.

    frosty

    July 26, 2020 at 2:36 pm

    @Spanky: No love for the Iggles at all. Their fan base is east of the Susquehanna.

  454. 454.

    pamelabrown53

    July 26, 2020 at 2:36 pm

    @Yutsano:

    Not to worry. Shortly, we’ll probably have @ 3 new ones almost simultaneously.

  455. 455.

    Aleta

    July 26, 2020 at 2:37 pm

    @Immanentize:  Many things to deplore about Sullivan, and one is what imo he’s doing now on his twitter, provoking people in order to increase attention or view count or clicks to help his marketing.  I’ve watched him do it the last 3  times he switched platforms (and other times).   The way he does this, imo, is by taking advantage of the depth of others’ caring.  Sometimes by practically demanding responses, as he did years ago by reigniting what he called a ‘debate’ with TNC  for at least the third time, and then promoting it as advertisment for his ‘fairness’ and willingness to listen.  Same when he asked for  women’s stories of heartbreak about 3rd trimester abortions and then passed  judgement at the end.  And then toyed with using them to make a book.

  456. 456.

    Spanky

    July 26, 2020 at 2:40 pm

    @Quaker in a Basement:

    Basements are cool.

    You’re just biased. OTOH, they’re certainly cool(er) in the summer and warm(er) in the winter, striving for that 55 degree underground average.

  457. 457.

    J R in WV

    July 26, 2020 at 2:41 pm

    @dww44: 

    July 26, 2020 at 12:06 pm

    @Kelly: Dumb question, but does Congress or the Constitution set the number of justices?

    The constitution sets a lot of things for the Supremes, but the actual number of sitting justices is set by legislation.

    I see no reason that legislation could not vary the number of judges according to a rigid set of requirements, like population varience, etc. or delay factor in the court system, etc.

  458. 458.

    2liberal

    July 26, 2020 at 2:41 pm

    @SFAW: 

    Tons of it: Strategic sporrans, tartan tear gas, kick-their-ass kilts, all SWAT-approved.

    and bagpipes for enhanced interrogation

  459. 459.

    stinger

    July 26, 2020 at 2:44 pm

    @Aleta: For us it was Peter Gunn.

  460. 460.

    MagdaInBlack

    July 26, 2020 at 2:46 pm

    I know its a long thread but this is pissing me off: these republicans who get on tv and say ( Ted Cruz Im lookin at you) ” I have business owners telling me their employees wont come back because they make more on unemployment.”

    If You Say No YOU LOOSE Your Benefit. Period.

    NO one pushes back on that

  461. 461.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    July 26, 2020 at 2:47 pm

    @Matt:

    “Sure, the bus driver appears to be steering us straight towards that cliff, but just you wait until the next driver election, we’ll get ’em then!”

    Who the fuck is this directed at?

  462. 462.

    AM in NC

    July 26, 2020 at 2:47 pm

    @satby: Yep. An elementary school friend who reconnected with me on FB is a right winger living in Houston since Katrina.  She put up an “innocent question” on FB asking if anyone out there personally knew anyone who died from COVID-19 or got the virus.  She was slammed with so many of her FB friends responding back that yes, in fact, a ton of people they knew, including relatives, have either suffered or died from the illness.  I think she was truly shocked.

  463. 463.

    WaterGirl

    July 26, 2020 at 2:47 pm

    @Brachiator:  Tom Levenson is drafting a post, so I’m guessing it will be up shortly.

    Otherwise I would put up a new thread to provide some relief for mobile users.

  464. 464.

    piratedan

    July 26, 2020 at 2:47 pm

    @Aleta: he’s Sea Lioning at a national level.  I don’t bother with him anymore.  Once you realize what’s he’s doing (like you have pointed out) you realize its just another bad faith ploy used to waste your time and amplify your own bile levels.

  465. 465.

    Kent

    July 26, 2020 at 2:48 pm

    @mad citizen: Ejecting Trump from the White House (or fumigating him out to use Pelosi’s turn of phrase) after he clearly lost the election is not the problem.

    The problem would be if there are close swing states and Trump stirs up enormous unrest among his MAGA minions to question/overturn those state-wide results like in Florida 2000.  Especially with the complicit contribution of conservative judges and elections officials.   Once state election results are certified it is all over. The Trump folks will fight tooth and nail to overturn results before it gets to that point.  One obvious ploy would be to try to cement election day results to prevent further counting of absentee ballots and use all kinds of bad faith efforts in court to do that.  Especially if the uncounted absentees are largely from big urban areas which always take longer to count.

  466. 466.

    WaterGirl

    July 26, 2020 at 2:50 pm

    @piratedan: Andrew Sullivan was very relevant in the 2008 election.  I imagine he sees that this could be his moment, again.

    Let’s hope he’s wrong.

  467. 467.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    July 26, 2020 at 2:52 pm

    @piratedan: isn’t Sullivan like Greenwald, his name ID in twitter/political media is the inverse of what it is in NormieWorld? I guess Sullivan has broader exposure among Totebaggers, but I think most people would say, “Who?”

  468. 468.

    Eunicecycle

    July 26, 2020 at 2:53 pm

    @MagdaInBlack: I agree! That pisses me off too.

  469. 469.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    July 26, 2020 at 2:53 pm

    @Kent:

    Yeah, but do you think most people are going to just stand by and let that happen without giving the Republicans hell, first? Protests would spiral out of control. Nobody would recognize the results as legitimate. I could see Trump being dragged kicking and screaming out of the White House by angry protesters before I see the American people just accepting such an obvious power grab

    Not to mention any international responses

  470. 470.

    Baud

    July 26, 2020 at 2:56 pm

    @MagdaInBlack:

    ” I have business owners telling me their employees wont come back because they make more on unemployment.”

    Notice that Ted Cruz doesn’t speak to the employees to get that information first hand.

  471. 471.

    piratedan

    July 26, 2020 at 2:57 pm

    @WaterGirl: the only epitaph he (sullivan) deserves is the one our esteemed jackal emeritus (efgoldman) has bestowed upon so many of our fainting couch punditry…. fuck’em.

  472. 472.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    July 26, 2020 at 2:58 pm

    @mad citizen:

    They have thrown pretty much everything at us and nothing is moving the needle his way.

    This. Everything they’ve tried the past several months has backfired on them.

  473. 473.

    Aleta

    July 26, 2020 at 2:58 pm

    @stinger: Henry Mancini?

     

    eta I looked it up:  (tuba) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIKSQT-oXfc

  474. 474.

    MagdaInBlack

    July 26, 2020 at 2:58 pm

    @Baud:

    Right! But! No one ever pushes back…because they havent done any home work.

  475. 475.

    Geminid

    July 26, 2020 at 2:58 pm

    @Origuy: I can see why people would build on crawl spaces or slabs in California.  A wood framed house on a crawl is fairly flexible if the framing is well fastened, and can bounce around some. But a masonry basement would have to be heavily reinforced with steel  to survive an earthquake intact.  If it failed I’m guessing a basement would be much tougher to repair than redoing a crawl space foundation. I would think a concrete slab would hold up if it was  6″ or more with plenty of properly placed rebar. But Cali has upgraded building codes on account of all the earthquakes, and I imagine they are strictly enforced.      I live in Piedmont Virginia, and earthquakes are rare. The biggest one recently was in 2005, and I barely felt it 20 miles away. But I know some folks who lived closer to the epicenter in Mineral Va. Their little dog jumped up on the couch and started barking like crazy out the bay window. Then the ground shook.

  476. 476.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    July 26, 2020 at 2:59 pm

    @Baud:

    Notice that Ted Cruz doesn’t speak to the employees to get that information first hand.

    I’m sure Ted Cruz would respond by saying that there’s no need to; the employees would only lie.

    Or some bullshit like that

  477. 477.

    Baud

    July 26, 2020 at 2:59 pm

    100 Days (Open Thread)

    Apparently, this refers to the time this thread will remain at the top of the blog.

  478. 478.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    July 26, 2020 at 3:00 pm

    @Baud: Making more on unemployment is a sign they aren’t paying their workers enough to live on.

  479. 479.

    SiubhanDuinne

    July 26, 2020 at 3:01 pm

    Just doing my bit to help T-Bogg this sucker.

  480. 480.

    Spanky

    July 26, 2020 at 3:02 pm

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: I really don’t think unemployment benefits even come up to the minimum wage for a full-time worker, do they?

    (Come on, people. Only 20 more comments.

    ETA: My own personal experience here in MD is that they don’t, and I had been making far more before I was laid off.

  481. 481.

    Formerly disgruntled in Oregon

    July 26, 2020 at 3:03 pm

    Come on, TBooooooooogggggg…

    We are so close!

    Speaking of so close, I can’t believe we’ve made it this far. July’s almost over and November’s just around the corner…

    And shit is getting real.

    But eyes on the prize, folks. Let’s win this election, leaving nothing on the field. Our democracy, the promise of the Union that so many have fought and died for, hangs in the balance.

  482. 482.

    mrmoshpotato

    July 26, 2020 at 3:03 pm

    @Steeplejack: Let’s settle this once and for all.

    Hilarious!

    No dialogue!

    French!

    Probably not actually made for kids!

    Zig and Sharko

    Volcano Turbo is a particularly ridiculous episode.

  483. 483.

    Yutsano

    July 26, 2020 at 3:04 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne:  Soon…

    And I’m tired of this paranoia bullshit. Let’s run up the score as much as possible so the results where they can be contested will be ultimately irrelevant. The fights can be had, but we get Biden to 270 without question then I literally will not care what else there is to fight about. If we have Florida it’s all over but the shouting.

  484. 484.

    mali muso

    July 26, 2020 at 3:06 pm

    100 days…more or less the length of time we were under quarantine here. Have a feeling that each day is going to feel like a year.

    come on TBogg Unit!

  485. 485.

    Richard Guhl

    July 26, 2020 at 3:08 pm

    Betty Cracker: While Biden’s basement strategy is somewhat involuntary, back in 1896, McKinley famously ran a “Front Porch” campaign against Bryan. McKinley won in a landslide.
    We are so accustomed to Presidential campaigns with candidates traveling hither and yon between battleground states and carpet bombing them with ads, that we forget that for huge swaths of the country Presidential campaigning hardly exists.

  486. 486.

    Formerly disgruntled in Oregon

    July 26, 2020 at 3:08 pm

    Bail and legal defense fund for protesters in Portland (GoFundMe).

    I donated yesterday. Over $1.2 million raised so far.

  487. 487.

    MattF

    July 26, 2020 at 3:08 pm

    OT. Some previously unreleased old Gillian Welsh songs are coming soon.

  488. 488.

    NeenerNeener

    July 26, 2020 at 3:08 pm

    I thought a TBogg unit was 600 comments.

  489. 489.

    gwangung

    July 26, 2020 at 3:09 pm

    Yeah, focus people! Eyes on the prize, doesn’t matter if we’re up or down…pound it on home

    (11 more!)

  490. 490.

    WaterGirl

    July 26, 2020 at 3:09 pm

    @NeenerNeener: 500!

  491. 491.

    SiubhanDuinne

    July 26, 2020 at 3:10 pm

    @gwangung:

    Ten or fewer now

  492. 492.

    evodevo

    July 26, 2020 at 3:10 pm

    @Baud: You’ll think so when you’ve had to watch umpty-nine episodes of it with the grandkid every day for a week…

  493. 493.

    dmsilev

    July 26, 2020 at 3:10 pm

    @NeenerNeener: An Imperial TBogg is 500 comments; you’re thinking of a metric TBogg.

  494. 494.

    gwangung

    July 26, 2020 at 3:10 pm

    Oh, and a thread showing how the shitgibbon is deliberately breaking the post office:

     

    https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1286338629141397506.html

  495. 495.

    SiubhanDuinne

    July 26, 2020 at 3:11 pm

    @NeenerNeener:

    Nope. 500.

  496. 496.

    dmsilev

    July 26, 2020 at 3:12 pm

    @evodevo: Been there, done that, with my niece and nephew. Thankfully they’re beyond that stage now.

  497. 497.

    MattF

    July 26, 2020 at 3:12 pm

    @NeenerNeener: That’s the Mayan TBogg.

  498. 498.

    Neldob

    July 26, 2020 at 3:12 pm

    @Danielx: it She does I’m flying to dc to protest.

  499. 499.

    NeenerNeener

    July 26, 2020 at 3:13 pm

    @dmsilev: Ahhh..

    OT: does any one know the significance of holding top hats in the air for the Lewis funeral procession? I can’t find anything through Google.

  500. 500.

    BruceFromOhio

    July 26, 2020 at 3:13 pm

    Just got back from Costco, even the MAGAts are wearing masks now. Maybe it’s finally starting to sink in, even just a little.

    ETA: Tbogg unit! Where’s my tee shirt?

  501. 501.

    Baud

    July 26, 2020 at 3:13 pm

    @NeenerNeener:

    @dmsilev:

    @MattF:

    I think 600 is a Baker’s TBogg.

  502. 502.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

    July 26, 2020 at 3:13 pm

    The Tbogg 500

  503. 503.

    SiubhanDuinne

    July 26, 2020 at 3:13 pm

    One of these times I will be the 500th commenter in a TBogg thread.

    ETA: Well, shit.

  504. 504.

    piratedan

    July 26, 2020 at 3:14 pm

    @gwangung: it’s almost as if Putin gave him a Honey,To Do list of all of the things that help make America quietly awesome and he’s been like Santa checking them off his list….

  505. 505.

    MagdaInBlack

    July 26, 2020 at 3:15 pm

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    Its the extra $600/week theyre loosing their minds over. Mine would have been $409/week….without the extra.

  506. 506.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    July 26, 2020 at 3:15 pm

    @BruceFromOhio: You walk in the door and get the 500th comment! LOL

  507. 507.

    Chyron HR

    July 26, 2020 at 3:15 pm

    @BruceFromOhio: 

    Confirmed: 100,000 Americans died because Donald Trump spent six months telling his supporters not to wear masks.

  508. 508.

    WaterGirl

    July 26, 2020 at 3:16 pm

    i just put up a pity thread until Tom is ready to post his.  I kept thinking his was coming any minute, but mobile peeps shouldn’t have to suffer, especially now that we’ve reached 500.

  509. 509.

    James E Powell

    July 26, 2020 at 3:17 pm

    What’s the consensus amongst Jackals on the date Our VP Candidate will be announced?

  510. 510.

    Spanky

    July 26, 2020 at 3:17 pm

    @BruceFromOhio:

    ETA: Tbogg unit! Where’s my tee shirt?

    It’s in the mail. Meaning you’ll get it in 2027.

  511. 511.

    Jackie

    July 26, 2020 at 3:17 pm

    It’s a cute cartoon show that teaches kiddos positive values. Which is why Kayleigh hoped it was cancelled.

  512. 512.

    Josie

    July 26, 2020 at 3:18 pm

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    Maybe Ted would find out that they don’t want to come back because they don’t want to die.

  513. 513.

    Matt McIrvin

    July 26, 2020 at 3:18 pm

    @EthylEster: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/07/14/postal-service-trump-dejoy-delay-mail/

    “If the plants run late, they will keep the mail for the next day,” according to a document titled, “New PMG’s [Postmaster General’s] expectations and plan.” Traditionally, postal workers are trained not to leave letters behind and to make multiple delivery trips to ensure timely distribution of letters and parcels.

    […]

    The Trump administration has consolidated control over the Postal Service, traditionally an apolitical institution, during the pandemic by making a financial lifeline for the nation’s mail service contingent upon the White House political agenda. President Trump in April called the agency “a joke” and demanded it quadruple package rates before he’d authorize any emergency aid or loans.

  514. 514.

    BruceFromOhio

    July 26, 2020 at 3:18 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: so sorry Subaru Diane, here I go waltzing in the door at the buzzer, stealing your tee shirt prize, having not commented at all today.

  515. 515.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

    July 26, 2020 at 3:18 pm

    It’s weird how it always happens in threes: within 24 hrs Regis Philbin, John Saxon, and Olivia De Havilland die

  516. 516.

    JAFD

    July 26, 2020 at 3:19 pm

    Salutations, fellow election worker !

    I may be asked to work at the November election, will take it if I do (am old man, no dependents, have only one life to give for my country ;-) )

    Back over Leap Year Day weekend, had what I thot was a ‘five-day cold’, but mayhaps I should get antibody test, will ask PCP at next exam, in September.

  517. 517.

    Kay

    July 26, 2020 at 3:20 pm

    @Elizabelle:

    Oh, I enjoyed it. I was amused the Great Debate about Cancel Culture immediately turned into stupid bullshit that Right wingers will now lob at everyone who isn’t a true believer, forever.

    A Kansas City journalist reported that the attorney general had told the public yet another blatant lie when he said DOJ had made 200 arrests. He was immediately accused by his Right wing readers of “cancelling” the attorney general.

  518. 518.

    Matt McIrvin

    July 26, 2020 at 3:20 pm

    @EthylEster: also:

    https://www.pressherald.com/2020/07/21/first-class-and-priority-mail-delayed-in-favor-of-amazon-parcels-according-to-portland-letter-carriers/

    The delivery of first-class and priority mail is being intentionally delayed so that letter carriers can prioritize the delivery of Amazon packages, according to letter carriers at the Portland [Maine] post office and an official complaint lodged with the Office of Inspector General.

  519. 519.

    Origuy

    July 26, 2020 at 3:20 pm

    Ted Cruz is an asshole, part ∞.

    Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) on Sunday blasted waiters, waitresses and bus boys who he said don’t deserve an additional $600 per week for being unemployed during the coronavirus pandemic.

  520. 520.

    James E Powell

    July 26, 2020 at 3:21 pm

    @SFAW:

    How many times did we hear that “Hillary doesn’t have a policy on that” — even though she had detailed policy statements on most/all issues — during 2016?

    The press/media – and most especially the Villagers – absolutely despise policy statements. In 2000, they mocked Gore for having proposals and disparaged people who pointed out that Bush’s proposals were bullshit and nonsense.

  521. 521.

    trollhattan

    July 26, 2020 at 3:22 pm

    @Kent:

    The Bundys and Charlottsville are probably templates for what we’ll get the following four years. Yay.

  522. 522.

    Ken

    July 26, 2020 at 3:23 pm

    @Yutsano: If we have Florida it’s all over but the shouting.

    And Florida was inevitable once Trump said he was transferring his residency there, since he’ll never take his home state. Though let’s all give a big round of applause to Gov. DeSantis for his stellar job.

  523. 523.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    July 26, 2020 at 3:23 pm

    @Matt McIrvin:

    I thought Trump hated Amazon because of Bezos?

  524. 524.

    Doug R

    July 26, 2020 at 3:24 pm

    @Sally: 12 circuit courts plus a Chief Justice makes a very reasonable case for 13.

  525. 525.

    MagdaInBlack

    July 26, 2020 at 3:24 pm

    @Origuy:

    That’s the interview that set me off.

  526. 526.

    Kent

    July 26, 2020 at 3:25 pm

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Oh, I agree, it’s going to be a total shitstorm.  I’m just pointing out that the battle to overturn the election is going to happen at the state level in November during the process of counting/certifying election results.  And before that in terms of voter suppression and fuckery.  It isn’t going to happen in Washington DC on January 20.

  527. 527.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    July 26, 2020 at 3:25 pm

    @Baud:

    Let’s get two Tbogg units! Who’s with me?!

  528. 528.

    Jaysails

    July 26, 2020 at 3:27 pm

    This argument really, really pisses me off.

    Ted Cruz apparently has a very limited understanding of how unemployment works. If your employer asks you to come back and you say no, your unemployment benefits go “poof.”  You can’t refuse a “suitable” offer of a job. If you’re offered back the same job you had when you went on unemployment, it’s pretty hard to argue that it’s now not suitable. You’d have to take it.

  529. 529.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    July 26, 2020 at 3:27 pm

    @Kent:

    Oh ok. Then I guess the best course of action is to run up the score

  530. 530.

    Kent

    July 26, 2020 at 3:28 pm

    @trollhattan:The Bundys and Charlottsville are probably templates for what we’ll get the following four years. Yay.

    On the plus side, Trump is showing us how to actually deal with the Bundy and Charlottsville types in the future.  Goose and Gander.

    [Not that I actually want that sort of thing to happen.  But if Federal troops are going to crack heads, let it be Bundy heads]

  531. 531.

    Gaffa

    July 26, 2020 at 3:28 pm

    @Steeplejack: My evidence is based on following their leaders in interviews and their Twitter feeds. They’re doing targeted ads across the nation, as well as a few general buys for larger, more general purpose ads.

    So, yeah, they’re spending their money they’re getting from the crowd sourcing. No doubt they’re making money on the side, but these guys have now burned their bridges from the establishment GOP side for at least a generation so it’s not like they’re raking in their usual K-Street backed money.

  532. 532.

    FelonyGovt

    July 26, 2020 at 3:28 pm

    Just doing my part to get us to 500.

     

    NEVER MIND! We blew right past it.

  533. 533.

    The Thin Black Duke

    July 26, 2020 at 3:29 pm

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): It’s a bribe.

  534. 534.

    MagdaInBlack

    July 26, 2020 at 3:29 pm

    @Jaysails:

    THANK YOU

    Thats their whole damn argument and it is so easy to bust and no one does!

  535. 535.

    Gaffa

    July 26, 2020 at 3:30 pm

    @WaterGirl: I don’t disagree with that attitude at all! I love their stuff and what they’re doing, but I’ve not given any money to them.

    But crowdsourcing is what it is, and based on my own experience in the media machine they are definitely spending the money they’re getting right where they said they would: on ad buys to punch GOPpers in the throat.

  536. 536.

    Kent

    July 26, 2020 at 3:31 pm

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Yes, that has always been the best strategy.  You can only steal a close election.   Florida 2000 would not have mattered if Gore had won Ohio or Colorado or Virginia.

  537. 537.

    Doug R

    July 26, 2020 at 3:31 pm

    @Suzanne: 

    Also, WTF with these house painters who just painted over doorknobs and switch plates and switches?! WTF?!

    As a delivery driver for 22 years, I was always amazed at the painted over doorbells. And how many million $ places had broken doorbells.

  538. 538.

    Jinchi

    July 26, 2020 at 3:32 pm

    @BruceFromOhio: Just got back from Costco, even the MAGAts are wearing masks now.

    Well it’s patriotic now. Not like when leftwinger’s wear masks to filter the smoke of the ruins of the civilization they’ve burned down.

    If Trump had simply told his base to wear masks for a month back at the start of all this, he could have knocked down the pandemic early and gotten everyone back in the churches by Easter, just like he wanted.

  539. 539.

    Formerly disgruntled in Oregon

    July 26, 2020 at 3:33 pm

    @Ken: We can help seal the deal by donating to the Florida Democratic Party! (ActBlue – hopefully the link works)

  540. 540.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    July 26, 2020 at 3:34 pm

    @WaterGirl:

    mobile peeps shouldn’t have to suffer

    They know what they did.

  541. 541.

    Kent

    July 26, 2020 at 3:37 pm

    @NotMax: One set of grandparents had a pool table in the basement. In a room so narrow one couldn’t avoid bumping into the wall when pulling the cue stick back to make a shot.

    There was a Seinfeld episode about that!  Frank Costanza’s pool table!

    https://youtu.be/lOQaZJiMm2g

  542. 542.

    debbie

    July 26, 2020 at 3:37 pm

    @MagdaInBlack:

    If those “employers” had their way, they’d pay minimum wage or less.

  543. 543.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    July 26, 2020 at 3:37 pm

    @Matt McIrvin: All of my Amazon deliveries lately have either been delivered by Amazon itself or UPS.

  544. 544.

    frosty

    July 26, 2020 at 3:40 pm

    @Origuy: blasted waiters, waitresses and bus boys

    Ted Cruz had better never set foot in a restaurant again if this gets out. I never spit in the soup but I know people who did; and who did worse, to customers who were assholes.

  545. 545.

    J R in WV

    July 26, 2020 at 3:42 pm

    @Matt McIrvin:

    July 26, 2020 at 1:41 pm

    @debbie: About a month ago, we took a week-long vacation and spent basically all of it emptying junk from our basement into a 15-cubic-yard dumpster. Lots of stuff we’d moved in with over a decade ago and never taken out of the boxes. But it was still painful to throw some of it out.

    A few years ago we decided that the old farm house that provided a path to rural farm life was an attractive hazard and explored tearing it down. Had to do an asbestos inspection, failed. Explored how to remediate the asbestos myself, very hard.

    When the demolition guys showed up with a huge excavator and a couple of dump trucks, there was old “antique” furniture, books, scuba gear, reloading equipment, fishing gear… none of it used in at least 20 years. All in the construction land fill.

    The old barn, a log built tobacco style barn, was torn down and pushed into a surprisingly small pile against the bottom of the hill behind the old barn. Much smaller now, but with briars and vines flourishing atop the mouldering logs.

  546. 546.

    MagdaInBlack

    July 26, 2020 at 3:43 pm

    @debbie:

    I know. I work for one like that.

  547. 547.

    Ben Cisco

    July 26, 2020 at 3:49 pm

    I not only mailed Dr. Fauci, I wrote a letter instead of sending a card.

  548. 548.

    Brachiator

    July 26, 2020 at 3:53 pm

    @David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch:

    It’s weird how it always happens in threes: within 24 hrs Regis Philbin, John Saxon, and Olivia De Havilland die

    No, it doesn’t happen in threes. It’s a thing that people make up. And possibly related to how knowledgeable a person is about American pop culture.

  549. 549.

    mad citizen

    July 26, 2020 at 3:53 pm

    @MattF: I read about this recently–also a Gillian Welch fan.  I had some of these bootlegs–now legitimate, but certainly not all of them.  This will be a treat given how sparse her output has been over the years.

    Our only Hoosier president (so far, ha!  President Pence on the way?) Benjamin Harrison ran a front-porch campaign in 1888.  What a concept–people come to you, you make 88 proclamations, your friend in October offers to bribe voters in Blocks of Five.  You lose the popular vote by 90,000 votes but win the EC 233 to 188.  Thanks wikipedia.  His house is a museum and is worth a couple hours.  He actually did some progressive things in his four years.  He was preceded and succeeded by the same man, Grover Cleveland.  Partly due to Harrison’s wife dying in October, neither man campaigned actively in 1892.  The election wasn’t that close.

  550. 550.

    J R in WV

    July 26, 2020 at 3:57 pm

    @JaySinWA:

    But then again a crawlspace is often a literal pain.

    Crawlspace under the old farmhouse was so low I had to excavate the bottom half of tunnels it get around perpendicular to the floor joists.

    My own fault. but still… new house has a full basement with 10-inch block walls built with rebar and filled with high-strength pea-gravel concrete pumped into the masonry walls. Slab has much rebar, which also fastens the block/concrete walls to the slab.

  551. 551.

    Frosty Fred

    July 26, 2020 at 4:01 pm

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):  He does hate Amazon–he thinks the USPS isn’t charging them enough.

  552. 552.

    Fair Economist

    July 26, 2020 at 4:05 pm

    @Cermet:

    A 2017 study in Science Advances found that by 2100, temperatures could rise to the point that just going outside for a few hours in some places, including parts of India and Eastern China, “will result in death even for the fittest of humans.”

    Even more frightening is what that does to the ecology. We are one of the most heat-tolerant mammals. Very little else can survive those kinds of temperatures either. Entire countries could be turned into seasonal grasslands with gophers.

  553. 553.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    July 26, 2020 at 4:11 pm

    @Fair Economist:

    Entire countries could be turned into seasonal grasslands with gophers.

    No worries, this guy is on the case.

  554. 554.

    trollhattan

    July 26, 2020 at 4:13 pm

    @MattF:

    Great news! I have Boots #1 because you cannot have too much Gillian and Dave, and new music from them is rare indeed.

  555. 555.

    Yutsano

    July 26, 2020 at 4:17 pm

    @Frosty Fred: He doesn’t think they’re charging Amazon enough because he’s a petty prick who doesn’t understand how any shit works.

  556. 556.

    whitemare

    July 26, 2020 at 4:27 pm

    @Brachiator:

     

     

    ageist

     

    and misogynist:  against women over 65 but not Bernie

  557. 557.

    NotMax

    July 26, 2020 at 4:32 pm

    @Jerzy Russian

    Space: 1999

    Both seasons are currently available to stream (free but with ads) on Tubi TV.

  558. 558.

    Baud

    July 26, 2020 at 4:34 pm

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: Hey, I asked this in the next thread, but do you have any $2-3 android apps you would recommend?

  559. 559.

    James E Powell

    July 26, 2020 at 4:34 pm

    @Kent:

    Florida 2000 would not have mattered if Gore had won Ohio or Colorado or Virginia.

    Or #$%@!! definitely shoulda known better New Hampshire.

  560. 560.

    James E Powell

    July 26, 2020 at 4:36 pm

    @Baud:

    Oilist – Makes your photos look like oil paintings.

  561. 561.

    Baud

    July 26, 2020 at 4:36 pm

    @James E Powell: Thanks!

  562. 562.

    Soprano2

    July 26, 2020 at 4:58 pm

    I can’t believe in over 500 comments no one has mentioned sewer backup when it rains as a basement problem. You haven’t lived until you’ve talked to someone who has 4 ft of sewer water in their basement…… We have lots of basements here in SWMO because of tornadoes.

  563. 563.

    Matt McIrvin

    July 26, 2020 at 5:04 pm

    @Kent:

    You can only steal a close election.

    I wonder. We might get a test of that.

  564. 564.

    Brachiator

    July 26, 2020 at 5:10 pm

    @NotMax:

    Space: 1999

    Both seasons are currently available to stream (free but with ads) on Tubi TV.

    Tubi or not Tubi, that is… a question.

  565. 565.

    Elizabelle

    July 26, 2020 at 5:18 pm

    @James E Powell:   Never forget Palm Beach County’s butterfly ballot.

    Gore would very likely have carried Florida had Theresa LePore not designed such a terribly confusing ballot that cost him way too many votes.  (Hundreds to thousands of Democratic voters accidentally voted for Pat Buchanan.)

    And Gore’s distancing himself from Clinton.  Bad move.  Those voters were going to Bush, anyway.  2000 was sad, sad, sad.

  566. 566.

    rikyrah

    July 26, 2020 at 5:38 pm

    @Immanentize:

    Imma!!!!

     

    Good to see you????

  567. 567.

    SFAW

    July 26, 2020 at 5:43 pm

    According to TPM, chicken-neck Cotton has opined that slavery was a “necessary evil.”

  568. 568.

    Richard Guhl

    July 26, 2020 at 8:13 pm

    @SFAW: Yeah, I saw that. It doesn’t take much imagination to figure out for whom it was ‘necessary’ and for whom it was evil.

  569. 569.

    Richard Guhl

    July 26, 2020 at 8:16 pm

     

     

    @SFAW: Cotton is dangerous. He’s a fascist who is able to string together complete sentences.

  570. 570.

    Chris Johnson

    July 26, 2020 at 9:08 pm

    How the hell did this one get to 570 posts?

  571. 571.

    rattlemullet

    July 26, 2020 at 9:11 pm

    Hopefully this works George Carlin from the dead

     

    <iframe width=”715″ height=”402″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/DxZZt4EAKSQ” frameborder=”0″ allow=”accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture” allowfullscreen></iframe>

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