Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

There are a lot more evil idiots than evil geniuses.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. keep building.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

You are so fucked. Still, I wish you the best of luck.

Pelosi: “He either is stupid, or he thinks the rest of us are.” Why not both?

Second rate reporter says what?

Alternative history is always a weak argument. Always.

A norm that restrains only one side really is not a norm – it’s a trap.

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

If ‘weird’ was the finish line, they ran through the tape and kept running.

The Giant Orange Man Baby is having a bad day.

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

Wake up. Grow up. Get in the fight.

You’re just a puppy masquerading as an old coot.

Cancel the cowardly WaPo and set up an equivalent monthly donation to ProPublica.

Marge, god is saying you’re stupid.

Fundamental belief of white supremacy: white people are presumed innocent, minorities are presumed guilty.

They were going to turn on one another at some point. It was inevitable.

The current Supreme Court is a dangerous, rogue court.

The willow is too close to the house.

They’re not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

Relentless negativity is not a sign that you are more realistic.

It’s pointless to bring up problems that can only be solved with a time machine.

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Sunday Evening Open Thread: Gulfing

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Yeah, I doubt the Secret Service would’ve let the Steinbrenners keep Trump out of the stadium… but I wouldn’t put it past them to let it be known they were going to pipe in a prerecorded tape of Yankees fans booing, either. George & Don were competitive members of what was then called ‘the monied scum around Manhattan Island’, back when Trump was just a local pest.

#FLAILING!

Reader Interactions

176Comments

  1. 1.

    raven

    In the last 4 hours I’ve learned my brother and cousin both have it. My brother seems to have recovered and my cousin is in the hospital.

  5. 5.

    Aleta

    @raven:  I’m sorry.  Hope they are better soon.  My relative, a nurse practitioner, had it despite all her carefulness.  She says she’s fine now.

  8. 8.

    Kent

    @Aleta: Someone probably shorted the contractors!

    On the other hand, I didn’t think Hanna struck that far south.  The eye wall was about at Corpus Christi which is a long way from the border.  In other words, it might have been an ordinary desert windstorm and no Hanna.

  11. 11.

    Aleta

    @raven:   A lot of patients and workers where she works also got  it. She said that among those people, some very old ones with lots of conditions were pos with no apparent effects, and some young ones in good shape had a hard time.  She also said that among the many nurses who were exposed, none of the smokers got it.  In her experience of this limited sample, she said there was no way of predicting.

  14. 14.

    Frankensteinbeck

    Is that wall around the White House real?  God, he’s such a coward.  He saw protestors in DC and was literally so afraid they would storm the White House that he’s building a wall.

  15. 15.

    raven

    @Aleta: Yea, my cousin is in isolation at the hospital. He’s combat wounded, agent orange and tough as nails and I guess none of it matters.

  16. 16.

    Eric S.

    @raven: Oh, man, i’m sorry. Im happy for brother is better. I don’t pray but my fingers are crossed for your cousin.

  17. 17.

    dmsilev

    Sigh. My parents called me this morning to let me know that an old friend, someone we’ve known for roughly thirty five years, died yesterday. And, to be honest, mixed in with the grief is a feeling of relief. She was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s about three and a half years ago, and by the last time I saw her (Christmas), her personality was just about gone. There were flashes and instances of the woman I knew, but just briefly. And, from what her family has said since then, it only degenerated from there. So, yeah, definitely complicated feelings today.
    I do wish I could attend her memorial service, but flying cross country right about now… Bad idea.

  19. 19.

    opiejeanne

    @raven: Oh no! I’m so sorry to hear that. I hope your cousin recovers and your brother has no ongoing issues.

  23. 23.

    Yutsano

    My co-worker lost her father to it. Her brother has it and is trying to fight it off. Found out a friend of mine had it and that will spike any ambitions he had of joining the military after college. I had the test after spiking a fever in hospital. This damn virus is all too real for me now.

  27. 27.

    WaterGirl

    @Frankensteinbeck: I wondered the same thing.  Is it for real?  Like you, my first thought was what a fucking coward.

    Then I had the chilling thought that he may actually intend to stay in office even if he doesn’t win.  It looks like he’s making the WH a fortress.

    Someone please tell me that is a ridiculous thought and/or that the photo isn’t for real.

  28. 28.

    Suzanne

    @raven: Uggggggh I’m sorry. Best wishes for your cousin.

    My BIL got COVID at work (he works in the dietary department in a hospital) and is doing better now. He has returned to work. But he is considering leaving working in the hospital setting and doing something else.

  29. 29.

    WaterGirl

    @dmsilev: Alzheimers is a terrible disease.  In some cases, pneumonia can be a blessing.  My -ex’s dad had it and spent all day every day curled up in the fetal position.  The first two times they treated for pneumonia and the the third time they did not.

    So many terrible ways to go.

  30. 30.

    WaterGirl

    @raven: Finding out about your brother and your cousin at the same time could really throw you for a loop, bringing it all too close to home.  Glad your brother recovered.

    COVID is a crap shoot, and i want no part of it.  I am still being super cautious.

    Though my neighbor came to the door yesterday, masked, but only 2-3 feet away.  I should have said something, but I didn’t.  The second time he came to the door, i answered from the front door, so I could guarantee more distance.

  31. 31.

    Suzanne

    @Yutsano: Two of my colleagues have it, and a former colleague/friend lost his mom to it. Another former colleague lost her mom to it and then got furloughed in the same week.

  32. 32.

    raven

    The current metal fence, which had spikes added to the top after the September 11 terrorist attacks, will be replaced by one that has an 18-inch aboveground stone base at the bottom, with a 10-foot, 7-inch metal fence atop that and a one-foot-tall ‘anti-climb’ feature at its top.
    The new fence is estimated to cost $64 million and will be approximately 3,500 feet long to surround the 18 acres the White House sits on.

    The fence design won approval from both the Commission of Fine Arts and the National Capital Planning Commission in 2017.

  34. 34.

    dmsilev

    @WaterGirl: That’s basically what happened with my friend. Bacterial infection, taken to the hospital, didn’t respond well to antibiotics. At that point, her husband and children decided ‘no heroic measures, no feeding tube’.

  35. 35.

    opiejeanne

    @WaterGirl: The White House is only a building. It is not the Office of Presidency. The Oval Office is just a room, it does not bestow power on anyone just because they are in it.

  37. 37.

    Punchy

    Im becoming more convinced that a stolen election is the route theyre going.  They only need to break the law for 1 day…..apprx 10 hrs….then shut down any and all investigations immediately afterwards.  Then again, such plans couldnt be kept secret from the House GOP members, who wouldnt be all so “good dog we”re fucked” if they knew the fix was in.  So maybe thats not the plan.

    Also, I would believe fixing an election would take exquisite planning and execution, and none of these chuckleheads have any ability for any of that.  Perhaps they just go Full Grift for the next 3 months then accept the eviction notice with pockets full of green in their pants.

  38. 38.

    Mai naem mobile

    @raven: hoping the best for your cousin. I hope he’s not in an area that’s overrun with cases.

    If you do a close up of Donny in the golf course pic his neck looks really weird. It’s possible it’s photoshopped. Possibly lighting but zoom into it and it just looks really odd. Brett Favre  looks just fine in the pic.

  39. 39.

    WaterGirl

    @dmsilev: I hope you don’t feel bad, even for a minute, for feeling kind of relieved.  When what makes the person who they were is gone, it can take a little bit to come to terms with that, because it looks like they are still there.

    It’s a terrible disease to wrap your head around.

  40. 40.

    Geminid

    I was catching up on news and saw that Cook Political Report has moved the Ohio 1st district race between Steve Chabot (R) and Democrat Kate Schroder from lean republican to toss up. With the exception of 2009-2011, Chabot has held that seat since 1994.

  42. 42.

    Emma from FL

    @raven: I am so sorry! I learned last week that the daughter of a dear friend, a nurse, got it from one of her patients in spite of all precautions. It was a “light” case — a few chills and some fever — but she has already been asked to return to work as soon as she’s cleared. The nurse shortage is getting critical in Miami-Dade county.

  44. 44.

    WaterGirl

    @Punchy:

    I would believe fixing an election would take exquisite planning and execution, and none of these chuckleheads have any ability for any of that.

    Actually, there has been a whole hell of a lot of planning for a very long time on the part of the Koch brothers, etc, that has gotten us to where we are today.

    Trump and his family are idiots, but they are surrounded by some terrible people who unfortunately do know how to play the system to destroy a lot of what we have always believed in.

    I totally believe we would win in a landslide if the election is legitimate, but there are a hundred ways they can keep people from voting, and it scares me.

    But we have to start taking action right now to make it as hard for them as possible.

    I think voting protections have to be in the coming COVID bill, as does protection for the post office.  I think both of those should be our hill to die on with this legislation.

  46. 46.

    Yutsano

    @Punchy: Who’s doing the planning? Prince Jared? Ivanka? Neither one of them could plan a sandwich. Bill Barr? He’ll be lucky if the DoJ doesn’t finally up and quit on him if he tries too many election shenanigans. Acting Secretary Wolf? He’s just a thug that will be in trouble once everything comes crashing down. Not one person in this administration is capable of the level of planning and strategy it would take to truly hijack the election. They are acting more like people who know things are about to come crashing down on them. Our job is to make the score so high that any possible whining and stealing is seen as desperate instead of serious. Once that happens we’ll have to deal with a shit show of a transition. But I think Biden already is aware of all this.

  47. 47.

    opiejeanne

    @WaterGirl: I. hope that helped.

    I’ve been trying to calm down a bunch of friends by reminding them of that, but they are so worried about it that they aren’t able to be rational about the subject.

    It does look like he’s digging in to stay, but I’m pretty sure the Secret Service will escort his fat ass out with alacrity before the inauguration is over.

  48. 48.

    James E Powell

    @WaterGirl:

    That’s how my father departed this life. Curled up in a fetal position with tubes. Eventually the feeding by tube stopped working. It was just awful.

  49. 49.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @WaterGirl:

    Someone please tell me that is a ridiculous thought

    It is a ridiculous thought.  It does not match the time frame or other events involved.  He started building the wall during the BLM protests, after he was first whisked away to the White House’s secret bunker.  He had the Secret Service get their snipers ready during those protests, and brought in CBP goons to guard the White House’s entrances.  This isn’t related to his plans.  He’s literally such a coward that when he sees protestors in DC he freaks out in fear they’re going to storm the White House.

  51. 51.

    WaterGirl

    @opiejeanne: I think I read somewhere that it wouldn’t be the Secret Service because they don’t have the authority for that.

    But how long would Trump last if they quit serving him meals?  If the secret service stopped protecting him?  If Ivanka was no longer allowed to come and go at the white house?  How long would his peeps stay trapped with him at the white house?  Because if they left for any reason, they would surely not be allowed back in.

  53. 53.

    Carolina Dave

    @opiejeanne:

    I’m hoping America delivers an eviction notice on November 3rd to the Orange squatter in the White House. To be carried out on January 20, 2021 at 12:01pm.

  54. 54.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @WaterGirl:

    they are surrounded by some terrible people who unfortunately do know how to play the system to destroy a lot of what we have always believed in.

    Remember this.  ALWAYS remember this:  If Republicans had the physical ability to overturn election results, Doug Jones would not have won.  They did absolutely everything in their power there.  They did NOT want to lose that seat.  This is something they cared about absolutely.  And Doug Jones won, in the state where it would have been easiest for them to overturn things.  For all they cheat around the margins, no, Republicans do not have the power to outright rig an election.

  55. 55.

    WaterGirl

    @James E Powell: It is awful.  I had never met the man when he was still himself, but it was horrible seeing another human being like that.  No quality of life.

    It’s the worst when family can’t agree on decision.  That might just be a pretty good definition of hell.

  57. 57.

    James E Powell

    @WaterGirl:

    Actually, there has been a whole hell of a lot of planning for a very long time on the part of the Koch brothers, etc, that has gotten us to where we are today.

    That’s what some people are not fully appreciating. Nearly every court ruling in favor of allowing people to vote has been appealed, stayed, and held in limbo. Florida was the big one.

  59. 59.

    WaterGirl

    @Frankensteinbeck: Thank you.

    I have really been appreciating your comments these past few weeks.  You sometimes have a different take than other people, and I find that it helps me keep perspective.

    Even when I lose it for a minute!

  61. 61.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    @raven:

    I’m glad to hear your brother is out from under it and I hope your cousin beats it. I hope they both have minimal to no lingering issues, this shit is nasty.

  63. 63.

    Kelly

    @WaterGirl:But you’re right, squatting in the WH does not make you president.

    If the White House cooks stop feeding him he’ll be gone the next day.

  64. 64.

    dmsilev

    @WaterGirl: I don’t feel guilty about it, just sort of strange knowing that this was sort of a blessing in disguise, particularly for the people (her husband, mainly) who were caring for her as her capacities diminished.

  66. 66.

    WaterGirl

    @debbie: Yeah, everything that said there is a link looks like O is better with COVID and A is worse.

    But the other half said there is no link at all.

    So much uncertainty.

  68. 68.

    West of the Rockies

    Favre always seemed like an A-hole to me with that stupid smirk-smile and old South arrogance.  If he chooses to hang with scum like Trump, my suspicions are confirmed.

  70. 70.

    HumboldtBlue

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    I’m not buying this anymore, the touch screen voting machines are tailor-made for just this scenario. Karl Rove gave us the tell in 2012 and they used the voter suppression and iffy voting machines and software in 2016 and they’ll use it again in November. It’s not hijacking paper ballots it’s rigging voting machines and that remains a concern, a huge concern.

    I ain’t the brightest bulb in this chandelier of mutants, clever jacks and people who actually know useful shit about the world but I am paranoid enough to not trust our system until Biden is sworn in.

  71. 71.

    Kent

    @Punchy: Also, I would believe fixing an election would take exquisite planning and execution, and none of these chuckleheads have any ability for any of that.  Perhaps they just go Full Grift for the next 3 months then accept the eviction notice with pockets full of green in their pants.

    Elections are fixed at the state level, not Federal level.  Which state elections are they going to fix?  Obviously some of the southern states are already fixed, like Georgia and maybe Florida.  But the 3 swing states in 2016 were WI, MI, and PA and they have all flipped from GOP to DEM governors and secretaries of state.  So the job is going to be a LOT LOT tougher.

    Obviously they are going to try to fix every state election that they can, from statehouse races to Congress to president.  That’s what they do and it is what they have always done going back at least a generation (or 150 years in the south).  But it is going to be a tougher task to actually do it in enough swing states in 2020 to swing the presidential election.

    But of course they will try and will need to be fought every damn step of the way.

  72. 72.

    jl

    When does official campaign season start and people start to pay close and sustained attention? Seems like a lot of Trumpster created messes are baked into the system now, and will stretch out into summer and early fall.

    Hospital crises for next month or so baked into current situation in sunbelt and some southern states, periodically making for justifiably scary headline stories.

    Stress and delay of at least several weeks in renewal of economic rescue package because Congressional GOP has forgotten how to actually do anything.

    Fed police making more trouble, which seems to be unpopular, over next few weeks at least.

    So, those die down just in time for Trumpster insane and irresponsible school opening plan to blow up. Nothing like oldster teachers getting sick and dying to cheer up the voting population.

  73. 73.

    Yutsano

    @Frankensteinbeck: At 1201 20 JAN 2021 if he has not received at least 270 electors in the Electoral College which will have voted by 14 DEC* he will no longer be President. There is no mechanism in the Constitution or the law that can change that date. They can only work on suppressing the vote, but we still have mechanisms in place to counter those. We’re not totally helpless here and as soon as we as act like we are they gain power over us. It’s not going to be easy but we will win here.‏

    *I refuse to admit if Silverman is having an influence on me or not…

    <_<

    >_>

  74. 74.

    featheredsprite

    @raven: Sorry about your relatives. Your cousin might be in trouble. I’m older than dirt myself and am reluctant to leave the house.

  75. 75.

    tomtofa

    @raven: Glad for your brother; hoping for your cousin.

    @Mai naem mobile: Out of idle curiosity, looked up Favre’s height/weight. He’s 6’2″, 223 lbs. In the pic he’s a bit taller than T, and there’s a lot more than 16 lbs. difference between them . . .

  76. 76.

    jl

    @Yutsano: That is my understanding too. About the only clear consensus I’ve seen legally from what I’ve read: No valid electoral college vote, no newly elected president. After Jan 2020, Trump gone. Seems to be some controversy over how federal laws governing succession will work. Maybe depends on who controls the Senate. One scenario I read, if Dems take Senate is President, ta da! Leahy.

    Edit: I’d comment on the decision being thrown into the House, but I forgot, too damn complicated.

  77. 77.

    piratedan

    @Punchy: not worried about the GOP… I  am worried that they’re taking their cues from the GRU… in essence just being given a script to follow and willing to do whatever they’re told.

  78. 78.

    Punchy

    @Frankensteinbeck: This is a very good point.  If Trump could control results, all his “guys” would have won, followed by Trump braggadocio and shit talking. The many instances that his men failed is decent proof that he doesnt controll all the levers.

  83. 83.

    jl

    After Trump’s A-hole tweets on kneeling in MLB, maybe too high a chance the players will boo him, or the the pro- anti-Trump factions get into a non-socially distanced brawl?

  85. 85.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    Yeah, I doubt the Secret Service would’ve let the Steinbrenners keep Trump out of the stadium…

    …it’s the Steinbrenner’s show. The Secret Service would’ve had no authority to force them to let Trump throw a shitty ceremonial pitch

  86. 86.

    Mai naem mobile

    @tomtofa: Favre isn’t playing anymore so chances are he’s put on some weight.  From what I’ve seen it seems like a lot of the pro athletes put on some weight after they quit their sport. Must be the freedom from not having to follow a certain diet for peak performance.

  87. 87.

    different-church-lady

    @Smalla:

    I’m so disappointed in Brett Favre. It’s even worse than him becoming a Viking Tom Brady becoming a Buccaneer.

  89. 89.

    Yutsano

    @Smalla: A friend of mine is from Wisconsin. He’s named after number 4. So naturally he roots for…the Chargers.

    EDIT: he actually wants to own a share in the team just to lord it over his family. He still won’t root for them. But he just wants to stick it to them. Families are weird.

  90. 90.

    different-church-lady

    Tech question: how many thousands of browser tabs can you have open long-term before the internet runs out of memory? Asking for a friend…

  92. 92.

    rikyrah

     

     

    @tomtofa:

    I would have thought that Favre would continue to keep a low profile, less people begin to ask about that million dollars he wound up with from Mississippi state funds that he had no right to.?

  95. 95.

    CaseyL

    @raven: Shit!  I am so sorry to hear that.  Glad your brother is recovering, and I hope he recovers fully. I hope your cousin makes a full recovery, too.

  96. 96.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

    I have always thought it was silly when people say Dump won’t leave the WH if he loses for the simple reason there’s no golf course at the WH.

  97. 97.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @different-church-lady:

    Can’t give you a precise answer, but I’ve had at least hundreds of tabs open on my mobile Chrome browser. Occasionally, when switching tabs, it will freeze for 10 seconds or so, and when opening the browser sometimes all of the tabs will have to reload

  98. 98.

    Wyatt Salamanca

    @jl:

    Trump is just scared that he’d look like an idiot with a lollipop throw.

    The Yankees should get AOC to throw out the first pitch and Brett Favre is an asshole.

  99. 99.

    Rjnerd

    I know of two,  the owner of the place my brother worked at,  and the mother of a dear friend.

    i knew my brothers boss, and bought stuff from him years ago (ran a surplus electronics biz.  He was already on radiation treatments for cancer, so he was on borrowed time,  but was expected to last another year.  He said no to a ventilator, and was gone a few hours later.

    My brother was tested, and was luckily negative, but he still went into isolation for two weeks anyway.  Unfortunately his job has him dealing with physical objects, so remote work isn’t an option for him.

     

    Elaines mother was a very different story.  She was a tough old coot that had survived a bunch of things that should have killed her.  We were all convinced that the reaper was afraid of her…  But she did have a target on her, as she was convinced to try assisted living last year after her car keys  were taken away.  Not sure which location it was in, the choices were Florida, or New Jersey,  neither particularly good odds.

     

    It is even harder than usual  losing people right now, as all the mechanisms for the community to help the grieving family just aren’t advisable.  I lost my wife at the end of May,  and I have no idea when it might be possible to hold an event to celebrate her memory.  I did finally get to ring for her, but it was almost comical, the four of us masked, and each in our own corner of a friends deck.
    https://www.lastingmemories.com/memorial/susan-fera-assmann

  101. 101.

    Kay

    Jake Sherman
    @JakeSherman
    · 14h
    >@elonmusk to @maureendowd: “Biden, I just don’t know. It’s hard to see through the noise. But is he — are all his mental faculties there or not? I can’t quite tell. It would be helpful to see him in a debate scenario or something like that.”

    Joe Biden was in 11 debates in late 2019 and early 2020.

  102. 102.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

    He appeared unable to stand still during a solemn ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery on Memorial Day. Some observers noted that he had difficulties lifting a wreath with his right arm.

    There’s something wrong.

  103. 103.

    Ruckus

    @raven:

    Best of luck to your cousin and hopefully your brother will recover 100%.

    @dmsilev:

    My father died of Alzheimers at 84. Suffered for 19 yrs. It never gets better, the end result is always the same. I’ve known of people who suffered for 5 yrs, one just never knows how it’s going to go. But the disease is one of a number that rots the brain from the inside and when it gets to certain parts, that’s the end. ALS, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Huntington’s, are the big 4, MS is not in the same realm but is pretty nasty as well. Had a friend with ALS.

    This is going to sound callous but from my experience at some point the end is almost a relief. The suffering from these diseases is bad and only gets worse. I have some of the symptoms of Parkinson’s and it took almost 4 yrs for a medical decision to be made that I don’t have it. The early stages of all of these are not necessarily good but are not nearly the level of later stages. My friend with ALS lived in a wheel chair and bed with out the ability to speak or perform any bodily functions on his own towards the end. He had a breathing tube as well towards the end. His son was with him constantly and tended to all his needs for a number of years, a 24 hr a day job.

  108. 108.

    Dan B

    @Yutsano: You’re in the epicenter for WA state although the spread is migrating north.  It’s three times the rate of Seattle.

  113. 113.

    Redshift

    @Wyatt Salamanca: Trump saw the good-natured ribbing of Fauci’s pitch in Twitter, and since he cannot stand being the butt of even the mildest of jokes (see the WHCD), he made up a bullshit excuse and chickened out. I’m convinced this is exactly what happened.

  115. 115.

    Ruckus

    @WaterGirl:

    The secret service protects the president. At noon on Jan 20, 2021 we will have a new president. If Joe Biden wins, as of him being sworn in, shitforbrains will be a squatter in the building. An unwelcome visitor. The secret service, in order to protect the current president will provide security, and in this instance will consist of them escorting him out. This is their job, take a bullet, defend the person, the job. They have other duties but this one is the most visible.

  116. 116.

    SFAW

    @raven:

    Best wishes to you and your cousin (as well as your brother, of course). Hoping for a full and quick recovery.

  117. 117.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Ohio Mom:

    You remember correctly! That article is pay-walled, but the subtitle alludes to Columbo, despite being a cop, wasn’t a fascist

  118. 118.

    Wyatt Salamanca

    @Redshift:

    Despite the constant, over-the-top swagger he displays in public, at his core Trump is just a sniveling, nail-biting, bed-wetting coward.

  121. 121.

    tomtofa

    @rikyrah:

    Brazen it out seems to be the way for rich rightwing jerks. Personally I’d keep a low profile just about the d**k pics.

  122. 122.

    Ohio Mom

    Goku: I’m sorry you can’t see the article. Some excerpts:

    “It also avoids the traps of “copaganda”: Columbo never resorts to force and he does not hunt the downtrodden but white elites who want to preserve or increase their status…Columbo always punches up because he takes down members of the elite.”

    ”The social ills he uncovers are not caused by, say, drug use or poverty, but by an amoral sense of immunity fostered by affluence and status. Columbo is solidly middle class…”

    “Columbo relies exclusively on observation, deduction and psychology, which gives his police work an abstract quality: Visual signifiers of law enforcement are largely invisible, whether they are uniforms, patrol cars, police stations and jails or, most important, guns.”

    “Sherlock Holmes, say, used the same approach, but Columbo stands out because of the pleasure he derives — not that he would admit to that — from taunting suspects in manipulative mind games. The exchanges rely always on the tension between two opposite life philosophies: A self-effacing (possibly calculatingly so) working stiff confronts people blinded by hubris. It’s a neat way to undermine power, or the projection of it.”

  123. 123.

    StringOnAStick

    @Rjnerd: I’m very sorry for your loss.  I hope you’ll soon be able to have the life celebration she deserves and that this will provide some comfort to you.

  125. 125.

    Matt McIrvin

    @WaterGirl: Trump can wall himself up in the White House all he wants–if he loses the election, come January 20th he’s just a trespasser there. The military knows this, and I’m betting the Secret Service knows this.

  127. 127.

    Geminid

    @Kay: After Biden and Sanders debated on May 15, USA Today had a top college debate coach, Todd Graham of Southern Illinois University, rate their performances. Graham was pretty detailed. He said it was Biden’s best debate performance yet, gave it an A.                      Graham gave poor Bernie a D. Sanders kept asking rhetorical questions, which Graham thought was poor debating technique.                                               It’s hard to believe that was only 70 days ago.

  128. 128.

    satby

    @Rjnerd: Condolences on the passing of Susan. What lovely tributes people left for her.

    @raven:  Glad your brother seems to be recovering, hoping for the same for your cousin.

  129. 129.

    RandomMonster

    I can’t read anything on this post without seeing Seinfeld’s Steinbrenner wildly gesticulating and Larry David’s voice saying, “Big Stein doesn’t want some White House rubber arm toss in Yankee Stadium!”

  130. 130.

    Kristine

    @Kay:

    “Musk? I just don’t know. It’s hard to see through the noise. But is he — are all his mental faculties there or not? I can’t quite tell. It would be helpful to see him in a debate scenario or something like that shut up for five minutes.”

  132. 132.

    laura

    @rikyrah: old school trick a cold shower followed by Jean Nate splash. My mom used to keep Jean Nate in the fridge in the summer.

  133. 133.

    Ohio Mom

    jl @124: I don’t think the Times’ essayist has given Holmes half the thought she has to Columbo.

    In fairness, she started rewatching Columbo in quarantine because she had happy childhood memories of watching the show with her dad. Perhaps if they had read Sherlock Holmes together, her observations of Holmes would have been more fine-tuned.

  137. 137.

    randy khan

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    Is that wall around the White House real? God, he’s such a coward. He saw protestors in DC and was literally so afraid they would storm the White House that he’s building a wall.

    I haven’t been there in a while, but they started a project to replace the fence with something taller in the fall. It had been in the works for a while. While the old fence is down and the new one is coming up, they’ve got temporary barriers, although usually they had somewhere you could look through the times I went past. (I haven’t been there since probably February, so I don’t know if that’s still true.)

    BTW, the theory of the new fence is that it will be better at preventing people from climbing over it, which has happened in the past. To prevent that, they’ve put in Jersey barriers on the sidewalk and restricted access to it. Supposedly the plan was to reopen the sidewalk when the new fence was completed. I am skeptical that will happen, but we’ll see.

  139. 139.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Kent:

    Elections are fixed at the state level, not Federal level.  Which state elections are they going to fix?  Obviously some of the southern states are already fixed, like Georgia and maybe Florida.  But the 3 swing states in 2016 were WI, MI, and PA and they have all flipped from GOP to DEM governors and secretaries of state.  So the job is going to be a LOT LOT tougher.

    Some possibilities:

    1. Shut down the US Postal Service. This is already happening, to some degree- the USPS just announced that, due to their cutbacks and slowdown orders, anyone planning to vote by mail needs to factor in a 14-day round trip. But if Trump shuts down the USPS entirely in the fall, or maybe orders them to shitcan all ballots if he wants to be more blatant about it, he can completely stop the election in some states, like Oregon, and eliminate all of the mail votes in others.
    2. Send in the goons to just break shit and frighten people in swing-state blue cities, like Cleveland, Durham, Miami and Philadelphia. Firebomb some polling places, maybe. Make everyone terrified to even be out on the street.
    3. All this chaos might not actually shift the vote in his favor–but even if it doesn’t, it could create uncertainty and a lack of confidence in the vote count that he could then use in a lawsuit to overturn a losing result. It’d be a little like shooting your parents and demanding mercy because you’re an orphan, but with enough hacks on the Supreme Court it might work. I remember 2000.
  140. 140.

    Redshift

    The procession for John Lewis is supposed to stop at Black Lives Matter Plaza near the White House. I can’t help but wonder if that might be part of the reason for renewed fence construction. (Also, people who aren’t DC locals might not know that they dismantled the expanded perimeter they put up after the bible photo op.

  142. 142.

    debbie

    @laura:

    We used to keep our sheets in the refrigerator all day. Can’t remember exactly how long they stayed cool on the bed, but it was a relief.

  143. 143.

    randy khan

    @Kelly:

    If the White House cooks stop feeding him he’ll be gone the next day.

     

    They should just serve him only green vegetables.  That would do it.

    If he loses, at noon on Inauguration Day everyone will stop taking his orders.  And that includes the Secret Service, which would follow any order from the new Administration to remove him.

    All of that said, there’s an elaborate choreography for one President moving out and another moving in.  It’s easy to imagine Trump gumming that up, which would be a pain for his successor.

  144. 144.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Kristine: I’m no doctor, but I was always really skeptical about the blood-type stuff just because there’s so much silly woo out there about various things being associated with your blood type. In Japan they’re treated like astrological signs, with associated personality types and such.

    Here, there have been fad diets where the foods you can eat depend on your blood type. I recall one where there was a blood type that could eat chicken but not turkey, or maybe it was the other way around.

  145. 145.

    randy khan

    @Matt McIrvin:

    This is already happening, to some degree- the USPS just announced that, due to their cutbacks and slowdown orders, anyone planning to vote by mail needs to factor in a 14-day round trip.

    I’m seeing this spread around, so I think it’s important to point out that’s not what the Postal Service said.  They have said for a while that if you want to be sure your mailed-in ballot gets there in time, you should mail it a week in advance.  Somebody doubled that based on the assumption that it would take the same amount of time to get your ballot from local election officials.  (Hence the use of “round trip” in the original version of it.)

    The advice about mailing early is a good idea, but it’s not new, and not based on anything that’s happened recently  It’s also really more time than you’d expect to need – in most places, first class mail in state gets delivered in a couple of business days.  But you should be careful with your vote and send it in early anyway.

    (By the way, while researching this earlier today, I found out that mailed-in ballots have special markings so they are expedited.)

  146. 146.

    frosty

    @dmsilev: That was our decision with my mom, who had a DNR and no heroic measures signed. She had a bacterial infection, they gave her antibiotics. We talked it over with the social worker and found out those were keeping her alive and asked them to stop.

    Vascular dementia in her case. At one point she said “I don’t want to be here.” We said that the assisted living place was really good for her and she said “Not here, Planet Earth.”

    Dementia is hard on everyone. For us kids, it was like grieving in steps as a little bit more of her was gone. Same thing happened with my dad’s Parkinson’s 10 years earlier.

  148. 148.

    Kelly

    @Matt McIrvin:But if Trump shuts down the USPS entirely in the fall, or maybe orders them to shitcan all ballots if he wants to be more blatant about it, he can completely stop the election in some states, like Oregon, and eliminate all of the mail votes in others.

    Oregon has ballot drop off boxes statewide. Our nearest is at the city library. Most small towns have at least one and there are many in the cities.

  149. 149.

    Wyatt Salamanca

    @randy khan: 

    It’s easy to imagine Trump gumming that up, which would be a pain for his successor.

    If Trump loses in Nov after they pry him out from under the resolute desk where he’ll be curled up in a fetal position, he won’t become a former President he’ll become an Anti-President claiming that Biden is an illegitimate leader who stole the election by massive voter fraud. Trump is a truly sick bastard who’ll never ever go gentle into that good night. He’ll continue tweeting up a shitstorm for the foreseeable future.

    th

  150. 150.

    frosty

    @HumboldtBlue:  @Kent:  PA got rid of voting machines with no paper trail in 2018. I voted a scanned paper ballot in that election, so you can take us off the hackable list.

  151. 151.

    Anya

    @Kay:  Why would anyone care about Elon Musk’s opinions on anything is beyond me.

    Remember that time when rapper Azealia Banks took over Elon Musk’s house for days and was trash tweeting about him and how he was tweeting about taking Tulsa private while he was on Acid? The dude couldn’t even get Azealia Bank out of his house. That’s how messy he is. Only way to make sense of his ll-thought-out ideas is if you imagine you’re listening to Justin Hammer talking about one of his plans to defeat Ironman.

  152. 152.

    Wapiti

    @Matt McIrvin: I expect that most postal workers either mirror their community or they tend to be more pro-union/pro-good government. They’re also sort of self-selected for dedicated obeyance of postal regs. I don’t think that all 600,000 postal workers are going to quiet about a hypothetical order to destroy ballots.

  153. 153.

    frosty

    @Ruckus: I have some of the symptoms of Parkinson’s and it took almost 4 yrs for a medical decision to be made that I don’t have it.

    I’m glad to hear that, having watched the disease up close. Your comment reminded me of a Paul Fussel quote: “Life is short and almost always ends messily.”

  154. 154.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

    Get ready. This is going to be a big week. ?‍☠️

    — The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) July 27, 2020

    I love the smell of napalm in the morning

  157. 157.

    Lyrebird

    @raven: all good wishes to your relatives!

    &

    @Rjnerd: oh my, what a loss!  our family is also waiting, hoping to do a celebration of life next summer if we can.

  158. 158.

    West of the Cascades

    @Kelly: the closest one to me is also the public library … although the McDonald’s on NE Cesar Chavez is a close second. I love being able to vote at a McDonald’s in Portland.

  160. 160.

    HRA

    @raven: I wish for the best recovery for your brother and your cousin progresses to get out of the hospital with a good recovery.

  162. 162.

    joel hanes

    @frosty:

    a Paul Fussel quote: “Life is short and almost always ends messily.”

     

    “Don’t take life so serious, son.   It ain’t nohow permanent.”
    — Walt Kelly, somewhere in Pogo

  163. 163.

    Brachiator

    @raven:

    Oh my goodness. Good to hear that your brother recovered from the virus. Best wishes to your cousin.

  164. 164.

    Another Scott

    An important thread, for the people who don’t understand what has been done elsewhere, and what can and should be done in the USA. We could beat COVID-19 back in 8 weeks.

    COVID Update July 26: We can virtually eliminate the virus any time we decide to. 1/

    — Andy Slavitt @ ? (@ASlavitt) July 26, 2020

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  166. 166.

    Brachiator

    @WaterGirl:

    Then I had the chilling thought that he may actually intend to stay in office even if he doesn’t win.  It looks like he’s making the WH a fortress.

    Trump will neither remain in office nor in the White House if he loses the election. And besides, everything could be transferred to Biden’s basement if necessary.

    Also, I get the impression that there is a very efficient and we’ll established procedure to move the former president out and the newly elected president into the White House.

  170. 170.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @burnspbesq: As I posted here a few days ago, this “one weird trick” was discovered 50 years ago by striking Johns Hopkins University students when the Baltimore cops came onto campus & lobbed tear gas canisters at them – then retreated in confusion as the canisters came whistling back at them. And further perfected by Terps at U of MD College Park a day or two later.

    At the time of that post I conjectured that lax stix were rare in Oregon. Happy to be wrong!

  171. 171.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @joel hanes: IIRC Red Skelton >50 years ago said his momma told him not to take anything too seriously, because “ain’t none of us getting out of this alive.” (paraphrase from memory)

  172. 172.

    Woodrow/asim

    @James E Powell:

    Saw this “White Supremacy Shaped American Christianity, Researcher Says” – It’s an interview with Robert Jones, the author of “White Too Long: The Legacy of White Supremacy in American Christianity.”

    Hasn’t this been pretty obvious for a long, long time? Isn’t it common knowledge?

    Even the most obvious questions are worth research and study.

    And frankly? A lot of White folx, I find, are still deeply confused about racism and white supremacy, and how they impact our country — much less their own political views.

    Dr. King’s admonishment of the white moderate in ’63 is still way, way too relevant to these times.

  174. 174.

    Rjnerd

    Thanks to all for the kind words.  The thing I wasn’t expecting was how often I stumble onto something, and “I should show this to … crap”..

  175. 175.

    JAFD

    Sending some healing energy in their direction.  Hope they get well soon.

    Take care of yourself, too.

    (Note, this is meant for Raven, at comment #1,  not sure if comments working on my browser, today ? )

  176. 176.

    2liberal

    @WaterGirl:

    Then I had the chilling thought that he may actually intend to stay in office even if he doesn’t win.

     

    This is a ridiculous idea.  Once the oath is taken Biden is president (assuming he wins)

Comments are closed.