Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

Ron DeSantis, the grand wizard, oops, governor of FL.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

Books are my comfort food!

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

The line between political reporting and fan fiction continues to blur.

Well, whatever it is, it’s better than being a Republican.

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

If you are in line to indict donald trump, stay in line.

Everything is totally normal and fine!!!

It’s the corruption, stupid.

Republicans: slavery is when you own me. freedom is when I own you.

I really should read my own blog.

Chutkan laughs. Lauro sits back down.

The problem people have with Biden’s age is the color of the VPs skin.

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

I was confident that someone would point it out and thought why not me.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

There are no moderate republicans – only extremists and cowards.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

Shut up, hissy kitty!

FFS people, this was a good thing. take the win.

You are here: Home / Economics / C.R.E.A.M. / Friday Night Fights Open Thread: Is Trump’s Campaign Running Out of Money?

Friday Night Fights Open Thread: Is Trump’s Campaign Running Out of Money?

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Just raising the question! My first thought was that Bill Stepien has discovered there are so many leaks in the campaign’s colander that he can’t be sure they’ll have enough on hand to deliver to the capo di tutti capo (Putin), which would be very very bad for Bill Stepien, among others. But the Washington Post adds:

President Trump’s campaign has temporarily paused its television advertising with less than 100 days to go before the election, a move that comes amid a broader shake-up in his faltering bid for a second term.

Two weeks after Trump demoted former campaign manager Brad Parscale and replaced him with Bill Stepien, the reelection effort is reviewing its spending, messaging and strategy in an attempt to boost the president’s fortunes. Polls have shown Trump trailing presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden, as voters give the president low marks for his handling of the coronavirus…

The Trump campaign’s efforts to hit the reset button and refocus ahead of the vote come as the president has continued to push divisive messages that have frustrated members of is own party…

Stepien is also looking at personnel allocation and whether it makes sense to have the campaign organized the way Parscale did, officials said. He has told colleagues he is determined to bring a new focus to the campaign, with daily staff meetings, check-ins with field staff and more accountability for officials. Stepien recently polled staff members and learned most had never worked on a presidential election before, according to an official.

Stepien has also told other advisers that the campaign must talk about coronavirus more often and forcefully.

Trump has told other aides he is impressed with Stepien’s command of data, but he has continued to veer into episodes that campaign officials see as unhelpful, officials said.

On a recent Friday afternoon, Stepien spent an hour with about 100 reporters via video chat, arguing that the race was competitive and polls in 2016 were wrong.

NBC News earlier reported the pause in advertising spending, noting that the campaign spent almost nothing on television or radio ads on Wednesday and Thursday, and had almost no ads booked through the end of August.

It is not clear when the campaign will complete its review or return to the airwaves…

Trump’s campaign, the Republican Party and two affiliated committees have spent more than $983 million since 2017, a record-breaking sum toward a reelection effort at this point in the presidential campaign, recent filings show.

The Trump campaign alone has spent more than $240 million, and Biden’s campaign has spent more than $165 million, as the two sides ramped up their general election efforts, according to Federal Election Commission filings made public last week.

Despite the historic spending, Trump has been slipping in national polls amid the spread of the novel coronavirus and a weakened economy. Biden holds a double-digit lead nationally and also leads the president in several battleground states…

Have Trump’s funders (the ‘legitimate’ American oligarchs, as well as You-Know-Who) turned off the money spigot? Are too many Repub piggies draining the trough too fast? Does Trump, or his handlers, just want to squirrel away as much ‘unspent funding’ as possible, under the assumption that they can keep when the Squatter-in-Chief gets evicted?

And then there’s this news:

A campaign finance watchdog group on Tuesday filed a complaint with the Federal Elections Commission accusing President Donald Trump’s campaign of laundering $170 million in campaign spending.

The complaint filed by the Campaign Legal Center, a non-partisan organization based in Washington, D.C., said the Trump campaign and an authorized joint financing committee broke the law by spending the campaign funds through firms headed by Trump’s former campaign manager, Brad Parscale, without disclosing the exact expenditures.

“The campaign reported millions in payment — American Made and Parscale Strategy — which disbursed the funds to the campaign’s ultimate vendors,” the CLC said. “Ultimately, this hid millions in payments to companies engaged in significant work for the campaign, as well as payments to Trump family members or associates like Lara Trump and Kimberly Guilfoyle.”

According to the complaint, the Trump campaign has “in several instances” described other firms as major contractors providing services to the Trump campaign, while those names did not appear on reports filed with the FEC.

“For example, Trump campaign officials have spoken publicly about directing and managing the development of a mobile app produced by the software company Phunware, yet the Trump campaign has not reported direct payments to the company,” the complaint states…

Neither the campaign nor the official Republican party can afford to have Parscale examined too closely until after the election, if ever. And just imagine how much fun a prosecutor could have with either or both of Trump’s large adult sons under oath.

Political death by a million paper cuts is not the worst I could wish on Trump and all his enablers, but if that’s what works, I’ll take it!

One sure bet — the intramural GOP Death Cult pissing contests will never end…

Reader Interactions

128Comments

  1. 1.

    comrade scotts agenda of rage

    The Gelatinous Orange Postule’s campaign having trouble grifting money from the rubes?

    It would be irresponsible not to speculate.

  3. 3.

    Edmund Dantes

    It helps to get the record when your guy starts running literally the day he takes office.

  4. 4.

    Punchy

    Get Brad Fatswhale back on the gig.  His Beard Of Freedom will gets Trump’s approval rating surging, reaching over (checks notes)….40%.

  5. 5.

    Frankensteinbeck

    Lord Lard just tweeted that he beat Obama four years ago, and Obama campaigned much harder than ‘crooked Hillary’.  I literally had a job parsing difficult English phrasing, and I am damned if I know what this could mean except the obvious.  No typo I can think of makes it work.  If it means the obvious, I don’t think we can question that Trump is suffering dementia.

    As for the OP…

    My first thought was that Bill Stepien has discovered there are so many leaks in the campaign’s colander

    My first thought is that Stepien needs to strip out Parscale’s grifts and replace them with his own grifts.

    Trump has told other aides he is impressed with Stepien’s command of data

    So, Stepien did indeed get the job by lying to Trump about the polls.  That means Stepien is either extraordinarily stupid, or going into the job with the deliberate goal of fleecing Trump.

    accusing President Donald Trump’s campaign of laundering $170 million in campaign spending.

    This didn’t occur to me, but yes, there must be a large amount of criminal wrongdoing here.  Actual money laundering.  The laws on how this money can be spent are generous, but Trump will have pushed way past those limits to stuff money into his own pocket.  I wonder if it is feasible for that to be prosecuted?

  6. 6.

    piratedan

    well with everyone stealing from the campaign to start getting lawyers on retainer, it’s not a complete surprise.  After all, the guy gets more mileage for being on “the news” and spewing red meat and tweeting that he doesn’t even need to advertise other than a way to launder cash to whoever is on the list for that week.

  7. 7.

    ArchTeryx

    You know, the black joke among virologists used to be that the best possible thing to happen to kickstart our moribund careers was to have a viral plague that killed off a fifth of humanity.

    That joke, black to begin with, isn’t funny any more.  And worse, we were wrong.  I’m an RNA virologist sitting at home or working a bottom-level desk job in the middle of a pandemic caused by… wait for it… a positive-strand RNA virus.

    We as a society just rejected science wholesale, and that includes scientists like me.  So here I sit, unable to do anything meaningful at all while the fire rages all around me.

    This ain’t fine.

  8. 8.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    I’m sure that Stepien can raise money by shutting down one of the bridges over the Potomac and installing a toll booth to fund the campaign, he’s got experience with that.

  10. 10.

    Mary G

    I think the header on that last tweet/Twitter bio is photoshopped. Parscale is huge – 6’8″ – and looks tiny next to an embiggened Twitler.

  11. 11.

    Mike in NC

    Putin might pull through but he has his own problems with the virus.

    Fat Bastard ran a couple of ads here about Joe Biden defunding the police. Stupid and not repeated for two days.

  13. 13.

    Poe Larity

    learned most had never worked on a presidential election before, according to an official.

    Well, none of the Titanic passengers had been in a sinking before, but most of them survived.

  17. 17.

    Cheryl Rofer

    I have seen other reports that the campaign has been concentrating its ad buys in Trump country, rather than trying to contest swing states. Also in DC to please the Campaigner-in-Chief.

    So it might make sense to reconsider some of that.

  18. 18.

    joel hanes

    @Major Major Major Major:

    None of the lawyer-types whom I’ve seen notice this have even have a theory for what legal basis he might presume to have the authority to do such a thing.   Mostly they’re kind of giggling in horror.

  22. 22.

    James E Powell

    @Cheryl Rofer:

    They may have just determined that, for the time being, their ads were not having any impact, so why waste money. He & his gang are on TV in every market every day. He has a full time 24 hour propaganda cable network, RW radio, and Sinclair local news stations all promoting and protecting him.

    They are waiting till after Labor Day to blanket the airwaves with bullshit scandal attacks on Biden and whoever the VP is. Their strategy is throw mud and suppress votes. They have no other chance.

  23. 23.

    joel hanes

    @debbie:

    I rather doubt that there’s ever before been a US presidential campaign that operated continuously for over four years, as Trump’s has.  He never stopped campaigning after the 2016 election, nor did they pause fundraising (and grifting off their campaign contributions).

    But it’s telling that Parscale thinks that’s something to boast about.

    These people have weird values.

  25. 25.

    Bruuuuce

    Stepien has also told other advisers that the campaign must talk about coronavirus more often and forcefully.

    Well, I guess we know how he “communicates” with non-English speakers (if he’s ever caught in a situation where they might be): he speaks L O U D L Y  A N D  S L O W L Y

    Ugly American to the nth.

  27. 27.

    dmsilev

    @debbie: It’s actually true. Trump officially launched his re-election campaign right at the beginning of his term, which previous Presidents haven’t done. Obama, for instance, didn’t officially launch his 2012 campaign u til spring of 2011.
    It’s not something to be particularly proud of (“I’m such a corrupt asshole that it took three and a half years for Trump to fire me”), but maybe he’s just celebrating his successful grift.

  29. 29.

    West of the Rockies

    I suspect that Trump and company are about to uncork a bunch of rehashed shit (Burisma, Hunter Biden, etc) and one or two new horse shit stories (courtesy of Russia) that they pray will do what 200 million in ads won’t do.

    Be prepared:  the river of bullshit will hit flood stage.

  30. 30.

    Kent

    @Frankensteinbeck:This didn’t occur to me, but yes, there must be a large amount of criminal wrongdoing here.  Actual money laundering.  The laws on how this money can be spent are generous, but Trump will have pushed way past those limits to stuff money into his own pocket.  I wonder if it is feasible for that to be prosecuted?

    I don’t think they are actually laundering money.  That is when you start with dirty money and make it clean.  They are just stealing or embezzling money that was never theirs to begin with, which is the fancy white collar word for theft.  Money laundering and embezzlement are both crimes, but different crimes.

  31. 31.

    dmsilev

    Trump has told other aides he is impressed with Stepien’s command of data, but he has continued to veer into episodes that campaign officials see as unhelpful, officials said.

    ‘The campaign situation has developed not necessarily to Trump’s advantage.’

  32. 32.

    Kent

    @Major Major Major Major:Just got a CNN notification that Trump is banning TikTok. Too tired to look it up though.

    Wall Street Journal article today says that Microsoft is in talks to buy TikTok.  I expect it is paywalled so here is the article:

    Microsoft Corp. MSFT 0.54% is in advanced talks to acquire the U.S. operations of the Chinese-owned video app TikTok, according to people with knowledge of the discussions, in a deal that would be a concession to White House pressure and make the software giant a major player in social media.

    A sale to Microsoft, likely for billions of dollars, would be a win for both TikTok and its parent company, Bytedance Ltd., where executives had feared that the U.S. government would force device makers to take TikTok out of their app stores, according to another person familiar with the matter.

    For the Trump administration, a sale of TikTok would also eliminate potential legal challenges—and public backlash—that could have occurred if the wildly popular app was forced off millions of American smartphones.

    A deal could be completed by Monday, according to people familiar with the matter. The talks involve representatives from Microsoft, Bytedance and the White House. Talks are fluid, and a deal may not come together.

    On his way back from Florida, President Trump told reporters on Air Force One he wasn’t in favor of a deal to let a U.S. company buy TikTok’s American operations.

    “As far as TikTok is concerned we’re banning them from the United States,” Mr. Trump said. “Well, I have that authority. I can do it with an executive order or that,” he said referring to emergency economic powers.

    Bytedance had considered a broader range of options. However, the White House pressured Bytedance to sell TikTok’s U.S. operations to an American company, one of the people said.

    A valuation couldn’t be learned. It could be tricky to put a price tag on a business that is under pressure from governments around the world but also growing rapidly.

    News of the deal talks, earlier reported by Fox Business, came as the U.S. was concluding a security review that was expected to recommend that Bytedance sell TikTok.

    U.S. officials have expressed concerns that TikTok could pass on the data it collects from Americans to China’s authoritarian government. TikTok has said it would never do so.

    In a statement posted online this week, TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer, who was hired away from Walt Disney Co. earlier this year, said the company was committed to transparency in how it collects and shares data.

    “TikTok has become the latest target, but we are not the enemy,” he said.

    A Microsoft spokesperson declined to comment.

    For the Redmond, Wash., software giant, a TikTok deal would be its splashiest acquisition since its 2016 purchase of LinkedIn for more than $26 billion and would immediately make it a formidable rival to social-media stalwarts Facebook Inc. and YouTube.

  35. 35.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @joel hanes:

    Christ you’re not kidding. It was all fucking true and in plain black and white.

    Biden needs to run ads like that for TV, just shorter

  38. 38.

    NotMax

    Still no complete nor in any way satisfactory accounting of the hundred mil or so the inauguration trough scooped up.

    Just sayin’.

  39. 39.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Kent:

    “As far as TikTok is concerned we’re banning them from the United States,” Mr. Trump said. “Well, I have that authority. I can do it with an executive order or that,” he said referring to emergency economic powers.

    …Can he actually do this? I’d rather TikTok be owned by an American company.

    Honestly, that story goes to show how out of touch he is with the rest of the government, that he wants to ban it entirely instead of just having an American company acquire it

    It really makes it clear that he hates TikTok because it’s users humiliated him at Tulsa

  47. 47.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Here’s a truthful headline from the WaPo:

    As pandemic benefits expire, Senate Republicans and Trump can’t get their act together

  48. 48.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @NotMax:

    Why? It’s not a baked-in guarantor of security or fidelity. Really rather a parochial outlook, if it comes down to brass tacks.

    Well, with the right people in charge at the federal level and the right laws, an American company would (hopefully) be more accountable than an opaque Chinese company with shady ties to a government that uses “social credit scoring” to control it’s citizens. I don’t trust the CCP

  50. 50.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    Yeah, she’s pretty funny. I’ve noticed there’s an attitude towards TikTok, particularly on Reddit, that’s very hostile. I suspect it has to do with the fact that it’s user base has lot of women on it. Also, it’s Reddit, where “TikTok bad, Reddit good” gets a lot of up-votes typically and it’s user base is notoriously young males

  52. 52.

    Amir Khalid

    Longest Presidential Campaign Manager In US History

    Is this Parscale’s attempt at a dick brag?

    On topic. The campaign really is stumped for an effective line of attack on Biden, obviously. Joe hasn’t been giving them any gaffes they can use. So it’s understandable that they’d want to reset their advertising. Not that I think such an exercise would really help, since the real problem is the candidate himself.

  55. 55.

    Yutsano

    @NotMax:  Not to mention China won’t just give up their backdoor mole that easily. I would bet money there’s a clause in there that lets the parent company have rights to the proprietary data.

  57. 57.

    Raoul

    James Fallows posted an image of an email from the Trump campaign earlier today that offered a 7X match … which seems sort of desperate.
    They also said (I think, not scrolling back to look) that they had a final day of July goal of $25,000,000.

    Was that going to come from their email list? hahahahahaha

  58. 58.

    NotMax

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    More steps removed from governmental manipulation and infiltration does not mean the same thing as American ownership. How about (hypothetical) if a Canadian-German-Spanish concern purchased it? Presumably you’d be copacetic with that. Or a Japanese conglomerate? Or, for that matter, Royal Dutch Shell (British-Dutch company)?

    Just saying that singling out American ownership as some kind of unique cure all is blinkered.

    I have no use for Tik Tok in any case, although would be considerably less than celebratory if, say, Walmart or Bain Capital purchased it.

  60. 60.

    gwangung

    I’d be more interested if the combined weight of the software and Microsoft can be a counterweight against Twitter and Facebook. The tech bros there are a little  more mature and have taken their lumps on being inclusive and might have learned something.

  62. 62.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @NotMax:

    How about (hypothetical) if a Canadian-German-Spanish concern purchased it? Presumably you’d be copacetic with that. Or a Japanese conglomerate? Or, for that matter, Royal Dutch Shell (British-Dutch company)?

    Just saying that singling out American ownership as some kind of unique cure all is blinkered.

    I’d be fine with that. Sorry if I gave the impression that had to only be an American company. Anyway, those nations are our allies and broadly share our values and would cooperate with our government. An authoritarian nation such as China does not.

    They were already, through ZTE, trying to get Venezula to implement a similar system, called a “Fatherland Card”:

    In 2018, Venezuela started developing a smart-card ID known as the “carnet de la patria”, or “fatherland card”, with the help of Chinese telecom company ZTE. The system included a database which stores details like birthdays, family information, employment and income, property owned, medical history, state benefits received, presence on social media, membership of a political party, and whether a person voted. Many in Venezuela have expressed concern that the card is an attempt to tighten social control through monitoring all aspects of daily life.

    It sounds like China isn’t content to control those within their own borders and are trying to actively promote their values in other nationss

  63. 63.

    Raoul

    @HumboldtBlue: That was me. For a number of years. And by a number, you could pick several different ones. Some with two digits, and still possibly be correct.

    Now if I have three cans of sparkling water in a day, or finish off a 6-pk of HakkeBeck in a month, I’m livin’ large. But also living a happy and good life. A way better life than I imagined when it was 12-packing my way from day to day.

    If I can help, we can see if we can find a way to message outside of this (lovely, warm and well meaning) place.

  66. 66.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

    Banning Tik-Tok?

     

    I thought they were against “cancel culture”

  67. 67.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @piratedan:

    granted, but as a counterpoint, Facebook is not exactly a shining paragon of virtue either.

    Oh believe me I don’t like Facebook or any other private company compiling data on people either. That’s why I think they should be more tightly regulated, as Warren advocated

  68. 68.

    Fair Economist

    @Cheryl Rofer: I expect the Trump campaign is concentrating its ads where members and business associates own TV stations. That probably would be rightist areas.

  69. 69.

    Mai naem mobile

    I don’t think Donnie has run out of money. I think they are saving some for after labor day but, also, I bet a lot of it is getting grifted away because most of Trumpov Inc see a blue tsunami coming and they want to grab as much loot as they can right now because, you know, criminal defense lawyers don’t come cheap.

  70. 70.

    Calouste

    So basically the shitgibbon is blackmailing TikTok, “sell or be banned from doing businesses in the US”. I’m sure other foreign companies, specially Chinese companies, that are doing business in the US will notice and think about their investments.
    I’m unclear btw how Microsoft can buy the “US operations” of TikTok. If a US user looks at a post from China, does that fall under US operations or not?

  74. 74.

    James E Powell

    I’m looking at Trump’s talk of banning Tik-Tok in light of this reddit comment that @Baud posted in the morning thread.

    Trump is, as always, keeping his cult members animated. In order to do that, he doesn’t have to ban Tik-Tok, all he has to do make the association between Tik-Tok and then talk shit about them. It’s like the fact that he doesn’t have to build a wall and make Mexico pay for it. All he has to do is say it, infuriate the people they hate, then move on to another subject. He isn’t going to change. He doesn’t know how to do anything else.

  75. 75.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @NotMax:

    Flexing muscles comes with the territory of being a powerhouse.

    Not being rah-rah about it, just stating the fact.

    I understand, but the Chinese government is a force for evil. Xi turns a blind eye to whatever atrocities MBS in Saudi Arabia is committing and vice versa because they have no respect for human rights only power. Is the US and it’s allies perfect? No. But at least here in the US under our system, it’s at least possible for that to change

    I know Adam and others say that the PRC is like Ancient China, having a very long view of the future, but I also know that practically every great power in history from the British Empire to the Romans to the US has committed atrocities in the name of empire building, or at least getting an advantage over somebody else. In this way, I don’t see the PRC as being fundamentally any different. I believe they will eventually turn to military adventuring as every great power before them.

    That’s why they must be opposed. They represent the iron cage of rationality, trapping humanity forever

  76. 76.

    NotMax

    OT.

    Strange vehicle quirkily rumbling through TCM come 2:15 a.m. Eastern — Vibes, with Peter Falk, Jeff Goldblum and Cyndi Lauper.

  77. 77.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @NotMax:

    Goldblum was really weird in that trailer. His acting came across as stiff. I know he can do better because I’ve seen Jurassic Park. And WTF was Peter Falk doing in it? Money for another home lol?

  81. 81.

    Viva BrisVegas

    @Major Major Major Major: If my choice was between identical data-mining apps, and one was Chinese and one was American, I’d pick the American one.

    It’s a sad universe when you have to choose between worse and worser data mining apps.

    When Facebook first appeared I thought; you’ve got to be kidding, nobody will hand their lives over to a soulless corporation for a handful of beads. How wrong I was.

  84. 84.

    Chris T.

    capo di tutti capo

    Capo di tutti capi, you mean?  (With “tutti” being plural…)

  88. 88.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Viva BrisVegas: When Facebook first appeared I thought; you’ve got to be kidding, nobody will hand their lives over to a soulless corporation for a handful of beads. How wrong I was.

    Remember that Zuckface was initially marketed to college kids back in the 2000’s.  Also, if I remember correctly, it was an invite-only thing at first.  Oooooooo exclusive!

  90. 90.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @NotMax: 
    I’ve heard of that movie but never watched it. My impression is that it’s not very good.

    Wow, Peter Weller stars in it along with Christopher Lloyd and John Lithgow

  95. 95.

    theturtlemoves

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Your impression would be horribly, horribly wrong.  It’s weird as hell, admittedly, but not good?  Sacrilege.  I use the closing theme as a ringtone from time to time.  Current ringtone is an instrumental bit from Real Genius.  I’m a Gen X nerd, if that wasn’t obvious from the previous sentences.

  96. 96.

    Anya

    It makes sense they’re running out of money because they’re spending their resources in red states and on dumb as shit ads and paying Trump’s family. But I am pretty sure they’ll still have resources because the cult members will dole out money and there are so many millionaires and billionaires who are basically having all of their destructive asks implemented so they would want Trump in power.

  97. 97.

    NotMax

    @NotMax

    Still can’t help but snicker at burly six-foot-five Sterling Hayden every time I hear him in The Asphalt Jungle:

    “You boned me in front of a stranger, made me look small.”

    :)

  98. 98.

    different-church-lady

    If they ain’t spending money on getting the candidate to give a shit about American deaths, then they’re wasting it no matter what else they do with it.

  103. 103.

    VeniceRiley

    @ArchTeryx:

    You know, the black joke among virologists used to be that the best possible thing to happen to kickstart our moribund careers was to have a viral plague that killed off a fifth of humanity.

    That joke, black to begin with, isn’t funny any more.  And worse, we were wrong.  I’m an RNA virologist sitting at home or working a bottom-level desk job in the middle of a pandemic caused by… wait for it… a positive-strand RNA virus.

    We as a society just rejected science wholesale, and that includes scientists like me.  So here I sit, unable to do anything meaningful at all while the fire rages all around me.

    Wow thats sad. I look forward to patronising your garage vax lab in the dystopian future? Can you make me a bootleg Covid19 Vax?  I’m trying to emigrate!

  104. 104.

    FlyingToaster

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    Well, you’re completely wrong.  It’s totally insane, but it’s one of my favorite films.  I showed it to WarriorGirl when she was in Kindergarten, and she wanted to BE Buckaroo Banzai.

    @theturtlemoves:

    I use the closing theme as a ringtone from time to time.

    My old housemates used it as the recessional at their wedding.  All of US got it, but the parental units were very, very confused.

  107. 107.

    Jay

    After a month of peaceful BLM visibility in Spanaway / Sunrise / south hill, an unincorporated area outside of Tacoma,A "Defend The Blue" took over the intersection today.one block from the Peirce county Sheriffs station, And beat down a teenage Black Lives Matter organizer. pic.twitter.com/G0TfS9Zjvb— Mike X (@sepeku) August 1, 2020

  108. 108.

    Jay

    Yesterday was Portland’s first night in over 50 days without police or fed interference with the protests and – who knew – everything was calm and peaceful. No major incidents.Almost like violence has always been instigated by the people with actual weapons. https://t.co/iycbHcQJKK— Jennifer Scheurle (@Gaohmee) July 31, 2020

  109. 109.

    Jay

    Here's the latest in CalGang fraudulence from the LAPD, where over 20 officers are under investigation for fabricating info about suspected gang members. At least 750 cases are now tainted due to officer malfeasance. That's just what we know. https://t.co/Fz44ccy8ZN— Otto Von Biz Markie (@Passionweiss) July 31, 2020

  110. 110.

    Jay

    On May 30, Las Vegas police arrested three self-identified “Boogaloo Boys” on their way to a Black Lives Matter protest, armed with Molotov cocktails and other weapons, in hopes of provoking the kind of civil unrest and violence that could lead to another Civil War. The men, Stephen “Kiwi” Parshall, 35, Andrew Lynam, 23, and William L. Loomis, 40, were all white, all former military, and had all allegedly expressed to an FBI informant that they were very serious about wanting to overthrow the United States government.

    They all face federal and state charges related to conspiracy to commit an act of terrorism, the federal charges alone adding up to at least 30 years in prison and $500,000 in fines for all of them.

    And one of them may be in there for a lot longer, as when Stephen Thomas Parshall was arrested, FBI agents found a whole bunch of child pornography on his phone.

    https://www.wonkette.com/boogaloo-terrorism-suspect-now-also-charged-with-possession-of-child-pornography

  113. 113.

    Jay

    A 16-yr-old girl burned & left nearly deaf in her left ear.

    A filmmaker shot through his gas mask and into his eye w/ a pepper ball.

    A longtime activist's elbow snapped in half while walking away.

    A volunteer medic shot in the chest w/ tear gas. Morehttps://t.co/5aA70ZTxa2— Shane D. Kavanaugh (@shanedkavanaugh) July 31, 2020

  116. 116.

    satby

    @HumboldtBlue: Find an AA meeting if you’re serious, and get some support from people who know how that goes. It may not ultimately be for you, but it’s a good first step to sorting stuff out. Rooting for you, these are shit times for all of us.

  117. 117.

    Geminid

    I’ve been seeing trump ads on this site, and thought that either his campaign was overly optimistic or was spending money without regard to effect. Slim pickings for trump around here. I hope the campaign does run short. Mismanagement tends to discourage donors.                     It looks like money will be a problem for republican congressional candidates here in Virginia. In the Tidewater 2nd District Elaine Luria led her opponent in cash on hand by an 8-1 margin as of June 30. In the Richmond area 7th, Abigail Spanberger led her challenger 10-1, although I expect the Club for Growth will spend heavily for Freitas. In my 5th District Cameron Webb led Bob Good $460,000 to $68,000.                And out in southern New Mexico, Xochitl Torres-Small led her opponent by nearly 10-1. Which is a good thing, as she is in a tough district and won in 2018 by only 4,000 votes.        In all these districts, the republicans spent heavily in contested nomination races.

  118. 118.

    Ken

    @Calouste: You’d think a lot of people from the previous winning campaign would come back, but somehow that didn’t happen…

    Working from home is one thing, working from federal prison is another.

  119. 119.

    Chris Johnson

    @HumboldtBlue: Me and Cole and quite a few sober Balloon Juicers are here for you. And you know, meetings went to Zoom in the pandemic and have never stopped. I know that’s not as good as real-life meetings but on the other hand it shows you how determined people are to get help and to offer it to each other :)

    I still go to my NA meeting on Tuesday and talk to my sponsor weekly, just on Zoom now. The same people who used to always make it to the real-world meeting are still there.

    You can get off the elevator at any point (or sometimes I talk about it as being like a hamster-wheel). Even in the middle of all this, you can get better :)

  120. 120.

    Chris Johnson

    @James E Powell: I’m looking at Trump’s talk of banning TikTok as comedy fucking gold :)

    He has a cunning plan!

    The best part is, from what I understand TikTok also serves Russian purposes, in that it’s another vector to try and get QAnon stuff into another generation. Anyone who was flirting with that sort of thing now has a reality check moment and has to re-evaluate. I’m guessing they will end up having to float the idea that Trump is being controlled by liberal mind control waves or something, since the man cannot help but shit all over even the stuff there to help him. There IS an effort to QAnon-ify TikTok, but Trump has now done it great harm.

  121. 121.

    Ken

    Does Trump, or his handlers, just want to squirrel away as much ‘unspent funding’ as possible, under the assumption that they can keep when the Squatter-in-Chief gets evicted?

    I’m going with this.

  122. 122.

    Jeffery

    If Donald’s campaign is running low on money it’s probably because he is siphoning it off and stashing it in his Swiss bank account.

  123. 123.

    Gvg

    @Ken: I think he would keep money for himself even if he was winning. He doesn’t really like spending other than on himself directly. The guy covets money and doesn’t understand things like necessary infrastructure or return on investment. It’s one reason he is such a lousy businessman.
    he threw a tantrum about not getting to keep all the money while planning his inauguration. That was one reason his entertainment was so lame.

  124. 124.

    SW

    I think he’s freaked out by The Lincoln Project commercials. Thinks they are ten times better than his (they are) and blames his team (they’re dopes). He’s furious. “Why can’t you do to Biden what they are doing to me!”

  125. 125.

    Miss Bianca

    @FlyingToaster: Am I the only person in the world who thought Buckaroo Banzai was boring as shit? I couldn’t even make it through the whole thing. And mark you, I wanted to believe. I’d had enough bits of it quoted at me over the years to make me think that it must be Hipster’s Delight. Well, maybe it is, and I’m just…not that hip.

  127. 127.

    Michael Cain

    Re Trump and TikTok…  Go read the statutes on the immensely broad authority the President has to control telecommunications networks in the US following his declaration of an adequate state of emergency.  I have occasionally feared that the Democrats making a big fuss about Russian and Chinese interference in the election using the internet would be used as the reason for an emergency declaration and rather harsh crackdowns on all sorts of activity.

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