Can we just take a moment to appreciate the ACA, which has withstood 10 years of the most concerted attacks against it? Here's to the foresight of its architects, who steeled it against some rather heavy artillery.
— Rude Mechanical ???? (@Demagogues_Bane) August 5, 2020
Biden ad now playing in FL features couple from The Villages talking about how they can't see their 2 grandkids due to COVID. "I don't blame Donald Trump for the virus, I blame him for his lack of action…I trust Joe Biden to get this virus under control." pic.twitter.com/0tXQZBEVfX
— Bo Erickson CBS (@BoKnowsNews) August 5, 2020
he gives it the seriousness it deserves https://t.co/gMlYeJyZND
— the ribald sportsman (@CalmSporting) August 5, 2020
.
Compare & contrast:
just an old man nobody likes on the phone with his teevee friends https://t.co/jCVmgpEW6R
— kilgore trout, new tone haver (@KT_So_It_Goes) August 5, 2020
On The Road – Steve from Mendocino – Construction and Industrial Sites in Los Angeles Area
debbie
Can’t wait for the tweets condemning FB for removing his and his son’s tweets about children’s immunity to COVID-19. In 5…4…3…
Ken
I like the suggestion that Biden should respond to such questions with “woman, man, person, camera, tv. Next question?”
SiubhanDuinne
I do love Joe when he goes all “C’mon, man!” on somebody’s ass.
montanareddog
Expensive weapons and high-class printing shop signs.
Goodness, he sure gilds the lily on his lies in a strange manner. That boy definitely ain’t right.
And, good morning
mrmoshpotato
Fixed.
OzarkHillbilly
Been up since 2. Blech.
mrmoshpotato
I’d like to see Dump take a test.
Prove you aren’t a Soviet shitpile mobster conman by spending the weekend with Putin and not kissing his Russki ass.
Haha, trick test! We all know you’re a Soviet shitpile mobster conman who kisses Putin’s ass.
Ken
So the Balloon Juice sidebars are showing me an ad for an escape room. Setting aside whether such things should even be open given my region’s covid stats, why would anyone want to spend their free time locked in a room? I get quite enough of that all day long.
Frankensteinbeck
@montanareddog:
I always wonder how much of it he believes. He’s a pathological liar, lying when the truth would be better. He has an incredible amount to cover up. He’s a bullshitter who says whatever flows through his head, true or not. He’s a narcissist who reshapes reality to suit what he wants to be true constantly. And he’s being fed lies constantly by the people around him, because he will yell at them and fire them if they don’t. Oh, and he’s a dumbshit paranoid racist asshole fruitcake, so the kinds of things he considers believable are just bizarre. All of those things are true, so I always wonder what applies to any particular lie.
mrmoshpotato
@SiubhanDuinne: Yup. Joe’s got no time for your baiting bullshit.
P.S. Person, man, woman, camera, TV. Where do I go to pick up my cookie?
NotMax
@OzarkHillbilly
Hear ya loud and clear. So tired of being tired.
mrmoshpotato
@montanareddog: Everyone knows professional print shop protest signs are much better than the cardboard/poster board and marker crap.
Amir Khalid
I have just had an absolutely genius idea. Really. Just hear me out.
If Joe Biden wants a black woman VP who is intelligent, accomplished, very successful, highly regarded, and wildly popular all over America, he should be considering … Beyoncé!
mrmoshpotato
@Ken:
Change of scenery?
Trapper Lurker
Open thread…so, I will share with you guys that after being pet-less for more than 10 years, I am taking tentative steps to adopt a young cat. I’ve been lurking here for years–at least since the mustard adventure–and reading all the posts on pets, along with the politics, has given me a little courage to try again to be a good pet mommy. I had a crazy Irish Setter that I loved but he was often sick, had allergies galore, needed insane amounts of exercise, and then in his old age he had terrible hip trouble. He never lost is goofy good nature, through it all, and I miss him, but not the constant illnesses.
I got married when he was about 6, and had finally calmed down from insane puppyhood, and he then proceeded to utterly terrorized my husband’s cat, who retreated to the basement and refused to put him in his place. If she had scratched him once, he would have left her alone, but she never did. So here comes a new adventure. Going to the shelter tonight to meet a young tuxedo cat. If I come home with her tonight, I’ll post photos. And maybe ask for advice from all you more experienced cat owners.
randy khan
@Amir Khalid:
I think that Vice President is a demotion from Goddess, though, so I’m not sure she’d take it.
John S.
I should know better than to click on these tweets and look at the comments.
What a cesspool Twitter is.
Amir Khalid
@mrmoshpotato:
Yes, but a homemade protest sign with crooked lettering and iffy spelling is so much more authentic, man.
Noncarborundum
@mrmoshpotato: IIRC it was “person, woman, man, camera, TV”.
OzarkHillbilly
@NotMax: I’m going to have to take a nap pretty soon, which sucks because I have shitloads of stuff to do outside and right now the temps are in the 50s. Almost perfect working temps for me.
montanareddog
@Frankensteinbeck:
‘Tis a puzzlement why he bullshits so much. But I am not sure he even has the imagination to invent a lot of these lies. He is picking it up of right-wing media and his Twitter stans and, most dangerously, the imperial court is deliberately feeding his paranoia because they know he only listens to what he wants to hear, and to that which feeds his grievances.
mrmoshpotato
@Amir Khalid: I’m gonna take that with the seriousness it was intended and tell you she’s already accepted to be Kanye’s VP.
Also, fuck Kanye, the GOP and their ratfucking bullshit.
OzarkHillbilly
@Trapper Lurker: Fingers crossed.
PST
I saw my doctor the other day and mentioned that the cognitive screening test she gave me at my annual physical seemed a lot briefer than the one Trump took. She said that if you start out fine they don’t run you through the whole thing. Sounds like Trump’s doctor made him finish. By the way, I bet Biden has taken one. Everyone I know on Medicare has drawn the clock.
Chyron HR
I’ll give Fox and Friends credit: At least they, unlike the people generating Republican memes, understand that they need to use flattering* photos of Trump instead of ones that make him look especially repulsive.
* Relatively speaking.
NotMax
@OzarkHillbilly
Have reached the point when I don’t take naps, naps take me.
;)
mrmoshpotato
@Trapper Lurker:
You know it needs to be named Tennessee, right? ?
WereBear
@Trapper Lurker: And maybe ask for advice from all you more experienced cat owners.
Congrats! And my cat blog is at your service.
OzarkHillbilly
Having lived with a pathological liar I can tell you it’s like breathing. You don’t think about breathing, you just do it. They don’t think about lying, they just do it. And just like holding your breath is a conscious act that one can only manage for a short while, telling the truth is the same for them.
OzarkHillbilly
@NotMax: Yep, same here.
Trapper Lurker
@mrmoshpotato: Tennessee? I do have to change her name (shelter name is “Angela” and my daughter has vetoed that because it’s her estranged half-sister’s name), but at the risk of exposing my ignorance, why Tennesse?
NotMax
@mrmoshpotato
Or Park.
;)
mrmoshpotato
@Noncarborundum: Oh great. I’m not going to get full points and be told how amazing I am! :(
Peale
@Ken: Well, at least the escape room has a solution to get out that relies on your own smarts and wits and not a hope that dipshits in Idaho and Florida will wise up and close the bars for 90 days so you might be able to maybe see a movie in a theater some time. You may be locked inside in the escape room, but at least the people who locked you in are clever and if you don’t figure it out in an hour, you’re released.
Trapper Lurker
@WereBear: Thanks. I visited your blog last week, trying to talk myself out of the cat-owner impulse, but it didn’t work…I just realized that I might be able to teach her stuff (like not to scratch my furniture), and that made the impulse harder to resist…
mrmoshpotato
@PST: I misread that as “the cognitive screaming test.”
WereBear
I’ve been delving into the “documentary” travesty known as Out of the Shadows. It’s part of the rotting cauldron of Right Wing Conspiracy Theories, which I gather one third of the nation have substituted for actual reality that the rest of us live in.
This was the conspiracy theory that led to that guy with the AK showing up at the pizza parlor.
Decades of Faux News and rampant cons have reached the point where we have to push back in some way; these people are deluded and dangerous. At base, it’s right back to the Satanic Panic of the 1980s, which destroyed so many lives.
I’m not sure what to do, but I’m gripped with the conviction that our society must do something.
Strong Jungian overtones with the obsession with Trump: he’s tangled in the Epstein underage abuse, AND so is their fundamentalism ignoring it rampant in some churches. It’s all the same brain rot!
I’m so upset.
SFAW
@Amir Khalid:
Great, now we’ll see the return of whoever the F it was that was trying to convince us that Michelle Obama was the one to (GUARANTEED!) kick Trump’s humongous ass in November. Because she would be “supremely” qualified for the job.
WereBear
@Trapper Lurker: Tennessee Tuxedo!
Who was a favorite cartoon character for some of us.
MagdaInBlack
@WereBear:
Im glad you’re here…The folks who gave me Gordita called me because: they lost the male half of their other pair of Siamese, and the female is not doing so well without her partner, in a house full of dogs. They wondered if she might do better in a quiet house with her old room mate..Gordita. Well, Yes! Of course I will take her.
It will be interesting to see if there are memories of each other. They’re both about 15 years old. Its been 8 years since they’ve seen each other.
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone ???
WereBear
Bwahahahaha! This pleases me greatly. :)
mrmoshpotato
@NotMax:
How’d you time travel back to Soviet Russia?
SFAW
@mrmoshpotato:
Based on no evidence whatsoever*, my sense is that Kanye might not be the LAST person she would associate herself with, but …
* In other words, pulling it out of my ass
WereBear
@MagdaInBlack: I just finished a post on cat memories. Science says cats have been shown to remember at least ten years :)
Best to them. Mourning is tough for everyone.
rikyrah
He should play the ad with the grandparents everywhere.
He should also make an ad of grandparents from around the world where they have their shyt together seeing their grandkids. Rub it in about what Dolt45’s incompetence is costing them.
RSA
@OzarkHillbilly:
My apartment building’s fire alarm went off at 4:30 this morning. By the time I got dressed and to the door, it stopped. Ugh. No falling back asleep for me.
Betty Cracker
That ad with The Villages couple is pure gold, and I hope the Biden campaign blankets the airwaves with it here in Florida. As I’ve mentioned, my MIL lives in a retirement community down the road from there. She’s too good and smart a person to fall for a racist conman like Trump, but a lot of her neighbors did.
For weeks, she’s been telling us that people, including Trump voters, are increasingly PISSED about being trapped away from their families and usual activities, and they blame Trump and DeSantis. Trump needs ALL those people to turn out, and if they stay home in disgust/fear or better yet vote for Biden, Trump is sunk.
Regarding Biden’s “are you a junkie” video, it’s comforting to see positive reactions here. I had a different reaction to it and was hoping I’m just an extra-flinchy outlier.
rikyrah
Chicago Public Schools
Going Online for now
??????
MagdaInBlack
@WereBear: I’ll keep you posted as we go.
Baud
@rikyrah: Good morning.
Soprano2
@Trapper Lurker: Man I can relate to having a cat that’s afraid of your dog, it’s terrible. We adopted a dog after one of our cooks died a couple of years ago. He’s a 12-year-old Lab mix that had never been around cats. Well, our cat took one look, ran up the stairs, and has lived up there ever since. I’m afraid to even try to do anything to get her to come down, because I’m afraid it will terrorize her even more. If only she’d scratch him on the nose just once, I think it would be OK. He’s even calmed down when he sees her on the stairs; he used to jump and bark when he saw her, now he doesn’t do anything, so I guess “progress”. Finding another home for him isn’t an option; he’s 14, and kind of rough looking, so even though he has the greatest personality I doubt he’d be able to find another home.
As for Tennessee Tuxedo, here’s a link if you’re curious https://www.google.com/search?gs_ssp=eJzj4tTP1Tcwjy8qMTFg9BIoSc3LSy0uTk1VKCmtSE3JBwCGGwnN&q=tennessee+tuxedo&rlz=1C1GCEA_enUS910US911&oq=tennessee+tuxe&aqs=chrome.1.0j46j69i57j0l5.5260j0j15&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
rikyrah
@OzarkHillbilly:
Morning Ozark ?
mrmoshpotato
@Trapper Lurker: Here you go.
SFAW
@WereBear:
That’s at least nine years and 10 months longer than Rethugs will remember that the Murderer-in-Chief is a Rethug, assuming Biden wins.
rikyrah
@Trapper Lurker:
Yeah???
bemused
@NotMax:
Truth!
Anya
@Amir Khalid: I am a less insane Beyhive and I would say no to that. I know you’re kidding but honestly after Trump we need people who are qualified to run our government. Beyonce is an incredibly talented and accomplished woman but not in this area.
Ken
I also thought it was a little out of line, if that’s why you’re flinching. It would be more than enough to say, “No, I haven’t taken a cognition test because none of my doctors have thought it necessary.”
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Trapper Lurker: Oh let us know how it goes! WereBear is the cat whisperer. She has a book and a blog and everything.
Anya
We don’t talk enough about why are Florida democrats so inapt? Why are they in such a disarray?
Soprano2
All my right-wing friends on FB are posting that Biden won’t take a cognitive test as if that proves something, so there’s that.
WereBear
@SFAW: We take it as given that our cats are much smarter than the entire Trump Cult put together.
mrmoshpotato
@SFAW: Haha, 2-month memory. How generous of you.
WereBear
@Anya: Mind, I’ve no doubt Beyonce would do so much better…
Frankensteinbeck
@montanareddog:
See, in this instance, that seems particularly logical to me. His CBP goon squad in Portland was so pathetic that it had to be an attempt to placate him personally. Both from his general statements about how great it is when governments shoot rioters and his hardcore hatred of blacks, it would be 100% natural that he believes Seattle was in danger of being burned down, and DC for that matter. The walls around the White House imply strongly that he saw peaceful protests and was pissing himself in fear imagining them as violent mobs about to storm the gates. I could so easily see his aides telling him that his private army beat the mobs into submission in Portland and with them and his photo op he intimidated protestors elsewhere into submission. That’s what he desperately wanted to hear.
He’s a god damn Nazi with a persecution complex. The Soros signs thing he could easily have heard on FOX and it just makes sense to him.
topclimber
@mrmoshpotato: Protestors should immediately begin a contest for the best crappily-made sign.
@Amir Khalid: It would sure light up Joe’s life to see a good deal of Beyonce. Might improve his longevity.
Dorothy A. Winsor
My writing group met last night and said nice things about a chapter. Now I have to tear the book apart, but that will be fun too.
I was just reading the thread about Sally Yates at the zoom hearing. I wonder if this attempt to smear Biden will have the impact the Clinton Benghazi hearing did. First, people are busy dying. And second, it just doesn’t seem to me to have the same punch on zoom.
Anya
@Betty Cracker: Re: Biden’s response to the cognitive test question, I agree with you. I cringed a little bit. I thought it was extra and not in a good way. He could’ve just said, that there was no reason to take the test because you only take a test when your physician deems is necessary or there is a cause for concern. I don’t understand why he wasn’t prepared for this? He seemed super defensive about it. Not a good look.
Frankensteinbeck
@Betty Cracker:
I thought he was kind of awkward in his delivery and it wasn’t a great moment, but also that nobody cares and he looked like a primal god of oratory compared to Trump’s colored bar graph interview, which is what’s in the public attention.
ETA – @Dorothy A. Winsor:
I miss mine SO MUCH, but I can’t imagine going back to it for the rest of the year.
Anya
@WereBear: Absolutely. Not even close.
WereBear
@Soprano2: I was actually flinching, then pleased. Because absurd propositions DESERVE being regarded as absurd.
That is what has been missing from our public discourse, no? If the entire Republican party reacted to Trump becoming their nominee with “that’s ridiculous,” we’d all be so much better off.
Corporate Press needs to learn, or get out of the way.
SFAW
@mrmoshpotato:
Hardly: election is in November, inauguration in January. It would be unseemly for them to “disappear” him before Inauguration Day.
OzarkHillbilly
@rikyrah: Yes it is. ;-)
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Frankensteinbeck: We meet on zoom. There were 12 of us there last night, the most we’ve had. The meeting goes from 6:30-9 and people stayed on to socialize when it ended. We’ve been seeing one another weekly for years. We miss one another.
Trapper Lurker
@Soprano2: Thanks! Hopefully this cat will not live in terror as poor Lilbit did–she spent her final cat years living on the top shelf in the basement, under the warm water pipes of the hot-water heating system. Only came out at night, when the dog was closed in upstairs. This time there will be no large dog whose only experience of cats was standing behind the fence of his front yard barking at the neighbor cat, who liked to lounge around the parking lot out of reach, yawn, twirl his whiskers, and mock him for his stupidity. He could have easily jumped his fence, but he never figured that out—other fences were easy, if he got out the gate–I saw him once take a whole series of fences like a hurdler when I was trying to catch him & bring him home, but his own fences in the yard of my tiny townhouse was a mental barrier he never did puzzle out. There was one spot that was really low, but he even left that alone, and spent all his limited intellect on devising was to escape through the gate. Sometimes stupidity in dogs is not such a bad thing. If it was too tall when he was a puppy he never tried again…
mrmoshpotato
@SFAW:
Unseemly.
not in keeping with established standards of taste or proper form
Wanna bet on how quickly they start memory holeing the entire Dump administration? :)
OzarkHillbilly
@Betty Cracker: @Ken: He is saying, “Are you kidding?” because the question itself buys into the absolute nonsense that is the trump narrative. Dismissing it out of hand is the only way to deal with it.
Kathleen
@rikyrah: My 24 year old grandson wanted me to fly to Florida for his birthday in March and his mom and I decided it would not be wise. They had even bought my ticket. I have no idea when I will see any of them again because I refuse to fly to Florida and not sure I really want them to come here. Hate it.
Ken
@OzarkHillbilly: “Are you kidding” is fine with me. It was the question about the reporter’s drug use that was a little too much.
mrmoshpotato
@WereBear:
Yes! Joe Biden, Aunt Crabby and Emma Gonzalez call bullshit.
ETA – this gotcha crap is exactly that.
Frankensteinbeck
@SFAW:
That’s going to be such a weird period. The only thing I am absolutely certain Trump will do is destroy every government record he can get his aides’ hands on. He has a clear history of being obsessed with leaving no paper trail that might reveal his crimes. A lot of his aides have been robbing the piggy bank themselves, and will be heavily motivated in that destruction. Beyond that, so many different things are plausible, a lot will be up to chance. What it won’t be is a reign of terror or coup, because if he could he’d have done those years ago.
OzarkHillbilly
@Ken: That drove the point home to the reporter. I’d have done the same.
ETA: on further thought, I’d have been a hell of a lot more harsh. Joe went easy on the guy.
Trapper Lurker
@mrmoshpotato: Thanks. Tennessee, huh. Now my sister-in-law says she’s not *really* a tuxedo–too much white (just black “hat” and black tail, a little black on her back. Naming is going to be a challenge (if she is indeed the one…I’ve only seen a picture). Will meet her tonight.
Immanentize
I’m getting on a plane with the Immp on Sunday to take him to college. In Houston. Staying with my FiL and BiL in the semi-country until move in day. Then I fly back on the 16th. Then I have to quarantine for two weeks here unless I can schedule a test and get the results in a shorter time.
Gotta let the kid go….
Baud
@mrmoshpotato:
@OzarkHillbilly:
I can’t watch the game video right now but it sounds like Biden fall into the trap of “explaining.”
Matt McIrvin
@Soprano2: They said the same thing about Elizabeth Warren not taking a DNA test until they actually successfully goaded her to do it, and that turned out to be a huge political mistake. The right response to this kind of thing is the middle finger.
Benw
@Frankensteinbeck: Destroying evidence of his crimes is the MOST sane thing he could do!
I feel like my homemade ANTIFA RULEZ sign is being disrespected
Shawn in Showme
@Ken:
Considering the absurdity of the interviewer’s question, it was a valid response. The interviewer was either mind-numbingly stupid or was high out of his mind. Neither option is flattering.
Baud
75th anniversary of Hiroshima.
OzarkHillbilly
@Immanentize: Courage.
catclub
Too bad Diana Ross is unavailable.
mrmoshpotato
@Frankensteinbeck:
It’ll be the most dangerous period in modern American history, because they’ll know “Tick tock, Soviet shitpile traitorous Trump trash mobster crime family! Prepare to be thrown into a police truck at 12:02PM on 1/20/20!”
Chris Johnson
@Trapper Lurker: Jed.
“the wheels spun around, and the letters said
Let’s get back to Tennessee, Jed”
:)
Baud
@Baud: the game video = the video
mrmoshpotato
@Baud: So you didn’t wake up with a basketball jones?
prostratedragon
@mrmoshpotato: I think we’re all taking that one every day.
dnfree
Regarding the Biden “why the hell would I take a test” clip, right-wing sites are posting that as an example of him being off his rocker and ranting about cocaine. Obviously depends on the eye of the beholder.
Soprano2
I agree, I especially liked the part where he said “I know you’re trying to goad me”. It acknowledges that instead of trying to gain some actual knowledge about the candidate, more often than not they’re just trying to goad him with whatever insanity Trump said that day or the day before. I almost wish he’d said “Why did you feel the need to ask me that question?”. Trump’s insanity needs to be called out as often as possible, and the press’ enabling of it needs to have the same treatment. How can anyone take seriously Trump bragging about passing a cognitive test?!! I understand why some people would cringe, but I was glad he reacted as if the very question was ridiculous, because it was. Don’t play Trump’s games, he’s saying.
Spanky
@Trapper Lurker: Congratulations! A couple of thoughts:
Do not name the cat “Tennessee”.
Do not name the cat “Tux”.
Name the cat whatever the hell you would like.
Also consider two cats rather than one. Going from zero to one is a major shift. Going from zero to two is not much different. And they’ll always have somebody to play and pal around with, even if you can’t be concentrating on them.
If you don’t feel that two is doable now, then do watch how Newcat behaves in his new environment. After he settles in, you may still see signs of loneliness. You might then reconsider a second cat.
Drdavechemist
@Immanentize: Good luck! I hope that Rice has a solid plan for how to keep students, faculty, and staff safe. My two guys are a year older than the Immp; one is moving to Cleveland for a fall term co-op and the other is headed back to Ann Arbor for a mostly online fall term. We are trying to buy (and insure) cars for both of them this week, so my parental anxiety is a little higher than usual. At least the power came back on this morning, and with luck we have resolved the source of my spouse’s recurring flat tires on her bike, in which case we will be back to “COVID normal“
Soprano2
Geez, I’d forgotten about that. Yes, this is their favorite game – goad a politician into doing something, then ridiculing and criticizing them after they do that thing. Joe would be well off not to play this game.
Baud
@Soprano2:
“Why won’t Hillary put an end to all these questions about her emails?”
dnfree
@PST: I’m in my mid-seventies and have never taken a cognitive test, but I did watch my father take one in his nineties. I wonder if there are areas of the country where it’s common and others where it isn’t.
I still remember visiting a gerontology specialist with my dad. At the end of the visit, the doctor asked my dad if he had any other concerns. My dad said yes, he was having trouble with his memory, which was true and he had been diagnosed at that point with cognitive issues. This specialist laughed and said ‘Oh, don’t worry about that, everyone has memory problems sometimes.”
Gin & Tonic
@Immanentize:
Happens to all of us who’ve been parents. You just hope your prep work was sufficient.
Baud
OzarkHillbilly
That’s just what the doc told me except he added in, “so do I.”
Betty Cracker
@Frankensteinbeck: True — Trump’s train wreck Axios interview got scads more press attention, and Trump will always be 100 times worse in any situation, no matter what the topic, so I should probably just chill the fuck out.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Immanentize: Wow. Good luck to you and the Immp, Dad. Leaving them is always a wrench. I felt the same way I did the day I left my kid at kindergarten. I’m sending you both all good wishes.
MomSense
@Immanentize:
The jackal prayer, thought, vibe and energy brigade will be stuck like glue on Immp.
Baud
@dnfree:
“Who are you again?”
OzarkHillbilly
Yeah, I’m gonna have to disagree with Joe on that one because I happen to think that letting blatant criminality stand would be worse for democracy.
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly:
Agreed. But I think Joe is saying it not very good for democracy to have to do it.
prostratedragon
@Baud: I used to pass regularly by the statue of Shinran, a revered Japanese Buddhist person, at the New York Buddhist Church on Riverside Dr. You feel it before you see it, as it’s above street level in a small mezzanine garden. It makes you mindful for a moment.
There’s an image of the statue visible for a moment in the movie Hiroshima Mon Amour, standing in the rubble. As described in the link, it was brought to this country by a man who had been interned in the camps during the war, and dedicated in its new site on September 11, 1955.
rp
@Baud: I think that’s a smart approach. He’s removing himself from the equation and putting it in the hands of the prosecutors. That way he avoids claims that he wants to prosecute Trump for political reasons (and thus comparisons to Trump and Obama/Clinton), and puts a marker down about the need for separation between the white house and DOJ.
Spanky
@Baud: It’s like telling a person that it’s not good to have (take? do?) an enema. Nobody* wants to have to do it, but the body is better off for it**.
* Yeah, don’t start in about those folks who get off on that sort of thing.
** See the comment above.
Matt McIrvin
@Soprano2: Fundamentally, the rule is: I’m not your monkey, I won’t dance for your entertainment.
It’s why, as immoral and frustrating as it may be, it’s politically the right call for Trump to stonewall forever on releasing his tax returns unless he’s somehow forced to. Once it becomes a demand from the other side, even if there’s nothing of significance in there, for him to cave would mean he caved. Trump isn’t a smart man but this kind of bully dynamic is one thing he understands.
Omnes Omnibus
@rp: It also fits with what he has been saying all along. That the president shouldn’t be involved in making decisions about prosecutions.
Subsole
@Ken:
Agree it is surprising they would be open, but I actually rather enjoy them.
You are typically given a series of puzzles to figure out in a set amount of time. So they dress the room up to look like, say, a diner. You have to find clues, piece those clues together to open locked containers that contain clues pointing to other clues that point to the way out of the room. If the room is well designed and the people there with you are on their game, it can be a blast.
rikyrah
@Immanentize:
We are all rooting for Little Imma in this milestone in his life :)
Prayers for his safety too.
mrmoshpotato
@prostratedragon: I hear ya!
mrmoshpotato
@OzarkHillbilly:
We’re living with the consequences of Dick, Donnie and W being allowed to skate away from their war crimes.
MattF
Here is the letter Giuliani sent to the debate commission. Two observations— asking for more debates means you think you’re behind, and (LOL) Hewitt as a moderator?
WereBear
@Trapper Lurker: What you describe is known as a “cow cat.” Sounds highly lovable :)
Baud
@MattF:
Remember when Obama had a bad first debate with Romney. That’s what they’re hoping for.
Frankensteinbeck
@mrmoshpotato:
Naah. They’re not very bright cowards. They will absolutely be desperate, but they’ll be scrambling to hide shit and run away, not burn the country down. What are they going to do that’s more dangerous than what Trump does daily? Invite Putin to invade? Arrest Trump’s political enemies? How? Courts actually care that you have no charges. ‘Throw random nobodies who you have an excuse for in a limited area in jail and then let them go in a few hours’ is the best they’ve managed. They can’t throw a coup. They literally don’t have the physical ability, since the military has already given Trump the middle finger. Fire the entire Justice Department? It will get rehired. Everyone flee the country and leave only the bureaucracy running without them? Hard to see how that’s worse than Trump’s active mismanagement.
rikyrah
Trump singles out Texas and Florida for help with coronavirus response By Priscilla Alvarez, Jeremy Diamond and Ryan Browne, CNN Updated 8:39 AM ET, Thu August 6, 2020 (CNN)President Donald Trump agreed to continue paying for the full cost of National Guard troops deployed to help with the coronavirus response in just two states — Texas and Florida — after their Republican governors appealed directly to him. Other states will now have to pay a quarter of the cost of National Guard deployments in their states, despite their governors also requesting the federal government continue to foot the entire bill. A White House official said Trump made an exception for Texas and Florida because their governors — who enjoy close relationships with Trump — made “special, direct cases to the President.” The official said Trump “is open to speaking with any governor from any state.”
https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/06/politics/trump-national-guard-coronavirus-texas-florida/
laura
@Immanentize: please accept this extra-large tear stained hug from accross the country. I can only imagine how it feels to witness your darling boy fledge and take wing.
MomSense
@prostratedragon:
Beautiful book and film. I’ll see if I can find the film so I can look for the statue.
mrmoshpotato
@WereBear: Moo-eow.
Immanentize
Thank you all. Rice has tens of thousands of tests waiting, they have constructed large outdoor classrooms and places to eat and study (mostly fancy tents), they have dedicated a residence hall to quarantine, they reserved a nearby hotel for more quarantine if necessary and they have a lot of money in their endowment to tap into. Still, he’s been through a lot and I expect this will be another hard challenge. To him, chaos must seem normal. I wonder what this generation will do in 10 years?
Roaring 20s? Or tight ass 50s?
WereBear
@Spanky: Heartily seconded!
mrmoshpotato
@Frankensteinbeck: Ok ok. Point taken.
It’s still be a shitshow of Soviet shitpile traitorous Trump trash mobsters.
cmorenc
@Frankensteinbeck:
I’ll bet there that to a considerable extent, there are backups to many records that are unknown or unreachable by Trump and his stooges, and others that cannot be destroyed without leaving clear evidence of illegal disposal and by whom. Alas, there will also be many instances where the perps do get away with it, but probably not as thoroughly or successfully as they wish they could
There are people below the political appointee level who are likely doing their best to frustrate any plans by those at the political level to destroy records. Let’s hope the “deep state” proves as potently motivated as Trump claims they are.
Jeffro
yeeeeeup..the list is nearly endless. I know the various restrictions vary by state in many of these cases but whew…
Can’t
etc etc etc
Call me crazy but it’s almost like we should have worked to flatten the curve right into the ground, then tested and traced our brains out. Instead of pushing for the local Carb Corral to open back up pronto.
Immanentize
@Drdavechemist: The big M was number 3 on the Immp’s list after UT Austin’s CS honors program. Damn but Ann Arbor is an amazing campus. Such great facilities — including the rather hidden town they created just for testing autonomous vehicles on the north side of campus. And the football field sized netted area for testing drones. And, and.
The Immp couldn’t get his license this summer or we would be driving down. Covid and all….
Gin & Tonic
@Immanentize:
As have you. Best wishes to the both of you.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Immanentize: Rice’s prep sounds very encouraging, and Immp has had a year to get strong and grow up some. Here’s hoping he has a year that’s memorable in a good way.
Immanentize
@Gin & Tonic: Thanks. The trends are in the correct direction…. November will tell all.
Trapped Lurker
@WereBear: BTW, I wanted to mention that what did happen while I was poking around your website was I decided to take your advice and not get two kittens—I’m nervous about this cat thing, and my brother and sister-in-law always have gotten two expensive-breed kittens (Himalayan’s or other type). You convinced me I should look for a young adult or adult cat, then maybe a second cat if it seems to be lonely. The one I’m meeting tonight is about a year old. Cow-cat? Any insight about personalities?
Immanentize
@Dorothy A. Winsor: His summer reading list was more impressive than my undergraduate reading — and I was an English major!!! Brag not humble — yesterday I come into the living room and he has two Bible’s out — classic King James and New Jerusalem. Whatcha reading? I ask — King’s, because he wants to get the background on King Ahab because his final at home book is Moby Dick. “Why did they need to write that Elisha was plowing behind twelve yoke of oxen? ?”
Good question.
He’ll be fine as long as he can stay healthy.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Betty Cracker: last time I pointed out that Biden gets too defensive when challenged one of my favorite regulars accused me of being the new Maggie Haberman with Clinton’s emails, but he gets too defensive when challenged. How about: “When my doctor suggests I need a test, for whatever reason, I get the test. But taking medical advice from the guy who suggested we inject Lysol? I’ll pass”
One thing that doesn’t get enough attention: trump has said he got the test during his still unexplained trip to Walter Reed earlier this year. He has also said it was Ronnie “Dr Feelgood” Jackson, who was the White House physician until March, 2018. Is he confused…?
Subsole
@Ken:
Meh, I actually enjoyed watching a Democrat reply to insultingly absurd accusations with dismissiveness.
And if it stings a reporter’s ass, so much the better. Their insistence that we treat Republican lunacy as the benchmark of serious thought is crippling our nation and killing hundreds of thousands.
It is also, coincidentally, driving me mad as well…
Hoodie
@Frankensteinbeck: His pathological narcissism is what compels him to lie or make stupid statements even when it serves no particular tactical or strategic purpose. He has no ideological center other than himself. For example, when asked by Swan what he thought about John Lewis, a good politician would say something like “he was an icon of the civil rights movement, he will be missed” even if he didn’t mean it. It gains you nothing to badmouth a dead guy, his base wouldn’t be upset by some platitudes about Lewis because they’re the same people who have no problem with his nonsense that “no president has done as much for black people than Donald Trump.” In fact, that’s the type of tactical lie they would love. No, instead Trump complains about Lewis not attending his inauguration because that was a personal rejection, trumping any tactical consideration as to what would serve whatever “philosophy” Trump represents. Hell, Lewis didn’t attend Bush’s inauguration in 2000, and Bush still went to Lewis’ funeral and spoke nicely about him.
If you look at his twitter spew, Trump’s a bit like a guy wandering the streets talking mostly to himself. It’s a variation on the old George Constanza bit of “it’s not a lie if you believe it’s true,” in that Trump wants these things to be true, and that is functionally equivalent to them being true.
Frankensteinbeck
@mrmoshpotato:
Boy, will that be true. They’ll find new ways to be stupid that even moderately smart people cannot imagine because it is so instantly, obviously senseless.
Tazj
@Trapper Lurker: Good luck to you on your adoption of a new friend. I’d love to see pictures if you decide to take the kitty home.
When I was growing up, the house next door had 2 successive Irish Setters and goofy is such an apt description of their personality. They always ended in our backyard, in our house or trying to get on the school bus with us.
Matt McIrvin
@Subsole: Also, the “locked in the room” premise is generally so clearly identified as fictitious that it’s not even a source of anxiety.
While I might be a little leery of escape rooms right now, I suspect they’re far safer than, say, going to a restaurant. It’s an activity that you do entirely with the members of your own party, which is typically small. Go with the people who are already in your home bubble, and the main additional dangers would be touching contaminated surfaces (which turns out to be not nearly as big a deal for COVID as we thought several months ago) and, maybe, aerosol transmission through the A/C from other parts of the building (which I suspect is not nearly as big a risk as inhaling droplets from people who are actually nearby). It might be a case where doing a lot of disinfecting between visits would actually help.
Baud
@Frankensteinbeck:
If Trump doesn’t end his farewell address with “The Aristocrats,” I’ll be disappointed.
jeffreyw
@WereBear:
Baud
@Immanentize:
Oh he’s one of those kids.
VOR
@randy khan: I’d vote for Beyonce over Trump in a heartbeat. Of course, I’d vote for any random person off the street over Trump too.
SiubhanDuinne
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Asked and answered.
JPL
@Immanentize: We’ll be waiting for your return. It’s such an exciting time for him, but bittersweet for you. You’re a good dad!
trollhattan
@WereBear:
It’s an on-brand Biden quip, he of “A noun, a verb, 9-11” fame and slayer of Rudy’s national ambitions.
Alison Rose
@Betty Cracker:
Nah, that bothered me too. As others noted, he could simply have just responded to the absurdity of a cognitive test and moved on without the comparison. An acquaintance who works with folks with substance dependencies has said many times that the term “junkie” is offensive and demeaning, and implies that those with these issues are less worthy or valuable as a person…which is not exactly something that would help that person on their road to recovery.
Joe’s gonna Joe, and this is an example, something I really hope he keeps working on. Obviously, nothing he says is anywhere near as repugnant as Trump’s garbage, but that doesn’t mean we don’t call it out when he messes up.
trollhattan
@VOR:
Think we’d have to get to Dennis Rodman territory before I paused voting between he and Trump. And really, what kind of rebounder was Trump even in his prime? “I’m the best rebounder, I got all the balls, nobody could take them from me, they were glad when I left the court to go to meetings….”
JPL
Any guesses on what Lititia James will say this morning?
sdhays
@rp: I agree with this, but I think it’s wrong to not also emphasize that Presidents can’t be above the law. That’s also bad for democracy. The Nixon pardon is part of what has brought us to this level of lawlessness.
Ken
@Immanentize: Ahab is one of the kings for which we have a small amount of extra-Biblical historical sources. They paint a more nuanced picture than that in Kings, whose writer viewed all kings of Israel (the northern kingdom) as absolutely wicked.
For example Ahab was an important member of the coalition of petty kingdoms that held off the Assyrians. Had that not happened, both Israel and Judah might have been overrun a couple of centuries earlier.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
gonna continue to bang my lonely drum that prosecutions are the wrong place to start investigating the trump administration: Public hearings by a joint congressional or select committee that will lay the facts out to the public and make referrals to the DoJ if evidence of criminal acts is discovered. What we find morally repugnant is not necessarily criminal. Barr is vile, he’s also a very smart lawyer. See also: Kellyanne Conway and probably Don McGann and several others. The one discipline trump has shown in his life is not writing things down. And that’s without getting into the self-pardon that I am confident has already been, at least, drafted.
Omnes Omnibus
@Ken: The whale was a Syrian? I am so confused.
Subsole
@OzarkHillbilly:
Yep. Nixon begat Reagan, who begat Barr and Bush and so many of the people pulling our democracy down around us.
It’s like that bullshit with the Astros. How on earth are you gonna tell a 14 year old kid to play fair and be honest then let that shit slide? You think the kids aren’t gonna take one look at that and decide you’re a lying hypocrite best ignored?
This shit has consequences, and it needs to stop here. Not sure how we effect that change, but we better.
Because the next tyrant ain’t gonna be incompetent.
Omnes Omnibus
@Subsole: Prosecutions at the behest of a president are bad for democracy as well. Joe is saying he will let prosecutors decide. I think that is the right approach.
Ken
@Omnes Omnibus: Assyrian, not a Syrian. Not to be confused with Ashur the Assyrian god; nor with Asher the tribe of Israel, whose territory was along the northern seacoast near what was later Assyria.
germy
And a good businessman/manager would mouth the same platitudes.
It’s odd that #45 was sold to voters as a good manager. Everyone in upper management I’ve ever worked with… their main speciality was the ability to give inspirational bullshit replies to any question.
#45 doesn’t remind me of management. He reminds me of the boss’s son who constantly says the wrong thing (and doesn’t give a shit because “what are they gonna do to me?”) until he is shipped off to a remote area, away from the rank and file.
trollhattan
@Omnes Omnibus:
Agreed and that’s why I’m far more interested in who Biden picks for AG than for VP (hint: Harris’s ideal role).
germy
@JPL:
NRA?
Elizabelle
@Immanentize: Finally, the Immp heads to college.
Thinking on when you and he were concerned that he had to take some time off, for health reasons. We were all talking (and consoling) about a gap year.
And then — this present existence, with COVID — which makes life before seem like living in a different country or different world.
Wishing you both all the best.
Omnes Omnibus
@Ken: Dude, Asher is a movie with the Hell Boy dude who is going to wrestle Ted Cruz for charity.
Omnes Omnibus
@trollhattan: Preet Bharara.
Elizabelle
@JPL: Do we know what time the press conference for Letitia James? She’s got one hour of “morning” left, EDT.
germy
@Elizabelle:
11:30 a.m.
trollhattan
Holy crap, I’d missed this story. Florida
manboys strike! (OK, not actually strike but WTF were they thinking?)“Young man, you are in BIG trouble taking my car without asking. Lucky for you that you took your own gun and not mine, or I’d tan your hide.”
trollhattan
@Omnes Omnibus:
I’d be fine with him, it’s just my envisioning Trump sweating over being “persecuted” by a black woman is more delicious. Yes, I’m that shallow.
germy
Well there you go.
Elizabelle
@germy: Thank you.
WaterGirl
@Immanentize:
I teared up when I read that. The Immp leaving home for college is the way of things, but damn, you have all been through so much these past several years.
You are his rock, and he is yours, so this goes way beyond heading off to school or sending your kid off to school. Add in the time of covid, and you are both going to have your strength tested.
I know you will both be strong, except when you’re not, and that’s the way it should be. We are here for you, and the Immp will soon have new friends that will be there for him.
?
SFAW
@mrmoshpotato:
I’ll take the “under” for anything greater than two days. I expect I would not be the only one.
WaterGirl
@Elizabelle: Do we know where to watch the press conference?
MattF
@germy: Trump is the very model of a bad manager. Apparently, most people don’t have a clue about what a good manager does.
trollhattan
@MattF:
I’ve had spectacularly bad, lurid even bosses but nobody as unhinged and pathological as Trump. Not even the one who claimed she killed people working for the CIA, using a knife.
Mingobat (f/k/a Karen in GA)
@WaterGirl: CBS News is live streaming it.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=y_osrzi0GjY
sdhays
Pelosi On Republicans: ‘Perhaps You Mistook Them For Somebody Who Gives A Damn’
Omnes Omnibus
@trollhattan: She was working for the CIA when she killed or she killed people who worked for the CIA?
JPL
@Mingobat (f/k/a Karen in GA): Twitter is saying NRA
Immanentize
@Omnes Omnibus: Pssssst. The whale is Baal.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
I am wondering; it seems like Trump supporters are both so easily swayed by what they see on TV and live in such an information bubble that these attack adds from the Lincoln project might be more effective than usual. While those adds are over the top, none of the basic claims the Lincoln project makes are untrue and the most effective propaganda is based on reality.
geg6
@Trapper Lurker:
Oh yes, pics please!
You will love a kitty, I know.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
Not to mention that just moves the pain up the food chain.
Mingobat (f/k/a Karen in GA)
@JPL: Should know for sure in a few minutes.
Ken
Move it up enough steps and you might reach people who, to use Pelosi’s words, the Republicans give a damn about.
For that matter, doing nothing will have much the same effect, but will take a little longer. At least, that’s what I would expect given the general economy; I am not a landlord, so for all I know there really is a long line of people eager to rent those apartments, once the current tenants are evicted.
Omnes Omnibus
@Immanentize: I think the whale type is spelled baleen.
MisterForkbeard
@germy: He’s not wrong. The Hatch Act does not apply to the president. It’s not illegal.
But it’s just vastly inappropriate the same way Trump unilaterally granting security access to his son-in-law. Legal, but incredibly stupid and fairly corrupt.
Once again, we can see that the only question for Trump is not “should I do this” but “can I do this?” And if the question is legal, then they make efforts to get around it.
Subsole
@Omnes Omnibus: Agreed.
Omnes Omnibus
@MisterForkbeard: It’s weird. Few of us have ever dealt with a person completely unfettered by societal norms until now.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@germy:Even sucko someone’s pet managers at lest can spew out the platitudes, that’s part of management culture after all. There is a lot of odd things about Trump like lack of any mother figure in his circle, even thirty years after his father’s death Trump still hasn’t rebelled against him.
Elizabelle
Waiting for NY AG Letitia James news conference to start. WaterGirl has put up a fresh thread.
Subsole
@Immanentize:
I thought it was Tiamat.
sdhays
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: If you click through and read the article, she says this explicitly. It’s almost like she knows what she’s talking about.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
Isn’t that the problem though, by the time 1% or even the top 10% feel heat things will truly be bad. One would think property owners getting screwed would be enough to get a Republican’s attention.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Immanentize:
I think it goes “The Walrus was Paul”
Ken
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: One would think that, yes, provided one is (1) able to think beyond the next hour and (2) not a sociopath. Name a member of the Republican Senate caucus that qualifies.
Mo Salad
Next time Joe gets asked that, I’d love Joe to say, “No, because I haven’t had a stroke recently.”
I want him to go there and put Team Trump on defense.
If they want to go on about Sleepy Joe or show three second clips where Joe’s stutter has him fumbling for a word, fuck ’em.
Or for that matter, fuck ’em anyway.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@sdhays:
I will probably see at least five tweets today arguing that “Nancy Pelosi is not up to the job of taking on these Republicans”
Ruckus
@Frankensteinbeck:
Take a different tack here.
Look at him, not as if he’s a 74 yr old man, with experience and knowledge. Look at him as if he’s 70 yrs younger, son of a wealthy racist slumlord, without any learning, capability, understanding, humanity or behavioral limitations, spoiled rotten and undisciplined. Now do any of his actions make more sense? No they really don’t, but then with an upbringing like that and zero respect for anyone but his own desires for all of those 74 yrs and if we were still measuring it, an IQ of around 70 at best, and while it still makes no sense it is very descriptive of his abilities as a person with that history and progressing dementia. He should be living in a 100% supervised locked housing situation with zero responsibilities and zero exposures to any ability to cause harm to others. He is degrading, right in front of our eyes, and he wasn’t in great shape 4 yrs ago when this political disaster started. He is incapable of being an adult because he has ceased being one so his faults and base personality are all that’s left as an operational human. Hell it isn’t really even his fault any longer because he’s not in any kind of control of himself, not that he ever really was, which is part of what makes it worse. He’s on the best lit, smallest but most elevated stage in the world, no longer acting as a spoiled rich kid, but as an adult unable to live without controls and locks on the doors.
geg6
@trollhattan:
Oh man, I had forgotten about that! Explains a lot about Rudy’s obsession with getting/manufacturing bullshit about Joe and Hunter Biden.
Ruckus
@PST:
I’m not on Medicare but I am well past that age and I have taken a few but never drawn the clock. I’ve done the draw within the lines of a swirl the doc just drew, with both hands, the remember 3 words and a few others. As they aren’t treating me and haven’t locked me up I’d consider I’ve passed. But yes I’d imagine anyone above the age of mid 60s and competent medical care has taken at least one cognitive test. Dementia of some degree is actually a pretty normal aging effect at some point in the process, if one’s physical health is good enough. Catching it early can help a lot and extend someone’s reasonable life.
Geminid
@OzarkHillbilly: re pathological liars: my late friend Chris had a ne’re do well brother in law everyone called “Punkin.” Chris said of him: “Punkin would rather climb a tree and tell a lie than stand on the ground and tell the truth.”
misterpuff
@WereBear: I named my tuxedo cat Fred Astaire (Fred for short) and had an all white kitty at the same time we called Andy Warhol.
I miss Fred and Andy. Both sets.
rikyrah
@Immanentize:
Just tearing up here. Please let him know that he has this entire bucket of cyber Aunts and Uncles who are wishing him nothing but the best and want him to have the time of his life (safely, of course.)
We’ve all said prayers and hoped that this day would come for him :)
J R in WV
@Frankensteinbeck:
These guys are so stupid, they will print out their documents in order to shred them, and think they have destroyed the evidence.
Not a single piece of paper in today’s White House is an original document, they all begin with a computer file, which was almost instantly backed up to a local server. Then over night those local servers were backed up to off site servers. (Unless they have personal computers not connected to any other computing platform, and I don’t believe that exists in the White House.)
While I never worked for the Feds, and was not greatly impressed by many federal IT staff either contractors or employees, this is so bone deep a standard practice, I have to believe it is how IT works in the White House. While some federal staff were brilliant folks, others were barely competent and would not have been kept around at my state office.
Between the automatic realtime backups and the deliberate system backups managed by IT staff, there should be no way for ordinary staff to delete those files beyond recovery by IT experts. But Trump, so who knows, really. Chewed up bits of paper? We’re safe now, Dad.
ballerat
@Shawn in Showme: I think too often with the GOP and their water-carriers we mistake malign intent for stupidity or incompetence. Or in this case, being under the influence. This lets them off the hook for their bad-faith actions.
That guy isn’t stupid nor was he high. He tried to slip a verbal turd into the punch bowl of the interview and got caught out.
Biden didn’t let him off the hook. Joe knows how to deal with our Republican-wired media.
ballerat
@Betty Cracker: I loved it. Hit that GOP-wired media SOB where he didn’t expect it and put it right back on him, a variation on the classic “When did you stop beating your wife”. Did you do cocaine? Make him deny a bullshit smear.
I don’t think there is any better option for Biden. If he politely declines, they press the attack — oh ho! What’s he hiding?
If he takes a mental screen to prove them wrong, he’s shown rightwing smears work — he responds to them, that’s weakness — why, you can throw bullshit in this guy’s face and he’ll bend over backward to accommodate you! That was Warren’s mistake. And the bullshit will get ratcheted up to 11: Cue the “When did you stop beating your wife?” crap.
And they still won’t believe his test results, no more than they accepted Obama’s actual birth certificate.
Joe made that asshat pay a price for his water-carrying. He attacked him, returned the insult. Pour encourager les autres. That’s the only good response for what is on the face of it a public insult.