Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Bark louder, little dog.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

In my day, never was longer.

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

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

A lot of Dems talk about what the media tells them to talk about. Not helpful.

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

Everybody saw this coming.

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

“Squeaker” McCarthy

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

They think we are photo bombing their nice little lives.

The GOP couldn’t organize an orgy in a whorehouse with a fist full of 50s.

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

You are here: Home / Past Elections / 2020 Elections / Biden For President / Wednesday Morning Open Thread: Onwards, to the Convention

Wednesday Morning Open Thread: Onwards, to the Convention

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194Comments

  1. 1.

    Mousebumples

    Good morning, everyone! Yesterday made me proud to be a Democrat. Let’s do it again today! ?

  2. 2.

    debbie

    I like that Lincoln Project ad. Positive, yet gentle. I’ve decided to be kind to myself and not listen to Glenn Beck for his take on Kamala. It’s sure to be worse than anything I could imagine.

  3. 3.

    Nina

    I suspect that LP had ads in the can for the top rumored VP candidates.  Kamala was always a top contender, in many senses of the word.

  4. 4.

    Punchy

    The fact that KamHa is both Jamaican (sp?) and Indian means the food at her house growing up must have been awwweeeessssoooommme. Shes jerk to Pence’s ketchup.  Shes vindaloo to Pence’s pepper.  Dammit, now my mouth is watering.

  6. 6.

    SFAW

    Got a less-than-pleasant surprise this AM: my daughter, the very liberal social worker, told me she was pissed about the Harris selection, because “she’s a fucking cop,” especially as regarded incarcerating POC. After my initial surprise, I told her about the Niki Solis op-ed — which I think I first heard about in this joint.. I don’t think it convinced her, but I’ll send her the link, maybe she’ll change her mind.

    To be clear: she’ll still crawl over broken glass to vote for Biden. But I had hoped for a different response re: Harris.

  7. 7.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @debbie:  Tucker Carlson had something to say. I won’t inflict it upon you, but you can google it if self-flagellation is your thing.

  8. 8.

    waspuppet

    And just in case you’ve missed it, she’s already been called “nasty,” pro-slavery, a radical leftist and not really Black. The last one by the people who wanted us to be up in arms when Biden said “you ain’t Black.”

  10. 10.

    SFAW

    So far, the two main responses from the Murderer-in-Chief seem to be that Harris is “phony” and “nasty.” Oh, and the “ultra liberal” thing, but they had started applying that to Biden weeks ago. So they’ve got nothing, more-or-less.

    To my meager mind, her response to the “phony” comment should include something like “have the Liar-in-Chief prove HE is NOT a phony ‘billionaire’ — release all of his tax returns right fucking now, and stop with the Vance-focused lawsuits regarding his (or his organization’s) criminal fraud activities.”

    And re: “nasty”: just string together all the times he’s been dickishly insulting toward anyone who doesn’t kiss his monstrous ass.

    It will also be interesting to see how the Traitor Shill Barr works Harris into the Durham October Surprise report.

  12. 12.

    Kay

    @SFAW:

    It doesn’t make any sense to me. The last thing you want are 100% Right wing prosecutors. It’s insane for progressives to bar law enforcement jobs. The jobs will be filled. They can have some progressives in them, or not. That’s the choice.

    It isn’t even how it works as a practical matter. The defense bar is FULL of former prosecutors. Prosecutors get tons of court and trial experience. It’s basically the training ground for criminal defense lawyers. Really common to switch sides. My husband did it.

  13. 13.

    satby

    @SFAW: Thank the Bernie bros, their serial slanders of Bernie’s opponents during the primaries have continued as a way to kneecap anyone Biden might pick.

  14. 14.

    SFAW

    @satby:

    why on earth would anyone listen to Glenn Beck (or Fucker Carlson)?

    Penance? It’s faster than 1,000 Ave Marias or 1000 Pater nosters.

  15. 15.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @SFAW: That’s a good piece but as the saying goes, you can lead a horse to knowledge but you can’t make them think.

    Or something like that.

  16. 16.

    Ken

    @SFAW: [Trump’s] two main responses … “phony” and “nasty.”

    So he’s pretty much exhausted his vocabulary.

  17. 17.

    SFAW

    @satby:

    I know you weren’t implying this re: my daughter, but: she wasn’t/isn’t looking to kneecap Biden.

    I know she would have been happy with Warren, but we haven’t really discussed others she would have been happy with.

  19. 19.

    satby

    @SFAW: no, the dissemination of the Kamala is a cop meme started with the bros and went far and wide. I heard the same from my Bernie fan son, even though he’s committed to voting for Biden. The Social Justice Democrats are ineffective at most things, but they’re good at spreading bullshit around, just like their hero.

  20. 20.

    Ken

    @SFAW: It’s faster than 1,000 Ave Marias or 1000 Pater nosters.

    I’m now morbidly curious what sins would require that penance.

  21. 21.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    I love how the MAGATS are howling that Harris isn’t “African American” because her Dad is Jamaican. I know they probably didn’t pay attention in history class, but how the fuck do they think the black people in Jamaica got there?

  22. 22.

    SFAW

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    I googled the Cucker thing, and the top hits were his repeatedly mispronouncing her name (and getting mad when a guest corrected him), and the “she slept her way to the top” bullshit. Anything else of note?

  23. 23.

    Cameron

    @SFAW:  I thought Trump used “nasty” to describe women he’s afraid of, whether because they stand up to him or ask him questions he doesn’t know how to answer.

  24. 24.

    SFAW

    @Ken:

    I’m now morbidly curious what sins would require that penance.

    I’m sure I have no idea, but I bet Ozark could tell you.

     

    Hi Ozark! (waving) How the blech are you?

  25. 25.

    SFAW

    @Cameron:

    I thought Trump used “nasty” to describe women he’s afraid of, whether because they stand up to him or ask him questions he doesn’t know how to answer.

    I had assumed he aimed it at any strong, smart woman, because of his horrific misogyny, but I think there’s a lot of truth in what you say.

  30. 30.

    hueyplong

    @SFAW: Only one of the four candidates held no governmental or elected office prior to running for president.  That’s the one who slept his way to the top, with a huge percentage of it non-consensual and/or underage.

    This whole “sleeping her way to the top” b.s. is just a slightly more vile spin on “She’s too ambitious” (also translated as “She doesn’t know her place”).

    Ed Rendell can go fuck himself.  You watch, every GOP talking head who gets called on misogyny will say it’s fair game because Democrat Ed Rendell started it.  Like “Don’t blame us, Hillary started the birth certificate controversy.”

  31. 31.

    Nelle

    @SFAW: Have her read or listen to the Harris memoir.  She explains her reasons for becoming a prosecutor and I was won over.  We do have crime and there are victims who deserve protection.   It is my undetstandingvthat her work on mortgage fraud was important and ae need prosecutors who will go after white collar crime.  Urge her not to succumb to labeling by political opponents and do her own research.  I think she was one of the more formidable candidates in early days and took more incoming than others.

    Some of that would have been from bots and R’s.  They suss out the strongest opponents and try to destroy them before they get momentum.

  32. 32.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @SFAW: Tucker Carlson calls Biden-Harris the ‘first entirely hollow presidential ticket in American history’

    “Harris may be the single most transactional human being in America,” he went on. “There are timeshare salesmen you would trust more than Kamala Harris. You could find payday lenders who are more sincere.

    “So, it seemed inconceivable that given his current state, Joe Biden would choose someone so transparently one-dimensional as Kamala Harris, someone as empty as he is. It would be the first entirely hollow presidential ticket in American history and we thought it could never happen. But it is. They’re doing it anyway.”

    I haven’t read this no doubt racist drivel and the above quote and link comes from somebody who did read it so I didn’t have to. (thank you Kurtz at OTB, you have done a service for humanity)

  33. 33.

    hueyplong

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: “Trump is apparently huddling with his minions, workshopping nicknames for Harris. That is apparently his idea of campaigning.”

    FoxNews has lots of commercials, so this keeps him “the hardest working president evah.”

    “Dirty Cop Kampala Harris.”

  34. 34.

    Leto

    @MagdaInBlack: 

    Pull: “She’s nasty, nasty woman!”

    Pull: “Why don’t they love me?”

    Pull: “It’ll all go away…”

    Pull: “Fake news! Witch hunt!”

  36. 36.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @SFAW: I haven’t done penance since some priest told me I would have to do some inordinate amount of Hail Marys and Our Fathers for the sin of continuing to breathe, so I wouldn’t know what sins would fit that punishment.

  37. 37.

    Cameron

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: I truly hope that she’s asked to reply to whatever nonsense he comes up with.  “I’m running for Vice President of the United States of America; I don’t have either the time or the interest in answering a moron regarding a childish nickname.”

  38. 38.

    SFAW

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    I think it would be good humor if James Harris — had he not died recently — issued vague WWF-style threats toward the Dickhead-in-Chief, in response to Dickhead’s attempted insults toward Senator Harris.

    For those not getting the attempted gag: James Harris wrestled for many years as “Kamala” a/k/a “Kamala the Ugandan Giant.”

  40. 40.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    I’m trying to work out what I should have said at a book club meeting on Monday. We talked about the book, but at the end, we veered off onto the looting that happened in Chicago overnight. Some of the comments were racist-adjacent if not downright racist. “THEY come to suburbs and steal cars as gang initiation.” “I saw a picture of a woman dressed like I am, climbing out a broken window carrying a TV, and she had this big grin.”

    I like these people usually, and they did differentiate between BLM (understandable protest) and looting and vandalism. I didn’t know what to say, so I said they were all cheering me up too much and I had to leave. Now I think I could have at least said the conversation made me uncomfortable. I was caught off guard, I guess.

  43. 43.

    cmorenc

    One measure of the success of Biden’s choice of Harris is how completely they’re losing their minds over it with stupid drivel over on the FoxNews site.  There’s even a prominent article there spotlighting how sharp conservative observers purportedly spotted signs in a photo of Biden making the Harris announcement of Biden’s inability to coherently speak without notes from his minders and supposedly holding an iPhone upside down (the mental senility meme).

    Their contemptuous bravado and trash-talk over there is drowning in nervous flopsweat – this is not how a confident side reacts.

  44. 44.

    Ken

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: In fairness, he’s attached himself (lamprey-like) to a political party which has been coasting on Cleek’s Law for decades, and which has very few accomplishments that they want to remind voters of.

    “Hey, we blocked an extension to unemployment benefits during a pandemic that’s caused the highest unemployment numbers since the statistics have been kept!  Vote Republican this fall and we’ll continue to cut taxes for billionaires!”

  46. 46.

    rikyrah

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    That looting had nothing to do with protests. Not legitimate protests. The number of out of town license plates on the vehicles used.??

    Nothing but a scam. Nothing legitimate about it

    Certainly wasn’t about social justice.

  48. 48.

    Leto

    @OzarkHillbilly: Sorry; the crappy pull box can only fit four. They could’ve gone with a better electronic model, but that would’ve cost an extra 5 pennies. Scrooge McCheeto screamed something about, “THOSE 5 PENNIES ARE MINE! WHERE’S MY MONEY, PAUL?!?!?!” and that was the end of that.

  51. 51.

    cmorenc

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    @debbie:  Tucker Carlson had something to say. I won’t inflict it upon you, but you can google it if self-flagellation is your thing

    The kind of scattershot contemptuous trash-talk reaction Biden – Harris is receiving over on FoxNews’s site across the board is not the way a confident side reacts – the whole site is dripping with flop-sweat this morning.  The snarling attack dog approach fools no one but themselves.

  52. 52.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @rikyrah: Yes, and they did say that. But then, three of them went on to racist generalizations. I suppose if I’d really been quick, I’d have been able to push them back to the recognition that the looting had nothing to do with the protests.

    The thing is, I was angry and wanted to cry “racist,” but I suspect what was needed might have been the insight and generosity of a John Lewis, which I obviously don’t have.

  53. 53.

    Ken

    @Leto: Was the “see-and-say” gramophone mechanism considered? That could go up to 26 tracks, so the repetition would be less obvious. Also you could dunk it in water and it would still work, which might be helpful for a person with a drinking problem.

  54. 54.

    WereBear

    @SFAW: My response was that we needed a prosecutor!

    I have been hearing a lot of whining but I don’t pay much attention. We need a giant coalition! To SURVIVE.

    Hold your nose and vote for this partnership. Fine with me. If you abstained last time, don’t you dare threaten this time.

    Look what happened.

  57. 57.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Punchy:

    Kamala has fond memories of her mother’s cooking:

    Breakfast aside, she loved to cook, and I loved to sit with her in the kitchen and watch and smell and eat. She had a giant Chinese-style cleaver that she chopped with, and a cupboard full of spices. I loved that okra could be soul food or Indian food, depending on what spices you chose; she would add dried shrimp and sausage to make it like gumbo, or fry it up with turmeric and mustard seeds.

    My mother cooked like a scientist. She was always experimenting—an oyster beef stir-fry one night, potato latkes on another. Even my lunch became a lab for her creations: On the bus, my friends, with their bologna sandwiches and PB&Js, would ask excitedly, “Kamala, what you got?” I’d open the brown paper bag, which my mother always decorated with a smiley face or a doodle: “Cream cheese and olives on dark rye!” I’ll admit, not every experiment was successful—at least not for my grade school palate. But no matter what, it was different, and that made it special, just like my mother.

    While she cooked, she would often put Aretha Franklin on the record player and I would dance and sing in the living room as though it were my stage. We listened to her version of “To Be Young, Gifted and Black” all the time, an anthem of black pride first performed by Nina Simone.

    Most of our conversations took place in the kitchen. Cooking and eating were among the things our family most often did together. When Maya and I were kids, our mother sometimes used to serve us what she called “smorgasbord.” She’d use a cookie cutter to make shapes in pieces of bread, then lay them out on a tray with mustard, mayonnaise, pickles, and fancy toothpicks. In between the bread slices, we’d put whatever was left in the refrigerator from the previous nights of cooking. It took me years to clue in to the fact that “smorgasbord” was really just “leftovers.” My mother had a way of making even the ordinary seem exciting.

    From her book The Truths We Hold: An American Journey.

  58. 58.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @SFAW: The Sandernistas (and probably Russian bots) started pushing the “Kamala is a cop” meme in the primaries. I have several lefty acquaintances who bought it hook, line, and sinker.

    I haven’t read this whole thread yet, but lamh posted some great articles and sources that push back on that purity CW on facebook. Here are links to two sources:

    ProgressivePunch.org rates Kamala as one of the top progressive legislators in the Senate

    50 Criminal Justice Reforms & Accomplishments by Kamala Harris

  60. 60.

    Ken

    @cmorenc: scattershot

    That’s a very good word, and as some have noted they’re making contradictory arguments (“she’s a COP – who wants to DEFUND the police”).

    What we are seeing is the “poo-flinging” phase of ape behavior. They wont’ settle on a single narrative until they see if anything sticks, or until the directive comes down from on high.

  62. 62.

    prostratedragon

    @waspuppet:
    What do these people think has been going on in this country for the last 400 years? My only ancestor before 1850 whose name I know for sure was a Huguenot.

  63. 63.

    rikyrah

    @SFAW:

    160,000 dead and counting

     

    Does she think that this would have happened under President Hillary Clinton?

     

    Hold her nose and pull the lever for Biden/Harris

     

    Whole lot of AMERICANS, this election is life and DEATH ?

  65. 65.

    zhena gogolia

    Okay, I didn’t cry yesterday, but that Biden-Harris ad did it.
    For the first time in years I was excited to bring in my NYT this morning — big, beautiful color picture of Harris on the front page. Yes!

  66. 66.

    prostratedragon

    @Cameron: I think he’s got Vanity 6 on the brain, thinking of how he’d cut such women down to size. (Of course in the family book it’s recounted that Fred also used the word a lot to describe “impudent” girls.)

  68. 68.

    Betty Cracker

    When I finished up work yesterday around 5:30-ish, I turned on CNN, which was running the shitgibbon’s press conference/campaign rally, right after a reporter asked him about the Harris pick. He looked kinda shook and recited the usual sexist, racist talking points in a distinctly low energy manner, IMO.

    I think Trump was most afraid of the Harris pick, and it becoming reality was a jolt to him. Due to his multiple pathologies, Trump is probably incapable of perceiving/acknowledging weakness in himself, but he’s probably worried that Harris will dismantle Pence.

  70. 70.

    zhena gogolia

    @Cameron:

    She was “nasty” to Judge “now Justice” Kavanaugh. (I’m sure some aide briefed him on that because there’s no way he knows the difference.)

    Somebody captioned the clip, “He says this like it’s a bad thing.”

  71. 71.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @rikyrah: The racists are trying guilt by association; the looters are black, there for BLM must answer. My conservative friends didn’t like it all when I applied to the same logic to them and the Proud Boys.

  74. 74.

    PPCLI

    @satby: Yes, my super-woke 18 year old daughter hit me with “Kamala’s a cop” already early in the primaries when I told her Kamala was my favorite. That was evidently the Bernie line from early on.

  77. 77.

    CarolDuhart2

    @Litlebritdifrnt: The way I see it, I’m an American by sheer chance.  It’s just where they decided to drop us off because the prices were better.  If it had been Jamaica at the time, I would be listening to reggae, eating jerk chicken, and trying to figure out which candidate for Parliament would help me the most.

  78. 78.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @SFAW: It’s faster than 1,000 Ave Marias or 1000 Pater nosters.

    I grew up Catholic. You might be surprised how quickly you can get through those with a little practice.

  81. 81.

    Uninvited Guest

    Because open thread, any of y’all see Ben Shapiro declare in front of God and all of Twitter, in order to try to own Cardi b, that his “doctor wife” says lady bits only get wet when they’re infected?

  82. 82.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Betty Cracker: I think Trump was most afraid of the Harris pick, and it becoming reality was a jolt to him. Due to his multiple pathologies, Trump is probably incapable of perceiving/acknowledging weakness in himself, but he’s probably worried that Harris will dismantle Pence.

    Trump thinks politics is like Big Time Wresting.  “Dirty Harris is here to taking down Crookied Donny” is not going to be a good look for Trump with his own base and Trump set it up by calling Harris dirty and nasty.

  84. 84.

    Quinerly

    @waspuppet:

    I dipped into the comment sections of a couple local NC newspapers where I grew up (Pitt County and coastal Carteret County).
    I learned:

    Kamala is not Black.
    Kamala needs to show her birth certificate.
    Kamala is Black and will play the race card.
    Kamala is not Black but she might be bi racial.
    Kamala gives good head.
    Kamala gives such good head that is how she got to where she is.
    Kamala hates men.
    Kamala has scabs on her knees.
    Kamala is a ho.
    Kamala is a puppet of George Soros.
    Kamala is Socialist.
    Kamala is Antifa.
    Kamala has put more Black men in prison than anyone in the world.
    Jamaicans are not Black.
    Kamala is Jamaican.
    Kamala lied about being an Indian.
    Kamala’s Jamaican father’s family owned slaves.

    Kamala will spend most of her time under Joe’s desk if elected.

    Joe sniffs Kamala.

    I need to take a shower.

  85. 85.

    Amir Khalid

    @waspuppet:

    Not really black? They tried that with Barack Obama too, on the grounds that his mother Stanley was white. It didn’t work against him, it won’t work against Kamala Harris. Because black Americans know perfectly well what they are.

  87. 87.

    Betty Cracker

    “My” adorable otters made another appearance this morning:

    How the fuck am I supposed to work when I might miss an otter sighting if I look away from the window?

  88. 88.

    NotMax

    Occasionally like to have a music streaming channel playing through the Roku, one with thousands of subchannels from which to choose, more constantly being added.

    Anyhoo, credit to the originator of the name of one of their newest subchannels:

    Surely You Joust
    Gettin’ medieval on your ear, for RenFaire fans, RPGers, and cosplayers

    :)

  93. 93.

    Amir Khalid

    My guitar rack arrived a few hours ago this morning. I have just unboxed it: the foam rubber padding was torn, though not in a place that a guitar would touch.  Also, there were no assembly instructions. Feh.

    Wish me luck.

  95. 95.

    montanareddog

    @Kay: The “cop” accusation chaps my hide because it is lazy, received wisdom from certain quarters and is essentially equivalent to right-wing attacks on defence lawyers who have represented unsympathetic defendants. We need honest, decent lawyers on both sides in an adversarial system. Otherwise, the options are, as you say, only right-wing prosecutors or investigating magistrates à la the Napoleonic system.

  97. 97.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @Amir Khalid: Just think about the absurdity of an all-white Fox News panel nodding wisely at each other as they discuss why they shouldn’t award blackness to Obama or Harris. And the centuries of privilege and ignorance that go into thinking you are the gatekeeper for that decision.

  98. 98.

    H.E.Wolf

    @SFAW:

    Cheryl Rofer posted some excellent advice very recently, reminding us to avoid repeating the smears against Democratic candidates, because it helps the opposition when we do so.

    It is especially important to avoid those smears which are leveled at women more often than at men. Sexism is so commonplace, worldwide, that those smears are easy for people to accept as valid.

  100. 100.

    PenAndKey

    @Uninvited Guest: Wait, what? I’d say there’s no way he’s that stupid, but every single time I’ve thought that before he seems to go out of his way to prove me wrong.

    Remind us again, why do conservatives treat him like an intellectual heavyweight?

  101. 101.

    Betty Cracker

    @JPL: They get excited and run to and fro to see the otters, but they don’t bark, which is odd because they bark at everything. As I said on Twitter, it’s like they’re experiencing a supernatural visitation.

  102. 102.

    cmorenc

    @OzarkHillbilly: They are trying really hard to find dog-whistle synonyms for “uppity black woman” to describe Harris – even they know they can’t get away with using that word explicitly out loud without the racist pitch becoming harshly obvious even to themselves, but they’ve become so tone-deaf that they’re unable to recognize that they’re fooling no one but their hard-core base about how obvious their attempts to speak in code are to nearly everyone else.

  107. 107.

    Quinerly

    @OzarkHillbilly: mostly curious. The arguing over “she’s not Black” was the most prevalent among the supposed men commenters. The vile blowjob remarks/Willie Brown remarks were mostly by supposed women. Lots of misspellings. I’m assuming lots of bots. Saw a few family names from the areas that I know were legit… Those folks comments were mostly she’s not Black and/or she’s not African American. Also with the true locals… the confusion about India being a real country, as opposed to being Cherokee, for example. Like I said, I was curious how Red voting area WOMEN were talking about her… lots of Willie Brown garbage and her sleeping her way to the top.

  108. 108.

    Baud

    @SFAW:

    The vote is what’s important. We don’t need people’s love. Glad to hear your daughter doesn’t think herself privileged to sit this one out.

  109. 109.

    Amir Khalid

    @Betty Cracker:

    I doubt Trump will give a damn when Harris dismantles Pence in the VP debate. He doesn’t care about Pence, who is after all but a makeweight in the White House. And he can just call the dismantling just more proof that she’s nasty and dirty — basically the only move he has against any opponent. It can’t work, of course, but when did Trump ever think ahead?

  111. 111.

    Trapped Lurker

    Open thread. So here goes: De-lurking again to tell you that my kitty is coming home from the shelter this afternoon. Name options narrowed down to two or three. The kitty’s first room (they say he should be in a small room at first) is all ready, and he’s recovered from the surgery yesterday. So I pick him up (in his brand-new top-loading  carrier) at 2:00 EDT today.
    I will soon be a cat parent. Nervous 

  112. 112.

    SFAW

    @rikyrah:

    For the Nth time:

     

    My daughter will (figuratively speaking) crawl over broken glass to vote for Biden. She hates Trump at least as much as anyone here.

    She was a very early Bernie supporter, but figured him out fairly quickly, and hasn’t supported him for a long time. Her dismay at Harris being “a cop” is (A) because she deals with police — well, corrections officers — every day, and although she gets along with them on a personal level just fine, she’s well aware of their generalized personality type and political views, and (B) because of BLM (she was an early protester). 

  113. 113.

    WaterGirl

    @Quinerly:

    Absolutely not picking on you Quinerly, but your comment reminded me of Cheryl’s excellent advice from Monday.  I would like to suggest that we all take a minute and re-read Cheryl’s thread.

    Get Ready

    Cheryl Rofer

    The Biden campaign expects record levels of sexism and, likely, racism when Joe announces his Vice Presidential candidate. Biden’s campaign manager, Jennifer O’Malley Dillon, in a recent campaign phonecall, called on everyone on the campaign to defend the candidate.

    That means Balloon Juice, too, although I think nobody here was on that phonecall. Get ready.

    The announcement of the candidate is coming this week or next. And then the “fun” begins.

    Kelsey Suter

    Kelsey Suter, a disinformation researcher with Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research, a Democratic firm, is helping women’s groups identify sexist memes that begin in private or semiprivate social media groups, so they can point to the origins if they become mainstream.

    When Biden makes his announcement, Suter said, she expects “a flood of content playing on common sexist tropes: portraying her as crazy, untrustworthy, unqualified, dumb, or sexual — claiming she is angry, or extreme, or perhaps that she ‘slept her way to the top.’ ”

    Suter said if past patterns hold, social media users will be bombarded with content saying the nominee is a liar or will say anything to get ahead. Images will be manipulated, showing her with crazy-looking eyes or in sexualized poses, said Suter, who added she has already seen such content in difficult-to-access corners of the Internet.

    Cheryl

    What can we do about it? A lot.

    The pushback has to be more substantive, and it should avoid repeating the words of the attack, because repeating them reinforces them, even if you don’t intend to.

    I am about to read Cheryl’s post again, and I hope everyone on BJ takes the time to do the same.

  114. 114.

    WaterGirl

    @WaterGirl: In case that was too long for people to want to read, this is perhaps the most important thing Cheryl said:

    The pushback has to be more substantive, and it should avoid repeating the words of the attack, because repeating them reinforces them, even if you don’t intend to.

    Regardless of our intentions, repeating the words of their attacks reinforces what is being said in the attacks.

  116. 116.

    Ken

    @Betty Cracker: How the fuck am I supposed to work when I might miss an otter sighting if I look away from the window?

    Motion detectors? Motion-activated cameras?  Webcam so we can all enjoy?

  118. 118.

    Quinerly

    @WaterGirl: oh, I read it. I wasn’t in the mood to jump into the online comment section of local Southern newspapers last night. I just wanted to read some of the shit that was being parrotted. See if I could recognize family names. Carteret County is deeply Red, lots of retired military, few POC. Pitt County has a university, big medical complex, large Hispanic and even larger Black population. Pitt went for HRC in 2016. I have no Trump supporters in my day to day life. I dip into these papers to catch Covid reporting and Dem politics reporting. Curious to hear what the other side is babbling about.

  120. 120.

    JCJ

    @SFAW:

    “There’s a snake in my boots!”

    Somebody’s poisoned the waterhole!”

     

    Sheriff Woody brought the knowledge to teh kids

  122. 122.

    Alison Rose

    God, why are people. A friend (in their early 20s, so………..yeah) posted an image in their Insta stories of Harris photoshopped into a police uniform standing with her arms folded, and another image behind that of her in the uniform holding up a little Black kid like a puppet and grinning (not sure what that’s supposed to even mean), writing on it “Biden choosing Top Cop Kamala Harris in the middle of an anti-police uprising” with a bunch of clown and pig emojis.

    I’m honestly pissed about this one. And I’m also gonna passively aggressively share a bunch of positive Kamala stuff to my own stories just to annoy this person.

  123. 123.

    NotMax

    @OzarkHillbilly

    For future reference, na zdrowie.

    ;)

    (It’s kind of weird that the closed captioning on Netflix or Prime, which gets so much mangled or muddled, always gets that right when it comes up in dialogue.)

  127. 127.

    Elizabelle

    Consider us blessed to be locked out of Europe (thanks  trump !), because at least we are safe from … Alpine cow attacks.

    WaPost: In the Alps, hikers on the trails and cows in the pasture make for perilous pairings

    NEUSTIFT IM STUBAITAL, Austria — To Reinhard Pfurtscheller, the land he farmed high in the Alps was always a slice of paradise. He’d wake up in a cabin more than 300 years old, cows already wandering the flower-speckled meadows, snow-capped peaks all around. “There’s nothing more beautiful,” he said.

    Until that warm July afternoon [in 2014] when he watched medics on his pasture zipping shut a body bag.

    As the helicopter took off with the victim, Pfurtscheller learned that a 45-year-old hiker from Germany had been brutally assaulted, sustaining grievous injuries to her chest and heart. The farmer was well acquainted with her killers: Bea, Flower, Raven and his other cows.

    Across the Alps, such attacks once were a shocking rarity. No longer. Amid the sweeping economic changes jeopardizing farmers’ future, the creatures that for decades have defined the region’s landscape and culture — bovine stars of tourism campaigns — have become liabilities.

    The Alpine slopes do not support many cows per farmer, and some farmers have turned to raising suckler herds — mothers with calves — who can be extra protective, especially when hikers are accompanied by dogs, which the cows perceive as wolf threat. The hiker killed on Pfurtscheller’s farmlands was accompanied by a terrier. Give the cows their due:

    The scenery that annually draws 120 million tourists would not exist if not for cows grazing. It has been cultivated over seven centuries of farmers driving their herds to mountainside meadows in the summer. The animals’ hoofs firm the soil, their tongues gently groom the grasses and wildflowers. In the process, they continually sculpt verdant pastures — beloved backdrops for movies like “The Sound of Music.”

    But: Austria has had to put in place special insurance for farmers to cover cow attacks. Mr. Pfurtscheller was originally ordered to pay a huge settlement and monthly restitution to his cows’ victim’s family. Amount was eventually reduced by half, but it is still hard for a small farmer, some of whom consider closing off their properties to hiking.

    As foreclosure on Pfurtscheller’s home and farm loomed, some farmers contemplated banning hikers from their land, a move that would cut off access to the Alps. Others threatened to stop taking their cows into the Alps altogether, a move that would allow nature to cut back in. Forests would soon begin to take over.

    Yet this summer, with many Europeans yearning for the outdoors after months of coronavirus lockdowns, there are worries that the hiking season will result in even more attacks. Since June, at least nine have been reported. One involved an 8-year-old boy in southern Germany who had to be airlifted to a hospital.

    Steer clear of that cow.

  128. 128.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @OzarkHillbilly: As preparation for a career as a RWNJ pundit, Fucker Churlson had gastrointestinal inversion surgery – so he could talk out of his arse & shit out of his mouth.

  130. 130.

    Miss Bianca

    @SFAW: I’m just still kind of blown away that anyone smart enough to know better insists on accepting the conflation of “cop” with “prosecutor”.  I mean, I get *how* people make that connection, but it’s just…sloppy thinking.

    @Trapped Lurker: Yahoo, go go go with kitty adoption!

  134. 134.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Betty Cracker:

    How the fuck am I supposed to work when I might miss an otter sighting if I look away from the window? 

    The cute, inconsiderate jerks!  Don’t they know there are visiting hours?

  135. 135.

    Aleta

    @Trapped Lurker: I trust he’ll show  you the ropes. lol   (He does look like an excellent guide to Cat Universal Entertainment Park.)

    I like how animals point out new views in some place we’ve been living in for years and thought we knew inside out.

  136. 136.

    Amir Khalid

    @WaterGirl:

    I agree 200%. These attacks against Harris are untrue and don’t deserve any response from Democratic voters. Most importantly, you should definitely not let them discourage you about her or the excellent Democratic ticket you have this year.

  138. 138.

    Barbara

    @Kay:

    It doesn’t make any sense to me. The last thing you want are 100% Right wing prosecutors. It’s insane for progressives to bar law enforcement jobs. The jobs will be filled. They can have some progressives in them, or not. That’s the choice.

    Sure.  The man who basically institutionalized the Innocence Project within a public prosecutor’s office was the chief prosecutor in Dallas. Trying to get a case reopened with new evidence is basically torture, and mostly still is, but it often comes down to whether the prosecutor is open to progressive persuasion — or not.  And the fact that someone thinks “cop” and “prosecutor” are synonymous reflects a view of the world that is way, way too simplistic.  Or at least when it comes to the criminal justice system.  Not meaning to insult anyone personally, but there are real crime victims out there and they also deserve justice.

    ETA: To my last point, prosecutors who have a right wing view are not just unfair in terms of choosing who is prosecuted and how (e.g., going for the death penalty), but they are often unfair in determining which crimes are prosecuted.  Kamala Harris has given interviews in which she reports being begged by Black women to take crimes against their sons more seriously.  People who look at a young Black man as “just another drug dealer” leads to unfairness on both sides of the system.

  140. 140.

    Amir Khalid

    By the way, I have five small A-frame guitar stands, which are now surplus to requirements and devoid of resale value. Any ideas?

  141. 141.

    Quinerly

    @Alison Rose: saw that meme last night in those on line newspaper comments. There’s also one of her eating a large sub sandwich with the caption “practicing for my next job interview.”

    It’s going to be very ugly.

  145. 145.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @NotMax: For future reference, na zdrowie.

    Only if you’re Polish.

    Czech: Na zdraví!

    Slovak: Na zdravie!

    Slovene: Na zdravje!

    Croatian:  Živjeli!

    Serbian: Živeli!

    Hungarian: Egészségére!

    A tak dále…

  146. 146.

    Betty Cracker

    @WaterGirl: That’s one way of looking at it. Here’s another: sometimes it’s helpful to know what’s out there, if only to prepare to combat it. We have a long tradition of discussing offensive garbage on this blog — and most of us have enough sense to provide or infer the appropriate context.

    I don’t buy the notion that repeating wingnut garbage to shoot it down with the contempt it deserves perpetuates propaganda. Where do we draw the line? Should we never quote any of the stupid shit Trump says, even to ridicule it?

    Should people who hate Bernie or Warren or Omar or whomever have to hold their tongues because the Democrats need every vote, and therefore speaking ill of any Democrat or Democratic Party caucuser for any reason ultimately serves Republicans?

    IMO, it’s often necessary to talk about the sexist, racist garbage Republicans say, both for engaging people on our side and to call the fuckers out. I wonder where we’re supposed to draw the line here.

  148. 148.

    SFAW

    @Miss Bianca:

    I’m just still kind of blown away that anyone smart enough to know better insists on accepting the conflation of “cop” with “prosecutor”. I mean, I get *how* people make that connection, but it’s just…sloppy thinking.

    She’s young. I think she’ll get it straight with a little help from her father.
    Of course, for a number of things in which I used to be knowledgeable, she’s surpassed me, so maybe I’ll be the one who needs help/leading in a couple of months.

    ETA: I’m not sure she ever did anything more than superficial reading about Sen Harris before now. At least, I hope that’s the case, so it can give her an “out.”

  150. 150.

    NotMax

    @Amir Khalid

    Five flowerboxes to create individual herb gardens? Portable, so conceivably could be moved in or outdoors with relative ease.

    Attach to outside wall and use to hang coiled garden hose?

    Donation to local school’s music department?

  152. 152.

    WaterGirl

    @Baud: @Quinerly:

    I just think we need to know what is out there and how ugly it is and will get.

    What Baud said.  We already know.

    We knew it even before Kamala Harris was announced – hence the post from Cheryl and the article that perfectly described what was going to happen, and what is happening.

    edited

  155. 155.

    sdhays

    @Bostondreams: We seriously need to end elected sheriffs. They should just be another county employee who answers to the county board. Having them an elected position makes them think they’re kings of their little pile of dirt.

  156. 156.

    Quinerly

    @WaterGirl: I will let you have the final word on what people should and should not post here . I’m here very rarely now. Have a great day!

  157. 157.

    Quinerly

    @Baud: actually, I didn’t know most of it. I guess I was pretty ignorant on most details and the meme culture. Just don’t live it 24/7. Other stuff in my bubble.

  158. 158.

    WaterGirl

    @Betty Cracker: Please tell me what purpose it serves for us to see see some of the things posted at #84:

    … that couldn’t be conveyed as “I’m seeing more and more sexual bullshit from the usual suspects” or “I can’t believe that X person stooped to the usual sexual innuendo about Kamala Harris”.

    It’s not like the details would help us refute anything.

    Anyone who is saying that shit cannot be convinced with facts.  Or by requests that they show some decorum.

    Do I need to hear the details to understand the kind of shit they are insinuating?

    I almost never disagree with you on anything, Betty, but I do on this.  Maybe there’s something in your argument that I am missing?

  160. 160.

    WaterGirl

    @Quinerly: I made it very clear that I was expressing my opinion here, what I think is constructive and what is not.  I made it clear that I was agreeing with the opinion expressed in the article, and with Cheryl’s take.

    Nowhere did I say that people can’t say what they want.  I was making the case for why I think that’s shooting ourselves in the foot.

  161. 161.

    Aleta

    I’m expecting another form of attack on Harris, used effectively in 2016.  An increase in generic misogynous attacks by Rs, along with even harsher attacks on other visible women of color, because that stuff transfers.

    To me Shapiro’s is an example of that, not some unconnected attack.  As Uninvited Guest and Count de Cristo point out above, it was about bad associations with vaginas and VD and uncleanliness.  Reminded me of T’s associating Meghan Kelly with blood.*  (An inaccuracy about what Shapiro said was introduced in last nights thread: as far as I could see, he said nothing about orgasms, which in any case were not the point of his attack.)

    I’d like to suggest that during the election season we not mistake what looks like the generalized misogyny we’re “used to” as something unconnected to the November vote. And the same with what are framed  as  “unprovoked” attacks on AOC and all politicians of color.

    * ETA The media mostly framed this, over and over, as animosity between T vs Kelly,  when it was about triggering feelings against what HRC represented.

  162. 162.

    Elizabelle

    I think not amplifying the ugly disinformation about Kamala (and Joe) is important.  I don’t want to see the five top outrages of the day.  I don’t want the ugly trolls and rightwingers out there living in our heads, and planting images there.

    That said, it can be good to know the broad themes of their attacks.  Already saw one about Kamala being an anchor baby.  Right.

    Wonkette probably exists for long discussions of ephemera like the submarine sandwich.

  163. 163.

    Aleta

    @Amir Khalid:  If you happen to have nearby:  a music school, or any school with music classes?  Or a guitar teacher who could pass them on to students?

  164. 164.

    DocSardonic

    @Amir Khalid: Find some some aspiring young guitarist(s) that might need a guitar stand, or check with your tech to see if they know of anyone needing them. Beyond that you have spares when your new stand overflows.

  165. 165.

    Betty Cracker

    @WaterGirl: I’ll ask again: where do we draw the line on what is and isn’t appropriate to say on this blog? Does it have to serve some purpose/be constructive, and if so, who determines that? Is it off limits to quote the vile shit Trump says because that amplifies it? Should no one ever post anything negative about any Democrat or someone who caucuses with the Democratic Party because that supposedly plays into Republicans’ hands?

  166. 166.

    Gin & Tonic

    Maybe late in a morning thread isn’t the most productive place for this, but a call for advice anyway. The dog seems to be settling in to our home and ways quite well, and is almost always calm in the house – with the exception of the ice machine in the fridge door. Drives her absolutely apeshit, barking, running around in circles, knocking things over. This being summer, we need a cold beverage from time to time, and are trying to train her out of this behavior, but have made zero progress so far. All ideas gratefully accepted.

  167. 167.

    Ken

    @Aleta: The media mostly framed this, over and over, as animosity between T vs Kelly, when it was about triggering feelings against what HRC represented.

    I think you’re giving Trump too much credit for thinking ahead. He reacts to what’s in front of him at the moment, and any damage to HRC was dumberer luck.

  169. 169.

    Rand Careaga

    @hueyplong:

    Ed Rendell can go fuck himself.  You watch, every GOP talking head who gets called on misogyny will say it’s fair game because Democrat Ed Rendell started it.

    I saw the following in a comment thread over at Edroso’s joint this morning:

    Back during the Democratic primary Kamala Harris wasn’t my first, second, or third pick to be the nominee. But the other week I saw red when she was being criticized by Ed fucking Rendell, a man who during his tenure as mayor of Philadelphia *literally* chased me around his desk like we were in a goddamn French farce on the one occasion I went to his office alone.

  170. 170.

    WaterGirl

    @Betty Cracker:

    Where do we draw the line on what is and isn’t appropriate to say on this blog?

    What is and isn’t appropriate to say on BJ? Cole draws that line, and the lines he draws often doesn’t get enforced anyway.  In expressing my opinion, I’m not talking about what’s appropriate, I’m talking about what is useful or helpful or constructive.

  171. 171.

    WaterGirl

    @Betty Cracker:

    Does it have to serve some purpose/be constructive, and if so, who determines that?

    Of course it doesn’t have to be constructive. But we are in the fight of our lives, and amplifying the sexist stuff that’s being said about Harris just helps them. So not doing that seems like a thing we can do that can potentially contribute to a positive outcome.

    The suggestion from the campaign is that we should avoid repeating the words of the attack, because repeating them reinforces them, even if we don’t intend to.

    I’m suggesting that we take our cue from them.

  172. 172.

    Captain C

    @WaterGirl:

    if you want to read the awful things that are being said about Kamala Harris.

    I’m going to be unfollowing a probably large number of my Facebook friends before this is over.

  173. 173.

    WaterGirl

    @Betty Cracker:

    Is it off limits to quote the vile shit Trump says because that amplifies it?

    Of course not, and I didn’t suggest anything like that, though I understand that you’re talking about a slippery slope and are trying to make a point about that. There is not much that is off limits on BJ.

    Do I personally wish that we wouldn’t marinade in all the vile shit Trump says, as often as we do? The answer to that is yes.

    I stopped watching the nightly shows because I really just watched them for the monologues and it was all Trump, all the time. It got overwhelming.

  174. 174.

    WaterGirl

    @Betty Cracker:

    Should no one ever post anything negative about any Democrat or someone who caucuses with the Democratic Party because that supposedly plays into Republicans’ hands?

    Of course not. But it’s my opinion that sharing the details of all the misogynistic comments serves no positive purpose, but it’s not just my opinion. The campaign has explicitly asked us to not do that.

    The suggestion from the campaign is that we should avoid repeating the words of the attack, because repeating them reinforces them, even if we don’t intend to.

    God knows that we can vent and express our outrage without having to see one of those comments every time we turn around.

    That’s my point.

  175. 175.

    Aleta

    @Ken: Perhaps, but imo he operates instinctively (taking pride in thinking it it that way,  like other racists and misogynists and ‘killer-instinct’ businessmen).   So  even though, for example, he doesn’t map out these things in meetings,  he was aware of  the level he was operating on and the connection to HRC and women in general.  (Distaste for bleeding women being common to his group wrt age, military school, the type of  ‘business associates’ he preferred, world view, etc.)

  176. 176.

    Captain C

    @Kay: I really think that a significant number of Purity Pony Leftists truly believe that a) someday soon everyone will come around to their way of thinking and somehow install whatever Fantasy regime/setup that they want but haven’t thought through the details thereof, and b) the DNC is the only thing stopping this from happening.

  178. 178.

    Jeffro

    @OzarkHillbilly: Let me get this straight.

    Tucker Carlson is calling…Biden and Harris “transactional”??!1!?

    After watching 4 years of this president*?

    Man…that is like Karl Rove (accuse your opponent of everything you’re weak on) turned to 11, or something.  I dunno.

  179. 179.

    Aleta

    @Captain C:  Yes.  And I think there’s a kind of thrill for some humans (of any stripe) in attacking as a group  (or joining up with just a few attackers) that outweighs logic or fairness or looking for wider information.  I look at them as enjoying that feel of group power (as most humans do) but then angry when the power didn’t work as magically as the feeling.

  180. 180.

    SFAW

    @WaterGirl:

    I don’t know whether to characterize this comment as “meta,” “irony,” or some other term which equates to “we should stop repeating RWMF lies, like these here that I’m repeating.”

  184. 184.

    Betty Cracker

    @WaterGirl: I think the campaign asked supporters to defend the nominee. One way to do that is to find out what’s being said in fever swamps and call out the sexist/racist comments. We all go about that in different ways.

    The reason I’m asking the other questions (about repeating Trump, blasting Sanders when Dems need his vote, etc.) is to illustrate why I don’t think the “if you repeat it, you amplify it” argument is dispositive. It’s a fact that repetition generates impressions, but the focus can’t be solely to squelch repetition of attacks and/or falsehoods but to counter/correct them. There’s a balance there. TL;DR version: it’s a complex problem, and there are no simple solutions.

  185. 185.

    geg6

    @Gin & Tonic:

    Wish I could help.  Our Koda is 9 yo and has been with us for seven years but still freaks out every time we use the trash compactor.  Lovey could not possibly care less, but it freaks Koda out every time.

  186. 186.

    Chris Johnson

    Now that the actual cops are nazis and SS, we’d damn well better have SOMEBODY who is able to be a goddamned cop.

    With no cop who is going to arrest the Russian collaborators? DH fucking S?

    I was a Bernie guy in 2016 until the primary was over, and a Warren guy this time around, but Kamala is most definitely the runner-up so I’m very happy with how things turned out, and though it’s not literally going to be true I WANT her to be a cop in the proper way. Hell, Cheney was enormously powerful when he was Veep, let’s have Kamala kicking ass for justice and if you want to call that ‘being a cop’, I have been missing it. Dead serious.

    We can’t both demand justice and then do absolutely nothing about it. Kamala is a cop? About time our side had one.

  187. 187.

    Aleta

    @Gin & Tonic: Some of the videos in this playlist (by trainer Emily Latham)  might apply, esp the theory how to train out reactivity and the ideas about training calmness.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlZmJlllP7Y&list=PLXtcKXk-QWojGYcl1NCg5UA5geEnmpx4a

    Her older videos are shorter and I liked them for that reason.  Many of the videos build on teaching a few basics first (which she also shows). Her website (called Dogmantics) has articles that cover some of the same, if you prefer reading.

    I used her methods w/ great effect 6 years ago when my 7 yo untrained anxious dog came here.  Also, taking a tip from something Momsense wrote, for my dogs new anxiety/sensitivity (medical cause)  I’m surprised to find how well cbd oil works, much better than other prescribed meds (that alter his personality).  hth

  188. 188.

    leeleeFL

    @debbie:  I thought the VO on “Kamala”, might be S. E. Cupp.  If so, she did a great job.  I think the sincerity is very touching.

    Trump really awakened a sleeping dragon when he got into the WH.  At least there are some Republicans who still possess souls.  the best part is , they really can’t go back, so maybe, just maybe, we can finally put a stake in the Vampire Heart of the current GOP.

  189. 189.

    leeleeFL

    @Betty Cracker:  I have spent some time on a few.  I tend to need to wash my hands more often after engaging.  It really is disgusting on some of them.  I cannot even think bout T. Carlson or G. Beck.  Nowhere near enough bleach on the planet!

  193. 193.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Alison Rose: I saw that one too. It’s also in front of a Blue Lives Matter icon.

    It’s ridiculous, considering Harris’ ongoing and vocal support of Black Lives Matter. But idiots gotta idiot.

  194. 194.

    CaseyL

    @Trapped Lurker: Congrats!  (And you’re already ahead of the game with a top-loader, possibly the best pet-related invention ever.). We can’t wait to hear about the homecoming – and let their be photos, too!

Comments are closed.