It’s from the joint fundraising committee. Tbh most of their fund-raising emails have a similar tone, this is just the latest + some standard fare $$ stuff below pic.twitter.com/3rcc91J9Js
— Steadman™ (@AsteadWesley) August 13, 2020
I’m guessing that bald-faced racism (“disrespectful”) might not be the best campaign strategy, but we’ll see if this kind of rhetoric will let Trump work his magic with the housewives.
What We Can Do: 82 Days, 67 Things + SPLC Power Hour Tonight
PsiFighter37
So fucking petty. How can any self-respecting adult get behind someone who throws around name-calling like the worst third-grader on the planet?
MattF
Note that Pence is still in the masthead.
Kay
IMO, Harris exudes energy and most of it is positive. The Trump people come off as sour and mean spirited and petty in comparison. I just don’t think calling her “mean” works with anyone outside his base.
Cameron
And if this doesn’t work, what’s the play? Grab ’em by the…no, I guess that might not go over so hot with white suburban housewives (or is that White Suburban Housewives – I sense a reality TV show here).
download my app in the app store mistermix
@MattF:
I still think it’s 50/50 that Trump dumps Pence. On one hand, it’s the kind of disruptive blame-placing he likes — firing Pence can make him the scapegoat for the COVID fuckup. On the other hand, is there anyone who can be more of a lackey than Pence? Kristi Noem, Dollar Store Sarah Palin, is angling for the job. She might be subservient enough. Nikki Haley is definitely not, to pick one example.
Booger
Does it make me a bad person that I think the VP nominee is authentically hot in a way that Wasilla Barbie could never have hoped to achieve?
Ceci n est pas mon nym
Well I dropped some $$ for Biden-Harris merch last night. Eagerly waiting for our highly-efficient post office to deliver me my mask (black with white lettering), bumper stickers, and lawn sign. Happy to do my part to help them set their next fundraising record and make the RNC sweat just that little bit more.
Betty Cracker
While I was watching the Joe portion of the Joe and Kamala show yesterday, I wondered if Fox News was carrying it live, so I checked. They were.
Biden was Biden — not the most articulate orator on the planet, but exponentially more coherent at his worst than Trump is at his best and most definitely not the doddering, senile wreck that Trump/Fox News have accused of hiding in the basement to conceal his dementia.
It made me wonder if Fox News viewers were jolted by the reality of the actual Biden appearing on their TV screens after viewing nothing but strung-together clips of Biden losing his train of thought or mispronouncing a word.
Ken
@Kay: It’s targeted to his base because they’re among the few people who might give money. I’m wondering what percentage of it will flow directly into the grifters’ shell corporations as “campaign expenditures.”
germy
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump said Thursday that he opposes additional funding for the U.S. Postal Service, acknowledging that his position would starve the agency of money Democrats say it needs to process an anticipated surge in mail-in ballots during the coronavirus pandemic.
Trump also falsely stated that Democrats were pushing for universal mail-in voting and made the unfounded claim that mail-in voting would lead to massive voter fraud in the November election. Polls indicate Trump is in for a tough reelection fight against Democrat Joe Biden.
The Republican president said on Fox Business Network that among the sticking points over a new virus relief package were Democrats’ demand for billions of dollars to assist states in protecting the election and to help postal workers process mail-in ballots.
“They need that money in order to have the post office work so it can take all of these millions and millions of ballots,” Trump said on “Mornings with Maria,” adding, “If they don’t get those two items, that means you can’t have universal mail-in voting because they’re not equipped to have it.
https://wnyt.com/politics/trump-widespread-mail-in-voting-hard-without-funding-usps/5825616/?cat=661
SiubhanDuinne
BREAKING peace agreement between Israel and UAE. Trump live announcement from WH. Have no idea if this is for real, or how significant it is in the larger picture. Adam, if you’re listening….
(Edited/expanded a bit)
Chyron HR
“You stole my bit!”
If only the Democratic nominee had consulted some Republicans before picking his VP.
“I thought Sleepy Joe and I were friends, how could he do this to meeee?”
Ruckus
@MattF:
Doubt he’ll be dropped. shitforbrains needs someone less than him on the ticket. It won’t be a woman, that ship sailed decades ago. He needs someone completely subservient, not much smarter, will never steal or even stand in the limelight and block. dense is his man.
SiubhanDuinne
@Betty Cracker:
And on the same day, just a bit later, Fox News cut away from the Trump presser. (I wasn’t watching — I don’t watch Fox — but I saw a clip on Daniel Dale or Aaron Rupar or someone’s twitter feed.)
SFAW
@MattF:
Note that the slogan is still “MAKE America Great Again.” Jeez, Diaper Donnie, I thought that’s what you said you’d do four years ago. Someone might think you fucked that up, as you have with everything else.
Baud
@SiubhanDuinne:
And you all doubted Jared.
germy
I wonder if at this point the executives at fox are saying “You know, we prefer being an oppositional network. We’d rather heckle president biden than defend president trump.”
Hoodie
@Kay: While that’s true, I hope that Harris will own her righteous anger.
Ken
@SiubhanDuinne: Sad to think that the long-running Trump-Fox romance might be ending. I see why Fox is dumping him, though – they’ve got to keep going after November. Besides, he’s been cheating on them with OANN for months now.
Chyron HR
@SFAW:
America was great until the Gynese got their invisible Gyna Virus all over our bigly beautiful economy, so now we need to make it great again, again.
SiubhanDuinne
@Baud:
Yeah, I was just going to comment that this announcement has quickly turned into an “Oh-Mister-President-you’re-so-wonderful” slobberfest. Ugh.
rikyrah
OT: My test came back negative.
So did Peanut’s. I literally cried when I heard Peanut’s test results.
download my app in the app store mistermix
@germy:
Absolutely. That’s what they’re good at – bitching and hating. Propping up Trump was work because people expected him to get something done, and he didn’t. You can always find something to complain about.
SiubhanDuinne
@Ken:
Thoughts ‘n’ prayers.
japa21
@SiubhanDuinne: Today is when Trump finally became Presidential. At last all that fighting between Israel and UAE is over.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Betty Cracker: Followed closely in time by Trump droning on about whatever
ETA: Or what Subaru Diane said at #14
SiubhanDuinne
@rikyrah:
Oh, I’m so glad to hear it. What a relief!
Wyatt Salamanca
Newsweek has gone full Breitbart with this disgusting bullshit column questioning Kamala Harris’ eligibility to be Vice President.
https://www.mediaite.com/news/newsweek-gets-dragged-for-birther-2-0-column-questioning-kamala-harris-eligibility-for-vp-racist-nonsense/
https://www.mediaite.com/news/newsweek-claims-column-challenging-kamala-harris-eligibility-for-vp-has-nothing-to-do-with-racist-birtherism/
Betty Cracker
Fox News cutting away from Trump’s press conference/pep rally might count as an in-kind campaign contribution rather than a betrayal. Trump’s handlers made him stop doing the pressers months ago because his numbers tanked. Fox News is just trying to help!
Regarding Israel and the UAE, will U.S. voters give a shit? I am skeptical.
Haroldo
@rikyrah:
OT: My test came back negative.
So did Peanut’s. I literally cried when I heard Peanut’s test results.
Hooray!
SiubhanDuinne
@japa21:
Snicker.
Barbara
@rikyrah: Good news. So glad to hear it.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@rikyrah: Oh thank goodness.
Ken
Depends. How much is the US paying both sides for this?
I’d also love it if the reporters asked the people making the announcement to point out the two countries on an unlabeled map…
japa21
@Betty Cracker: Most Americans don’t even know what the UAE is. They’ll just hear the Middle East and think, yeah, he solved it. And when the next bit of violence breaks out they’ll think its the fault of all those Ayrabs.
japa21
@Ken: Both sides have a vested interest in Trump being President. That’s why the UAE was selected to play the part. No great difference between before and after.
Cameron
@SFAW: MAGA isn’t a bad slogan – maybe the Biden/Harris campaign can adopt it.
zzyzx
I mean it’s good that Israel and the UAE are normalizing relationships and all but this Jew’s initial reaction was, “Were they fighting?”
different-church-lady
@Ruckus:
Shame for him he doesn’t like dogs.
Oh, wait, you said not much smarter…
H.E.Wolf
@Booger:
If you wish, you may Google “Notes From A Boner”.
Kay
@Wyatt Salamanca:
Law professors have not covered their profession in glory during the Trump years, I must say. It’s just one embarrassing op ed after another from them.
NotMax
@Wyatt Salamanca
Leave us recall lthat Newsweek was sold for $1 a while back. You get the value they paid for.
narya
@rikyrah: SO HAPPY FOR YOU!
yes, I meant for that to be all caps.
Ken
Didn’t you hear about the unique arrangement where Jordan and Saudi Arabia allowed both countries to send tanks and troop carriers through their territories, and planes through their airspace?
mrmoshpotato
“Waaahhhh!!!!!! Kamala’s a meanie!!!!!!!”
Lyrebird
@Kay: Agreed. For all the time they have said she laughs to much, it will be hard to make “mean” stick. But I bet it makes her laugh – she is a total pro.
Open thread, right?
Okay I am having a rough start this morning. Here is some really lame doggerel to share in case it adds a laugh to someone else’s day.
I don’t want fillet of fish,
I don’t shop at chick fil’a,
To watch Kamala fillet a Pence –
that’s what my world
needs today!
Miss Bianca
@rikyrah: Yay!!! (picture Kermit arms flailing)
SFAW
@rikyrah:
Best news I’ve had this week.
Immanentize
@rikyrah: Yay for you! Hip hip hooray for Peanut!
mrmoshpotato
@rikyrah: Good good good good good good good!!!
different-church-lady
@rikyrah: Very glad to hear it. But I’ve been out of the loop — was it a COVID test? Can I asked what precipitated it, without making you repeat a lengthy story?
rikyrah
@Wyatt Salamanca:
written by the mofo she defeated for AG.
who wrote a piece on why Rafael ” I WAS BORN IN CANADA” Cruz was eligible to run.
Kay
@Lyrebird:
Speaking only for myself, it’s a really hard thing for women, to be assertive without being characterized as “mean” and she is very good at it. It isn’t fair that we have to develop the skill but we do have to develop it, and it’s difficult to do and takes a lot of discipline. Harris is good at it.
MagdaInBlack
@rikyrah:
Thank God for this good news today =-)
laura
@rikyrah: very good news for sharing – tears of relief are some of the best tears. Looking forward to the full post of a beautiful and soul restoring phone bank call you’ve shared. Phone banking is so hard – heart in your throat, braced for abuse as you hear the phone ring and when the caller is decent, supportive or kind it’s just such a relief, but this particular call is a thing of rare beauty and will pay dividends if it spurs more GOTV volunteers.
mrmoshpotato
@Lyrebird: I am so not on the fence!
I will enjoy her filleting Pence!
Kay
@rikyrah:
Wait until the dumbass Trumps catch wind of it. They’ll run with it. The entire family were birthers in 2012. It’s like catnip to stupid people.
Jinchi
@Booger: Well Harris is intelligent and Palin is a moron, so yeah.
Just Chuck
@Jinchi: T makes Palin look like a fucking Rhodes Scholar.
Formerly disgruntled in Oregon
@rikyrah: That’s wonderful news. ❤️ ❤️ ❤️
Bex
@SiubhanDuinne: Definitely want Adam’s take on this. MSNBC finally cut away after the eight or so suits (all male) got into their ass-kissing of the great and powerful Trump. Jared didn’t even go first. I wonder where pompous Pompeo was.
Barbara
@Ruckus: He won’t be dropped because the most likely alternative, Nikki Haley, will never agree to do anything that risks giving her loser stink for 2024. Plus, she won’t be able to claim her “first” after Harris (Indian-American VP nominee).
Just Chuck
@mrmoshpotato:
What’s the over/under on debates even happening?
Barbara
@zzyzx: And the average voter’s respons, “The UA what?”
mrmoshpotato
@Booger: I guess I didn’t use all of these in the COVID post this morning.
?
MisterForkbeard
@Betty Cracker: Nah. Biden did mispronounce some words “Senator” as “Center” once or twice, and he wasn’t loud and boisterous. He’ll just reinforce the ‘weak’ viewpoint because that’s what they want to see.
mrmoshpotato
@Just Chuck: No clue. It’s not like any of the debates will make me reconsider my November vote for Biden-Harris.
hells littlest angel
Someone should tell Trump that eight year olds can’t vote.
WaterGirl
@rikyrah: I’m so glad for you! I must have missed whether this was just a general “just in case” test or because you thought you had symptoms.
cmorenc
Biden-Harris could effectively mock the “Make America Great” slogan with something like:
Sister Golden Bear
I think the word they were looking for was “uppity.”
mrmoshpotato
The Master would be 121.
Nicole
@rikyrah:
Oh, excellent news! Thanks for letting us know.
Chief Oshkosh
@hells littlest angel:
WTF?! Have you ever chatted with a Republican? I think they’ve got their demographic figured just right: adult in age, terrible twos by temperament.
mrmoshpotato
@Sister Golden Bear: Could they also call her “over-prepared” or would Upchuck Todd sue for trademark infringement?
mrmoshpotato
@Chief Oshkosh: Hehehe
Cameron
Israel and UAE have a common enemy in Iran. I can certainly see some sort of commitment of USA to lend a hand if they try a military strike. Trump could have his Wag The Dog war. It would be a grotesque mistake, but when has that sort of thing ever stopped him?
Wyatt Salamanca
@Kay:
@NotMax:
@rikyrah:
At this point, the only legitimate use for a print edition of Newsweek is to serve as a lining for a bird cage or a cat litter box.
MisterForkbeard
@SiubhanDuinne: My own (incredibly amateur) take is that it’s not a big deal at all, but they’re going to pretend that it is. That we don’t have a ton of details yet but Republicans are spending all their time praising Trump is a big hint in that direction.
Hopefully Silverman can give us an analysis.
Heywood J.
Lol, when I think “respectful,” it’s definitely Captain Clorox and his band of merry mutants that comes to mind. The functionary who scrawled and distributed that memo deserves all the very worst things life can inflict.
Brachiator
@japa21:
Yep. Trump doesn’t have many good cards in his hand, but he will play every one he has.
The UAE, Israel, the Saudis want Trump to win. Trump can talk about how he is pro Israel and how Biden is a secret Muslim. His base will eat it up and it may help with other voters.
But it is not totally bullshit. This would help any sitting president.
Look for some more China bashing next.
Mo Salad
@mrmoshpotato: Bad initial thought: Christopher Hitchens was THAT old?
Immanentize
@cmorenc:
Imm approved!
So many quick ads to make:
A Corona virus plan…
Real help for your state and community….
A nationwide effort to help schools reopen safely….
Etc.
“Wouldn’t the be great for America?!”
JPL
@SiubhanDuinne: Fox cut away because he was having a difficult time stumbling over words. They did him a favor.
Should have read through all the comments first, because I now see Betty’s comment.
JPL
@rikyrah: Phew!!
dmsilev
@cmorenc: One of my neighbors has a “Any sane competent adult 2020” yard sign up.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
Yes, but Trump needs to save Pence for blame for Trump loses the election.
JPL
@cmorenc: That would be AWESOME.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Wyatt Salamanca:
“Divided allegiance”. Jesus fucking Christ, that’s vile
JPL
@Enhanced Voting Techniques: Decisions, decisions.
opiejeanne
@Kay: Several years ago, John Eastman quit his job to run for AG of California, and Kamala Harris won that election. He’s still butt-hurt over it.
He is part of a “think tank”, Claremont Institute, which is in no way related to the Claremont Colleges in Claremont, CA, but is located in nearby (and much cheaper) Upland, CA even though they list their HQ as being in Claremont. They have been big defenders of Trump from the beginning.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Brachiator:
Well, it might if he had any actual credibility. Which he doesn’t
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@rikyrah:
Good news!
Barbara
@Brachiator: I am not saying it won’t help, but every election has a zeitgeist, and the zeitgest of the pandemic has simply overwhelmed the narrative. That is why college football has become such a BIG DEAL on Trump’s desperation index. It brings the pandemic narrative of harm to places that might vote for him.
Salty Sam
Ever seen her in action in Senate hearings? She owns it, brings it, and tempers it with the seriousness it deserves. I stood up and cheered as she brought Barty-Bart Kavenough to tears at his confirmation hearing.
Aleta
@Lyrebird:
I love my blue feet
(Blue-Footed Booby)
https://twitter.com/Gabriele_Corno/status/1285513274579091457
Litlebritdifrnt
It was inevitable that the birthers would resurface. Somewhere in California Orly Taitz is scrambling to retrieve all of her bullshit pleadings that have been in storage for 3 years.
Sloane Ranger
@MisterForkbeard: Yet they carried the piece where Joe was road cycling and doing very masculine things with his vintage car.
The contrast between those and Trump practically shuffling off stage at the end of last night’s press conference are too big to miss, even if they’re not pointed out.
JPL
@opiejeanne: I refuse to click to the article. Do you know if it’s mentioned that he lost to future VP Harris?
Brachiator
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
Trump still has some power that he can wield. Power, by definition, confers credibility.
Salty Sam
@rikyrah: I think these days that negative results from a covid test should be celebrated as much or more so than a birthday, so…
? ? ? ? ?
happy to hear!
Punchy
@Litlebritdifrnt: <<<<<<shudder>>>>>….there’s a name I never want to see or hear from again….
Litlebritdifrnt
@JPL: No they failed to mention that.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@japa21:
Repeat after me: Trump is not all powerful
opiejeanne
@JPL: Are you asking if Newsweek mentioned it in either the article or their editorial board’s attempt to defend the article? No, to both. I read the comments and they were getting royally dragged by everyone, first for the article and then the editorial. Several of the commenters pointed out the lack of that information in their comments and how it might have added just a pinch of balance.
Aleta
So a bird walks into a bar ...
Brachiator
@Barbara:
Very true, but the world doesn’t stop. And Trump’s for Trump’s base, his actions regarding Israel are one of the reasons they love him.
Trump is not totally stupid. He might even release a vaccine before it has been fully tested in order to get out from under his terrible handling of the pandemic. Then, Israel and other issues would become more prominent.
Kay
@Litlebritdifrnt:
Like catnip to stupid people.
The Democratic base have seen this play by the Trump Family and their low quality hires before- the response will be ferocious. They aren’t going to get 1 year of free media dissemination of this tactic again. That was a one time, in-kind contribution to Donald Trump.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Brachiator:
Who is it going to convince at this point, outside his shrinking base? Who is going to forget, “The virus will just disappear; it’ll be like a miracle”?
opiejeanne
@Aleta: That made us laugh, thank you so much.
sdhays
@MattF: I miss the original Dump/Dense logo which had Dump’s “T” f*cking Dense’s “P”. It was just so perfect.
Another Scott
@different-church-lady: Someone was positive in her office.
https://balloon-juice.com/2020/08/11/nice-things-happen-only-after-community-spread-is-crushed/#comment-7810411
HTH!
Excellent news, rikyrah!! Thanks for letting us know.
Cheers,
Scott.
Frankensteinbeck
@Brachiator:
His base does not want Israel to be at peace. They want Israel exterminating Muslims. Some want it to bring on the Rapture. The rest just because they want Muslims exterminated and Israel is their champion to do it.
Kay
They couldn’t do more to rally the D base around Harris if they had planned it. Absolutely. Use birtherism again, Trump Family. Please proceed.
I wonder if Melania will promote it this time, like she did last time. Disgusting person.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Brachiator:
It will take time to mass produce and distribute those vaccines, for one. Meanwhile, the virus will still be rampant and people will still be dying/getting sick. I don’t think that will change by November. And that’s if there are no safety concerns with rushing the vaccine, like making the infection worse
vigilhorn
@Ken: I got that letter from Don Jr. yesterday and I’ve never voted Republican in my life. I’m sending him back the letter I received from Barack to give them an idea what a real campaign fundraising letter looks like.
JPL
@opiejeanne: Thank you and I’m glad that the comments are not kind. I think if they follow through on this line of attack, it will hurt them and the republican party.
Thanks to littlebrit also
catclub
I have read very little but saw that it was linked to stopping/pausing West Bank settlements. That seems weird to me. It makes me think of payoffs to israel.
misterpuff
A suggestion for the Biden campaign: We live in the world of HiDef. Please test lighting with Biden or Biden stand-in with similar facial aspects. The speech was great but I was completely distracted by the way the lighting of the podium made Joe look like he’d just been attacked by face-eating leopards (which of course he had and will be in the future) but the future POTUS does not have to look like that.
Fix it!
JeanneT
@Booger: She’s certainly got class in a way Palin never has
catclub
Unfortunately, madam, I need a majority.
Kay
@Frankensteinbeck:
I think the part of his base he needs- white men in Great Lakes states- won’t care at all about it because they don’t care at all about other countries. They aggressively and loudly do not care about other countries. It’s a huge part of Trump’s appeal to them.
He already had the fundies. He needs MI, WI and PA and he needs more than the GOP base in those states, especially because he is down in Florida.
Biden has a bigger map. Biden has options. Trump has no options. Trump has to put together the exact same lightening strike he did last time.
trnc
@Cameron:
I checked to see if it was trademarked, since you never know with this crowd. Was hoping there was a possibility of Joe appropriating and telling DT to stop using it.
You will not be surprised to learn it was filed in 2012.
catclub
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): i am EXPECTING Trump to announce a fabulous vaccine in mid to late October.
I am not expecting it to be safe, or effective, or actually exist.
Gravenstone
@Barbara: “It’s just one o’ them damned labor union thingies. Don’t matter none to us.”
Aleta
@rikyrah: to quote @Salty Sam: ? ? ? ? ?
+ ?? ?? ?
So glad
MattF
About Birtherism 2.0… I think it’s a pitch for ‘Obama and Harris have something in common!’ And shall we guess what that might be?
Mallard FIlmore
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
That vaccine will be too late to help the bikers at the Sturgis Bike Rally. I do wonder how the deaths of a few hundred of those thought leaders will be received.
Kay
They invited him now. I’m glad. I was baffled by this. Yang is a very appealing person. There’s no downside at all for Democrats. I don’t understand why they’re so cavalier with these new people who are obviously talented. These people are assets. Of course he should speak. He had zero experience and he put together an actual constituency and performed quite well in debates. I don’t agree with him and I didn’t back him but he absolutely earned a spot.
Cameron
@catclub: Hey, gotta do something with all that hydroxycholoquine that Peter Navarro is sitting on. Or maybe just offer people jabs of saltwater and bleach.
Chyron HR
@Kay:
“You’re telling us!” – The FSB, probably
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Kay:
I agree with this, Kay. I’m feeling cautiously optimistic
MattF
@catclub: I think the vehemently negative reaction to the Russian vaccine claims are a warm-up for the coming Trump vaccine claims.
Gravenstone
@vigilhorn: I’m partial to shredding their letter then sending it back to them, if they’re stupid enough to enclose a SASE for reply.
Kay
@MattF:
I think birtherism on the Right should be further explored in a serious way. I think conservatives should have to wear it around their necks. It says a lot about them and I would like them to be tied to it 50 years from now, like they are to the “southern strategy”.
Aleta
@Kay: Their apparent theme of coming together needs those invites to new people who put themselves out there
(not speaking of Bloomberg)
Feathers
Ugh. I hate the word “disrespectful.” I hope it being tied to Trump leads to it being used less by everyone else. It seems to have slipped from the reality show world, where it stands for “yes, there were perfectly good reasons why Xanthya* did what she did, and it caused no actual problems, but I’m still going to be pissy about it.” Now it gets thrown around in business situations, turning what should be discussions about work processes into little morality plays.
I’m also all too aware, as someone with ADHD, that “disrespectful” behavior is largely non-neurotypical behavior. Not making eye contact or smiling, timing issues, interrupting conversations, forgetting or mispronouncing someone’s name – there are people for whom avoiding these doesn’t derail their ability to get other things done. “You’re being disrespectful” is too often how mediocre neurotypicals try to maintain their privilege over the neurodiverse. (Non-mediocre neurotypicals understand that people have strengths and weaknesses and will bring something up privately if the work is being affected and work towards solutions.)
It also just really feeds into grievance culture, which is good enough reason for cutting it out of normal discourse.
*Made this name up, but just googled it is a real name, used by an Instagrammer with a private account. My example is in no way referring to this woman.
sdhays
I caught part of the Snooze Hour yesterday, and they actually did a fairly decent job. I was ready to cringe when they discussed why Kamala didn’t do better in the Democratic primary, but then Lisa DeJardin said that the issue was that she’s was pretty popular across all parts of the coalition, but had struggled to get a die-hard base to push her above the others.
If you have to be criticized, being “generally popular” across all demographics is a pretty good way to go. They also said that she’s more popular among Republicans than Biden is – 25% thinking well of her compared to 20% for Biden. I was also shocked to hear that Sarah Fucking Palin actually welcomed Kamala to the race with grace and dignity. I’m sure she’ll shit all over that eventually, but her initial statement was like it was actually from a decent human being.
Judy also interviewed KAC about Dump’s insane demand to reopen schools, and she was actually feisty (well, for Judy). She interrupted KAC as she went on and on spouting nonsense and actually brought her back a couple of times to the core issue: that it’s insane to reopen schools when community spread is raging out of control.
It was a bare-minimum of an adequate performance, but it was quite refreshing coming from Judy. I mercifully missed her asking about Kamala. I don’t think my blood pressure could have taken it.
Kay
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
The part of the Trump base Trump needs are not “Republicans”. They are Trump supporters. Those are the 20,00 voters in each of several key states he needs.
We’ll never get them so there’s no use worrying about them for us- but he needs them. Cannot do it without them. We, on the other hand, do not need them.
Kay
@Chyron HR:
Really? Yang doesn’t make the cut either?
Did he shake hands with Bernie Sanders or something? What was the disqualifying event?
Just Chuck
@Feathers:
Ugh. Makes me think of “differently abled”. No, I’m bipolar and borderline Aspergers, and while I’m not jazzed about being put in named boxes, I won’t accept patronizing euphemisms either.
Chyron HR
@Kay:
I don’t trust anybody from 4chan but you’re free to.
JPL
@Kay: I’m hoping that Kasich gives a good speech, because some might be convinced that Biden is a reasonable choice.
Brachiator
@Frankensteinbeck:
You’re absolutely wrong here. I’m not even sure that his religious supporters truly believe in the Rapture bullshit.
Trump’s base stupidly believe that a hard line will guarantee Israel’s security.
And I don’t think that any Israeli, not the most militant, believes that Israel is going to exterminate Muslims.
la caterina
@rikyrah: That is such wonderful news!
zhena gogolia
@rikyrah:
So glad.
Uncle Cosmo
@mrmoshpotato: Not interested in anything that tidy. I hope Kamala preps Mikey “Former Stupidest Member Of The House Of Representatives” Dense for a starring role in MobyDick – The Reboot (aka MobyDork), from the very first sentence:
pat
Have you seen Kamala questioning Barr and Kavenaugh? Brutal. And they looked at her with the most disdainful expressions on their faces while pretending they did not understand what she could possibly be getting at.
More of that, please!
PAM Dirac
@catclub:
First, there are a number of candidates in trials that look promising and it isn’t impossible that there could be enough solid evidence by that time frame to legitimately say that one or more of the candidates will be a useful tool in fighting the pandemic. Some of them have already gone into production, risking wasting a bunch of money if they fail, but making it possible to go into significant distribution almost immediately after getting enough data to make that a reasonable thing to do. The key is the supporting data. There are going to be too many people that know what the underlying data shows or doesn’t show or if necessary data doesn’t exist to just announce victory and not have major pushback if that victory announcement is bogus. Francis Collins, NIH Director has publicly said he will not be silent in any bogus announcement. The wackos who believe drumpf will believe him, but there should be plenty of evidence for non-wackos to know the announcement is as fake as “it will just disappear”.
Gin & Tonic
@Kay: He used a straw in his Del’s Lemonade. Yes, really. Obviously disqualifying.
NB: It’s an amusing hyper-local controversy.
trollhattan
@Frankensteinbeck:
We need a hard divorce from Likud and I’ll be curious as to the Dem platform WRT our Israel relationship. Does Israel currently even have a viable centrist or progressive party? It seems as though the hard liners have ruled ever since the Rabin assassination.
Feathers
@Just Chuck: Then what the fuck will you accept as a descriptor for people who are on the ADHD/Autism/OCD/non-cyclical mentally ill spectrum, which can be used in a corporate setting?
Words like neurodiverse get used until a better one comes along.
ETA: I don’t know how much I care for it, I just know that it is the one being used at this time for the people I’m talking about.
senyordave
I don’t see the UAE/Israel thing as something to move a needle. If Israel is a high priority with a voter they probably live in Trump world already. Otherwise most voters could care less about the Middle East
azlib
@Ken:
This one may be targeted at his base, but for some reason I am on his bulk mailing list. I have gotten two mailings from Trump so far.
Just Chuck
@Feathers:
“neurodiverse”. Because corporate-filtered speech is some of the most mealy-mouthed bullshit invented since Newspeak.
japa21
@Kay: Kay, I just want to say, because I haven’t before, that your comments the last few days are why I am so glad you came back from your brief hiatus. You are one of the shining jewels of this place.
J R in WV
@JPL:
It is not mentioned at all, nor does he refer to his article in the previous election cycle telling the world that Rafael Eduardo Cruz, born in Canada of parents from, well, from somewhere, was most certainly eligible to be President of the USA.
The writer is a piece of, hmmm, umm… crap! That’s it, crap! And Newsweek has sunk from a formerly respectable news outlet down to Subterranean Pipeline Review, What’s Happening in YOUR Sewers level today.
hedgehog mobile
@rikyrah: Yeah!!
Brachiator
@Feathers:
I am clipping and keeping your post. It is very informative about how people with ADHD may be misunderstood.
It also underscores one of many contexts for being “disrespectful.” For Trump, anyone who defies him, especially a woman, is being disrespectful.
And there is also a deeply racist subtext as well.
Especially in the Jim Crow South, it was considered an affront for a black person to look a white man in the eye. Anything short of head bowing and smiling deference was considered to be “disrespectful.”
Republicans know full well what they are tapping into when they use this language.
Roger Moore
@JPL:
He didn’t actually lose to her. He lost the Republican primary to Steve Cooley, who went on to lose to her.
Calouste
I am not an expert on Israeli politics, but I wonder how the halting of the annexation of the occupied territories is going down with the ultranationalists. Not well I expect. Yitzhak Rabin got assassinated over something similar. Maybe Netanyahu has more credibility with the ultranationalists.
Just Chuck
@Calouste: Rabin started removing existing settlements, which to put it mildly, didn’t go over too well.
Wyatt Salamanca
@Brachiator:
As for releasing a vaccine before it’s been fully tested, you can take that to the bank.
I fully expect Trump’s October surprise to be an announcement of a vaccine or some alleged medical breakthrough that slows down the spread of COVID-19. He has no conscience and will say or do anything to win in November.
JPL
@Roger Moore: Thanks
Kay
@Gin & Tonic:
I’m unmoved by Yang’s brand of “innovative optimism!” because I’m stodgy and conventional but I completely get why he’s appealing. He also has a sense of humor. Harris does too. Which is SUCH a nice thing. It’s all so grim. My kingdom for some happy people :)
Soprano2
@Gravenstone: My husband got one of those Trump surveys, I guess because he’s in the demographic that votes for Trump – retired and over 70 – and this is an area where Trump is popular. He sent it back with answers like “You should resign”, and stamped it in several places with his “bullshit” stamp. How much you wanna bet they send him more mail? LOL
danielx
@download my app in the app store mistermix:
Just at a guess, Nikki Haley is too smart to become too closely associated with Trump. Having observed what generally happens to those who get too close to him – smeared with shit, discarded or both – she would rather wait.
Mary G
The Newsweek thing got roasted on Twitter, especially after their editor put out a statement saying she was shocked to discover there is
gambling at Rick’sbirtherism in their article about Harris.Of course not! They were just informing their readers about a dispute between Constituional experts about the 14th Amendment.
Lawyers responding on Twitter pointed out that the cases the author cited don’t say what he says they do, and he is a howling hypocritical hack who wrote a column in 2016 using the same cases to assert that of course Ted Cruz is eligible to be president.
He and the opinion editor are both Alumni of the Federalist Society also, too.
Waiting for Adam to explain how this is an example of crap that we point and laugh at, but will be used by Fox News and Facebook ads as a psyop for low information voters who will see “even a lawyer in the fake news liberal rag Newsweek admits she’s not qualified.”
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Just Chuck:
Actual people who are autistic etc use that term, btw
Yutsano
@Calouste: All I know for sure is that they’ve been calling for Bibi’s head for quite a while now. And it’s not the ultranationalists he needs to worry about.
Betty Cracker
Did anyone hear Trump’s remarks about Barr and Durham during his interview with a Fox News kook today? That’s part of the kitchen sink strategy, along with destroying the P.O. and trying to conjure a vaccine. He basically threatened Barr. Here’s the account of it on the Fox News site:
Sounds like he’s demanding that his personal attorney Barr indict Obama and/or Biden for treason before the election. No big deal.
JPL
Nothing to see here, apparently annexation in the West Bank is just delayed
LongHairedWeirdo
I think the problem here is, Trump ran against the one woman who you couldn’t hate too much, and still be a Republican Party leader, and still be a press darling. (I’m not saying every member of the press loved his hatred; I’m saying every one had a fine story to file about his latest. Maybe some loved to take a shot at Hillary; maybe some wanted to protect the US from a monster like Trump; it’s still journalistic gold.)
Thing is, most people will only take a little bit of hate. Remember the Al Smith dinner, where Trump thought he’d get a laugh out of “see her over there, pretending she doesn’t hate Catholics.”
I won’t deny there are probably Catholics who weren’t be mortally offended at someone bashing Hillary Clinton, there in good humor, helping them raise money for charity, over some bit of idiocy taken out of context of a leaked e-mail. What I don’t think Trump is capable of understanding is, it was *ONLY* because it was the press’s favorite punching bag; if you put Joe Biden or John Kerry in that same position (or even a comfortably Christian Barack Obama – but remember, Biden and Kerry are on the home team!), people would have at least claimed to be horrified.
(Oh, dear lord. “And look at what great faith Donald Trump has, refusing to conceal the great glory of God; no matter how many times God fails to make the virus miraculously disappear, HE KEEPS BELIEVING! He will wait for his miracle!” I mean, I’m not sure you dare tell that at the Al Smith dinner – but someone had better be leaking about how they cut the joke to avoid politicizing a tragedy – now they get double points for it.)
Brachiator
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
Trump still has some power that he can wield. Power, by definition, confers credibility
Don’t know. We shall see if it has any impact, especially in swing states. We have, what, 80 plus days to go.
Hell, we have idiot governors and ordinary people who still act as though the pandemic is not real. There are fewer of these dopes, but many of them will be voting.
MattF
@Betty Cracker: Trump has been stewing over this for a while, and his accusations are maxing out. If Barr goes for anything less than Obamabidencomey hanged on the mall for high treason, Trump will wet himself with rage.
EmbraceYourInnerCrone
@Wyatt Salamanca: Newsweek also conveniently left out the fact that John Eastman who wrote that garbage , racist article, ran a failed campaign in the 2010 Republican primary for the California attorney general position. The AG position that Senator Harris won that year.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Mary G:
I think that Adam misunderstands the purpose of “pointing and laughing”. It’s meant to be pushback against this kind of nonsense
...now I try to be amused
@Betty Cracker:
Trump has good reason to be paranoid. He’s surrounded by Republicans who want him gone but don’t want their fingerprints on the knife. Is Fox News one of that group?
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@JPL:
Didn’t Netyanhoo lose his reelection?
john fremont
@Chyron HR:
So expect a lawsuit for copyright infringement from Trump LLC
Miss Bianca
@Feathers:
Thank you for pointing this out. As one of the original “Ritalin babies”, I’ve been getting shit my whole life for not making eye contact, not smiling enough, etc. Add being female to any of the above and you realize just *how much more* shit women get for this stuff than men.
EmbraceYourInnerCrone
@Just Chuck: Not to start a pie-fight but neurodiverse/non-neurotypical is how my nephew, who is on the autism spectrum refers to himself. It is also how several of my friends who have children on the spectrum refer to their children in speaking to school admins or pediatricians.
Mike in NC
Our longtime mail carrier was recently assigned a different route for whatever reason, so the mail comes about an hour or two later than normal. I ordered a CD from Amazon yesterday and it arrived today, as did a shipment of prescriptions from Express Scripts that was shipped from AZ just a few days ago. On the other hand my wife ordered a dress from some outfit about 10 days ago, and cannot understand the delay. She’ll call the company soon to ask what happened.
If Fat Bastard is trying to gum up the postal service — and I believe he is — doing it in the middle of October would have been more disruptive than doing so in the middle of August. Once again, his incompetence and stupidity speaks for itself. Congress isn’t going to stand for any underhanded bullshit to delay the mail.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
Most Evangelicals don’t really believe in the existence of God when you get down to it. These things are a profession to mark themselves a proper conservatives and not to be questioned or analyzed.
Another Scott
@Baud: Evan Hurst at Wonkette has Jared’s number. So does Kanye… :-(
https://www.wonkette.com/jared-kushner-is-going-to-hell
Grrr…
Cheers,
Scott.
gwangung
@Kay: I think he’s out of his depth in governance and policy, but he struck a chord and some of his ideas are getting serious policy built under them.
I got my problems with him, but I sure as hell thinks he should speak and be treated as a serious contributor to the Democratic Party.
EmbraceYourInnerCrone
@Miss Bianca: Not that I have ever been tested , and at this point in my life(I am 59) why bother, but I suspect I am somewhere on the spectrum as well due to my inability to look people in the eye(that really endeared me to my teachers) tendency to interrupt, hyperfocus on what I am working on while ignoring everything else, aversion to being touched unexpectedly or by anyone I don’t know Really well…
Thank goodness I was born to reserved/anal-retentive non-hugging parents.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Brachiator:
Don’t take this the wrong way, but isn’t it tiring focusing so much on how much Trump could win and how doomed we are? That’s not very inspiring
J R in WV
@Mary G:
Please, in this formal usage, we should strictly use Senior Cruz’s formal and complete name: Rafael Eduardo Cruz. Nicknames are so disrespectful~!!~
PJ
@Kay: Outside of journalists and a relatively small group of people preoccupied with politics, does anyone care who speaks at a party convention, outside of the nominees for President and, maybe, Vice-President? It’s not going to change anyone’s vote. Yang has never been elected to anything; you might as well be concerned about how much time Tom Steyer gets to speak.
Gravenstone
@Mallard FIlmore: Probably as the result of a nefarious (is there any other kind?) liberal plot against them.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
Nvm:
LuciaMia
Can they explain why ‘mean’ and tough is somehow bad if all those suburban housewives are supposed to want is LAW & ORDER! (and not the tv show)
Feathers
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Yes, it was coined by Judy Singer, an Australian sociologist, who wrote her thesis on the lived experience of growing up on the spectrum, with the wonderful title of “Why can’t you be normal for just once in your life?” Neurodiverse starts with autism, we are starting to realize how much overlap there is between the various disorders. Autism, AHDH, uni and bi-polar depression, and schizophrenia all have the same genetic markers.* It also can include people who only partially meet the diagnostic criteria and those who haven’t had an official diagnosis (which can have adverse consequences, and therefore many choose not to be officially diagnosed).
*There is a great deal of symptom overlap between these disorders and thus there was a study to see if they could be distinguished from each other via genetic markers – and the same set of genes predict all five. There are now studies to try to see what predicts which disorder, if any, someone with this gene configuration will develop.
Captain C
@zzyzx:
Nominally. But they’ve been doing increasing amounts of business over the years, so this just makes it easier/possible to do so on the up-and-up. It also may pave the way for the Saudis to do so in the near to medium future, thus making it easier to formalize an anti-Iran (and fairly illiberal) alliance in the region.
Yutsano
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): All bets are off if Bibi gets run out of town. Although I imagine his PM seat goes to the number two in Likud. I’m too lazy to look up who that is.
Miss Bianca
@EmbraceYourInnerCrone: You know, I never stopped to think about how much my totally WASP-y upbringing saved me from indiscriminate hugging! (which I HATE.) One thing I’m not sorry about seeing in the COVID Age is the drastic decline in hugging – now when a perfect stranger offers to hug me (as is rampant out here in CO as opposed to the Midwest where I grew up), I can simply throw up an elbow to block it – and even turn that into its own greeting! All without having to deal with the weirdness that arises from my refusal to be “friendly”!
MisterForkbeard
@Kay: I think they’re very aware that they can’t have too many speakers with a virtual convention or it loses most of its impact. They’re keeping the list of speakers very short as a result.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Yutsano:
That’s if Bibi gets taken down, right? I think Gantz is somebody we could work with
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Feathers:
Very interesting, ty : )
Hopefully it can be determined what predicts these disorders
Brachiator
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
Here’s the thing. I have never said that we are doomed. Never. In fact in specific posts to you, I have pointed out the need to keep fighting, no matter what. I am a bit dismayed that you apparently did not pay attention.
However, I don’t do empty-headed cheerleading. It is necessary to look at what Trump is trying to do, and then to look at the response. This is what the media should be doing instead of coughing up lazy narratives and ass kissing.
Isn’t that the purpose of a political blog?
A lot of people consistently and insistently refused to take Trump seriously from the very beginning. Everything he did was stupid and wrong and ineffective. How did that work out?
Trump is stupid, but he is still dangerous. If you presume that everything he does is wrong and ineffective because you need inspiration or comfort, you might find that you end up with neither.
Kay
@MisterForkbeard:
Thanks. I didn’t consider the different format. It’s important to be welcoming to our fragile, coddled voters. They’re skittish and could bolt at any moment! :)
evodevo
@Brachiator: I don’t know…all the MAGAts I know personally are all for the Rapture, and for them the only good Muslim is a dead one…
Kay
Good. Bloomberg covered this and now the NYTimes is. Corrupt wingnut Eugene Scalia has not received near enough attention.
It’s hard because they’re all horrible and corrupt, but it’s important to be thorough.
Kay
It’s such a joy when they fuck with people who aren’t cowards. If she wasn’t afraid to go after Oracle she probably isn’t afraid of the low quality Trump hires.
Omnes Omnibus
@PJ: People like those on Balloon Juice are political obsessives. Sometimes we forget how insignificant many of these “important” slights are to normies.
Feathers
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): You’re welcome.
One of the issues is that these “disorders” also have incredible strengths, especially in small doses. There is an association between creativity and “madness,” but what the research shows is that creative “geniuses” tend to have close relatives who are mentally ill to a debilitating degree. Depressed people see reality far more clearly than the non-depressed. You want soldiers and firefighters with ADHD. Society needed the strengths of these disorders, it also needs to support those on the rest of the spectrum(s).
I took a course on ADHD from an ADHD researcher and his main point was that ADHD is equally prevalent throughout the world. It is considered a major problem in the US, because its symptoms are considered signs of moral failure. This is probably why there is such a huge cohort of naysayers and “ADHD isn’t real” is a profitable, evergreen publishing niche.
Feathers
@Just Chuck: You know, underbussing people who share your disability in order to remain your cred as one of the cool kids is totally the bullshittiest behavior.
Another Scott
ICYMI, …
This craft will land on Bennu on October 20.
(via nycsouthpaw)
Cheers,
Scott.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Brachiator:
I don’t want mindless cheerleading, believe me. I do take Trump seriously. I just think too many people have seen him for what he is at this point. His incompetence has affected practically everyone, something his past scandals never did, and were often of his own making
I don’t think focusing on how invincible Trump is and could win is good, honestly. I don’t mind talking about hypotheticals, but I also think it’s important to discuss strategies and responses at the same time
Maybe I’m wrong, I don’t know. If I am, I apologize. Perhaps I should’ve asked how Trump’s BS could be countered
Frankensteinbeck
@Brachiator:
I know them. I am not wrong. And look around. Is it not wildly clear that the necessity of wiping out all Muslims is a passionate and broadly held belief among Republicans? They are regularly clear about it on FOX.
Wow, you are the absolutely wrong one here. I know people who were raised to it and escaped. Yes, a major chunk of the evangelicals believe the Rapture will happen any minute and that Israel needs to start World War 3 to set it off. I don’t care how absofuckinglutely crazy it is. Enough of them believe it to control whether the Republican Party ever gets elected to any position again, and they are very active in the party because they’re Dominionists fighting for the future of their sadistic, bigoted religion’s ability to hurt others.
And again, the rest love that Israel is the implacable enemy of Muslims. Middle Eastern peace does not interest them.
Only the orthodox Jews. The rest don’t give a shit about Israel’s security. None of them ever talk about it. They talk about the need for the evil Muslim nation (it’s not a religion, they say) to die. Their TV figures only mention Israel’s security if it’s in the context of Israel’s right to murder and oppress Muslims.
A fair number, which I know because they’re my relatives and the Jews who tried to indoctrinate me growing up, believe that in the end, it’s either the Jews or Muslims. Very few believe genocide will happen soon or have significant enthusiasm for a war. They just think it’s inevitable. But since those are Israelis and not Trump’s voting base, none of that is relevant to the discussion.
yellowdog
@misterpuff: The venue was operating on generator power, according to reports. That may have affected the lighting.
Another Scott
“Few people know that Lincoln was a Republican! It’s True!!11”
Cheers,
Scott.
Jeffro
@gwangung: Yang is yet another (albeit milder) example of why we need higher requirements for federal office. He should have had to run for Congress or a governorship – and win – first.
Hopefully after this lousy experience, Americans will wake up to the fact that um, it’s kind of an important job and we need more & higher standards for it.
Jeffro
@PJ: letting people speak a) helps keep them happy and in the party, b) helps keep their supporters happy and in the party, etc etc etc.
It’s also a mild ‘thank-you’ of sorts from the party for their support and team play.
Just Chuck
@EmbraceYourInnerCrone: I think of the autism spectrum a bit differently. Too much and well, you’re screwed up. Otherwise yeah, you’re atypical and might actually be able to turn it into a strength. Same goes for almost any other disorder I guess. So @Feathers, I apologize for flying off on you like that, but a nice-looking box is still a box. My bipolar shit is a fucking disability when it hits (thankfully it’s the kind where I don’t get manic psychosis, just kinda reckless and most of the time I’m just depressed). And people who scold me at calling it a disability or illness, I’ll tell them to fuck right off with more fury than I ever expressed here.
Oh yeah depression makes me irritable and I’ve been having some really bad weeks.
yellowdog
@Mike in NC: Congress can’t do anything. Even if they appropriated money and passed it over the shitgibbon’s veto, the Postmaster could choose to not spend it.
Marcopolo
@PJ:
I dunno, if I recall correctly it was a slot at the 2004 DNC that gave this guy his big boost into national politics.
And my god, he’s so damn young here :)
PJ
@Jeffro: I get that, but how many hours of this stuff do they expect people to watch? Two hours, max, I’d think is what the average politically interested person (i.e., someone who’d actually watch it) can stand.
On Twitter, people were complaining that AOC was allotted one minute of air time. How much time do they expect any first term Congressperson to get? Why is it important that everyone who thinks they are important gets a chance to speak?
catclub
Also Wilbur Ross in running for dirtiest, least noticed.
J R in WV
@Kay:
Is this not the spawn of one of the corrupt Justices who once worked for the fascists on the Supreme Court? Antonin Scalia, he of the dirt nap? Wiki says “Yes! You score!”
What a surprise that a Scalia has no ethical course!!!
Uncle Cosmo
My summer job in college was mail delivery on foot in my local zip code. It’s been 50 years (!!??!?!) but I suspect most of the mechanics are the same (more recent letter carriers should correct me where necessary).
The whole process of delivery was rather neatly choreographed. A carrier would spend the first 1.5-2.5 hrs of her/his day filing letter-size mail into a highly-divided case which organized it by addresses in the order they’d be encountered. The routes were divided into relays, along which the bundles of mail (after the first or second, which the carrier would take with him as he left) would be prepositioned by the drivers of the mail trucks. When the mailbag was empty (from delivering the mail!) the next relay would await you in a nearby mailbox, for which you had a key, & you would continue delivery from close by. The whole operation was designed for maximum efficiency – and if you finished the route early, you got time off & the citizens got their mail early, a win-win.
It wasn’t quite as mindless as it sounds – the carrier has to know (or figure out) where at any given house the mail is to be delivered**, how to untie (& then retie) a latched gate, & (most significantly for continuing good health) whether that gate is latched to keep in a guard dog the size of Gojira with a carrier-hostile attitude (in which case that address didn’t get mail that day).
That’s why a carrier unfamiliar with the route can easily take an extra hour or two to finish it. But a reasonably competent carrier transferred to a new route will usually reduce that to near zero in a couple of weeks as s/he learns the peculiarities of the route. A supervisor who really wants to fuck up delivery will therefore keep transferring carriers to unfamiliar routes ever two weeks or so.
So keep your eye on your delivery times – if they remain 1-2 hrs late for the next 5-6 weeks, you can reasonably suspect the works are being intentionally gummed up.
** Think that’s trivial? On an unfamiliar route I walked around a freestanding house twice before finally jamming the mail behind the screen door. I wasn’t even out of the yard before the “postal client” came out screaming to put the mail in the box. I said show me where it is & next time I will. It’s right there, he pointed: About the size of a loaf of bread, flush to one corner of the house & painted the same color. I’ve never seen anything better camouflaged.
Another time I got yelled at for dropping mail just inside the porch screen door instead of the inside box (the door to the house itself was wide open & who knew what Cerberus lurked ready to pounce). When she finished I said, Sure, Phyllis, which startled her – until she looked past my Post Office hat & new mustache & realized I was one of her HS classmates from the year before…
Yutsano
@PJ:
It’s not even that. She’s announcing Wilmer’s name for the nomination. That’s it. So yes she only gets 60 seconds for that. But I want to see what she does with those 60 seconds. It could make or break her career.
catclub
Yeah, the senate would vote heavily to impeach someone who used the US government to further their political ends.
Feathers
@Just Chuck: Apology accepted. Your description suits your situation but ignores the people who can’t “turn it into a strength.” You are ignoring the fact that the “neurodiversity as a gift” cheerleaders have a model which is assuming a great deal of privilege, because the further away you are from rich, white, and male, the faster being neurodiverse is actively harmful to being allowed to function in our society.
The other thing that the word neurodiverse does is allow people to talk about the issues in their lives without outing themselves as having a specific diagnosis. What may seem bullshitty is protective for a lot of people.
James E Powell
@Omnes Omnibus:
The only one I remember is the one that the press/media likes to tell about Clinton not letting Bob Casey speak at the 92 DNC because Casey was anti-abortion. It’s bullshit, but any anti-Clinton story is assumed to be true by the press/media.
Marcopolo
@Yutsano: Whatever the case, I can tell you that she’s already made more of those 60 seconds, before she’s said word one, than most folks would:
If you click through to the tweet & comments, the first comment is from her 2nd grade teacher!
And AOC’s response:
How can anyone not love this?
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
@EmbraceYourInnerCrone: I am much the same (will be 69 this year). I have to admit I was relieved when “on the spectrum” became a common concept, since I was obviously not autistic in the mute, headbanging way of serious cases, but I always had trouble in social situations, along with the other traits you listed. I actually had a mentor years ago gently tell me to stop coming up to a group of people and instantly interrupt with what I wanted to say (this concept was news to me). Of course I ended up as a computer programmer, although my college major had been history (this was back in the days when you didn’t need a computer degree. I had 1 1/2 semesters of BASIC programming at the local JC, and then on the job training).
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@MisterForkbeard: exactly, I suspect at a normal convention people like Yang and AOC would have mid-day spots that would most likely garner very little notice unless they said something… I’ll be nice and say “contrarian”
Another Scott
@Uncle Cosmo: (Click! Ah, so that’s why you take your problems with the Bawlmer USPS so personally…)
My grandpa delivered mail for the USPS after he got back from WWII. I’m sure there are lots and lots of veterans (from WWII, Korea, and Vietnam) in the same boat that he was in.
Thanks. ;-)
Cheers,
Scott.
Jeffro
@PJ: I think they want several hours’ worth of speeches and stuff available for the die-hards and party faithful…they don’t really expect most Americans to sit down and watch 5-6 hours straight every night.
Re: AOC, it’s not that everyone who thinks they’re important gets a chance to speak, otherwise they’d ALL be speaking, right? =)
It’s that the ones with genuine followings/large constituencies/up-and-comers get to speak. She has a following far beyond her own Congressional district.
Jeffro
Are you being serious? You can’t be serious. Seriously?
Ken
@Jeffro: They may also be hoping for a contrast with the Republican convention, though I still think the main difference will be technical. The Democrats have been planning for on-line for a lot longer.
Come to think of it, I don’t recall seeing anything about the Republican convention, other than Trump trying to decide what national monument he wants to use as background to his speech.
PJ
@Jeffro:
That was what I was getting at . . .
Yeah, I don’t know about that. She may have a lot of Twitter followers (I have no idea), but Twitter means almost nothing to electoral politics (it’s only something due to the way journalists use it to source what they write about) and she’s had little impact on national politics to date – certainly nothing I’ve seen, and I live in NYC. I think the fact that Republicans have chosen to demonize her has elevated her standing nationwide, but I haven’t seen her actually do anything legislatively of note (not that I would actually expect that of a first term Congressperson.) But maybe I just get tired of newspeople talking about her because she’s photogenic, vs., say, someone like Katie Porter, who has played a more active role in Congressional hearings, from what I’ve seen.
Betty Cracker
@Marcopolo: I like her. Don’t agree with everything she says and does (that applies to every politician!), but I think she’s a net positive for the party. But a lot of people really can’t stand her.
sgrAstar
@Feathers: this is behavior that men have deployed against their female coworkers forever. It’s very familiar and not necessarily a function of ‘neurodiversity’.
?
Jeffro
@PJ: Ok, sounds good. I seem to see her in a fair number of mainstream media stories and what not, so I’m not sure it’s just a Twitter thing. I’m good with both her and Katie Porter being the faces of the Dems moving forward. =)
Roger Moore
@Marcopolo:
If they already dislike her, the way she’s treating her 60 seconds in the spotlight will only remind them of whatever it is they dislike. Same as it ever was.
Roger Moore
@Jeffro:
I would mildly agree with Yutsano here. It’s not necessarily likely that she could do something really great or really terrible in 60 seconds, but it’s possible. IMO, it’s easier for her to break it than make it; a serious screw up doesn’t take much time.
Marcopolo
@PJ: I love both AOC & Katie Porter. They have both played very active roles in committee hearings–and they both do their homework, it shows. There are quite a few great first term congresswomen who use their committee time to actually ask questions instead of making speeches. I’d add Ayanna Pressley to this list as well. Maybe do yourself a favor and use the google to see videos of her in action. Here she is questioning Zuckerberg.
As for the level of her influence: 1) she is role modeling & helping to recruit a lot of new folks to running for office; 2) she is raising, for someone who is a first term congressperson, a considerable amount of money for these folks; 3) she has a way of explaining issues that is right up there with the best of them (Obama/Clinton); 4) she uses her moments very very well.
To whit, look at what she did with her Ted Yoho encounter on the steps of the Capitol. Here’s a link to her 10 minute floor speech about the sexism that women face everyday.
Brachiator
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
Totally agree. His support is waning, and like you I am amazed at the people who continue to support him despite his failures and incompetence.
No one here thinks that Trump is invincible.
Okay, let me try this. There are a lot of people here with a deep background in politics and even experience in past political campaigns. I often appreciate their insights which serve as a corrective to a lot of the inadequate political reporting in traditional mainstream media. It helps me understand what is happening. But it should be obvious that understanding what is going on in the 2020 campaign is a separate issue from who I want to win.
And I am not always looking for someone to play armchair political strategist and tell me how to best defeat Trump. And even when I read this type of comment, I still have to ask myself if the observations and conclusions are well founded.
And there are other times when I want to celebrate the candidates I like and blast the dopes I despise.
That’s what I like about a full service blog site.
VFX Lurker
@rikyrah:
YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
?♥????????
Glad to hear this good news! Wishing you and Peanut continued safety. ♥♥♥
Ken
@Uncle Cosmo: May I recommend Terry Pratchett’s Going Postal? It can probably be read standalone, if you don’t want to go through the twenty-odd Discworld books that precede it.
Roger Moore
@PJ:
AOC has been pretty good in the hearings I’ve seen her in. She isn’t the same kind of subject matter expert Katie Porter is, but she obviously has good staff who prep her well for her hearings. She spends her time asking sharp questions instead of posturing, which a lot of legislators could learn from.
James E Powell
@Marcopolo:
I’m with you. I wish we had 30 more like Porter and AOC. They are the kind of people we need if we want to convince the generation that is coming of age that they ought to be Democrats.
Alaska Reader
@vigilhorn:
Why help them?
Brachiator
@Frankensteinbeck:
I hope that someone is letting the Saudis, the Kuwaitis, the Afghans and others know that they are on the Republican shit list.
I’ve read interviews with Republicans who love Trump because they believe that he is being bold and direct in his support for Israel. They think that his support for moving the capital to Jerusalem is a huge deal. They want the US to help Israel stick it to the Palestinians, but otherwise they are deeply ignorant of Middle East policy and of religion. And if you told them that Russia and Iran are displacing the US as major players in the region, with Trump’s passive acceptance, they would just stare at you like the slack jawed idiots they are.
Roger Moore
@Brachiator:
One of the key things I’ve come to realize is that there is more than one reason to come up with gloom and doom scenarios. Some people do it because they want to figure out what could go wrong so they can head it off, while other people just want to wallow in negativity. The first response is helpful and tends to help people get fired up, even though it starts from a negative place. The second is unhelpful and tends to just get people depressed and passive about their situation.
You see this difference in attitudes beyond just this specific situation. When someone presents a plan, people will always try to find holes in it. Be the kind of person who looks for those holes so you can patch them, not the kind of person who uses the holes as an excuse for inaction.
NotMax
@Ken
There’s a pretty good movie adaptation too. Available on Prime.
Brachiator
@Roger Moore:
I choose Door Number 3. Sometimes wanting to understand the political scene is just that, a desire for understanding. It has nothing to do with creating doom scenarios or with wallowing in negativity.
But I understand that some people just don’t want to hear no bad news.
EmbraceYourInnerCrone
@A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan): I ended up in computer help desk first thing In the military and then in industry after I retired.
my husband is the Never met a stranger personally type and the Spawn is an interesting combo of both ?. I am glad to be an Old lady now so the personality quirks are less noticeable.
Kayla Rudbek
@rikyrah: Good to see that!
Brantl
@Booger: No, I think that’s a pretty simple eye test.