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Glad to see john eastman going through some things.

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The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

The willow is too close to the house.

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Fuck the extremist election deniers. What’s money for if not for keeping them out of office?

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

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Republicans don’t trust women.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

How can republicans represent us when they don’t trust women?

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Republicans choose power over democracy, every day.

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You are here: Home / Foreign Affairs / Thursday Evening Open Thread: Bob Woodward, Vicar of Bray

Thursday Evening Open Thread: Bob Woodward, Vicar of Bray

by Anne Laurie|  August 13, 20206:20 pm| 261 Comments

This post is in: Foreign Affairs, Media, Open Threads, Assholes, Our Failed Media Experiment

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The original, possibly apocryphal Vicar was a careerist cleric who, when accused of having no principles after changing his ‘faith’ several times depending on the political winds, replies “I have always kept my principle, which is this – to live and die the Vicar of Bray.”

Troutmouth Bob Woodward likewise has but one principle: He intends to live and die the ‘Wise Chronicler of the Permanent Government’.

It being an election year, Woodward has consumed a vast quantity of first-person roughage, and by peristalsis produced another doorstopper nicely timed for September release. Like sparrows after a carthorse, the Media Village Idiots descend to pick tasty granules from the copious product…

For his new book, Bob Woodward "obtained 25 personal letters exchanged between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un that have not been public before," says an Amazon description.https://t.co/4yR1GYdapj

— William Gallo (@GalloVOA) August 13, 2020

Woodward says he has *25* Trump-Kim letters. That's not a small amount of personal correspondence!

— William Gallo (@GalloVOA) August 13, 2020

And so, instead of discussing matters of actual impact — the ongoing pandemic, Trump’s declared intention to rig the election by voter suppression, his administration’s many & various abuses, the Democratic attempts to restore assistance to desperate citizens — the pundits get to chirp at each other about the Very Serious Revelation that the Oval Office Squatter has been in correspondence with the North Korean Dictator. Imagine the important content: Letters! So many letters! But are they truly real? What exactly are their contents? Is it true that Donald drew little hearts over the closing, using his signature gold Sharpie?…

Forgive me for further spreading this not-news, but to me Woodward is a mosquito bite welt in an unscratchable place. This latest dispatch, as ever, does nothing to persuade me against the Watergate-era ‘conspiracy theory’ that Woodward never actually detached himself from his original job in national security; he has made a rich career out of reassuring the Very Serious gatekeepers that all is for the best in this best of all possible worlds, barring the occasional easily-memoryholed aberration. I would cherish fantasies of someday dancing on his grave, but individuals like Bob Woodward (look at Henry Kissinger or Dick Cheney) may outlast everyone but the postnuclear cockroaches.

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Reader Interactions

261Comments

  1. 1.

    cain

    August 13, 2020 at 6:22 pm

    This is just the kind of year 2020 has turned out to be. We have shown ourselves to the world as being completely divorced from reality with a fucked up set of priorities.

  2. 2.

    Barbara

    August 13, 2020 at 6:27 pm

    Who cares? Seriously.

  3. 3.

    Villago Delenda Est

    August 13, 2020 at 6:27 pm

    Come The Revolution, Booby here is on the tumbrel manifest.

  4. 4.

    Mary G

    August 13, 2020 at 6:28 pm

    This is spectacular, AL. Every time I see that fishface, I feel angry again that a young Robert Redfield was wasted playing that. It’s beyond disgusting that the usual suspects are all bowing down and being sure that Rage will be even better than Fear. We can show you rage, asshole.

  5. 5.

    NotMax

    August 13, 2020 at 6:29 pm

    Wolverine to AL: “Wow, nice claws.”

    :)

  6. 6.

    oatler.

    August 13, 2020 at 6:31 pm

    Reminds me of Ursula LeGuin’s “The Farthest Shore” where populations are driven to despair  and savagery, all for a promise of eternal life.

  7. 7.

    Baud

    August 13, 2020 at 6:33 pm

    @oatler.: I would kill for eternal life.

  8. 8.

    JPL

    August 13, 2020 at 6:33 pm

    Golden showers and kissing ass..   November third can’t come soon enough.

  9. 9.

    Elizabelle

    August 13, 2020 at 6:35 pm

    @Barbara: 

    I know.

    *snore* zzzzzzzz

  10. 10.

    Tony Jay

    August 13, 2020 at 6:35 pm

    @cain:

    If it’s any consolation at all you’re very much not alone in that, plus you get to be part of a national effort to kick the Right out of power.

    We had an opportunity to do that last year, but as a nation and a culture we didn’t so much fail as we faceplanted into solid concrete with all the grace and lithe sinuousness of a misappropriated cadaver.

    You’ll do better.

  11. 11.

    Brachiator

    August 13, 2020 at 6:35 pm

    Troutmouth Bob Woodward likewise has but one principle: He intends to live and die the ‘Wise Chronicler of the Permanent Government’.

    Ha! I think this nails it.

  12. 12.

    Brachiator

    August 13, 2020 at 6:36 pm

    @oatler.:

    Reminds me of Ursula LeGuin’s “The Farthest Shore” where populations are driven to despair  and savagery, all for a promise of eternal life.

    Isn’t this just religion?

  13. 13.

    piratedan

    August 13, 2020 at 6:39 pm

    how is this asshat in possession of personal correspondence between two leaders without this being some kind of classified material violation?

  14. 14.

    Elizabelle

    August 13, 2020 at 6:39 pm

    Snore re Bob Insufferable Woodward.  I am good with him and Andrea Mitchell Greenspan sharing a tumbrel.  They would both feel honored.

    But:  JPL put up the site for Michael Cohen’s book about the trump:  Disloyal.  It’s got a link to the foreword, and for purchasing a hard copy.

    Which book is likely to be more entertaining?

  15. 15.

    Brantl

    August 13, 2020 at 6:40 pm

    1. Bob Woodward, from effective journalist, to carbuncle on trump’s ass.
  16. 16.

    Baud

    August 13, 2020 at 6:40 pm

    @piratedan:

    NK could have released them to show what a putz Trump is.

  17. 17.

    Baud

    August 13, 2020 at 6:41 pm

    @Tony Jay: Thanks for the encouragement!

  18. 18.

    Elizabelle

    August 13, 2020 at 6:42 pm

    Our local botanical garden’s Fidos after Five event was cancelled for tonight, because it was raining fiercely this afternoon.

    Now it’s clearing out there, and the sun is bright.  Torture.  Oh well.  Everyone would have had wet, muddy (happy) dogs.

  19. 19.

    SiubhanDuinne

    August 13, 2020 at 6:43 pm

    Like sparrows after a carthorse, the Media Village Idiots descend to pick tasty granules from the copious product…

    Well done. Perfect, in fact.

    ***

    And thanks a bunch, Anne Laurie. Now I have “The Vicar of Bray” as an earworm.

  20. 20.

    Kay

    August 13, 2020 at 6:44 pm

    Andrew Solender
    @AndrewSolender
    · 30m
    On the Newsweek column, Trump says: “I heard it today that she doesn’t meet the requirements, and by the way the lawyer who wrote the piece is highly qualified, very talented.”
    “I assumed the Democrats would’ve checked that out before she gets chosen for vice president.”

    Political media really going to do this again. We once again are going to be forced to listen to Donald Trump question the legitimacy of a black candidate.
    I mean, Jesus Fucking Christ. How much of this bullshit can we possibly choke down? Can they show some mercy and maybe NOT endorse this again? Wasn’t once enough?

  21. 21.

    Baud

    August 13, 2020 at 6:44 pm

    This is a well versed post, AL.

  22. 22.

    senyordave

    August 13, 2020 at 6:44 pm

    At this point IMO Covid-19 dwarfs every other issue.  I don’t think Woodward’s book will have any real impact, nobody cares anymore about anything he has to say.  I think it will have a shelf life of a couple of weeks at best.

  23. 23.

    JPL

    August 13, 2020 at 6:44 pm

    @Elizabelle: ha Brian Stelter of CNN had a link to the site but didn’t include anything about the substance.

  24. 24.

    tom

    August 13, 2020 at 6:44 pm

    @Tony Jay: are you sure?

  25. 25.

    JPL

    August 13, 2020 at 6:45 pm

    @Kay: My dog wants Biden so he doesn’t have to hear his master scream fu

  26. 26.

    Baud

    August 13, 2020 at 6:46 pm

    @Kay:

    It’s a little poetic that he’ll go out the way he came in.

  27. 27.

    Elizabelle

    August 13, 2020 at 6:47 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne:   and this:

    to me Woodward is a mosquito bite welt in an unscratchable place

  28. 28.

    VeniceRiley

    August 13, 2020 at 6:49 pm

    Michael Cohen, people. Here is the forward to his book:https://disloyalthebook.com/download-the-disloyal-foreword-written-by-michael-cohen/

  29. 29.

    Kay

    August 13, 2020 at 6:51 pm

    @JPL:

    Oh, don’t worry. They’re “fact checking it”. After asking him about it and screaming his responses from the rooftops they’ll scribble a couple of sentences and issue the “fact check”.

    They can’t ask President Trump why he’s deliberately destroying all postal service in the United States, but they have time to promote a birther theory. Priorities!

  30. 30.

    Baud

    August 13, 2020 at 6:51 pm

    @tom:

    They don’t call him the Oracle of UK for nothing.

  31. 31.

    Spanky

    August 13, 2020 at 6:52 pm

    @Baud:

    NK could have released them to show what a putz Trump is.

    Maybe that was the plan, and now that Booby has ruined it, Lil Kim is arranging a little accident for him.

     

    Pass the popcorn!

  32. 32.

    Elizabelle

    August 13, 2020 at 6:53 pm

    @Kay:

    by the way the lawyer who wrote the piece is highly qualified, very talented.

    trump decoder:  He’s got a penis. Or so I assume.

    Who told him Kamala Harris “does not meet the requirements”?  Judge Jeanine Pirro?  When she’s not prognosticating about Joe Biden?

  33. 33.

    SiubhanDuinne

    August 13, 2020 at 6:53 pm

    @Kay: There’s a mayor of some small town in Virginia who wrote (on Twitter or FB or something) that Biden “had picked Aunt Jemima” as his running mate. So fucking sick of these racist, sexist, entitled, white male assholes.

  34. 34.

    piratedan

    August 13, 2020 at 6:54 pm

    @Kay: can someone at least disbar the POS from California that  dropped this into the national discourse?

  35. 35.

    SiubhanDuinne

    August 13, 2020 at 6:54 pm

    @JPL:

    Hahahahaha!

  36. 36.

    Kay

    August 13, 2020 at 6:55 pm

    @Baud:

    Birtherism is vile. That these people are all going to pretend that it isn’t intended to deligimitize people is just the most cowardly thing. It is intended to confer second class citizenship. That’s why they do it.

    It isn’t a delightful quirk of wacky Donald Trump. It’s vicious.

  37. 37.

    ljdramone

    August 13, 2020 at 6:56 pm

    @Brantl: Bob Woodward, from effective journalist…

    hey, wasn’t there a time when Woodward used his Awesome Journamalism Skillz to uncover the unsuspected truth: that the cast of Saturday Night Live did a whole bunch of drugs back in the day?

    Oh right, yes there was.

  38. 38.

    oatler.

    August 13, 2020 at 6:57 pm

    @Brachiator: LeGuin left religion out of her novels but you may be right. Think of the churchgoing MAGAts assaulting people who wear masks.

  39. 39.

    Ken

    August 13, 2020 at 6:58 pm

    @Baud: It’s a little poetic that he’ll go out the way he came in.

    Screaming and covered in blood and slime?

  40. 40.

    Kay

    August 13, 2020 at 6:58 pm

    @Elizabelle:

    The Trump Family rose all the way to US Presidency on this vile hatefulness and political media are going to subject us to it AGAIN.

    Can they possibly not promote it this time? Is that too much to ask? I mean, Christ. One would think they have plenty to talk about!

  41. 41.

    Baud

    August 13, 2020 at 6:58 pm

    @Kay:

    Yes it is.  Like I said yesterday, I pity the “journalist” who decides to ask Kamala about it.

  42. 42.

    Baud

    August 13, 2020 at 6:59 pm

    @Ken:

    That’s another interpretation.

  43. 43.

    MattF

    August 13, 2020 at 7:00 pm

    Pleased to say, I’ve never read any of Woodward’s ‘books’. And never will. Tamsyn Muir’s novels about lesbian necromancers in spaaace are more relevant and, presumably, better written.

  44. 44.

    patrick II

    August 13, 2020 at 7:00 pm

    I just read the forward to Cohen’s book, and, strangely, it is beautifully written. I encourage everyone to read it. And then I came here and read Ann’s post. So much remarkable writing.

  45. 45.

    Kay

    August 13, 2020 at 7:00 pm

    The funniest response to Newsweek promoting a new birther narrative is “I will no longer read Newsweek in the dentist’s office”

    Guffaw.

  46. 46.

    prostratedragon

    August 13, 2020 at 7:00 pm

    AL’s first few paragraphs deserve a prize for extending a metaphor.

  47. 47.

    dmsilev

    August 13, 2020 at 7:01 pm

    @Elizabelle: The lawyer in question lost the primary to be the guy to lose the election for CA AG to Harris several years ago. Oh, and he wrote a similar op-ed about Ted Cruz four years ago, and mysteriously came out with the opposite conclusion.
    So, yeah, racist partisan shitheel. Or possibly partisan racist shitheel.

  48. 48.

    Baud

    August 13, 2020 at 7:02 pm

     

    @Kay:

    Maybe the Newsweek editors didn’t read it first.  That seems to be a thing.

  49. 49.

    Kay

    August 13, 2020 at 7:02 pm

    @patrick II:

    I found him sympathetic in his congressional testimony, with his big droopy dog eyes.

    I know he’s a weak person and that’s how he got sucked into the sleazy Trump Family but there’s something redeemable there.

  50. 50.

    MisterForkbeard

    August 13, 2020 at 7:03 pm

    @MattF: Harrow the Ninth is really good AND kind of impenetrable… and also much better written than this.

    Very sad. Maybe Newsweek would do better with more focus on immortal lesbian space necromancers and less on birtherism.

  51. 51.

    prostratedragon

    August 13, 2020 at 7:04 pm

    @Mary G:  This was not likely the intention of whomever cast Redford in that movie, but if it’s any consolation he’s usually played these glorious-looking characters with significant feet of clay.

  52. 52.

    Kay

    August 13, 2020 at 7:04 pm

    @Baud:

    Cancel culture! We all must promote Donald Trump’s vile, mean-spirited racist bullshit or people will think we’re “close minded”

  53. 53.

    JPL

    August 13, 2020 at 7:05 pm

    Betty Cracker trying to outdo Doug about golden showers

    Kinda explains Trump’s obsession with water pressure in the shower.

  54. 54.

    Alison Rose

    August 13, 2020 at 7:05 pm

    Dolly Parton to racists: “Don’t be a dumbass.”

    Parton also engaged in a discussion about how racist monuments and other antiquated Confederacy statues have been taken down in the last few months. The iconic artist actually did something similar in 2018, when she renamed her “Dixie Stampede” Civil War-themed attraction to “Dolly Parton’s Stampede”. Although she was clearly ahead of her time — The Dixie Chicks only changed their name this past June — Parton admitted that she was guilty of “innocent ignorance” back then.

    She spoke further on her decision to rename the attraction:

    “When they said ‘Dixie’ was an offensive word, I thought, ‘Well, I don’t want to offend anybody. This is a business. We’ll just call it The Stampede.’ As soon as you realize that [something] is a problem, you should fix it. Don’t be a dumbass. That’s where my heart is. I would never dream of hurting anybody on purpose.”

    Be more like Dolly, everyone.

  55. 55.

    Baud

    August 13, 2020 at 7:05 pm

    @Kay: Teach the controversy!

  56. 56.

    Calouste

    August 13, 2020 at 7:06 pm

    @Kay: The shitgibbon is doing what shitgibbon a does, which is throw shit at the wall. His attention span is so short that he is probably not going hang around to see if it sticks, and he is going to throw different shit at the wall tomorrow, which will take the media’s attention away from this. Repeat 80 odd days until the elections.

  57. 57.

    prostratedragon

    August 13, 2020 at 7:07 pm

    @Brachiator:  Not mine.

  58. 58.

    patrick II

    August 13, 2020 at 7:07 pm

    @Kay:

    My sense was that he loves his family and at some point that made him ashamed of himself.  He decided to be a better man.  But regardless of his morality either he is the best gangster/writer I have ever read, or he has a hell of a ghost writer.

  59. 59.

    LesGS

    August 13, 2020 at 7:08 pm

    @patrick II: I read Cohen’s foreword and it’s very good. If it’s not ghost-written, he should have gone into writing, not crime. Not as much money, but probably less jail time.

  60. 60.

    VeniceRiley

    August 13, 2020 at 7:08 pm

    @JPL: 
    Cohen’s book also mentions golden showers in Vegas right in the forward!
    https://disloyalthebook.com/download-the-disloyal-foreword-written-by-michael-cohen/

  61. 61.

    satby

    August 13, 2020 at 7:08 pm

    Meh, birtherism is going to get even less traction this time than it did last, which is to say virtually none. It would be nice to have an adult media instead of the D-student gossip girls we’re stuck with.

  62. 62.

    JPL

    August 13, 2020 at 7:10 pm

    @VeniceRiley: I know and read about that earlier.   Both Betty’s and Doug’s twitter feed are filled with innuendos.

  63. 63.

    jl

    August 13, 2020 at 7:11 pm

    Strong principles conveniently aligned with self-interested pursuit of sure and easy success is an almost irresistible force.

  64. 64.

    Elizabelle

    August 13, 2020 at 7:12 pm

    @Kay:   We live in strange times, because I find myself rooting for Michael Cohen too, and maybe he is one of the few people in Trump’s orbit capable of change.  To see.

    Sean Spicer also seemed troubled by having to lie on behalf of Trump, but he still did it.  And the three press secretaries who followed him — every one a woman — have all been horrible.  The Possum Queen turns out to have been the best of those three.

    Only the best, in Trump’s orbit.  Maybe Cohen will get another chance, since he too was ejected from it.

  65. 65.

    MattF

    August 13, 2020 at 7:13 pm

    @satby: Birtherism is just one more time-tested way to insult people with brown skin. And that’s all it is.

  66. 66.

    jl

    August 13, 2020 at 7:13 pm

    @JPL: insinuendos and implifications

  67. 67.

    jl

    August 13, 2020 at 7:14 pm

    @Elizabelle: Well, Spicer got some TV show time, and Cohen got jail, so possibly an explanation on who spills and who doesn’t.

  68. 68.

    Kropacetic

    August 13, 2020 at 7:17 pm

    @piratedan: how is this asshat in possession of personal correspondence between two leaders without this being some kind of classified material violation?

    If these letters contained any sort of actual classified material, my guess would be that Trump selectively declassified the ones that show him in the best light* expressly to have them published.

    *From his delusional perspective

  69. 69.

    J R in WV

    August 13, 2020 at 7:17 pm

    @Kay:

    It isn’t a delightful quirk of wacky Donald Trump. It’s vicious.

    Despicable~!!~ All I can say about these racist idiots, despicable! All of them…

  70. 70.

    currants

    August 13, 2020 at 7:20 pm

    @AL, your writing makes me laugh. Thank you!

  71. 71.

    JPL

    August 13, 2020 at 7:20 pm

    @jl: John used to print the best responses and we could vote on them.   Red Kitten would win them all.   Anyway, I’d love to see a show down between Doug and Betty Cracker tweets  .

  72. 72.

    Skepticat

    August 13, 2020 at 7:20 pm

    Apart from the minor fact he needed a proofreader for his foreword, Cohen does write well, and it seems he (finally) has a grip on reality.  Were that more people did. I won’t buy the book, but I’d like to read someone else’s copy. A friend sent a PDF of Mary Trump’s book, but I don’t think I have the strength to get into that. The problem is that we are not the people who need to hear these things.

  73. 73.

    Kropacetic

    August 13, 2020 at 7:21 pm

    @Kay: Political media really going to do this again. We once again are going to be forced to listen to Donald Trump question the legitimacy of a black candidate.

    It’s almost as though he has a seriously limited set of tools, or else he denies the legitimacy of any black candidate on principle.

  74. 74.

    Another Scott

    August 13, 2020 at 7:21 pm

    Eric Katz at GovExec – What’s Really Going On at the Postal Service.

    The Postal Service, prior to the swearing in of current Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, [his appointment was announced May 6, 2020 according to Wikipedia,] asked Congress for $75 billion in financial assistance to offset losses from the novel coronavirus pandemic and fund “shovel ready” modernization projects. No part of the request, however, was tied directly to delivering ballots to voters or back to election boards. Postal management said in a financial statement last week it has sufficient funds to operate normally through at least August 2021. Paul Steidler, a senior fellow with the Lexington Institute, noted that even if 60% of the electorate votes by mail it would only lead to about a 1% increase in the Postal Service’s normal delivery volume. The Postal Service itself estimated mailed-in ballots would account for 2% of the agency’s volume between September and the Nov. 3 election.

    “Given our available processing capacity, we can easily handle the anticipated increase in election mail due to the COVID-19 pandemic, without impact to on-time performance,” wrote USPS executive vice presidents David Williams, also the agency’s chief logistics and processing operations officer, and Thomas Marshall, also the USPS general counsel, in a USA Today op-ed on Wednesday.

    While Democrats have pushed for an additional $3.6 billion to help state and local governments ensure election security and safety in pandemic conditions, there is no effort in the stimulus negotiations to create universal vote by mail at the federal level as Trump suggested. Those decisions are made at the state level and municipal level.

    Some states have voiced concern that the Postal Service’s assurances it can deliver ballots on time are insufficient, especially in light of changes DeJoy has implemented that could lead to delays in the mail. USPS has instructed employees not to take overtime, has implemented a hiring freeze for the small portion of its workforce that is not represented by a union and is altering the schedules for letter carriers in a way that will likely force them to leave some mail behind each day.

    Mail delays have long plagued the Postal Service and have increased during the pandemic, prior to DeJoy’s reform efforts taking effect. In the third quarter of fiscal 2019, USPS delivered 7% of first-class mail late, in addition to 9% of marketing mail and 12% of periodicals. In the third quarter of the current fiscal year, which ended before DeJoy took office, that increased to 9% of first-class mail, 11% of marketing mail and 23% of periodicals.

    As usual, things are more complicated than one might believe from the headlines. But still, as always, Donnie’s people have made it much worse.

    I don’t know if it’s the full story, but it’s a good read. And reasons to demand they fix their delivery issues and stop trying to break the USPS (via, e.g., eliminating overtime, throwing management into chaos) during the pandemic – when it’s more important than ever that it work well.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  75. 75.

    PsiFighter37

    August 13, 2020 at 7:22 pm

    As I have read elsewhere, mark it down – 2020 was the definitive end of the American Century. So depressing.

  76. 76.

    jl

    August 13, 2020 at 7:22 pm

    @Alison Rose: Thanks for the link, interesting interview with Parton. After its use as an explicit symbol for racism and segregation and white supremacy up until the the early 1960s, the Confederate battle flag was sanitized in popular culture. Think ‘rebel outlaw’ stereotype in country and some rock music, Dukes of Hazard, NASCAR. Started to have different messages for different people. Maybe the difference was knowledge of history and degree of conscious commitment to segregation and white supremacy, and probably those with conscious commitment had a far better knowledge of history.

    Some whites knew the history and understood precisely how the battle flag was used historically, and how that flag could still be used as a tool to promote racism, others didn’t. I have no clue how many were which of the two groups, which was the majority, but both groups were large.

    Sounds like Parton was in the latter. But she’s much smarter, self-aware, and perceptive than most people.

  77. 77.

    prostratedragon

    August 13, 2020 at 7:22 pm

    @patrick II:
    My sense was that he loves his family and at some point that made him ashamed of himself.

    This is precisely what I’ve been thinking since seeing him in Congress. In addition to the shame, having them placed in jeopardy from those goons made him see the error of his priorities. Maybe he’s got out while there is still something of himself left.

  78. 78.

    geg6

    August 13, 2020 at 7:24 pm

    @patrick II:

    YeahI read it, too, and found it strangely compelling.  He seems genuinely contrite, I must say.  But he does dramatize a bit too much for my taste, so I wouldn’t call it beautifully written.  Compelling, I think, is the better word.

  79. 79.

    Elizabelle

    August 13, 2020 at 7:24 pm

    @JPL:   I wish Red Kitten would come back.

    She’s Canadian, right?  So maybe Samkitten can go back to primary school this fall.  Not up on how that’s going…  but Samkitten might be in kindergarten or first grade or even older by now!

  80. 80.

    JustRuss

    August 13, 2020 at 7:25 pm

     ….but individuals like Bob Woodward (look at Henry Kissinger or Dick Cheney)

    What is: “Proof that the good die young”, Alex?

  81. 81.

    Martin

    August 13, 2020 at 7:25 pm

    Just came back from a rare and lengthy errand to discover that Oakland isn’t in the United States.

    Strange how this keeps happening.

  82. 82.

    Steeplejack

    August 13, 2020 at 7:26 pm

    I had to Google Trump’s press secretaries, because I literally could not remember the one before McInany. Felt slightly better to see that it was Stephanie Grisham, because didn’t she set a modern record for not doing anything at all? Rhetorical question.

    Had a slightly out-of-body experience yesterday when I saw something that reminded me of the (black) birder and the (white) Karen in Central Park. I had completely forgotten about that. Felt like a reminder from 10 years ago—but 10 years ago in a parallel universe.

    The unending tide of bullshit and my decaying sleep hygiene is starting to get to me. Might need to experiment with some sort of “schedule,” assuming I can remember what that is.

  83. 83.

    JPL

    August 13, 2020 at 7:27 pm

    @Elizabelle: I’m guessing he’s about eight, but have no specific facts to base that on.  She also has another one who is a few years younger.   I think she’s from Newfoundland so life is getting back to normal, but I assume with masks

     

    holy crap august 13, 2009    the miracle of google

  84. 84.

    Elizabelle

    August 13, 2020 at 7:28 pm

    Michael Cohen or Bob Woodward?

    Better, more ethical writer?  You decide.

  85. 85.

    Danielx

    August 13, 2020 at 7:29 pm

    @VeniceRiley:

    As ever, it would be irresponsible not to speculate.

  86. 86.

    jl

    August 13, 2020 at 7:30 pm

    @Elizabelle: We’ll see who is telling the more essential truth more reliably. Late is better than never. Turning around and going straight is better than endless trimming after initial honest success.

  87. 87.

    jl

    August 13, 2020 at 7:32 pm

    @Martin: “Just came back from a rare and lengthy errand to discover that Oakland isn’t in the United States.”

    Counties in SF Bay have reciprocity agreements. You probably don’t go to Kern Basin, so don’t have to pass through the check points.

  88. 88.

    Suzanne

    August 13, 2020 at 7:33 pm

    @senyordave: 

    I don’t think Woodward’s book will have any real impact, nobody cares anymore about anything he has to say. I think it will have a shelf life of a couple of weeks at best.

    Well, yeah. Bob Woodward is about 8,000 years old, only Boomers GAF who he is, and everyone already knows that Trump is psycho. I cannot imagine anyone being on the fence at this point who is willing to read some dense, boring doorstop who doesn’t already have their mind made up.

  89. 89.

    geg6

    August 13, 2020 at 7:33 pm

    @Elizabelle:

    Oh, no contest!  Cohen, for sure!  Just ask John Belushi’s widow or Dan Ackroyd about that.  Plus, IMHO, Bernstein was always the star of Woodstein.  Woodward was a cub reporter and he’s never gotten any better.

  90. 90.

    Danielx

    August 13, 2020 at 7:34 pm

    …but to me Woodward is a mosquito bite welt in an unscratchable place.

    A boil on the neck of the body politic.

  91. 91.

    Martin

    August 13, 2020 at 7:34 pm

    @Another Scott: Things are not more complicated, really. That’s a standard bureaucratic technique for killing some program – invite it to be underfunded while promising the moon. You’re out before the bill comes due, and once it’s failed you negotiate for its replacement but the objective is now done.

    The GOP have been trying to privatize the USPS forever. This way he promises cost cutting, shifts election mail to bulk rate since they only guarantee delivery of first class, shred all of the bulk rate mail – so your ballot just goes in the trash. They’re still meeting  their first class mandate, they completely collapse the USPS for packages and everything else and then outsource all the busted bits to the company he used to run and still owns stock in, and then he returns to run that company.

    The GOP gets everything they wanted, as does he. And so long as they win in Nov, nobody gets convicted.

    Be warned, the more willing they are to break laws to win in Nov, the more desperate they will be to cheat to win in Nov, and the more egregious they will get. This doesn’t improve – it only gets worse.

  92. 92.

    Martin

    August 13, 2020 at 7:36 pm

    @jl: That would explain it.

  93. 93.

    debbie

    August 13, 2020 at 7:40 pm

    @Kay:

    Hearing this on the news this afternoon pissed me off almost as much as hearing Trump’s admission he would not fund the post office just so there couldn’t be mail-in voting. How can there not have been lawsuits filed already? ? ? ?

  94. 94.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    August 13, 2020 at 7:41 pm

    Bob Woodward is the Norma Desmond of politics. “I’m still big, Mika, it is the scandals that have gotten small.”

    You have to hear that in my killer imitation of Woodward’s flat, adenoidal drone.

  95. 95.

    debbie

    August 13, 2020 at 7:42 pm

    @Kay:

    Wasn’t one of Trump’s parents an immigrant? Shouldn’t Trump be deported along with all the others?

  96. 96.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    August 13, 2020 at 7:44 pm

    Shit’s about to get real. LaJoy is about to find out what happens when you fuck with the Collins Concern

    Steven Dennis@StevenTDennis 1h
    Susan Collins sends a letter to the Postmaster General and wants a meeting to discuss her concerns post office changes are delaying deliveries of prescription drugs, PPE, payments et al and risk driving customers away.

    There will be platitudes.

  97. 97.

    debbie

    August 13, 2020 at 7:44 pm

    @Baud:

    Easy. “I want to give you an opportunity to respond to the smear leveled at you about…” She can’t get angry at the journalist for wording it that way.

  98. 98.

    Libby's Person

    August 13, 2020 at 7:45 pm

    Since it’s an open thread, I’d like some guidance.  There’s a company selling poly-cotton face masks printed with famous artworks.  I’m thinking of ordering one with the classic Great Wave print by the Japanese artist Hokusai both because that artwork is amazingly beautiful but also as a representation of the Democratic Blue Wave we’re working and hoping for.  Would it be considered cultural appropriation or insensitive to wear a picture of an artwork so totally linked with another culture?  (I’ve actually wondered this in the past about things like mass-market clothes made from African- or First Nations-inspired fabrics.)  Thanks!

  99. 99.

    Mallard FIlmore

    August 13, 2020 at 7:46 pm

    @PsiFighter37:

     

    As I have read elsewhere, mark it down – 2020 was the definitive end of the American Century. So depressing.

    Maybe not yet. It won’t be official until China pushes us off the world stage. They prefer Biden as President, so they are not ready yet.

  100. 100.

    JPL

    August 13, 2020 at 7:46 pm

    @debbie: Truthfully when Bret Baier even questions the latest attack you know it’s not gonna work.   Joe need an ad about this.

     

    also.  I’m so surprised Baier’s name hasn’t been used in NYTimes puzzles.   Of course, I could have missed it.

  101. 101.

    schrodingers_cat

    August 13, 2020 at 7:47 pm

    Bob Woodward has such an annoying voice. Other than his book on Watergate I haven’t read any other book of his.

  102. 102.

    schrodingers_cat

    August 13, 2020 at 7:49 pm

    @Steeplejack: You need the healing paw of a kitteh.

  103. 103.

    Kay

    August 13, 2020 at 7:50 pm

    @prostratedragon:

    Not all criminals are bad people. True! You like some of them.

    When he got out of prison (for furlough or whatever reason- I didn’t follow that mess) the reporter who was talking to him described the young man who was helping Cohen as Cohen’s “bodyguard”. Cohen said “that’s my son”.

    I just find him very relatable :)

  104. 104.

    schrodingers_cat

    August 13, 2020 at 7:50 pm

    I can totally relate to this sentiment.

    I have become a curious mix of the East and the West, out of place everywhere, at home nowhere.

  105. 105.

    Luciamia

    August 13, 2020 at 7:51 pm

    Well, just saw on CNN ‘s website that the Pentagon is launching an investigation into UFO sightings. I mean…the fuck??

  106. 106.

    debbie

    August 13, 2020 at 7:51 pm

    @schrodingers_cat:

    He talks too slow. He wants to extend the audience’s praise and adulation for as long as possible.

  107. 107.

    Danielx

    August 13, 2020 at 7:52 pm

    @Martin:

    Perzackly.

    If they win, they’re golden and can go on looting the country and treating their real and perceived enemies* with unchecked viciousness. If they lose, a substantial number of people are looking at losing a lot of money (see gold mine, Bristol Bay), civil and criminal liability, and dog knows what other consequences. So their overriding concern is to win, laws and morality be damned.

    *in Trump’s case this would include anyone insufficiently worshipful of his disgusting person and diseased personality, which would definitely include your humble obedient servant.

  108. 108.

    Patricia Kayden

    August 13, 2020 at 7:52 pm

    Justice Dept. says Yale University illegally discriminates against White and Asian American applicants in its admissions process https://t.co/qImHK0taD2— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) August 13, 2020

  109. 109.

    Steeplejack

    August 13, 2020 at 7:55 pm

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Too soon! I haven’t even had a chance to do some road-tripping yet.

  110. 110.

    Ken

    August 13, 2020 at 7:55 pm

    @JPL: Careful. Only a few people know that the cruciverbalist cabal actually runs the world, pulling strings to get useful names in the news.

  111. 111.

    debbie

    August 13, 2020 at 7:55 pm

    On my walk today, I counted 25 Biden signs. Slow but steady increase. One of the houses is owned by an older couple who are always puttering around in their yard. Back around when Biden first announced his candidacy, they put up a small (as in 8 by 10 inches) sign which said “Byedon 2020.” It took me a while to figure out what was being said, and ever since, I get a chuckle every time I walk by. There are now 3 “Bye Don 2020” signs in the yard. Today I noticed a new, small sign: “#Kamala Harris VP.” Pretty cool for an old guy!

  112. 112.

    frosty

    August 13, 2020 at 8:01 pm

    @patrick II: Agreed. The Forward was a helluva read. Makes me want to read the book, and I’ve passed on every other Trump book out there.

  113. 113.

    debbie

    August 13, 2020 at 8:01 pm

    @Patricia Kayden:

    As bogus as the lawsuit brought at Michigan. The attorneys made noisy objections to admitting minorities with the same GPA as the plaintiff, but never mentioned that other white kids with worse GPAs had been accepted.

  114. 114.

    Baud

    August 13, 2020 at 8:01 pm

    @debbie:

    It took me a while to figure out what was being said, and ever since, I get a chuckle every time I walk by

    I don’t know what we would have done if Biden hadn’t won the nomination.

  115. 115.

    Kay

    August 13, 2020 at 8:02 pm

    @debbie:

    I got a call today from a woman I gave a sign to. She needs another one. Hers was stolen. She said “is that TRESPASSING?”  I mean, it is, it’s also, btw, THEFT but I don’t think we have time for this true crime episode. I had my youngest bring her over another. She’s pissed though- they try it again I bet she nabs them.

  116. 116.

    debbie

    August 13, 2020 at 8:04 pm

    @Baud:

    He probably would have walked up the block to ask the homeowner where he had gotten his “Dump Trump” sign!

  117. 117.

    JPL

    August 13, 2020 at 8:06 pm

    @Ken: hahah   That will be a clue one day on trump times.

  118. 118.

    Baud

    August 13, 2020 at 8:06 pm

    @Kay:

    Can’t she shoot them? Ohio has a GOP governor.  It’s allowed!

  119. 119.

    debbie

    August 13, 2020 at 8:06 pm

    @Kay:

    I’ve seen one slightly battered Biden sign, but it’s the two nervous homeowners constantly shifting their Trump/Pence signs around their yards and in and out of their houses that really cracks me up.

  120. 120.

    Kay

    August 13, 2020 at 8:10 pm

    Whoever recommended Caste, thank you. Was it raven? Anyway, I’m getting it. I loved The Warmth of Other Suns, so much so that I took my youngest to the Toledo library to listen to the author. Back in pre-Covid days when we… went places. Sigh.

  121. 121.

    Kay

    August 13, 2020 at 8:13 pm

    @Baud:

    My favorite thing as a lawyer is people asking about OFFENSES. “Isn’t that SLANDER?” God, I don’t know. Perhaps. It’s something bad, that’s for sure.

  122. 122.

    frosty

    August 13, 2020 at 8:15 pm

    @debbie: Lucky you. I’ve counted 11 Trump signs and flags in my neighborhood. And a Gadsden “Don’t Tread On Me”. Not a single Biden sign. I’ve only put them out for D Congress candidates, who nobody knows. Just keeping my head down. :-)

  123. 123.

    schrodingers_cat

    August 13, 2020 at 8:17 pm

    @Kay: Read the Annihilation of Caste by B. R. Ambedkar, the Chair of the drafting committee of the Indian Constitution to get a sense of the caste system in India.

    He went to both Columbia and the LSE. And was inspired by the Harlem Renaissance

  124. 124.

    Brachiator

    August 13, 2020 at 8:18 pm

    @Patricia Kayden:

    Justice Dept. says Yale University illegally discriminates against White and Asian American applicants in its admissions process

    The Trump administration is playing all the greatest hits from “Racism Golden Oldies.”

  125. 125.

    Elizabelle

    August 13, 2020 at 8:18 pm

    @Kay:   Cole recommended it.  My copy arrived yesterday but I keep forgetting to go pick it up.

    Raven might be reading it too.

    Isabel Wilkerson is another Kamala Harris type.  Has it all going on.  And very beautiful and elegant, too.

  126. 126.

    CaseyL

    August 13, 2020 at 8:19 pm

    @VeniceRiley: That is very well written.  I’m… not too surprised.  Competent “fixers” need to be eloquent, resourceful, and intelligent.

    I’m not sure I want to read the book, mostly because I already know enough about Trump to loathe and despise him.  My greater anger these days is aimed at his enablers, who also know what he is and have eagerly allied themselves with him.

  127. 127.

    WaterGirl

    August 13, 2020 at 8:20 pm

    @Libby’s Person: I just approved your comment.  I am fairly certain you have commented before, but WordPress doesn’t like apostrophes in nyms, so every comment has to be manually approved if you have an apostrophe.

    I’m saying all that because you’re comment shows up at the time you made it, not at the time it was approved.  So I suggest that you pose your question again so people will see it.

  128. 128.

    Splitting Image

    August 13, 2020 at 8:23 pm

    @Alison Rose:

    “When they said ‘Dixie’ was an offensive word, I thought, ‘Well, I don’t want to offend anybody. This is a business. We’ll just call it The Stampede.’ As soon as you realize that [something] is a problem, you should fix it. Don’t be a dumbass. That’s where my heart is. I would never dream of hurting anybody on purpose.”

    Parton’s a smart lady, but I think I see the flaw in her argument here.

  129. 129.

    Brachiator

    August 13, 2020 at 8:24 pm

    @Ken:

    Careful. Only a few people know that the cruciverbalist cabal actually runs the world, pulling strings to get useful names in the news.

    An idiot coworker once tried telling me and a buddy that x group really controlled the world, and I guess expected agreement or at least acknowledgement. Instead my friend and I both agreed that we thought that group x should be doing a better job and asked the guy if he had the phone number for World Domination headquarters so that we could talk to someone in customer service.

  130. 130.

    Kathleen

    August 13, 2020 at 8:28 pm

    @Kay: Your comment reminds me of Elijah Cummings’ closing remarks at Michael Cohen’s hearing. He spoke directly to Cohen who got very emotional. Very powerful.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=72gy-LZ4UN0&app=desktop

  131. 131.

    JPL

    August 13, 2020 at 8:28 pm

    @Kay: The Warmth of Other Suns was so good and I’m sure the new book is the same.  The reason I haven’t read it yet is simply that I’m trying to fill my spare time with trash.   I’ve read all of the NYtimes Thriller Beach reads and now working my way through some top sellers.   This is what trump has caused..

  132. 132.

    Steeplejack

    August 13, 2020 at 8:30 pm

    @WaterGirl, @Libby’s Person:

    And maybe change your nym to Libby*s Person or some such.

  133. 133.

    Kropacetic

    August 13, 2020 at 8:30 pm

    @Libby’s Person: Would it be considered cultural appropriation or insensitive to wear a picture of an artwork so totally linked with another culture?

    Depends.  How much understanding do you have of the work? the creator? the culture?  Do you perceive wearing it as potentially belittling any of the above?

    If done with respect; it isn’t cultural appropriation, it’s cultural appreciation.

  134. 134.

    SiubhanDuinne

    August 13, 2020 at 8:31 pm

    @Luciamia:

    the Pentagon is launching an investigation into UFO sightings.

    Now that Jared’s brought peace to the Middle East, what else are they gonna do?

  135. 135.

    Elizabelle

    August 13, 2020 at 8:35 pm

    @Libby’s Person:   Go for it!  Now I want a Blue Wave mask, too.

    We had a big painting of that Blue Wave on the wall at Abigail Spanberger’s campaign HQ in 2018.  And it worked!!

  136. 136.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    August 13, 2020 at 8:36 pm

    @Martin:

    @Danielx:

    Wouldn’t such a blatant move create massive backlash, even violent backlash?

  137. 137.

    Kay

    August 13, 2020 at 8:39 pm

    @Elizabelle:

    Wilkerson said at the library that when she wrote the book she didn’t know it would become her life. I was really struck by that- how she felt pulled along by it, no longer in control of what she had created. It must be strange – “this is now what people ask me about, forever”.

  138. 138.

    Elizabelle

    August 13, 2020 at 8:40 pm

    @Libby’s Person:   From the FTF NYTimes, but this was spectacular.  Worth a click.

    Interactive about Hokusai’s “Ejiri” woodblock print, of a wind catching travelers (ie. walkers) in a marsh.  NYTimes title is  “A Picture of Change for a World in Constant Motion.”  Mount Fuji is just two curved lines with a top of the mountain.

  139. 139.

    counterfactual

    August 13, 2020 at 8:42 pm

    @Libby’s Person: Not Japanese, but I’ve watched enough anime to know that the Japanese themselves plaster The Wave on about anything.

  140. 140.

    Kropacetic

    August 13, 2020 at 8:44 pm

    @Libby’s Person: I’ll also point out that there is a lot of bilateral borrowing between Japan and America, if cultural products like language and art are any sort of indication.

  141. 141.

    Elizabelle

    August 13, 2020 at 8:45 pm

    @Kay:   I’m sad the authors cannot do in person book tours, but it’s fun seeing them on Zoom, all over the world.

    Here’s Ms. Wilkerson with John Dickerson at a NY Public Library event last week.  Program starts at 8:16 in.   It’s about an hour and ten minutes.  Haven’t watched it yet.

  142. 142.

    A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)

    August 13, 2020 at 8:49 pm

    @Libby’s Person: I think Hokusai belongs to the world, and I doubt the Japanese will care. And I love the symbolism of the Blue Wave!

  143. 143.

    Sure Lurkalot

    August 13, 2020 at 8:50 pm

    @Martin: You’re talking to us like a common Adam Silverman. The truth, it hurts.

  144. 144.

    Booger

    August 13, 2020 at 8:52 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: Yeah, the town of Luray, best known for it’s caverns and as the current home of “Cooter’s Garage.” Beautiful part of the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia; sad for their mayor to bring infamy on them as the town has been having a bit of a small-town renaissance of late.

  145. 145.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    August 13, 2020 at 8:56 pm

    @Kay:

    Wilkerson said at the library that when she wrote the book she didn’t know it would become her life. I was really struck by that- how she felt pulled along by it, no longer in control of what she had created. It must be strange – “this is now what people ask me about, forever”

    Hell, that happens to everybody who becomes very famous. Think about actors or singers/musicians. Star Trek/general sci-fi actors have it particularly bad for some reason.

    Star Trek is mostly the only thing anybody knows William Shatner for. I doubt most people ask him about his time on TJ Hooker, Boston Legal, or even when he was on an episode or two of the Twilight Zone way back. Just ST.

    I’m sure Jim Parsons is going to have to deal with idiots screaming “bazinga!” behind him for the next 20 years or so.

    Popular bands and singers are perpetually having to play their same hits over and over again. With older acts, the fans don’t want to hear the new stuff. My parents found that out the hard way at Jackson Brown concert a few years back. They were expecting all the old hits they liked Brown for, but he wasn’t in the mood for that, so he played his newer, more politically aware material instead. He was probably sick of the same old same old

    The way I see it, fame is a double-edged sword. It’s a blessing and a curse all at the same time. I’m sure many celebs probably appreciate the fact that they have fans and have touched so many lives with their talents. But my god does it not seem worth it when having to deal with paparazzi, weirdo fans or hell even the nice fans (having to be “on” all the time in public and scrutinized has to be tiresome)

  146. 146.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    August 13, 2020 at 8:58 pm

    @Baud: Buadon, just doesn’t have the same ring to it.

  147. 147.

    Kropacetic

    August 13, 2020 at 8:59 pm

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Star Trek is mostly the only thing anybody knows William Shatner for. I doubt most people ask him about his time on TJ Hooker, Boston Legal, or even when he was on an episode or two of the Twilight Zone way back. Just ST.

    Personally, I’d be more inclined to ask about Boston Legal.  TOS is my least favorite Star Trek.

  148. 148.

    Brachiator

    August 13, 2020 at 9:01 pm

    @schrodingers_cat:

    He went to both Columbia and the LSE. And was inspired by the Harlem Renaissance.

    Many people know how the non-violence movement inspired the US civil rights movement. But I had no idea how the US Civil Rights movement may have inspired Ambedkar.

    This article about him suggests that even his decision to go to Columbia represented a different path.

    In 1913, Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, then only 22 years old, set sail to pursue higher education in the United States — a deviation from the natural choice of England for the predominantly upper caste Hindu Indian elite of that time. Ambedkar was, of course, neither upper caste nor elite.

    And this stunned me. The first?

    Ambedkar was the first ever ‘untouchable’ to study in a foreign land — a Ph.D. from Columbia University and a D.Sc. at the London School of Economics.

    In the 1940s, he had a brief correspondence with WEB DuBois. A shame the two men never met.

    Is there a good biography for Mr Ambedkar?

  149. 149.

    raven

    August 13, 2020 at 9:02 pm

    @Kay: Yes, I’m really liking it!

  150. 150.

    raven

    August 13, 2020 at 9:05 pm

    The description of MLK’s reaction to being called an “untouchable” on his first visit to India is instructive.

  151. 151.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    August 13, 2020 at 9:06 pm

    Weird. I was talking to a friend earlier this week about The Great Wave and dug up a link for her to a short (five minutes) NHK documentary about it. Worth a look.

  152. 152.

    schrodingers_cat

    August 13, 2020 at 9:09 pm

    @Brachiator: He was quite prolific and wrote both in English and Marathi. I will find links to his writing and ask some Ambedkarites I know about a good biography.

    He had several differences of opinion with Gandhi, who had a paternalistic attitude towards both women and Dalits.

  153. 153.

    BC in Illinois

    August 13, 2020 at 9:11 pm

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    Popular bands and singers are perpetually having to play their same hits over and over again.

    In March 1972, I went to see the Beach Boys at the Univ of Maryland. They wanted to play their new stuff. The crowd wanted Little Deuce Coupe and Help Me Rhonda.  The tension grew with every song. They would introduce a new song that they wrote while they were in Europe [I actually don’t remember where and how Brian Wilson was at that time, but I do remember something about Europe], and the crowd yelled out for I Get Around.

    The U of Md student newspaper had a scathing review of the crowd in their next issue. Something along the line of, “If you went to hear the Beatles, would you demand that they sing ‘I want to hold your hand’?!?!”

    The next time I saw the Beach Boys, in 1973 — and every time since then — they sang Little Deuce Coupe and I Get Around.

  154. 154.

    raven

    August 13, 2020 at 9:11 pm

    Someone tell Rachel that reading text on slides you are viewing is bush league.

  155. 155.

    JPL

    August 13, 2020 at 9:13 pm

    The local fire police chief is in the ICU with the virus and although I wish him well, I also know that the first thing he asked for was hydroxychloroquine.   That’s not really true, but knowing his policies, I can presume that.

  156. 156.

    Martin

    August 13, 2020 at 9:13 pm

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): It hasn’t thus far. Doesn’t seem likely to happen anytime soon.

    We are trusting democratic institutions that quite frankly don’t function any longer. Maybe they’ll come around, maybe we’ll just follow them off the cliff. Not sure.

    This has always been the risk – we never really needed to worry – the checks and balances always came through. What would the day look like when they didn’t? We have no fucking idea. Maybe this is it. We won’t know for sure until it’s too late. That’s the risk. We’re racing to an election to solve this, trusting that it’ll happen in a proper manner when every fucking signal suggests it won’t. Yeah, I trust CA will find a way to make it work – but CA doesn’t solve the problem. Pennsylvania needs to make it work, and North Carolina, and Michigan, and I really don’t have much faith they can fight the feds and win, or even that many of their state legislatures or governors want to.

    My worry is that if any president had ever even hinted in the most minor way that an election wouldn’t happen, there’d be calls for impeachment. But we’ve just blown through an overt threat to do that, and an overt statement to undermine the vote by manipulating the USPS. We’ve blown through so many of these red lines, that I don’t have much faith we’ll recognize which red line is the last one we’ll be afforded.

  157. 157.

    Martin

    August 13, 2020 at 9:14 pm

    @raven: She gets a lot of audience through her podcast which is just a rebroadcast of her show without video. Increasingly common.

  158. 158.

    Martin

    August 13, 2020 at 9:17 pm

    @Sure Lurkalot: This is why people usually don’t like me. My NYC bluntness comes out when I get frustrated.

    Oddly, this has been one of the happier days of the last 6 months, not sure why it’s coming out now. Maybe I’m better able to face these thoughts.

  159. 159.

    raven

    August 13, 2020 at 9:17 pm

    @Martin: Ah, so she’s “repurposing” it! It still is annoying as hell as someone who tried mightily to get faculty NOT to do that at our conferences.

  160. 160.

    Brachiator

    August 13, 2020 at 9:17 pm

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    Star Trek is mostly the only thing anybody knows William Shatner for. I doubt most people ask him about his time on TJ Hooker, Boston Legal, or even when he was on an episode or two of the Twilight Zone way back. Just ST.

    The worst sci fi fans live in a weird fandom bubble. They only want to know their heroes for their science fiction roles. One of the Shatner Twilight Zone episodes has always been hugely popular. It was even remade as one of the stories in the Twilight Zone movie. TJ Hooker was a bit of a campy tv hit with some viewers. I even remember him as a spy in an old tv series, “The Barbary Coast.”

    You’re right that some actors get typecast, but others have substantial bodies of work that their most devoted “fans” don’t know about at all.

    Some soap opera fans are just as bad.

  161. 161.

    Baud

    August 13, 2020 at 9:19 pm

    I’ll always remember Shatner for the music.

  162. 162.

    Martin

    August 13, 2020 at 9:20 pm

    @raven: Yes, it is annoying, but as usual, anything in sacrifice to efficiency.

  163. 163.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    August 13, 2020 at 9:22 pm

    @Martin:

     It hasn’t thus far. Doesn’t seem likely to happen anytime soon

    Just because something hasn’t happened yet, doesn’t it mean it never will. Americans are not fundamentally different from anybody else that has toppeled their governments.

    If Trump “wins”, we should not despair, but instead become angry that the election was stolen. The Democratic Party should not accept the results of an obviously fraudulent election and work to undermine the GOP and admin as much as possible, while rallying the public to our side. Our allies as well as the international community should also be called to condemn the GOP and place sanctions on the US federal government

    The George Floyd protests demonstrated that people do care. The successful fight against Trump’s goon squads showed they can be fought and defeated

  164. 164.

    Martin

    August 13, 2020 at 9:22 pm

    @Baud: That legit is the most memorable if anyone has ever heard it. Nimoy as well.

    And I profoundly, sincerely apologize to anyone who clicks that link to discover that for the first time.

  165. 165.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    August 13, 2020 at 9:22 pm

    @Martin: also, satellite radio audience

    @Baud: Lucy… in the sky… with diamonds!

  166. 166.

    Elizabelle

    August 13, 2020 at 9:23 pm

    @raven:   I am impressed if Rachel is reading the slides.

    In my experience, she would be filibustering all over the place to get to the point while the slide is there.  And requires seven words to address it.

    All these excess words, while the slide is right there, and does not need the excess verbiage.

  167. 167.

    JR

    August 13, 2020 at 9:23 pm

    Did anyone know that Tom Wolfe published like a bunch of more books after Bonfire of the Vanities? Anyone remember those books? Anyways, that’s my take on Bob Woodward.

    “Certainly a phenomenon in all walks of life”

  168. 168.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    August 13, 2020 at 9:26 pm

    @Baud:

    NGL, I actually liked his spoken word version of “Rocket Man”. The different interpretations of the lyrics was actually very creative

  169. 169.

    Elizabelle

    August 13, 2020 at 9:26 pm

    Has William Shatner ever read any of Trump’s “remarks” over bongo drum accompaniment?

    Because Trump is even worse than Palin.  Indecipherable.

  170. 170.

    BC in Illinois

    August 13, 2020 at 9:27 pm

    @BC in Illinois:

    And some of you might recall that on an earlier thread a day or two ago, I mentioned that my brother in Maryland was in intensive care for Covid. He is now in a room where he can walk around, talk to his wife, and say that he’s getting better. He even responded with a wisecrack about a text/video that our younger brother  sent of his dog fetching a huge stick. All of it good signs.

  171. 171.

    raven

    August 13, 2020 at 9:28 pm

    @Elizabelle: She is reading slides that are direct passages from Cohen’s book. On and on and on.

  172. 172.

    raven

    August 13, 2020 at 9:28 pm

    @BC in Illinois: My brother in LA had it and recovered and my older cousin in AZ was in ICU and he’s out.

  173. 173.

    Baud

    August 13, 2020 at 9:28 pm

    @BC in Illinois: Glad to hear it.

  174. 174.

    Baud

    August 13, 2020 at 9:29 pm

    @raven: Glad to hear it.

  175. 175.

    Another Scott

    August 13, 2020 at 9:29 pm

    @Libby’s Person: Hello (from a former) apostrophe person.  (Take WG’s advice to heart – apostrophes in ‘nyms cause problems.)

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Wave_off_Kanagawa#Influence

    The print is one of the most reproduced and most instantly recognized artworks in the world.[24]

    It’s beautiful and tells a compelling story. Use it with appreciation of great art.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  176. 176.

    Martin

    August 13, 2020 at 9:31 pm

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Just because something hasn’t happened yet, doesn’t it mean it never will. Americans are not fundamentally different from anybody else that has violently overthrown their governments.

    True. But I also believe that Americans are not fundamentally different from anybody else who has been subjugated by theirs either.

    But I think it’s fair to say, and Adam would have a better sense of this, that Americans are extraordinarily complacent regarding rule of law, orderly transition of power, checks and balances, and all that. We’ve checked through a hell of a lot of those in the last 4 years with the only real result being a bit of a slowdown, but not a correction.

    Quite literally the election is the last opportunity. If it doesn’t work, violence will be all that’s left.

  177. 177.

    Martin

    August 13, 2020 at 9:33 pm

    @BC in Illinois: So good to hear! Yay!

  178. 178.

    raven

    August 13, 2020 at 9:34 pm

    I was at the pharmacy today and they have flu shots so I got one.

  179. 179.

    JPL

    August 13, 2020 at 9:34 pm

    @BC in Illinois: So pleased that you updated us.   I was thinking about you earlier.

  180. 180.

    raven

    August 13, 2020 at 9:35 pm

    @Martin: Pretty decent  chance of violence if we do win.

  181. 181.

    SiubhanDuinne

    August 13, 2020 at 9:35 pm

    @Steeplejack (phone):

    Fascinating. Thank you.

  182. 182.

    Dan B

    August 13, 2020 at 9:35 pm

    @Libby’s Person: The Great Wave of Kanegawa (sp?) was caused by a massive earthquake off the Washington coast.  We’ve been many times to a resort a couple miles from where the origin of the quake was discovered.  The seafloor off the coast dropped 60 feet.  We’re due for another 9 pointer.

  183. 183.

    Martin

    August 13, 2020 at 9:35 pm

    @raven: Bill Gates can read your thoughts now.

  184. 184.

    Martin

    August 13, 2020 at 9:36 pm

    @raven: Yeah, that’s the other risk. Sometimes there’s no good way out.

  185. 185.

    Baud

    August 13, 2020 at 9:36 pm

    @Martin:

    Looking forward to the clip of Bill Gates saying “Fuck LBJ.”

  186. 186.

    SiubhanDuinne

    August 13, 2020 at 9:36 pm

    @BC in Illinois:

    Very glad to hear it! I hope he continues to improve daily. Thanks for sharing the hopeful news.

  187. 187.

    Kay

    August 13, 2020 at 9:37 pm

    US Mail Not for Sale. The postal worker union’s new site.

    They want us to call Congress. Friday would be a good day for that :)

  188. 188.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    August 13, 2020 at 9:37 pm

    @Brachiator:

    The funny thing is, the only reason Shatner had a comeback was because of the success of the ST movies in the 80s. There would’ve been no TJ Hooker or Boston Legal for him if he wasn’t on ST. It ironically saved his acting career after killing it for a bit. I think I remember reading that his career was already in a slump when he was offered the role of Kirk

    You’re right that some actors get typecast, but others have substantial bodies of work that their most devoted “fans” don’t know about at all.

    Some soap opera fans are just as bad.

    Granted. I guess my wider point was that even big time actors like Tom Cruise get “type cast” (having to play similar roles because that’s what makes money) I guess and have to deal with the negative aspects of fame.

    Comedians like Robin Williams and Tom Hanks all eventually transitioned to drama. I can’t remember the last comedy I saw Hanks in. The Oscars tend to look down on comedy for some reason and that’s probably why Williams and Hanks took more dramatic roles later on

  189. 189.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    August 13, 2020 at 9:38 pm

    @BC in Illinois: Excellent! Keep it up, BC’s brother!

  190. 190.

    a thousand flouncing lurkers was fidelio

    August 13, 2020 at 9:39 pm

    @BC in Illinois: Wonderful news! May things continue to get better.

  191. 191.

    patrick Il

    August 13, 2020 at 9:40 pm

    @geg6:

    I reread it and I agree that compelling  is a more accurate description. I also think I hear Cohen’s voice in the writing, so I am going with well edited, not ghostwritten –

  192. 192.

    Martin

    August 13, 2020 at 9:41 pm

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Tom Cruise tends to produce his own movies these days, so he’s playing those roles because he chooses to. He’s basically a one-man studio that lets him pick his scripts, roles, and who directs him.

    And Cruise is the kind of person I want to dislike, but I tend to really like his movies a lot. It’s clearly working for him.

  193. 193.

    Another Scott

    August 13, 2020 at 9:41 pm

    @BC in Illinois: Good signs, indeed.

    Sending good thoughts.  Hang in there.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  194. 194.

    James E Powell

    August 13, 2020 at 9:42 pm

    @Martin:

    I’ve never recovered from the 2000 selection and I’m still angry that so few people were angry. The supreme court said not to bother even trying to count the votes in a state where the candidate’s brother was the governor and his campaign manager was in charge of the voting. The press/media were delighted because they hated Gore. And pretty much the whole country just said, okay, no problem.

    We lost something there and we may never get it back.

  195. 195.

    Baud

    August 13, 2020 at 9:42 pm

    @Martin: His stunt work is amazing.

  196. 196.

    trollhattan

    August 13, 2020 at 9:42 pm

    Six more NCAA conferences postponed fall sports ’til spring today. NCAA president: “We cannot, at this point, have fall NCAA championships.”

  197. 197.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

    August 13, 2020 at 9:42 pm

    Michael Cohen’s book will take a big piss on Woodward’s book.

  198. 198.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    August 13, 2020 at 9:45 pm

    @BC in Illinois:

    Great news!

  199. 199.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    August 13, 2020 at 9:45 pm

    @Martin:

    I’d argue a lot of that complacency comes from still having creature comforts. The pandemic has taken many of those away for a lot of people. Sports are looking increasingly unlikely to continue for the foreseeable future. That’s one less distraction for a lot of people. I’d bet a million dollars that part of the reason the George Floyd protests happened is because sports were postponed and people were already frustrated about a bunch of other hardships associated with the pandemic. People saw it and got really mad about it.

    I don’t think people are just going to meekly accept the results of an election where the USPS has been actively fucked with to benefit Trump. There will be mass protests at the very least

  200. 200.

    Brachiator

    August 13, 2020 at 9:46 pm

    @BC in Illinois:

    This is great news. I hope that improvement continues.

  201. 201.

    CaseyL

    August 13, 2020 at 9:50 pm

    @BC in Illinois:   Fantastic news, and I hope his recovery continues without a hitch!

    @Martin: Which is exactly what the Purity Progressives claim to want: an actual revolution.  I look forward to their being first at the barricades.

    If it comes to that, I don’t know what I’ll do.  I’m not exactly fighting fit, though I guess I can lay down in front of a tank with the best.

  202. 202.

    zhena gogolia

    August 13, 2020 at 9:50 pm

    OMG, Cauvin does a Michael Cohen impression — brilliant!

    Footage of Michael Cohen procuring sex workers for Donald Trump's Golden Shower pic.twitter.com/BhPxAwRJeK— J-L Cauvin (@JLCauvin) August 13, 2020

  203. 203.

    Elizabelle

    August 13, 2020 at 9:50 pm

    @BC in Illinois:   Keep improving, BC’s brother.

    Glad to hear it.  I hope he keeps on the mend, and does not have lasting effects.  How scary for your whole family.

    Please keep us apprised.

  204. 204.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    August 13, 2020 at 9:50 pm

    My question tonight is simple – why has “very talented, very respected lawyer” John Eastman made it this far through his disgusting, mediocre life this far without being justifiably clubbed to death like a baby harp seal?

  205. 205.

    Elizabelle

    August 13, 2020 at 9:52 pm

    @zhena gogolia:   He is good.

    “Excuse me, excuse me.”  Olga!

  206. 206.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    August 13, 2020 at 9:53 pm

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:

    Apparently the Claremont Institute is a no-kill zone.

  207. 207.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

    August 13, 2020 at 9:54 pm

    @Brachiator: This is great news for McCain!

    Oh wait.

  208. 208.

    Brachiator

    August 13, 2020 at 9:55 pm

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    The funny thing is, the only reason Shatner had a comeback was because of the success of the ST movies in the 80s. There would’ve been no TJ Hooker or Boston Legal for him if he wasn’t on ST.

    This is not entirely true. Look at the man’s filmography. It was always pretty substantial.

    Leonard Nimoy noted that after Trek he was always able to make a good living as a working actor. Maybe this was true of Shatner as well to some degree.

    But Shatner was working steadily after Trek and before Hooker, and had a starring role in at least one tv series.

  209. 209.

    zhena gogolia

    August 13, 2020 at 9:55 pm

    @Steeplejack (phone):

    Were you as disappointed in Endeavour as I was? Shaun Evans is not a director and the new composer is terrible.

  210. 210.

    Baud

    August 13, 2020 at 9:56 pm

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Tenure.

  211. 211.

    Dan B

    August 13, 2020 at 9:57 pm

    @BC in Illinois: Thanks for the good news!  We have a deficit of good: news, prognosis, fun, etc.

  212. 212.

    Cacti

    August 13, 2020 at 10:01 pm

    @James E Powell:  I’ve never recovered from the 2000 selection and I’m still angry that so few people were angry. The supreme court said not to bother even trying to count the votes in a state where the candidate’s brother was the governor and his campaign manager was in charge of the voting.

    Bush v. Gore was easily the most corrupt SCOTUS decision of the last 100 years, and should have been an early warning of the GOP’s transformation into an anti-democracy movement.

  213. 213.

    Nelle

    August 13, 2020 at 10:01 pm

    @James E Powell: Agreed.  I admit I wasn’t on the streets, yet no one was.  We got this pap about how wonderful we were to have an orderly transition.  No one fought it.  (At 7:15, Central Time, NPR was interviewing an R official about declaring Florida for Gore.  He said, in the flattest tone, “That’s not right.”  Not “Wait for all the votes to be counted!  We think we’ll pull this out.”  Nope, just a flat tone of we’ve got this.  I felt a sickness come on that the fix was in.

    But Kerry said, in 2004, he would fight shenanigans.  And there were shenanigans in Ohio.  But he folded.  My husband started looking for jobs overseas and we left the country.

    (And came back so he could fly instruments and then came grandbabies.  And now we sorely miss living in a sane country.  New Zealand.  They may have their Lord of the Rings myth but they damn well know the difference between fantasy and reality.  On the whole.)

  214. 214.

    Martin

    August 13, 2020 at 10:01 pm

    @CaseyL: I’ll admit to being a bit preoccupied with the question of ‘who starts a revolution’? It strikes me that they are spontaneous events from personal interaction, and not really something that may be able to arise out of a bunch of people facebooking at each other.

    I’m certainly not fighting fit either, but I lost my sense of self-preservation ages ago, so I doubt it matters. I’m the idiot that will charge the line armed with a 3-hole punch. But how do I know when it’s time? Can you have imposters syndrome over being a revolutionary? It’d really help if Adam would front page a memo telling us its time to start burning shit down, because that’s what I respond best to.

  215. 215.

    patrick Il

    August 13, 2020 at 10:02 pm

    @James E Powell:

    I agree about the terrible effects of the 2000  election. I was also disappointed that Gore, and to a degree Clinton, didn’t fight harder. Republican leadership was much more aggrssive in their fight for the presidency.

  216. 216.

    patrick Il

    August 13, 2020 at 10:06 pm

    @BC in Illinois: That is wonderful. Every day the number of deaths is published butyou can’t count the pain and loss to families. I am very happy for all of you for his recovery.

  217. 217.

    Dan B

    August 13, 2020 at 10:06 pm

    @patrick Il: My partner insists that John Roberts was in the Brooks Brothers Riot that pounded on the window demanding the Florida recount be halted.

  218. 218.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    August 13, 2020 at 10:06 pm

    @Brachiator:

    Huh. Didn’t know he starred in a show between ST and Hooker. I know he and Nimoy both guest starred in Columbo

  219. 219.

    Martin

    August 13, 2020 at 10:07 pm

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Maybe. My sense though is that preservation of democracy is something other people do. We’ve outsourced the hard stuff. Maybe that’s the same thing as getting the creature comforts, but I look at how quickly people in other countries really start speaking out angrily. I mean, French firefighters set themselves on fire and then go beat the shit out of the cops at the drop of a hat. France isn’t some oppressive regime, but damn, I admire that determination to get a point across. The teamsters never showed that kind of moxie. As democracies go, they’re our fraternal twin, but they started with beheading and we started by vandalizing some Earl Grey, which we recount with great pride. Sometimes I wonder if we ever really committed to the idea.

  220. 220.

    zhena gogolia

    August 13, 2020 at 10:08 pm

    @Dan B:

    I think Kavanaugh was involved, I never heard Roberts.

  221. 221.

    Brachiator

    August 13, 2020 at 10:09 pm

     

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    If Trump “wins”, we should not despair, but instead become angry that the election was stolen. The Democratic Party should not accept the results of an obviously fraudulent election and work to undermine the GOP and admin as much as possible, while rallying the public to our side.

    I have no idea what this means or what it is supposed to accomplish. The Constitution does not provide any guidance for a totally contested election. And rejecting an election might mean an end to the American experiment with democracy, which would probably make Trump happy.

    Our allies as well as the international community should also be called to condemn the GOP and place sanctions on the US federal government.

    Sanctions on the US government. That would be interesting to see. And Putin would laugh his ass off at the idea of the US as a pariah nation.

  222. 222.

    Hoppie

    August 13, 2020 at 10:12 pm

    AL, loved the redolent metaphor.  Sweet, as one might say.  Also too, V of B.

  223. 223.

    Omnes Omnibus

    August 13, 2020 at 10:12 pm

    I find it interesting how much power people seem to be ceding to the Trump and the right.  We have agency too.  So let’s use it.  Then no one needs to worry about whether or not they can stop a hover-round cavalry charge with a stapler.

  224. 224.

    Gin & Tonic

    August 13, 2020 at 10:16 pm

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    There will be mass protests at the very least

    No there won’t. Not for more than a couple of days.

    The Maidan movement that caused a change in government in Ukraine took three months, in the middle of winter. People occupying the center of the capital city day after day, week after week, in the freezing cold, from mid-November to mid-February. About 100 of them were killed by government forces and pro-Yanukovych hired thugs. Sorry, but Americans don’t have the stomach or the endurance.

  225. 225.

    Cacti

    August 13, 2020 at 10:17 pm

    @Brachiator: I have no idea what this means or what it is supposed to accomplish. The Constitution does not provide any guidance for a totally contested election. And rejecting an election might mean an end to the American experiment with democracy, which would probably make Trump happy.

    Yep. If the above happens, the U.S. is a failed Republic. And bad things are very likely to follow.

  226. 226.

    Omnes Omnibus

    August 13, 2020 at 10:18 pm

    @Martin: The teamsters never showed that kind of moxie.

    John Lewis and a shitload of other people did.  So, in their way, did the people who stood in line to vote in Milwaukee in April.  So have the moms and dads standing at the front of protesters in Portland.  So, very politely, you can cram it up your ass.

  227. 227.

    patrick Il

    August 13, 2020 at 10:21 pm

    @Dan B: He was in Florida, ostensibly to work on the court cases,but there is a picture of the crowd threatening the vote counters that show him or his doppleganger in that crowd.

  228. 228.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    August 13, 2020 at 10:23 pm

    @Brachiator:

    I have no idea what this means or what it is supposed to accomplish. The Constitution does not provide any guidance for a totally contested election. And rejecting an election might mean an end to the American experiment with democracy, which would probably make Trump happy.

    It will end anyway if Trump wins by cheating and faces no consequences for it. We’re slouching towards authoritarianism and we can’t keep playing appeasement with Republicans. It didn’t work against the Nazis and it hasn’t worked with the GOP. It’s a political movement that has absolute contempt for us.

    It means we have to take a stand, to show the world what we’re truly about and fight for it by any means necessary. The Dems need to rally the public and our allies to our cause in opposition to the corrupt Trump regime. By leveraging both, we can try to pressure the GOP from power by gumming up the works

    Sanctions on the US government. That would be interesting to see. And Putin would laugh his ass off at the idea of the US as a pariah nation.

    Sanctions were placed on South Africa. Look what happened. While they’re not perfect, the oppressive apartheid regime was dismantled.

    And Putin can go fuck himself. He’s going to get to live long enough to see the catastrophic effects of climate change on Russia and the rest of the world. He’s probably doomed humanity at this point with his actions

  229. 229.

    Amir Khalid

    August 13, 2020 at 10:25 pm

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    Shatner was in Barbary Coast with Doug McClure, if I recall correctly.

  230. 230.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    August 13, 2020 at 10:29 pm

    @Gin & Tonic:

    Well, I was going to ask if you’re opinion had changed in light of the George Floyd protests and the Portland/Seattle occupations, but I guess not.

    Hell, unarmed protesters defeated Trump’s goons as well as the asshole police. They got their teargas canisters thrown back at them. Normal, ordinary people stood in solidarity against them to protect other protesters. Yes, I know it’s not the same level of brutality faced by those in Ukraine for example, but have more faith in people

  231. 231.

    Brachiator

    August 13, 2020 at 10:30 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    I find it interesting how much power people seem to be ceding to the Trump and the right.

    People want to see the elections play out. Of course, the problem is that Trump is undermining democracy with the connivance of the Republicans. Unfortunately, it is hard to see a solution that does not also call for the undermining of democracy.

    Do you have any suggestions?

  232. 232.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    August 13, 2020 at 10:31 pm

    @Cacti:

    Then perhaps for the last 20 or 30 years all we’ve been doing is delaying the inevitable

  233. 233.

    SectionH

    August 13, 2020 at 10:31 pm

    @debbie: Ah, sweet memories. 2008, ppl in LEX weren’t getting all the Obama signs they wanted (well, blue island…) So I didn’t wait, designed and printed one out put it onna frame I had from some previous election:  “THAT ONE”. Taped it up, stuck the sign in our yard. The next day, our new neighbor across the street came over and So wanted to know where he could get a sign like that. I made one for him. Definitely happy to welcome him with an Obama sign.

    Last November, I was back there, and our neighborhood had Beshear signs out the wazoo. I’m sure there are already a ton of Biden/Harris signs there now. Of course, if our neighborhood, and Lexington, Louisville, Richmond, and Berea weren’t swamped by the red tide, Mitch would have been toast years ago. Still, Kentucky voters threw Bevin out last year, who knows? It could happen.

  234. 234.

    gwangung

    August 13, 2020 at 10:33 pm

    @Gin & Tonic: 

    Sorry, but Americans don’t have the stomach or the endurance.

    White Americans don’t

    Black Americans…do.

    We’ll see about the rest.

  235. 235.

    Omnes Omnibus

    August 13, 2020 at 10:34 pm

    @Brachiator: Among other things, win by enough that they can’t credibly try to steal it.  Make sure everyone who wants to vote can do it.  Etc.

  236. 236.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    August 13, 2020 at 10:36 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    This. Thank you. We need to move haven and earth to make it nearly impossible to steal in the first place

  237. 237.

    Gin & Tonic

    August 13, 2020 at 10:37 pm

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    but have more faith in people

    I’m too old for fairy tales.

  238. 238.

    Wyatt Salamanca

    August 13, 2020 at 10:45 pm

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    Who can forget Shatner’s performance in Incubus filmed in Esperanto?

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhgl7wL8h-8

  239. 239.

    Brachiator

    August 13, 2020 at 10:45 pm

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    It means we have to take a stand, to show the world what we’re truly about and fight for it by any means necessary. The Dems need to rally the public and our allies to our cause in opposition to the corrupt Trump regime. By leveraging both, we can try to pressure the GOP from power by gumming up the works

    Sigh. How old are you, again?

    Trump acts a fool. The GOP continue to back him. Now what? In practical terms, what would you suggest be done to establish a new government? This romantic notion of people taking to the streets is fun rhetoric, but actual revolution is a nasty, bloody business with an uncertain outcome.

    Sanctions on the US government. That would be interesting to see. And Putin would laugh his ass off at the idea of the US as a pariah nation.

    Sanctions were placed on South Africa. Look what happened. While they’re not perfect, the oppressive apartheid regime was dismantled.

    How many years did it take for sanctions to have some effect?

    OK, now I got some real doom and gloom for you. If Trump goes full autocrat, he pulls us out of the UN and all other international agencies. Post pandemic world, the US is still a major power. There are no governments willing to impose sanctions which might result in retaliatory tariffs.

    The positives: in theory, the states, if they remained sane, might be able to establish a new Congress, and cite constitutional authority. The new Congress could then vote for president and vice president.

    The negatives: if the majority of the states back the Republicans, then the only real remedy would be civil war. Other nations would not get involved. We would be on our own.

    I have no idea who would command the US military, or whether they would sit back and refuse to get involved, or come down on one side or the other.

    This is probably the least bloody alternative.

    So, let’s all be happy, work toward voting Trump out of office, and presume that he is too much of a coward to try to pull any bullshit.

  240. 240.

    dopey-o

    August 13, 2020 at 10:47 pm

    @Libby’s Person:

    Would it be considered cultural appropriation or insensitive to wear a picture of an artwork so totally linked with another culture?  (I’ve actually wondered this in the past about things like mass-market clothes made from African- or First Nations-inspired fabrics.)  Thanks!

    Yes. But do it anyway. People may die.

    Jesuz, KILL ME NOW!!!

  241. 241.

    Omnes Omnibus

    August 13, 2020 at 10:52 pm

    @dopey-o: Christ, it’s not as though Libby’s Person is saying this mask or nothing.  They wanted an opinion as to whether a particular design might be seen as insensitive.

  242. 242.

    debbie

    August 13, 2020 at 10:52 pm

    @SectionH:

    I’m really hoping Mitch leads a very large group of his buddies out of politics for good.

  243. 243.

    TS (the original)

    August 13, 2020 at 10:54 pm

    @piratedan:  And why is it all kept to make money from his musings rather than released to the public when available?

    Does trump or one of the minions sell such items to an adoring media?

  244. 244.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    August 13, 2020 at 10:55 pm

    upthread I compared Bob Woodward to Norma Desmond. Trying to think of a movie analogy for this….

    Baby Jane Hudson letting it be known she’s available for film and television?

    Ralph Nader @RalphNader · 4h
    I sent @AOC the following letter suggesting ways she can broaden her progressive impact and help many people now that she is in the media spotlight. She has not replied, despite repeated requests. Can anybody help us get AOC to respond? –

  245. 245.

    Omnes Omnibus

    August 13, 2020 at 11:02 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I think that not responding is a response, Ralph.

  246. 246.

    Baud

    August 13, 2020 at 11:04 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    Jesus, that’s sad.

  247. 247.

    Jay

    August 13, 2020 at 11:12 pm

    @Gin & Tonic:

    Portland does. Seattle does. You need to adopt the Portland Motto, Keep it Weird.

  248. 248.

    debbie

    August 13, 2020 at 11:16 pm

    @Libby’s Person:

    It’s a work of art, so no. If you were to start painting masks in that style, I think that would be appropriation. My iPad cover is Van Gogh’s painting of almond blossom branches and no one’s accused me of appropriation yet.

  249. 249.

    SectionH

    August 13, 2020 at 11:46 pm

    @debbie: Mr S is still thinking about re-registering in Kentucky to vote against Mitch One.Last.Time. I’ve told him go ahead if he wants to. Absolutely legal, we still own that house in Lex, and we’ve spent 6 months in the last year there (trying to get it sale-ready of course, but still). I don’t care, I’m not switching out of my permanent mail voter status in California, even to vote against Mitch again. I worked hard to get here.

    I have serious doubts enough Kentuckians will be pissed off enough to throw Mitch out – especially because Gov Beshear kept the Covid from speading so badly early on…  but I don’t think it’s completely impossible.

  250. 250.

    debbie

    August 13, 2020 at 11:53 pm

    @SectionH:

    They may turn out if he doesn’t save the post office.

  251. 251.

    Aleta

    August 14, 2020 at 12:01 am

    @Another Scott:  Serious stuff in PA: 

    …
    …

    Some counties set up drop boxes in the primary election so voters could hand-deliver their ballots without relying on the mail. But the Trump campaign and Republican National Committee have sued the state to block drop boxes from being used in November.

     

    … election officials (have asked)  the state Supreme Court to extend the deadlines to avoid disenfranchising voters.

    The warning came in a July 29 letter from Thomas J. Marshall, general counsel and executive vice president of the Postal Service, to Pennsylvania Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar, whose department oversees elections. That letter was made public late Thursday in a filing her Department of State submitted to the Supreme Court, asking it to order that mail ballots be counted as long as they are received up to three days after the Nov. 3 election date.

    …
    The filing came on the same day that Trump openly admitted that by withholding funding for the Postal Service, the agency would not be able to handle an anticipated surge of mail voting in November.

    Serious mail delivery delays have impacted residents across the Philadelphia region, largely due to policies implemented by the new postmaster general, who is also a major Trump campaign donor. Those policies eliminate overtime, order carriers to leave mail behind to speed up workdays, and slash office hours.

    The changes, coupled with staffing shortages amid previous budget cuts and coronavirus absences, are forcing some Philadelphians to go upward of three weeks without mail, leaving them without medication, paychecks, and bills. Mail is piling up in offices, often unscanned, carriers have said, and routes are going undelivered for days when a carrier is absent.

    In the primary, just over half of all votes were cast by mail, a huge jump from about 5% in past elections. And turnout in November’s election will likely be more than double the primary, meaning there could be several million ballots sent through the mail.

  252. 252.

    Another Scott

    August 14, 2020 at 12:06 am

    @James E Powell: Florida wasn’t going to be awarded to Gore even if the SCOTUS stayed out of it – as they should have when deciding on whether the recount should continue – for the reasons you state.  Because it was so close and so many circumstances required judgement calls, the FL government and legislature was going to decide who won under state law.  So, W was going to get it.

    The lesson is that Democrats need to turn out in sufficient numbers so that it’s out of the hands of partisans and the courts.

    My $0.02.

    [eta:] and what OO said above.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  253. 253.

    Aleta

    August 14, 2020 at 12:08 am

    @Libby’s Person:  I think Hokusai’s image is different from First Nations’ cultural property, and OK to have on your mask.  I think your question is a decent, considerate one.

  254. 254.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    August 14, 2020 at 12:09 am

    @Another Scott: at least we learned, and no one ever listened to “not a dime’s worth of difference” arguments again.

  255. 255.

    Another Scott

    August 14, 2020 at 12:15 am

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: People can learn.  But, yeah, it’s really hard.

    :-(

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  256. 256.

    dww44

    August 14, 2020 at 12:48 am

     

    @Elizabelle: @raven:  Am watching the midnight replay of the RMS show. I think her reading of the slides of the text from Cohen’s intro to his new book were effective, not overly long, and provided a great segway to the next segment  with the defense department analyst, Kyle  Murphy, who has resigned from his position to call out Trump’s recent moves to further undermine our democracy.

    Her objectives seem clear… to warn us of the dangers we face and, personally, her dramatic readings  make those warnings much more impactful.. I’m calling my 3 GOP congresspersons tomorrow .

  257. 257.

    BruceFromOhio

    August 14, 2020 at 12:59 am

    Forgive me for further spreading this not-news, but to me Woodward is a mosquito bite welt in an unscratchable place.

    In other news, water is wet, and sun rises in east. Pictures at 11.

  258. 258.

    Anne Laurie

    August 14, 2020 at 3:56 am

    @Libby’s Person: Late to this, as always, but…

    The artist (Hokusai) specifically made the series of prints that includes the Great Wave to be sold to foreigners as well as his fellow Japanese.  So I would say it’s perfectly appropriate to repurpose his image, even as a Gaikokujin.

  259. 259.

    RedKitten

    August 14, 2020 at 8:55 am

    @Elizabelle: 

    Hey there! Believe it or not, SamKitten actually turns 11 today. He’s a full-on, Minecraft-loving tween.

  260. 260.

    Uncle Cosmo

    August 14, 2020 at 8:59 am

    @Brachiator: Sigh. How old are you, again?

    Anyone interested in what our self-confessed American Baka** looks like can find a mugshot in Webster’s Illustrated Dictionary accompanying the word jejeune.

    **FTR, Japanese for “fool.” Aptly chosen? Opinions differ…

  261. 261.

    Uncle Cosmo

    August 14, 2020 at 10:15 am

    @Brachiator: IMO the “least bloody alternative” with a prayer of working would be a coup à la Turque:

    After the founding of the Cumhuriyet (republic) the formidable Türk Ordu (Turkish Army) considered itself the guardian of Atatürk’s secular revolution (essentially the founding of the modern Turkish state). It reserved the right (indeed, the duty) to intervene in politics to preserve that state, particularly against Islamism. Which it did, several times in the postwar decades. But it never took power intending to keep it. At its bloodiest, it would try and convict and hang a few politicians (most notably Adnan Menderes and two of his cabinet in 1961) and run the country only until (in their view) it was safe to turn it back over to the political process – with the unspoken but heavily implied admonition to “play nice now.”[1]

    I happened to be touring Turkey the last time the Ordu[2] intervened in government, in 1996, when no one was hanged and no troops were deployed. It was a coup de Powerpoint – the Army would call in leading citizens & show them presentations warning that then-PM Necmettin Erbakan and his Refah (Welfare) Party intended to transform Turkey into an Islamic state, and we don’t want that, do we?[3] Soon enough a protest movement arose (notably the people of Istanbul who’d come out on their balconies the same time every evening banging pots and pans) which toppled Erbakan’s government.[4][5]

    Could that happen here? Highly unlikely. The US military has neither a history of intervening in politics[6] nor any basis in law or tradition to style itself “the caretaker of the republic.” And the forces high & low are (like the electorate in every state of the Union) drastically divided on their views of the current Maladministration. (E.g., IIUC the USAF is shot full of evilangelical fundanazi Trumpisti.)

    Tl;dr version: We the people of the United States of America are kindasorta it, folks.

     

    [1] I.e., the Turkish equivalent of “Don’t make us come in there!”

    [2] FWIW this is a cognate of the English “horde.”

    [3] See note 1.

    [4] By which time I was long gone. Had nothing to do with it, swear to Dog…

    [5] Unfortunately the Islamofascist Erdogan learned the lesson, & upon taking power started removing secularists from the army, & eventually a failed coup attempt by those remaining allowed him to finish the job.

    [6] For which we may be eternally grateful; cf. Butler, Smedley.

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