Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Trump’s cabinet: like a magic 8 ball that only gives wrong answers.

“Facilitate” is an active verb, not a weasel word.

75% of people clapping liked the show!

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

’Where will you hide, Roberts, the laws all being flat?’

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

People are weird.

“I was told there would be no fact checking.”

Let’s bury these fuckers at the polls 2 years from now.

Bad people in a position to do bad things will do bad things because they are bad people. End of story.

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

This country desperately needs a functioning fourth estate.

Not loving this new fraud based economy.

They think we are photo bombing their nice little lives.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

Everything is totally normal and fine!!!

Trump should be leading, not lying.

Our messy unity will be our strength.

Fundamental belief of white supremacy: white people are presumed innocent, minorities are presumed guilty.

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

We still have time to mess this up!

When you’re in more danger from the IDF than from Russian shelling, that’s really bad.

You are here: Home / Elections / Biden-Harris 2020 / Democratic National Convention Open Thread – Day Four, PART TWO

Democratic National Convention Open Thread – Day Four, PART TWO

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366Comments

  8. 8.

    Barbara

    These kids are adorable. I love watching kids.

    I think this is an appeal to the female demographic — a rather much softer approach than trying to terrify them about their low income neighbors.

  29. 29.

    Marcopolo

    Slightly OT…but

    So down in Texas John Cornyn got the vapors when he heard MJ Hegar called him a boot licker. He put out a whiny tweet. Here’s Hegar’s response:

    “Oh spare me the pearl clutching, you wimp. If only you could get so offended by ten thousand Texans dying from COVID-19 or millions of us losing jobs.”

    Cheers MJ!

  31. 31.

    PsiFighter37

    @Yutsano: I will be interested to find out (if ever disclosed) if they adjusted her screentime on the fly, or if that is what happened naturally.

  32. 32.

    hedgehog mobile

    What I love is the sheer humanity, decency, reality, of the Bidens.  And dear Ghu, the normalcy and the love.

  35. 35.

    guachi

    “Biden lost his wife and kids” is the “Did you know McCain was a war prisoner?” of 2020.

  41. 41.

    Marcopolo

    I guess when your Biden’s age your bio intro can pack a lot in.

    Though if my memory serves Trump’s bio in 2016 sucked donkey balls.  I won’t be watching that next week.

  42. 42.

    Bodacious

    @Yutsano:

    But this was pretty good:

    “Or as Donald Trump will call me in a tweet tomorrow: A washed-up, horse-faced no talent has-been that has low ratings. Well with all due respect, sir, it takes one to know one”

  45. 45.

    Anya

    I live for the day when the USPS arrests Donald Trump or his criminal offsprings or Jared arrested for fraud.

  50. 50.

    Ken

    @TaMara (HFG): My church put out an anniversary book back in 1962, with a history of the congregation. It did not list the first names of any of the married women – they were all “Mrs. John Smith”.  Needless to say that practice was not followed in the 2012 update.

  51. 51.

    guachi

    Something like 2/3 of Biden voters are voting AGAINST Trump. So I think so much of the convention building up Biden is the way to go.

    “Too much anger” says Biden. Saw a poll that 51% of Americans are “very angry”, far higher than any other time the question was asked in the CNN poll.

  55. 55.

    dmsilev

    Now that Biden has officially accepted the nomination, I feel sure that somewhere out in Twitterland there is someone making the argument that it isn’t too late for Bernie.

  59. 59.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Baud:

    It’s amazing how much more gracious Bernie Sanders is when he loses to a man rather than a woman.  And yes, I think that is exactly the difference.  Sanders has a history of misogyny.

  64. 64.

    Baud

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    He’ll never be held to account for 2016.  Unfortunately, we have bigger fish to fry.  I just hope he stays on this path, because I don’t want to deal with him anymore.

  65. 65.

    Patricia Kayden

    "Interesting numbers were way off" — Trump is back to criticizing Michelle Obama for taping her DNC speech and therefore not accurately citing how many Americans have died due to his administration's negligence (because 1,000+ people are dying each day) pic.twitter.com/XXqx9Ua8Fn— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 21, 2020

  66. 66.

    sanjeevs

    Seems like they’re subtly addressing all the attacks on Joe and Kamala

    – Tammy mentioning the citizenship issue in her vetting (Birther)

    – The stuttering (Biden’s got dementia)

    – The old film of Joe telling the lady to vote for the other fellow if you don’t agree

     

    –

  67. 67.

    Barbara

    @Frankensteinbeck: Not disagreeing, exactly, but apparently, Biden is one of the few senators who forged a genuine relationship with Sanders, and that is one reason why Sanders was unwilling to be an attack dog against him.

  72. 72.

    Adam L Silverman

    I realize he was a bad person and responsible for almost 3,000 dead Americans, but this was a terrible reason to kill him:

    (Also, O’Neill is not officially credited with the kill and the Naval Special Warfare community is pissed at him for claiming it, when another SEAL on the raid has been internally credited with the kill.)

  73. 73.

    Anya

    This is a simple speech (in the best way). And he’s delivering it well ?

    But why won’t he say “malarkey”

  80. 80.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Andrew Solender @AndrewSolender
    · 2h According to @CNN, Trump has been watching the DNC and making calls to people about what he wants at his convention. With one week to spare…

    and that shout out to Obama followed by a smackdown of himself… Maybe he’ll break his fat neck jumping out the window after the phone he just threw in a rage

  83. 83.

    TaMara (HFG)

    Joe Biden: “Character is on the ballot. Compassion is on the ballot. Decency, science, democracy. They’re all on the ballot. Who we are as a nation. What we stand for. Most importantly, who we want to be.”

  84. 84.

    Jeffro

    Joe noting the ‘American Carnage’ that lies ahead if we re-elect trumpov AND bringing it back to the pandemic

    GOOD

    ” it’s not this bad in Canada or Japan or Europe“

    ⛏⛏⛏⛏

  86. 86.

    Adam L Silverman

    The President yanked the leash!

  90. 90.

    Anne Laurie

    @Barbara: Not disagreeing, exactly, but apparently, Biden is one of the few senators who forged a genuine relationship with Sanders, and that is one reason why Sanders was unwilling to be an attack dog against him.

    Yep.  Fits in with this evening’s theme, too:  Joe Biden is such a nice guy, even Bernie Sanders can’t hate on him.

  94. 94.

    dmsilev

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    Andrew Solender @AndrewSolender
    · 2h According to @CNN, Trump has been watching the DNC and making calls to people about what he wants at his convention. With one week to spare…

    I was expecting this. Doesn’t seem to have occurred to him that the Democrats spent three months preparing for this week…

  95. 95.

    Mary G

    Uncle Joe is knocking it out of the park. He’s so good at one-on-one interaction through the lens.

  100. 100.

    Kropacetic

    @Jeffro: the RNC is Going to be one bitter, disorganized, boring, shitty, and did I mention disorganized cluster fuck

    Train wrecks are eminently watchable.  Trump may yet get the ratings he so craves.

  102. 102.

    Yutsano

    @dmsilev: It’s possible I didn’t see it. I’ll say mea culpa.

    And whoever said Joe can’t do soaring rhetoric isn’t paying attention right now.

  104. 104.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Anya:

     The mask tyranny is out of control

    Uh, what?  This wasn’t -outside-, where one can socially distance.  It was in an enclosed space that is designed to pack people in close to each other.  It is the -height- of selfishness thoughtlessness, of civic ….. deplorability, to not wear a mask on a PLANE.

    IDGAF if he’s Jesus H. Christ, he’s still gotta wear a mask, or stay 6+ft away from people who don’t willingly sign up to be near him.  And agreeing to fly on a plane is not the same as agreeing to swap spit with every passenger on that plane.

  108. 108.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Frankensteinbeck: Not to diminish how badly he did when HRC needed his support, it is important to remember he has a very different relationship with Biden. Biden was the first person to welcome him to the Senate and for a long time the only Democratic senator who treated him like he was an actual Democrat, not just the Independent who caucused with them. Sanders has never forgotten that.

  109. 109.

    Jeffro

    @guachi: I have a feeling he is going to be speaking in front of small, captive audience is whose “applause” will make us laugh all the harder

  111. 111.

    mad citizen

    @dmsilev: wondering if Lee Greenwood is still around and on the trumptanic to sing “proud to be an american”.  Yes, it should be very entertaining indeed.

  113. 113.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

    find out what kind of ice cream Biden is eating and send a case to all of the down ballot candidates

  117. 117.

    Anya

    If Trump’s low hires were any good they would be regretting lowering expectations for Joe Biden. Fox viewers are waiting for a confused old man and they get a president.

  123. 123.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    trump and his idiot sons an their fellow traveller have spent six months telling anyone who can’t help but listen this man is senile and he can’t complete a sentence

    @Jeffro:

    the RNC is Going to be one bitter, disorganized, boring, shitty, and did I mention disorganized cluster fuck

    he’ll turn it into CPAC, and it will be seen by a lot of people who never heard of CPAC

  125. 125.

    Anya

    @Chetan Murthy: This was about Adam’s joke and the terrible headline that made it seem as though the mask hating former SEAL killed Bin Laden because he (Bin Laden) refused to wear a mask.

  126. 126.

    Mary G

    The “Biden is a senile puppet of the radical socialists” isn’t going to play that well against this guy

    ETA: Whoever wrote this speech deserves a big raise. Loved the angry part about Russian bounties on our soldiers.

  127. 127.

    TS (the original)

    @dmsilev:

     Doesn’t seem to have occurred to him that the Democrats spent three months preparing for this week…

    With folks proficient at what they do.  I shall be sorely disappointed if the RNC is anything but a technological disaster.

  129. 129.

    Ken

    @dmsilev: Trump has been watching the DNC and making calls to people about what he wants at his convention.

    So instead of Melania plagiarizing one speech, they’re going to plagiarize the whole convention?

  135. 135.

    Patricia Kayden

    Trump's campaign invested an enormous amount of energy in suggesting that Biden couldn't manage to appear in public with any competence, which seems like a bar that wasn't useful to set.— Philip Bump (@pbump) August 21, 2020

  142. 142.

    Yutsano

    “Under President Biden, we will not turn a blind eye on Russian bounties on our soldiers!”

    Angry Joe is angry.

  144. 144.

    Percysowner

    Andrew Solender @AndrewSolender
    · 2h According to @CNN, Trump has been watching the DNC and making calls to people about what he wants at his convention. With one week to spare…

    CALIMARI! Forget Calimari! Get me Ronald McDonald holding a huge plate of Big Macs. That will show them!

  145. 145.

    Mai naem mobile

    @Adam L Silverman: O’Neil is a FOX contributor if that says anything. I haven’t seen his Twitter feed in a while but he would try to do a both sides on Twitter  but bottom line he knows who butters his bread so it always leans right.

  146. 146.

    bluefoot

    I like how Biden stresses that workers need to get paid.

    I’m disturbed about tonight’s hints toward looking forward not back. We need justice. We need to show there are consequences to breaking laws and shredding the Constitution. Comity is bullshit when the other party wants to kill the other half of us, burn it all down and feed on the ashes, and will lie, cheat and steal to do so.

  148. 148.

    Kropacetic

    @Ken: So instead of Melania plagiarizing one speech, they’re going to plagiarize the whole convention?

    “You have five days to make this happen.”

  150. 150.

    Jeffro

    Oh GOP, you sure done fucked up…I have counted about 355 straight coherent, empathetic, intelligent, passionate sentences in a row…

    …over to you, starting Monday! ?

  153. 153.

    Omnes Omnibus

    He really is using the lack audience to speak directly to the camera and the TV audience.

  159. 159.

    Mai naem mobile

    @Anya: I don’t. I blame Donny who was worried about how he would look in a mask and how it would affect his hairdo and makeup so it exploded into a stupid political issue. Also the initial shortage which also goes back to Donny not preparing for PPE.

  161. 161.

    Subsole

    @Kropacetic: True. But this won’t even rise to the level of trainwreck. It’ll just be every bitter asshole that ever took up space at the covfefe klatch bitching and whining and speaking qanonese.

  162. 162.

    Baud

    Damn, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone rise to the occasion like Joe has these last few months and especially tonight.

  164. 164.

    West of the Cascades

    This was a great speech. Plain and direct and passionate and soaring in the end. Biden hit a walk-off homer. The RNC morons who are going to try to paint him as mentally deficient will look more than ever like they’re engaging in psychological projection.

  171. 171.

    mac8

    I listen to Biden and I’m actually hopeful for the future of the country.  I have no clue how he manages that.

  174. 174.

    Yutsano

    I so hope they let Brayden stay up to watch this.

    EDIT: I wonder if his old Secret Service contingent will volunteer to guard him again.

  177. 177.

    PsiFighter37

    I have to think the GOP made a huge mistake in telling people Biden is a doddering old man. Their low expectations for him probably made it easier for Democrats to vote for him, once he proved he wasn’t senile.

  178. 178.

    James E Powell

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Biden was the first person to welcome him to the Senate and for a long time the only Democratic senator who treated him like he was an actual Democrat, not just the Independent who caucused with them. Sanders has never forgotten that.

    The fact that Biden really wants to get along with everybody and tries to find good in odious people drives me and many others crazy. And it might be what saves us.

  180. 180.

    Geoduck

    @Chetan Murthy: I agree of course that you should mask up on a plane, but I read an article recently claiming that there have been surprisingly few COVID clusters centered around air travel, possibly because with modern systems the air on board gets entirely recycled every few minutes.

  181. 181.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    I would’ve taken the tape off the camera hole on my laptop and clapped for Joe, had I known where to sign up.

  185. 185.

    laura

    @Baud: and not a single boat parade…

    I’m guessing that the RNC clustershamble of white power, grievance and being cobbled together on the fly after trump burnt Charlotte and Jacksonville and squandered/diverted pallets of cash is going to blow up in a crescendo of balloons and rage tweeting. I might have to take a peek or two.

  189. 189.

    Ken

    @West of the Cascades: The RNC morons who are going to try to paint him as mentally deficient will look more than ever like they’re engaging in psychological projection.

    I expect they’ll pivot to claiming that he just read a speech off a teleprompter, and the debates will reveal his senility.  I can’t imagine what their out will be when Trump refuses to debate, or if he gives one three of his usual incoherent speeches next week.

  192. 192.

    Mary G

    The cars with the hazard lights blinking are surprisingly festive. So nice to see a group of people figure out how to adapt to a terrible situation instead of pretending it’s not happening.

  193. 193.

    Omnes Omnibus

    Masked up and out to see and be seen.

    But that shit would have been cooler over the lake in Milwaukee.  Fucking Covid.

  194. 194.

    lamh36

    Great speech from Joe Biden!

    That’s it folks…gird your loins for the white grievance festival that will be the RNC next week!

    Let’s get ready to get rid of the orange!!!

    DO YOU HAVE YOUR VOTING PLAN!!!…

    Enough of the Dem infighting. Get it out of ya by the end of this wkd

  198. 198.

    Feathers

    @bluefoot: Someone on the Twitters pointed out that the Biden campaign seems to be offering strong, progressive policy in the detailed documents on their website and polite bipartisanship on the TV. Seems about right. This has been about giving the folks who voted for Obama, then Trump, permission to vote for Joe.

    I really liked tonight.

    As a personal note, claiming moral superiority for not having a sense of humor is a really bad look.

  199. 199.

    Subsole

    @Jeffro: I’m calling it now – applause track. They’re gonna record the crowd at his rallies and Potemkin Trumptemkin Potrumpkin Village that shit.

  202. 202.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Subsole: It is. He’s actually walked the claim back, but he got what he wanted. It stuck with the media and is now American mythology and legend. And as we all know, because of the line in the movie, when legend becomes fact, print the legend.

    O’Neill was run out of the community. Here’s a rundown of what happened:

    Image

  208. 208.

    Another Scott

    Wonderful, powerful, moving speech by Biden.  He’s the man we need now, and he will be a great president for us.

    I’m glad he didn’t go home when I told him to.  ;-)

    Forward!!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  209. 209.

    zhena gogolia

    Well, that built to a very nice climax. It was a great speech. Obama’s last night paired with Biden’s tonight — really good.

    Let’s get to work. (She says from bed.)

  210. 210.

    Marcopolo

    So nice of the Trump campaign to set the performance bar so low for Joe. God bless their just plain incompetence.

    I too missed the balloons.

    Last but not least, some humor from Montana. When Kanye West was knocked off the MT ballot for lack of signatures a reporter asked the MT Sec of State (who is a D running for Gov) for a comment. “Yeezy Come, Yeezy Go.” Hope he wins his race.

  212. 212.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Geoduck:

    I read an article recently claiming that there have been surprisingly few COVID clusters centered around air travel, possibly because with modern systems the air on board gets entirely recycled every few minutes.

    Some salient points:

    1. historically, we’ve all been told (and I’d guess there’s some research behind it) that in fact the opposite is true for respiratory infections: that being in a plane is a great way to get a cold or flu from other passengers.  It seems kind of ….. suspicious that all of a sudden, there are people claiming “nopes, covid don’t work like that” when many of the interventions that protect us against covid, also do so against flu/cold.
    2. This really early days: we were also told that kids don’t get it, and kinds don’t spread it, and soon as we start reopening schools, voila! we find out that both of those are wrong.

    What I’m saying is: it’s a little early to be making judgments like “It’s safe to sit around unmasked a foot away from other passengers” when we really don’t know enough to say, and we’ve purposely shut down air travel (between the companies and countries, and the passengers themselves).  And certainly history gives no good reason to expect that air travel is safe in this regard.

  218. 218.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Gin & Tonic: Given that he cooked up the he killed bin Laden thing to hit on women in the bars in Virginia Beach after the raid, which got him in trouble with the community, my guess is that he’s been in trouble with her for a long time.

  219. 219.

    HumboldtBlue

    Somehow the culmination of a Democratic presidential campaign taking place in a Wayne’s World-like fashion is hilarious.

    Where are the roller skates?

  222. 222.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Baud:

    Good.  It’s a nice visual. I clicked off when I heard BriWi.

    I swear he’s pushed farther to the sidelines every night, and he knows it.

  223. 223.

    Kay

    @Marcopolo:

    I think they tell Trump these things, he believes them, and then they have to pretend they are real. I don’t think one can underestimate how insane it is inside that nightmare workplace. He’s this bad in public. Imagine in private.

  224. 224.

    Mary G

    Love the lady rabbi’s closing prayer: as we conclude this convention from the safety of our homes, help us create a national home. Then a Catholic social justice priest who says all life is sacred, and an imam.

  225. 225.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

    The only Williams worth watching is his daughter Allison Williams (photo) or England defensive back Leah Williamson (photo)

  231. 231.

    J R in WV

    We watched the whole DNC presentation this evening, thanks to the Internet and MSNBC. Starting with the three women and their guests before the official beginning.

    It was a little bit tear-jerker in places, but so, so uplifting. Anyone who watched that whole evening and votes for the current occupant of the White House is un-American and not human at heart. Joe did a great job, and he and his team crafted a great speech.

    Now I’ll read a few comments before going to bed. Critters are fed, kitchen is a mess, who cares!

  235. 235.

    Yutsano

    This has been by far the best Democratic convention I have ever seen. Even the rough first hour was still better than any other convention in the past. I might take a few peeks into the mishegas that next week will be, but I just might not care. But I am definitely fired up!

  237. 237.

    Kay

    @Adam L Silverman:

    QAnon believe Democrats want children in masks so no one can hear children scream when we snatch them. That masks are not gags and one can hear people just about the same doesn’t enter into it at all.

  246. 246.

    Subsole

    @PsiFighter37: I think the doddering old codger thing started on Rose Twitter. Can’t blame the GOP for grabbing it and running with it. The fact it came from the left probably made it look like a good, solid wedge issue.

    Now, basing your campaign strategery on Twitter discourse is, well…unsharp.

  249. 249.

    TriassicSands

    @dmsilev:

    I’m sorry, but one’s choice of ice cream is a measure of character (and, of course, taste). Going without food for a week or two is not too great a sacrifice to make to be able to buy really good ice cream. Sadly, what makes really good ice cream is fat, so one not only has to give up fruits and vegetables, but also a few years off one’s life expectancy. Maybe someday they’ll make premium ice cream infused with a statin.

    It’s no surprise (to me) that I like my VP candidate a lot more than my presidential candidate, but the idea of a world in which Trump is not president (even if he isn’t in prison where he belongs) is so sweet there are no words to express just how good that sounds. Now, to make it a reality.

  253. 253.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Kay: I’m aware. I’ve been tracking QAnon since it started. My boss and I have a theory as to who it actually is now posting the messages, which is mist likely not the person or persons who did the original “drops”.

  254. 254.

    WaterGirl

    @lamh36: I think they flew you in and you were going to have interviews the same day, right?  So did you already have interviews today?  How do you think it went?

    Last I heard, you weren’t sure what would be on the agenda for Friday.

  257. 257.

    Anya

    @Yutsano: 2008 was my first convention and I have fond memories of it. It was full of hope, inspiration and togetherness. But I also loved this convention and it was so well done. It’s testament to the organizers how they adapted to the current realities and put on a warm, informative and really inspiring convention

  260. 260.

    Frankensteinbeck

    During the contentious parts of the primary, when there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth, I knew that once we all had our mourning time the Democrats would unite behind Joe – behind whoever won, for that matter.  It is nice to see it happen, because it is certainly happening.  Joe has earned it, too.

    @Kay:

    I don’t think one can underestimate how insane it is inside that nightmare workplace. He’s this bad in public. Imagine in private.

    Yes.  It’s not like Trump goes back in private and becomes suddenly intelligent, reasonable, or sane.  I attribute a lot of the most public actions of the administration – particularly the goon squad in Portland – as attempts by his aides just to get Trump to stop yelling at them.  Lunatic shit like the Ukraine pressure campaign is because Trump is so stupid he really believes the proof that Hillary is a criminal who framed him is there.

  261. 261.

    RinaX

    Well, a toddler who’s decided that bedtimes are for suckers made me miss pretty much everything after the first 20 minutes up until Joe Bidens speech. I thought it was strong and powerful. I’ll have to catch the other segments when I have time.

  263. 263.

    bluehill

    @Adam L Silverman: I read a few stories about alleged Qanon believers attacking people. Fortunately, they been pretty clumsy and haven’t done too much damage. Do you think they, whoever they are, are trying to radicalize some of their followers?

  264. 264.

    Yutsano

    @Amir Khalid: Ha. 3/11 is Election Day for you strange humans. But you’ve had enough experience to know better. We still win. Our trolls are international.

  265. 265.

    dww44

    @Baud:  Did you see Ezra Klein’s Vox article today on HRC? Really worth a read. Title  is  “The Tragedy of Hillary Clinton.”

  266. 266.

    J R in WV

    @Patricia Kayden:

    Trump’s campaign invested an enormous amount of energy in suggesting that Biden couldn’t manage to appear in public with any competence, which seems like a bar that wasn’t useful to set.

    This is so good! Joe slammed that ball clear into the upper deck for a homer!~!~

    Was a great DNC production, I really hope the Trump War Room is still starting to work on next week’s production…. HAHAHA.

    Best of luck, asses!

  268. 268.

    Kropacetic

    @Subsole: Even if you accept the notion that Biden isn’t as sharp as he once was, he could lose 2/3 of his mental acuity and still be twice as sharp as Trump at his peak.

    @Frankensteinbeck:During the contentious parts of the primary, when there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth, I knew that once we all had our mourning time the Democrats would unite behind Joe

    Within 24 hours of the Harris pick, I went from a daily routine of having to re-convince myself to vote for Joe to legitimate, sustainable enthusiasm.

  269. 269.

    trollhattan

    @Sister Golden Bear:

    As it is written, as it shall be.

    Onion Joe should troll the RNC in his Trans Am. Blasting Slayer on the 8-track. {whisper} I’m told by management it has a cassette deck.

  271. 271.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Luciamia: The yacht is owned by a self declared exiled Chinese national who has been working with Bannon to set up a conservative media empire. With Bannon’s help he’s infiltrated almost all the major American conservative groups and financial benefactors by claiming to be a victim of a crackdown on freedom and democracy advocates by Xi. Did I mention he’s actually a PRC intelligence asset who travels on an Emirati passport and his assignment was to infiltrate as many major American conservative groups and financial benefactors as possible?

    The Emirati passport is important too as the Emirati crown prince is a bridging and controlling node in a network that runs from the UAE to Saudi and MBS to DC and Jared as the Emirati crown prince is a mentor to both MBS and Jared. That network also runs to Bibi in Israel. And, of course, back to the PRC via Erik Prince.

  272. 272.

    Kay

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Tucker Carlson is coordinating his shows to them now. It’s not overt, but if you read their Twitter he’s playing up what they talk about.

    They’re thrilled by this. They think it validates the cult, and of course it does do that.

  275. 275.

    Anya

    @bluehill: I have a friend who works in an anti-child trafficking NGO and she says they’re doing actual damage to child exploitation preventing efforts. They’re clogging anti-trafficking hotlines, infiltrating Facebook groups and raising false fears about child exploitation. They are undermining these efforts.

  277. 277.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Jeffro: Expectations for the Republican convention have been set so low that I think it stands a good chance of being yet another Day Trump Became President.

  281. 281.

    Adam L Silverman

    @bluehill: If the person who we think is now doing the drops is the actual person doing the drops, then yes.

    And the violence is beginning to increase. And once the bulk of the 11 or so QAnon adherent GOP candidates get to Congress it will get worse. This and the Proud Boy/Patriot Prayer/Oathkeeper/Militia nexus all wrapped within MAGA/Trumpism is the future of the GOP because the only young people willing to be involved in the GOP are the people adhering to these beliefs. This will make it easier for Cotton to beat Hawley in becoming the next leading Republican because Hawley doesn’t have the angry, nasty persona that Cotton does.

  282. 282.

    Kropacetic

    @Matt McIrvin: Expectations for the Republican convention have been set so low that I think it stands a good chance of being yet another Day Trump Became President.

    Aww, man, those days are the worst.

  284. 284.

    J R in WV

    @Baud:

    I clicked off when I heard BriWi.

    Totally… never need to hear from “Brian W” ever again. Why did they ever let him back on the air?>!

    What a great production by the DNC and their staff. I hope the RNC next week is as good as I expect, as in not at all~!~

  286. 286.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Kay: Yep. Before this year is over Tucker will have gotten at least one person killed because of his going full on white Christian herrenvolk grievance and nihilism.

  287. 287.

    Kay

    @Kropacetic:

    Biden has decades of experience and he can and does draw on that. It’s the flip side of getting older. The reward. He doesn’t have to “think on his feet” as much because he knows a lot. I see it in older lawyers and it’s really true. They just don’t have to work so hard at staying ahead of others because they really, really know the content. Biden wasn’t breaking a sweat in those debates and a lot of the younger people were busting ass.

  288. 288.

    trnc

    @Kay: That masks are not gags and one can hear people just about the same doesn’t enter into it at all.

    OT – I built a music room behind my garage and was considering adding a storm door for a bit of extra external  sound control. I explored options at a large chain home improvement store that may or may not start with L, and one of the employees suggested – I kid you not – a screen door. Super nice guy. Really doesn’t understand audio.

  289. 289.

    dww44

    @bluefoot: There  better be a real reckoning and one of the first should be the installation of a new Postmaster General  and a Board of Governors who will immediately undertake the reconstitution of the USPS.

  290. 290.

    Feathers

    Ugh. The Washington Post feed had a reporter in the parking lot interviewing people after the fireworks. One woman said that she was supporting Joe but sort of shrugged about the Democrats. Of course, the reporter jumped on this. The woman then said that she wanted more about racial equity (OK) and wished that there was something specific about black women’s health and infant mortality. And I was just, woman, they talked about this last night! Do you not know that you just gave permission to people to shit on the ticket?

    I’m just fed up with the rose crowd. Trump is actively killing Black women and children (along with the men). Harris has specifically spoken to black maternal mortality. But I guess she did her “research.” She apparently works with an advocacy group in Delaware. Would love to know how they will react to her interview.

    The fight to defund the police will be long and hard. It will take enormous activism to get it done in one major city and then will have to spread out from there. It is going to be one local election and union contract at a time, every one a battle. I can see so many upset that it hasn’t happen already. Sigh.

    But there do seem to be a lot of people who understand what a brutal slow slog this will be. Looking forward to helping them.

  295. 295.

    Kay

    @Adam L Silverman:

    I think what I always think with cults, which is that they draw people with issues, and I feel some pity for the more vulnerable Q people because one can see where they’re headed. They’re going to break. These grifts are really despicable. I mean Jesus Christ. Find some real work that doesn’t involve exploiting people.

  296. 296.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Feathers:

    “Why don’t the Dems ever talk about X?
    “Here are 75 examples of 32 different Dems talking about X”
    “Well, why don’t they ever talk about it when I’m paying attention?”

  304. 304.

    Kropacetic

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:“Why don’t the Dems ever talk about X?
    “Here are 75 examples of 32 different Dems talking about X”
    “Well, why don’t they ever talk about it when I’m paying attention?”

    Why don’t you (or the media) pay attention?

  316. 316.

    Kay

    @Adam L Silverman:

    They know exactly what they’re doing and so does Trump. Trump is cunning. It’s the only kind of intelligence he has- wholly self interested cunning. Sometimes it’s amusing because he knows the GOP base better than the GOP does. He knew the post office slowdown was a political disaster almost immediately :)

  317. 317.

    Morzer

    I wonder how long it will be before Trump decides that the Really Nasty Crazies Qonvention is going to be 5 days of The Great And Powerful DONALD speaking to a heavily medicated Qaudience without any interruptions.

  318. 318.

    James E Powell

    @Feathers:

    The people interviewed on camera at events for their comments are not randomly selected. The reporter or an assistant ask people what they think and if it’s what they’re looking for, they ask if they want to be on camera, then ask them to wait. It’s all a show and they wanted someone who was going to say what she said.

  320. 320.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Kay: I know a Q person distantly and it’s just profoundly sad, like worms invaded their brain. It started with fairly garden-variety anti-abortion stuff, but ever since the Q element got in, the things they say online just display more and more disordered thinking. Conspiracy connections where you can’t even tell what the implication is really supposed to be, it makes so little sense. Pun-like clang associations used as if they were evidence of something.

  321. 321.

    Kay

    Seems like Munchin was the mastermind behind fucking up the post office, so we’ll find that out at hearing. I wonder if he already has the sleazy privatization deal lined up. Probably!

  322. 322.

    Subsole

    @Kay: If, God willing, Biden wins there WILL be a spike in suicide among these people. Others will externalize their grief.

    I wish I were smart enough to figure out how to punish the people responsible.

  323. 323.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Sister Golden Bear: We don’t think so. We think we know who it is now. Who was doing the original drop – some shitposter looking for lulz on 4chan or Russian intelligence – we have no idea.

  325. 325.

    Mary G

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    @WaterGirl:

    @Anya:

    I was watching the DNC feed and they started an “after party” hosted by Andy Cohen of Bravo. He threw it to Tom, who I don’t really have an opinion on either way, but he had his phone and weak light source below his chin, giving a view up his nostrils with a flavor of the Blair Witch Project, and tried to do a comedy set of rules ending with quoting the Beastie Boys, and it was well meaning but sad. It reminded me of Marco Rubio or Paul Ryan.

  328. 328.

    bluehill

    @Adam L Silverman: Yeah I wondered if there was an overlap with the Proud Boogaloos. It does raise the question of how far back this goes – thinking of the report on domestic terrorism that caused repubs to freak out. Putting on my tinfoil hat, it also seems like police departments are ideal recruiting grounds.

    We really have been in a war these past four years, different kind of war, but still a series of battles for control of the country. All elections have consequences, but this one really does seem to have existential consequences.

  334. 334.

    Kay

    @Matt McIrvin:

    They have a kind of support group on Twitter for family members and friends of the cultists. It is sad. I’ve told this story before but I encountered them before I knew what they were. They basically stalked this woman here because they believed she had been trafficked out of Milwaukee as a child and sent to South America. They made this connection because there was a real little black girl who disappeared in Milwaukee so they just combined these two real people and jammed them into the conspiracy. The dates were all wrong, and the woman denied it, but they got enough traction locally that the sheriff (stupidly) got involved and the woman eventually consented to DNA testing just so they would leave her the fuck alone. She was, of course, not the person missing from Milwaukee and that’s the last I heard.

  335. 335.

    Another Scott

    @Adam L Silverman: It would make sense that people with agendas greater than getting clicks and views on YouTube would want to force the creators out.

    You’ve probably seen this before, but I found it interesting when I came across it today – https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/how-three-conspiracy-theorists-took-q-sparked-qanon-n900531 (from 2018):

    Meanwhile, Diaz kept making videos, racking up hundreds of thousands of views. Over the next several months, Diaz and the two moderators picked up tens of thousands of followers on Reddit and YouTube and added even more moderators to their 8chan and Reddit boards.

    They also began to break into what might be considered the mainstream of the conspiracy world. Conspiracy theorist Dr. Jerome Corsi, an Infowars editor and a best-selling author of books about the “deep state,” had taken an interest in Q and was decoding the messages on the Reddit board. In December, Pamphlet Anon and BaruchtheScribe even made an appearance on InfoWars.

    Corsi has since disavowed the Qanon conspiracy and called the current Q poster “a fraud,” citing a supposed takeover of the channel by someone posing as Q in April. But last week, facing backlash from his base, Corsi tweeted that he supports the Qanon movement and its supporters’ “excellent research.”

    Soon, as Diaz explained on her blog, their expanding crew was spending all their waking hours in chat rooms on the gaming-focused forum Discord analyzing and decoding Q messages and planning for a larger dissemination of Q’s message.

    It’s hard to see this thing surviving as a unified entity, but even if it splits up it will be dangerous to civil societies.

    Grrr…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  336. 336.

    Kattails

    @Adam L Silverman: Mercifully, Ghouliani’s visage did not pop up in my dreams last night. However we now have a Brothers Grimm-level bedtime cautionary tale to chew over.

    I’m being facetious, but once again the question is, how do we address this as a society? How do we deflect people from this path, and how do we clue the populace in to the very real dangers of this group, their aims, and tactics?

  340. 340.

    dww44

    @Kay: If Dems win the election, will we be able to stop/undo this destruction of the USPS?  While I have long been aware that the GOP, when in power, which is far too much, would privatize a pair of socks if they thought they could make money off it, this wholesale destruction just so upsets me.

    We gotta figure out some better protections.  Ways to shore up our democratic institutions when we have a  spineless and complicit Senate that refuses to perform its constitutional duties of oversight.

  341. 341.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Kay: There are similar groups on Reddit as well: http://www.reddit.com/r/QAnonCasualties is really sad and eye opening.

    What’s especially sad are the women posting about how Q has ruined their relationships, turning previously same but rightwing people into frothing madmen who obsess over Q and despise their wives and girlfriends for ‘being sheep’. The same story, over and over again.

  342. 342.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Kattails: We can’t. We’ve got the decade long discussed epistemic closure problem now combined with an epistemic overload problem. People who join new religions and cults, and the dividing line is not always clear between the two, as well as those who adopt conspiracy theories to help them make sense of the world and their lives are in many ways cognitively and emotionally like people who have been conned. Trying to get them to understand that they’re a mark and that they’ve been targeted and victimized – to give money, to do something they normally wouldn’t do, both, etc – is exceedingly difficult because the cognitive and emotional costs of admitting what has happened is very, very, very, very high. And given that in a society and state with a 1st amendment it is almost impossible to remove the information, the purveyors and manipulators of the information, and the information sources.

  344. 344.

    frosty

    I just watched Biden’s speech. I don’t know why some of you said he wasn’t an orator, because it was damned powerful. Well done Joe!

  346. 346.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Kattails: It’s hard even to argue against the Q stuff, because it makes so little sense that you can’t even construct a counterargument because you can’t tell what the argument is supposed to be in the first place. It’s like nailing jello to the wall.

  348. 348.

    JCJ

    @Geoduck:

    People entering Thailand have to quarantine for two weeks.  One flight has had 11 people test positive while in quarantine.  Other flights have had multiple cases.  These individuals may have already been infected prior to boarding, but I find this concerning

  349. 349.

    Matt McIrvin

    @dww44: What we need is Presidency/House/Senate, and then the Senate needs to dump the filibuster. So much of the current rot is because it’s been impossible for Congress to pass any significant legislation for the past decade.

    Lots of the institutional problems could be fixed easily if we could just pass a law. All those absurd, trollish attacks on the ACA, and the weird holes punched in it by the Court–all that could be patched up in a day if we could just pass simple legislative fixes. The fixes don’t happen because Republicans want it broken, that’s all.

  351. 351.

    Kent

    @dww44:

    @Kay: If Dems win the election, will we be able to stop/undo this destruction of the USPS?  While I have long been aware that the GOP, when in power, which is far too much, would privatize a pair of socks if they thought they could make money off it, this wholesale destruction just so upsets me.

    We gotta figure out some better protections.  Ways to shore up our democratic institutions when we have a  spineless and complicit Senate that refuses to perform its constitutional duties of oversight.

    If we win the white house and Senate we can do anything we want.

  355. 355.

    brantl

    @Geoduck: Unless you’re sterilizing the air, that’s a bug, not a feature. You have shared potentially virus-laden air with everyone on the plane.

  358. 358.

    Comrade Scrutinizer

    @Geoduck:

    I agree of course that you should mask up on a plane, but I read an article recently claiming that there have been surprisingly few COVID clusters centered around air travel, possibly because with modern systems the air on board gets entirely recycled every few minutes.

    Fixed it for you.

  360. 360.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Geoduck: I read an article recently claiming that there have been surprisingly few COVID clusters centered around air travel, possibly because with modern systems the air on board gets entirely recycled every few minutes.

    It also might have something to do with the fact that the humidity of air at operating altitude is practically 0%. Tends to dry out any airborne droplets & might deactivate the virus.

    (As a side note: Cabin air is sucked in toward the front of the plane & passes through to exit at the rear. So safest place to be from a virus-transmission standpoint is closest to the front. Of course, safest place from a crash standpoint is as far back as possible. You pays your ticket, you takes your choice…)

  361. 361.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @J R in WV: I prefer a football metaphor, but YMMV:

    Joe baited him into throwing to the sideline, jumped the route & took it to the house for a pick-6.

  362. 362.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @trnc: …one of the employees suggested – I kid you not – a screen door.

    No, no, your hearing (from decades of 300 dB listening no doubt) is so damaged you misunderstood: He said buy a scream door. //

    (Tl; dr version: Whut?)

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