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You are here: Home / Past Elections / 2020 Elections / Biden-Harris 2020 / Saturday Morning Open Thread: Build Back Better

Saturday Morning Open Thread: Build Back Better

by Anne Laurie|  August 22, 20207:53 am| 262 Comments

This post is in: Biden-Harris 2020, C.R.E.A.M., NANCY SMASH!, Proud to Be A Democrat

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VIDEO: Residents of The Villages, a large central Florida senior community, show growing support for the Biden-Harris presidential ticket a day after the Democratic National Convention wrapped up pic.twitter.com/OaqNZRGKRc

— AFP news agency (@AFP) August 22, 2020

NEW: ActBlue is receiving almost $20 million per day since Harris was announced as Biden's running mate. Before the announcement, ActBlue was processing an average of $8.5 million per day.

— United for the People ???? (@people4kam) August 21, 2020


NEWS: Joe Biden's campaign and the DNC raised $70 million during the convention.

Other stats:
— 122M people watched, including 35M streams. Another 128M views across Biden/convention social
— 1.1 million people texted 30330
— 700K uniques on IWillVotehttps://t.co/iIroALN2LX

— Eric Bradner (@ericbradner) August 21, 2020

If you want to plan your evenings next week…

NEW: The @DNC is planning to counter-program next week's Republican convention with specific messaging each night

Top surrogates they're deploying will include:@SpeakerPelosi @gretchenwhitmer @CoryBooker @PeteButtigieg @val_demings

— Johnny Verhovek (@JTHVerhovek) August 21, 2020

Counter-programming schedule for the @DNC and @JoeBiden's campaign next week

-Monday: Families in Crisis (Demings)
-Tuesday: Economy in Crisis (Whitmer + Booker)
-Wednesday: Health Care in Crisis (Pelosi)
-Thursday: Country in Crisis (Buttigieg)

— Johnny Verhovek (@JTHVerhovek) August 21, 2020

I wrote this about Joe Biden in November 2017, and regretfully wish I had referred to it every time I got distracted by Twitter during the Democratic primary https://t.co/mSHZPcNYHh

— Peter Hamby (@PeterHamby) August 21, 2020


As I and many others have said: Biden wasn’t my first choice this year, or my second, but I always liked him as a person and a Democrat. Given the plethora of choices — and the gravity of the challenge — maybe Good Old Joe Biden was the inevitable, correct choice after all:

… Politics is no longer about what’s in front of you. It’s about what’s on your screen. Alongside Obama and Clinton, Biden has been privy to three national campaigns that celebrated the use of technology and algorithms to target and persuade voters. But Biden is still like that football coach from the movies. He calls you “champ” and tells you to go for it on fourth and goal when every sane person in the crowd says kick the field goal. In other words, he remains a gut guy in a moneyball world. He remains a heart-on-his-sleeve Irish gabber who likes to quote William Butler Yeats, brags about his working relationships with Republicans from the late Strom Thurmond to Mitch McConnell, and isn’t afraid to talk openly, sometimes through tears, about the death and pain that have tainted his personal life. If he decides to run for president in 2020—a hypothetical that his recently published book and subsequent media tour seamlessly invite—Biden will test whether an old-school politician with old-school values can win the presidency in an increasingly young, technology-obsessed America that depressingly seems to prize combat over compromise.

Biden, for his part, seems genuinely conflicted about running, almost as tortured as he was in 2015, when he flirted with the prospect of joining the Democratic primary against Clinton, Bernie Sanders, and Martin O’Malley. He ultimately backed away, with Obama’s blessing, because the emotional wounds from the untimely death of his son Beau from cancer, the subject of his new book, Promise Me, Dad, were still too fresh. I asked Biden about the idea of running again a few weeks ago, after he delivered a talk about civility and bipartisanship at the University of Delaware alongside Ohio’s Republican governor, John Kasich, who seems likely to mount his own long-shot challenge against Trump in 2020. “I’m just not sure that it’s the appropriate thing for me to do,” Biden told me, haltingly…

What Biden knows but won’t say is that he is, by far, the most obvious vehicle for Democrats hungry to unseat Trump. Blessed by Obama, famous worldwide, and accustomed to the national stage, Biden could step right into a presidential contest with ease—and happily throw a punch at Trump with a grin and a wink before going out for ice cream with some bikers. Biden’s gut may not be there yet, but the data supports him. Among all Americans, Biden has a favorable rating of around 55 percent, about as good as it gets in our polarized times—especially for a politician known to pretty much every breathing American voter. Among Democrats, his numbers are golden: 74 percent of Democrats have a favorable view of him, according to a Morning Consult/Politico poll from this summer, far outpacing other names in the 2020 conversation like Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker, and Kamala Harris. No matter what he’s telling interviewers on his current book tour, Biden aides say privately that he’s paying close attention to how his possible rivals are approaching this unsettling political moment…

But if he runs, Biden will rely on what’s gotten him this far in life: an enduring conviction that personality and values are the only things that matter in politics. That a good story wins the day, that a certain set of ideals tether us together as Americans, and that above all else, character counts. The next year will likely determine whether that is woefully naive or the best message imaginable to defang Trump.

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Reader Interactions

262Comments

  1. 1.

    Ken

    August 22, 2020 at 8:04 am

    I don’t think they have folks confirmed that aren’t blood relatives.

    OK, that got a laugh, but I’m pretty sure I saw that McConnell will be appearing. Whether that’s still the case now that Trump is insisting everything be live is another matter. I can see McConnell backing out if Trump plans to have everyone in the ballroom of his DC hotel.

    Also, if it is at the hotel, be ready for another itemized bill full of $9900 charges for “room rental” and “catering fees”, as Trump transfers a few hundred thousand from the campaign fund to his own pockets.

  2. 2.

    Baud

    August 22, 2020 at 8:05 am

    Biden is the anti-Twitter.

  3. 3.

    germy

    August 22, 2020 at 8:06 am

    Rush Limbaugh is lying about Joe Biden's fine speech at the Democratic convention, saying it was recorded and that it seemed coherent only because it had been edited, and other blatant falsehoods

    What is not generally known is that Rush has been dead for some time…

    — John Cleese (@JohnCleese) August 22, 2020

  4. 4.

    debbie

    August 22, 2020 at 8:09 am

    @Ken:

    I hope commenters of sterner stuff will be watching it so I don’t have to. My anger has absolutely exhausted me.

  5. 5.

    germy

    August 22, 2020 at 8:10 am

    Another voter suppression scheme:

    The governor of Tennessee signed a bill that would punish some protesters with loss of voting rights.

    Really pinpointed suppression.

  6. 6.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    August 22, 2020 at 8:13 am

    @debbie: I hear you. I wonder if Wonkette will live blog it. I could do with some snark

  7. 7.

    Ken

    August 22, 2020 at 8:15 am

    @debbie: I’m going to wait for the blooper reels.

  8. 8.

    germy

    August 22, 2020 at 8:17 am

    All the heinous things that Bannon is responsible for and it’s a GoFundMe page that does him in.

    Mediocre till the very end. https://t.co/IkPHINQ5k2

    — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) August 20, 2020

  9. 9.

    germy

    August 22, 2020 at 8:19 am

    Late on Friday, CREW received Hope Hicks’ financial disclosure forms filed when she reentered the Trump administration. The forms show that her time away from the White House was lucrative for the once and future senior Trump aide. In less than a year and a half at Fox, Hicks made $1.9 million. When she left the White House in 2018, her only reported asset was less than $15,000 in a bank account.

    They take care of their own.

  10. 10.

    TS (the original)

    August 22, 2020 at 8:20 am

    @germy:

    These are the things that make one understand what democrats have to fight to win this election. Trump & the sycophants will do anything to stop their opposition voting.

  11. 11.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    August 22, 2020 at 8:24 am

    A tweet from Donald Trump this morning. This is insane. That cute little boy who said the Pledge is on video. We can see and hear for ourselves. I don’t understand this level of gaslighting.

    The Democrats took the word GOD out of the Pledge of Allegiance at the Democrat National Convention. At first I thought they made a mistake, but it wasn’t. It was done on purpose. Remember Evangelical Christians, and ALL, this is where they are coming from-it’s done. Vote Nov 3!

  12. 12.

    WereBear

    August 22, 2020 at 8:24 am

    “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all” so I am not saying anything about Limbaugh. Like Trump, there doesn’t seem to be anything nice to say.

    I have also been uplifted by the Democratic Convention successfully showing how it’s done. In a year when the stupidity embraced by the Republicans approaches dark matter* levels.

    *Thus, dark matter is estimated to constitute 84.5% of the total matter in the universe.

  13. 13.

    japa21

    August 22, 2020 at 8:25 am

    As I and others have said, Biden was my first choice from the moment he announced.

  14. 14.

    geg6

    August 22, 2020 at 8:25 am

    @germy:

    Say what you want about her, her Twitter game is outstanding.

  15. 15.

    WereBear

    August 22, 2020 at 8:26 am

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: That’s a great idea! Probably the way I’ll “watch” it. I have sent them money in the past, too, so my conscience remains clear :)

  16. 16.

    Baud

    August 22, 2020 at 8:26 am

    @japa21:

    You did good.  But Biden supporters were definitely a minority on this site.

  17. 17.

    MomSense

    August 22, 2020 at 8:29 am

    I’m going to watch his stupid CONvention and I’m going to mock the hell out of it. He’s a pathetic ignoranus and I want to see him in all his ridiculousness.

  18. 18.

    Chyron HR

    August 22, 2020 at 8:29 am

    @WereBear:

    “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all” so I am not saying anything about Limbaugh.

    Hey, he’s lost weight!  And uh… the beard makes him look like Philip K. Dick?

  19. 19.

    debbie

    August 22, 2020 at 8:29 am

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    Cedric is more faithful to the “Replublic” than that asshole. ??

  20. 20.

    japa21

    August 22, 2020 at 8:31 am

    @japa21: I know. But I have decided I am going to say that every time I read how Biden wasn’t the first, second or 22nd choice.

  21. 21.

    germy

    August 22, 2020 at 8:32 am

    @Chyron HR:

    I’m going to go really low here and predict Rush will be around ten years from now.

    I think he exaggerated the extent of his illness.  I know a lung cancer survivor.  He runs a bookstore near my home. Had part of his left lung removed eight years ago.

    Rush purposely made it sound like he’s at death’s door.  They probably did some surgery and chemo and told him to stop with the cigars.

  22. 22.

    Ken

    August 22, 2020 at 8:33 am

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: I assume a few dozen people have replied by embedding the videos of the recitations?

  23. 23.

    Baud

    August 22, 2020 at 8:34 am

    @japa21:

    Yeah, I thought that phrase had died an ignominious death.  I hate it and am sad to see it pop up again.

  24. 24.

    MattF

    August 22, 2020 at 8:34 am

    Biden’s big negative has always been his age. That’s the only real handle Republicans have to crank on, and that’s what they are doing. Limbaugh’s claim that Biden’s speech was taped and edited shows how desperate they are.

  25. 25.

    TS (the original)

    August 22, 2020 at 8:34 am

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    So many will believe him rather than make any effort to see what was said. Having a US president* who continually lies is mind numbing.

  26. 26.

    eclare

    August 22, 2020 at 8:36 am

    @germy:  Come sit six feet away from me.

  27. 27.

    Geminid

    August 22, 2020 at 8:37 am

    @WereBear: Attributed to TR’s daughter, Alice Roosevelt Longworth: “if you haven’t anything good to say about someone, come sit by me.”    As for Limbaugh, I’ll give him that he is consistent- in his sly mendacity.

  28. 28.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    August 22, 2020 at 8:37 am

    @Ken: Yes, and videos of the pledge that was said every night.

    @TS (the original): It’s crazy and frankly scary as hell.

  29. 29.

    OzarkHillbilly

    August 22, 2020 at 8:38 am

    @MomSense:  So… You’re a big fan of self flagellation. What kind of whips are you’re favorite?

    I’d rather have bamboo splinters shoved under my fingernails.

  30. 30.

    germy

    August 22, 2020 at 8:38 am

    @MattF: Limbaugh’s claim that Biden’s speech was taped and edited shows how desperate they are.

    Many of his listeners didn’t bother watching Biden’s speech.  They saw fragments on the right wing media.

    (Sort of like us not wanting to watch the RNC.  I personally can’t stand to see more than a few minutes of any trump speech.)

    It sounds like a ridiculous lie to us, but the republican base will believe it.

    There’s a conservative blogger on another site who admitted he didn’t watch any of the DNC, just the parts highlighted on Tucker Carlson’s show.  They’ll believe anything.

  31. 31.

    WereBear

    August 22, 2020 at 8:39 am

    @Geminid: Limbaugh, like Trump, is one of those contemporary Americans who are constantly quoted and in the news and yet I have never read anything GOOD about him.

    Not.

    One.

    Thing.

  32. 32.

    WereBear

    August 22, 2020 at 8:39 am

    @germy: I find your argument compelling and he’s certainly not above it.

  33. 33.

    JMG

    August 22, 2020 at 8:42 am

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: None of the people this tweet is aimed at watched the convention, and if shown the video, they’d call it fake news. Their paranoid stupidity is why they’re such easy marks. I mean, I understand the temptation to grift them, it offers big reward for no effort.

  34. 34.

    MomSense

    August 22, 2020 at 8:44 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    I’m just so tired of this nightmare and I want to see him fail.

  35. 35.

    MomSense

    August 22, 2020 at 8:47 am

    @germy:

    I don’t know any lung cancer survivors only people for whom it consumed them in the most horrific way.  I don’t believe anything Rush says.

  36. 36.

    O. Felix Culpa

    August 22, 2020 at 8:50 am

    @MomSense: I know one lung cancer survivor. Every other person I know who developed it was consumed, as you say.

  37. 37.

    SiubhanDuinne

    August 22, 2020 at 8:50 am

    Whoever recites the Pledge at the RNC, they’ll probably almost shout “under God.”

  38. 38.

    lowtechcyclist

    August 22, 2020 at 8:51 am

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: A tweet from Donald Trump this morning. This is insane. That cute little boy who said the Pledge is on video. We can see and hear for ourselves.

    Asha Rangappa handed Franklin Graham’s ass to him when he tried to make the same point:

    Graham: “In watching some of the @DemConvention on TV, it’s been interesting to see the absence of God. I don’t believe America’s finest hours will be in front of us if we take God out of gov’t & public life. It’s God who set the standards we’re to live by.”

    Rangappa: “It’s telling that people like @Franklin_Graham only think God is present if you say the word “God,” or quote a bunch of Bible verses or attack other faiths. When God is actually *reflected* — in kindness, empathy, compassion, and love — they can’t see it at all.”

    https://twitter.com/AshaRangappa_/status/1296813742966153217

  39. 39.

    MomSense

    August 22, 2020 at 8:51 am

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    If anything he took Republic  out of the Pledge in the cutest possible way.

  40. 40.

    Matt McIrvin

    August 22, 2020 at 8:51 am

    @japa21: The people saying this are trying to pull in and reassure fellow supporters of other candidates by stating their progressive bona fides. If we can grit our teeth and accept neocons joining our side, we can do the same for liberals who never liked Biden that much.

    I went from thinking Biden was vastly overrated early in this cycle to thinking he was being underrated, especially in the days right before the Iowa caucus. After Iowa, there was this insane period when Biden seemed done and everybody seemed to think it was turning into a two-man race between Bernie Sanders and Mike Bloomberg–probably the low point of the primary campaign. But Biden pulled it out on the basis of the trust he’s built with the real Democratic base (which is not a bunch of white Bernie/Warren progressives), and I respect that.

  41. 41.

    OzarkHillbilly

    August 22, 2020 at 8:51 am

    @MomSense: Same here, but I’m not going to subject myself to every painful, dehumanizing, slo-mo moment of it. I have better things to do, like catalogue my belly button lint collection. ;-)

  42. 42.

    Winston

    August 22, 2020 at 8:52 am

    AS A NON-PARTISAN POLL MONITOR
    The Election Protection Coalition is mobilizing thousands of volunteers to help our fellow Americans navigate the voting process and cast their votes without obstruction, confusion, or intimidation. Will you sign up to be one of them?

    VOLUNTEER NOW 

    Signed up for this this morning. The idea is to counter the RNC army of elections suppressions this November.

  43. 43.

    O. Felix Culpa

    August 22, 2020 at 8:52 am

    Another response to Kamala’s nomination and the DNC convention is a marked uptick in volunteer sign-ups. We already had a pretty good volunteer base, but it’s always good to get more, and we’ve received LOTS of new inquiries this week.

  44. 44.

    Joe Falco

    August 22, 2020 at 8:53 am

    @MomSense:

    Hopefully, the few Republicans left that can still feel shame will watch as well, and, having seen the difference between their convention and the Democrats’, they will either vote for Biden or at least refrain from voting for President Harkonnen.

  45. 45.

    Betty Cracker

    August 22, 2020 at 8:54 am

    @germy: I wouldn’t put it past Limbaugh to lie about something like that, but my guess is he’ll be taking a dirt nap inside a year. He does not look well.

  46. 46.

    germy

    August 22, 2020 at 8:55 am

    @O. Felix Culpa:  RBG had surgery for lung cancer.

    For years I thought a lung cancer diagnosis was a death sentence.  Then I became acquainted with the bookstore guy who told me about his operation.  I’d had no idea.

  47. 47.

    artem1s

    August 22, 2020 at 8:55 am

    @germy:

    The governor of Tennessee signed a bill that would punish some protesters with loss of voting rights

    F**K John Roberts and his smarmy ruling on preclearance not being necessary anymore. Good news RGB’s dissent lines up an appeal to overturn that POS ruining.  This hot mess could be the perfect case to make it happen. I can’t imagine the Dems, SPLC or NAACP isn’t going to jump on this immediately.

    It will never end until preclearance is restored and for all 50 states, not just the original 17.

  48. 48.

    WereBear

    August 22, 2020 at 8:55 am

    @JMG: I was reading about how people get out of cults, and the way it was framed shows the resistance to “waking up” that is operating to keep them in.

    Cult Follower becomes part of their identity. What used to be a more difficult task of isolation is now it helped along by Right Wing Media, cultural appropriations like the travesty that is Christian Rock, and the already hermetically sealed communities so common in the rural parts of the nation.

    The Wingnut and Fundie/Evangelical wing has merged and there’s all kinds of corporate money and effort to keep them there.

    It’s a science fiction-sized problem, and I think it will require a science fiction-sized solution.

  49. 49.

    hueyplong

    August 22, 2020 at 8:55 am

    Shouldn’t we just assume that the projection-happy GOPers are accusing Biden of editing s recorded speech because that’s exactly what they plan to do for Trump next week?

    Oh, wait, that assumes a plan.

    Nevermind.

  50. 50.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    August 22, 2020 at 8:56 am

    @O. Felix Culpa: A neighbor is in remission from lung cancer. It’s apparently in the lining of her lungs. That’s what she tells me, anyway. I am lucky enough that I’ve never had to learn about it.

  51. 51.

    Winston

    August 22, 2020 at 8:57 am

    I’m going to watch the RNC just so I can say it sucks on facebook every night.

  52. 52.

    Ken

    August 22, 2020 at 8:57 am

    @hueyplong: Great time for a technical glitch, especially if it makes Trump sound like Max Headroom.

  53. 53.

    Ken

    August 22, 2020 at 8:59 am

    @Winston: You don’t have to watch it to say that it sucks on FB.

  54. 54.

    O. Felix Culpa

    August 22, 2020 at 9:01 am

    @germy:

    RBG had surgery for lung cancer.

    Oh yes, another in her catalog of illnesses survived. We HAVE to win this election, not least so that RBG can retire in peace.

  55. 55.

    Winston

    August 22, 2020 at 9:02 am

    There are different strains of Lung cancer. Large cell is the least deadly if you catch it early. But my brother was diagnosed as stage 4 and died four months later. The most deadly is small cell. My wife had that and lasted 9 months. They both died within 6 days of each other. I was a mess for three years. Still am, I guess.

  56. 56.

    JPL

    August 22, 2020 at 9:02 am

    trump already said the republican convention is going to be the darkest, gloomiest and angriest of any convention ever.

  57. 57.

    O. Felix Culpa

    August 22, 2020 at 9:03 am

    @Winston: Oh, how awful. Sending virtual {{{hugs}}}.

  58. 58.

    Joe Falco

    August 22, 2020 at 9:03 am

    @WereBear: I’m already prepared for the possibility for someone to tear off Trump’s face mask on TV and reveal him as a lizard person a la V. Although that still might not be enough to be a solution.

  59. 59.

    OzarkHillbilly

    August 22, 2020 at 9:03 am

    @Winston: I can say it sucks every night without watching it.

  60. 60.

    JPL

    August 22, 2020 at 9:05 am

    @Winston: You have had enough pain in your life, don’t watch.   Put on War of the Worlds, it will be more uplifting.

  61. 61.

    Ken

    August 22, 2020 at 9:05 am

    @JPL: trump already said the republican convention is going to be the darkest, gloomiest and angriest of any convention ever.

    I think you’re inferring that. What he actually said was that it was going to be all about him, and he’d be speaking every night.

  62. 62.

    OzarkHillbilly

    August 22, 2020 at 9:05 am

    @Winston:  A friend of mine got it and lasted 3 days. Literally. He was diagnosed and told, “You don’t even have a week.”

  63. 63.

    Matt McIrvin

    August 22, 2020 at 9:06 am

    @JPL: Americans are the Martians in that story.

  64. 64.

    eclare

    August 22, 2020 at 9:06 am

    @Winston: Oh I am so sorry.

  65. 65.

    MomSense

    August 22, 2020 at 9:08 am

    @Winston: 
    Sending all the hugs your way.

  66. 66.

    sdhays

    August 22, 2020 at 9:08 am

    It’s so fitting that the Democratic Party has a schedule for the RNC before the RNC does.

  67. 67.

    Geminid

    August 22, 2020 at 9:09 am

    @Joe Falco: My phantasy is trump’s face suddenly blurring, and a forked tongue flicking out.  Then, back to “normal.”

  68. 68.

    WereBear

    August 22, 2020 at 9:09 am

    @Joe Falco: I have often thought of that too!

    Of course, I’m a fan, and bought both DVDs.

  69. 69.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    August 22, 2020 at 9:09 am

    @Winston: OMG, I am so sorry.

  70. 70.

    Another Scott

    August 22, 2020 at 9:09 am

    For the taco trucks…

    When I called one elector for Kanye West in Virginia, she asked me "Is this a joke?"

    When I replied no, she exclaimed "Holy Guacamole." https://t.co/k671a4Hfb5

    — Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) August 22, 2020

    (via NotLarrySabato)

    Another related tweet says that Ye would have gotten 1% of the national popular vote and hurt Donnie more than Biden, FWThat’sW.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  71. 71.

    Winston

    August 22, 2020 at 9:09 am

    @Ken: True. I’ll watch some of it though.

  72. 72.

    MomSense

    August 22, 2020 at 9:11 am

    @Ken:

    He is so delusional.  How are they going to adjust his meds if he has to speak every night during the convention?  Whoops last night we went a bit heavy on the benzos, better up the adderall tonight. Then he’ll be huffing and puffing and sweating.

  73. 73.

    Mo Salad

    August 22, 2020 at 9:15 am

    @germy:

     

    What is not generally known is that Rush has been dead for some time…

    — John Cleese (@JohnCleese) August 22, 2020

    Well, if he can diagnose a parrot, he can diagnose a pariah, I guess.

  74. 74.

    O. Felix Culpa

    August 22, 2020 at 9:16 am

    @MomSense: On a completely other note, we LOVED Maine’s presentation during the roll call. Ms. O and I have been planning our post-COVID vacation for next year (girls can dream!). We’re thinking of Maine, mid-coast around Bath. Is that an area you’d recommend? Living in the southwest, vacationing in a place with water sounds sooo enticing. I haven’t been to the coast of Maine since the early 1980’s, so a trip there is long overdue.

  75. 75.

    Geminid

    August 22, 2020 at 9:23 am

    @MomSense: I think that when trump’s meds are optimally adjusted, he just sounds like he’s channeling Humprey Bogart’s Fred C. Dobbs from the Treasure of the Sierra Madre. But if the dosage is too strong he starts channeling Captain Queeg from The Caine Mutiny.

  76. 76.

    Winston

    August 22, 2020 at 9:24 am

    It’s a terrible, cruel disease. Thanks for your hugs and thoughts. They both had severe metastatic spread to their brains and that was the worst of it. The dementia. It’s been six years now and I’m getting along, okay. Getting old is the pits. Seems like someone I’ve known dies every month now.

  77. 77.

    JPL

    August 22, 2020 at 9:28 am

    @MomSense: Yesterday he said that you needed a photo I.D to attend the virtual democratic convention.   He rambled on about the election also.     The audience laughed at the mention of the I.D.  and I can’t tell if they were laughing at him or not .     link

  78. 78.

    artem1s

    August 22, 2020 at 9:29 am

    @Ken:

    it was going to be all about him, and he’d be speaking every night.

    I watched most of it 4 years ago.  The party was still controlled by the usual trolls and they actually planned it. It still had the feeling of disconnection from humanity that RMoney’s convention had.  As I recall, the only demand the nominee made was that the platform be revised to include ending the sanctions against Russia.  And it was still a hot mess of hatred, hyperbole, and stank of desperation.  I imagine it will be exponentially worse this year with Jared’’s exceptional white man stink all over it. I suppose it’s good news is that they are acquiescing to Trump’s demand to produce a week long Apprentice marathon. And the Orange Plague thinks the key to a successful convention is his ratings. Gonna fail there too -oh well,

  79. 79.

    Winston

    August 22, 2020 at 9:30 am

    I’m looking forward to being a poll monitor this election. Since I’m voting by mail, I’ll have all day to hang out and harass GOP intimidators.

  80. 80.

    TS (the original)

    August 22, 2020 at 9:31 am

    @MomSense:

    I know a long term lung cancer survivor but it was caught very early (He went for tests for something completely different & the docs accidentally found the cancer). My understanding is that it hides well and by the time it is diagnosed it is often too late for a cure. No idea where Rush fits in this scale.

  81. 81.

    JMG

    August 22, 2020 at 9:31 am

    @O. Felix Culpa: Maine is very beautiful and you’ll love it. Acadia is probably my favorite national park.

  82. 82.

    MomSense

    August 22, 2020 at 9:32 am

    @O. Felix Culpa:

    YES!!! The two most amazing beaches in Maine are there, Popham and Reid State Parks.  You have to go to Five Islands Lobster.  There is a beautiful Audubon trail Hamilton Farm Preserve in West Bath (go when the tide is in) and Bowdoin Coastal Studies Center is an amazing place to walk.

    Damariscotta is picture perfect as is the lighthouse at Pemaquid.

    Its only an hour’s drive north from Bath to Rockland and then Rockport and Camden are just past it.  Camden Hills State Park has some of the best views from the top of either Mt. Battie or Mt. Megunticook. Millay’s poem Renascence starts and ends with the view from Megunticook.

    If you are in the area of the Steam and Sail Power Museum and hear guitars, stop and introduce yourself as a balloon-juicer.
    Owls Head has an amazing lighthouse.  Birch Point State Park has a nice beach but walking along the ledges next to the ocean is a really special experience.
    I have a million more things to see and do if there is something in particular you are interested in.

  83. 83.

    MomSense

    August 22, 2020 at 9:39 am

    @O. Felix Culpa:

    Forgot to mention Craig.  We met at the 2008 Dem convention and discovered we were both former dancers while we were both grooving to Aretha.  He lives near lake Maranacook which is an especially beautiful lake.  There is a train that goes through sometimes, but mostly just eagles and loons and people kayaking and boating.  You can rent cottages at Tallwood.  Very beautiful place.

  84. 84.

    geg6

    August 22, 2020 at 9:41 am

    @MomSense:

    My brother is (so far!) surviving lung cancer.  It’s been 3 years since he was diagnosed.

  85. 85.

    SFAW

    August 22, 2020 at 9:41 am

    @WereBear:

    “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all” so I am not saying anything about Limbaugh.

    OK, I’ll try to do it for you:

    I think it would be nice of Limbaugh to kick off from a drug-induced stroke or heart attack, shortly after having a “Lee Atwater deathbed conversion” moment.

    Does that work?

  86. 86.

    MomSense

    August 22, 2020 at 9:41 am

    @Geminid:

    Those descriptions are perfect.

  87. 87.

    narya

    August 22, 2020 at 9:41 am

    My reservations (during the primaries) about Biden were the Anita Hill hearings and the constant trumpeting of Working Across the Aisle (because those days are gone for now); that said, I was always going to support whoever the nominee turned out to be (except Tulsi). What brought me around were the black folks who supported him–in part because of the way he served under Obama. And I was hoping (very very hard) that the veep would be Kamala, because she was one of my top two in the primaries. (Warren was the other one, but I didn’t want to see two older folks on the ticket together.) What I appreciate about him is his willingness to learn, and his decency. The absolute joy that Biden and Harris have been radiating, along with fierce determination, is a delight to see.

  88. 88.

    narya

    August 22, 2020 at 9:42 am

    @Winston: My dad (who will be 90 in September) says that most people his age are dead.

  89. 89.

    Ken

    August 22, 2020 at 9:44 am

    @SFAW: Close, but could you work in something embarrassing with an underage prostitute?  If rumor is to be believed, Rush has a history of sex tourism.

  90. 90.

    MomSense

    August 22, 2020 at 9:44 am

    @geg6:

    I hope he beats it!!! The people I’ve known all probably got it from years of radon exposure.  Part of the reason they weren’t diagnosed until it was too late is because they weren’t smokers.  They even said that once they were diagnosed almost all of the health care providers they interacted with asked them questions that all assumed they had been smokers.

  91. 91.

    JPL

    August 22, 2020 at 9:45 am

    Thanks guys, now I want lobster.

  92. 92.

    SFAW

    August 22, 2020 at 9:46 am

    @MomSense:

    Owls Head has an amazing lighthouse.  Birch Point State Park has a nice beach but walking along the ledges next to the ocean is a really special experience.

    And across the bay from Owls Head is the (no longer operating) Rockland lighthouse, at the end of a three-quarters-mile-long breakwater. We used to rent a cottage almost directly across from it, walked the breakwater a couple of times, including with our then-infant/toddler daughter

     

    ETA: The Rockland light was non-operational when we were last there, more than 20 years ago, so they may have restarted it (or whatever the right term is).

  93. 93.

    O. Felix Culpa

    August 22, 2020 at 9:48 am

    @MomSense: Wow oh wow oh wow. I can’t wait! Your descriptions sound scrumptious. I will definitely get in touch when our fantasy trip gets closer to being realized. Fingers crossed the Biden administration gets this plague under control quickly. I want to go to Maine!!!

  94. 94.

    Ken

    August 22, 2020 at 9:48 am

    @narya: Considering that there are about 7.8 billion people now, and estimates put the total number that have ever lived at around 100 billion, that’s true for all ages.

  95. 95.

    SFAW

    August 22, 2020 at 9:48 am

    @JPL:

    Thanks guys, now I want lobster.

    Well, I might be able to head up to Bayley’s, maybe bring you back a pound-and-a-half one. It’s a two-hour drive, but I’d consider it.

  96. 96.

    JPL

    August 22, 2020 at 9:48 am

    News of the day, that will be forgotten by lunch.

    A California court ordered President Trump to pay $44,100 to Stephanie Clifford, the adult film actress known as Stormy Daniels, to cover her legal fees regarding her nondisclosure agreement.

  97. 97.

    Ken

    August 22, 2020 at 9:48 am

    @JPL: News of the day, that will be forgotten by lunch.

    Because it will be overtaken by something worse.

  98. 98.

    Frankensteinbeck

    August 22, 2020 at 9:51 am

    @WereBear:

    the already hermetically sealed communities so common in the rural parts of the nation.

    People talk about the rise of the internet creating a bubble, but it broke those bubbles.  They were all-powerful, and they were sadistic enforcers of conformity.  Their greatest strength was the victims not knowing other options existed.  The internet let millions of the abused learn that they were not alone.  The Nazis already knew they weren’t alone, and their victims used to have no one to complain to or even know they could complain.

    @Joe Falco:

    I’m already prepared for the possibility for someone to tear off Trump’s face mask on TV and reveal him as a lizard person a la V.

    I am not expecting it, but the level of incompetence and abusing the help in the GOP has reached a point where it’s plausible the video editors will deliberately screw up the show.

    @narya:

    What brought me around were the black folks who supported him

    Black women have been consistently saving me from my own deranged asshole demographic, and I swore this election to support whoever they chose and have faith they would be right.  I did, and they were.

  99. 99.

    trnc

    August 22, 2020 at 9:51 am

    @lowtechcyclist: Rangappa: “It’s telling that people like@Franklin_Graham only think God is present if you say the word “God,” or quote a bunch of Bible verses or attack other faiths. When God is actually *reflected* — in kindness, empathy, compassion, and love — they can’t see it at all.”

    All true, but also important to note there were plenty of explicit references to God, including by the candidates.

  100. 100.

    SFAW

    August 22, 2020 at 9:51 am

    @Ken:

    Close, but could you work in something embarrassing with an underage prostitute?  If rumor is to be believed, Rush has a history of sex tourism.

    Part of that rumor included underage boys. I think it was in the Dominican, maybe? but I’m probably wrong about the location.

  101. 101.

    narya

    August 22, 2020 at 9:52 am

    @Ken: I will tell him that; he will be amused.

  102. 102.

    OzarkHillbilly

    August 22, 2020 at 9:52 am

    @Ken: He was caught with a bottle of viagra that wasn’t his at an airport after a return flight from, iirc Guatemala once.

  103. 103.

    OzarkHillbilly

    August 22, 2020 at 9:52 am

    Funny Picture: A wild boar and its two newborns in Teufelssee in Grunewald, Berlin, where it was recently chased by a naked man after stealing his laptop The state forestry office has announced it will keep a close eye on the animals because of possible risks to humans

    Just like people at a 2nd hand clothing store: “Oooo… this will look just darling on you, Esmeralda.”

  104. 104.

    JPL

    August 22, 2020 at 9:52 am

    @SFAW: There was a restaurant a few blocks from me, that had lobster, but it didn’t survive the pandemic.   They had wonderful oysters also.

  105. 105.

    MomSense

    August 22, 2020 at 9:53 am

    @SFAW:

    I love that lighthouse and have walked the breakwater many times but my favorite thing is to kayak to it.  My dad took my son out there and one of his friends opened it up for them so they could climb around inside. I’m not comfortable enough with ladders to do that.

  106. 106.

    rikyrah

    August 22, 2020 at 9:54 am

    @germy: ????

  107. 107.

    rikyrah

    August 22, 2020 at 9:55 am

    Good Morning, Everyone ???

  108. 108.

    O. Felix Culpa

    August 22, 2020 at 9:56 am

    @rikyrah: Good morning! You sleep in today? ;)

  109. 109.

    rikyrah

    August 22, 2020 at 9:56 am

    @geg6:

    ????

  110. 110.

    JPL

    August 22, 2020 at 9:58 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: He’s the slut.

  111. 111.

    MomSense

    August 22, 2020 at 9:58 am

    Ok jackals.  I’m actually headed out to pick up lobsters and drive up to see the kids and celebrate the engagement before the happy couple goes back to CT. The lobbies are cheaper per pound than steak and the antibiotic free chicken.

  112. 112.

    SFAW

    August 22, 2020 at 9:59 am

    @MomSense:

    He lives near lake Maranacook which is an especially beautiful lake.

    To my chagrin, I first heard about Maranacook about five years ago. I heard it’s pretty clean, and I think the water quality numbers/measurements bear that out, but it’s a little far from Portland (work) and Sebago (close friends). I’m a little partial to Thompson, but I don’t have a rich uncle who can front me the money for a down payment for there. Maranacook, Pleasant, Crescent, Tripp, Panther all see to be about the size I want, but unless I sell the kids …

    Damn, now I want to take a drive up there today. I blame JPL. And Ozark, of course, but I blame him for everything.

  113. 113.

    Immanentize

    August 22, 2020 at 10:00 am

    @Winston: Three years for me last week too, brother.  Three hard years.
    Still a mess, but it has gone from horrible to terrible to not so bad — so the arc is in the right direction. I hope that you are on a similar (long) slope.

  114. 114.

    OzarkHillbilly

    August 22, 2020 at 10:01 am

    @SFAW: I’ll tell you the same thing I tell my wife: “It’s a dirty job but somebody’s got to take the blame and that’s what I’m here for.”

  115. 115.

    SFAW

    August 22, 2020 at 10:02 am

    @JPL:

    I’m sure you’ve mentioned it before, but I can’t recall: in which part of the country are you located?

  116. 116.

    OzarkHillbilly

    August 22, 2020 at 10:02 am

    @JPL: That’s an insult to sluts everywhere.

  117. 117.

    SFAW

    August 22, 2020 at 10:02 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    You’n’me both, kid.

  118. 118.

    JPL

    August 22, 2020 at 10:04 am

    @SFAW: Roswell, GA, home to Tom and Betty Price.

  119. 119.

    Suzy

    August 22, 2020 at 10:05 am

    @MattF: Limbaugh is helping set the expectations low for Joe Biden in the debates. I don’t have anything against it.

  120. 120.

    rikyrah

    August 22, 2020 at 10:05 am

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    Under God was quite clearly said ???

  121. 121.

    SFAW

    August 22, 2020 at 10:05 am

    @JPL:

    So going to Maine for lobstah is not exactly a day trip for you.

  122. 122.

    SFAW

    August 22, 2020 at 10:07 am

    @rikyrah:

    Under God was quite clearly said

    If it was the Cedric Raymond version, absolutely. Of course, I am no longer surprised when they lie about anything/everything, even little kids.

  123. 123.

    MomSense

    August 22, 2020 at 10:07 am

    @SFAW:

    Check out Clearwater.

  124. 124.

    trnc

    August 22, 2020 at 10:09 am

    This is pissing me right the fuck off.

    “It took seven years for Democrats to articulate that Black lives matter. Now, the country is watching to see if and how they will close the gap between symbolism and substance,” said Alicia Garza, another co-founder of the Black Lives Matter movement and head of the voter engagement group Black Futures Lab.

    Bullshit!

    https://time.com/4228135/president-obama-black-lives-matter-civil-rights-meeting/

    https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/06/29/obama-police-reform-341685

    If you don’t think someone is paying attention to you while giving you an oval office meeting AND while introducing significant police reforms, maybe find another line of work. I hope most people aren’t falling for Garza’s bullshit.

    Someone feel free to point out if this is just Politico being its usual suck-ass self and if they’re taking Garza out of context.

  125. 125.

    NotMax

    August 22, 2020 at 10:10 am

    Recently viewed on Netflix, The Exception. Decent enough watch, albeit much of it is by the numbers. Mentioning it in particular for consummate professional Christopher Plummer’s (87 at the time) subtly incandescent performance.

  126. 126.

    JPL

    August 22, 2020 at 10:11 am

    @SFAW:  When we lived in TX, a neighbor knew we were traveling to New England and said why not stay in our camp for a few days.   She gave us the keys, and it was on ten acres on the coast of Blue Hill.   We caught plenty of clams, mussels and went to town to buy the lobster.   Best vacation ever.   Look out the front window and see the ocean, and look out the back and spot deer.

  127. 127.

    Chief Oshkosh

    August 22, 2020 at 10:11 am

    @O. Felix Culpa: Sprucehead, Rockland, Rockport, Camden, on up to Acadia. It’s all good, but that stretch gives you some rustic pockets juxtaposed to population centers big enough to have good restaurants, some museums, and other sites. Yes, touristy, but hey, you’re going to be a tourist!

  128. 128.

    O. Felix Culpa

    August 22, 2020 at 10:13 am

    @Immanentize: Sending virtual hugs to you too. It’s a long hard slog. I’m glad the arc is bending positively even if slowly for you.

  129. 129.

    OzarkHillbilly

    August 22, 2020 at 10:14 am

    @Chief Oshkosh: “If it’s tourist season, why can’t we shoot them?”

  130. 130.

    JPL

    August 22, 2020 at 10:15 am

    @NotMax: Thank you for the recommendation.   Added to my list so that I can watch next week.

  131. 131.

    O. Felix Culpa

    August 22, 2020 at 10:16 am

    This is worth watching: #TheyKnew

    No surprises for any of us, but it highlights the craven complicity of “conservatives.”

  132. 132.

    SFAW

    August 22, 2020 at 10:17 am

    @JPL:

    When we lived in TX, a neighbor knew we were traveling to New England and said why not stay in our camp for a few days.   She gave us the keys, and it was on ten acres on the coast of Blue Hill.

    Although it’s not exclusive to Maine, I’ve come across numerous Mainiacs who use “camp” in the same way that The Breakers was referred to as a “cottage.”

  133. 133.

    SFAW

    August 22, 2020 at 10:20 am

    @MomSense:

    Check out Clearwater.

    First time I’ve seen that name. Seems a little far for my/our wants. [I’m looking at Rome and Belgrade, and even those are a little far up for us.] But thanks for the recommendation.

  134. 134.

    rikyrah

    August 22, 2020 at 10:20 am

    The Villages parade???

  135. 135.

    CaseyL

    August 22, 2020 at 10:21 am

    The people who still believe Limbaugh and Trump aren’t the ones the Democrats are going after. They won’t in a zillion years vote for a Democrat, no matter what. Why waste resources on them?

    The DNC emphasized disaffected GOPers in the convention for a reason: to reach out to the maybe 3% of GOP voters who are horrified by Trump; horrified enough to consider voting for Biden, or to not vote at all. 3% doesn’t sound like much, but Trump “won” in 2016 by an infinitesimal sliver of votes. 3% switching could make a huge difference.

  136. 136.

    Suzy

    August 22, 2020 at 10:21 am

    Good for the Democratic Party to plan a “policy-centered” counter-programming during the RNC.

    HOWEVER, my big worry is that the RNC will use a LOT of its prime time non-stop coverage to publicize the smears against Mr. Biden and his son Hunter. Doctored audio tapes, heavily edited videotapes of Mr. Biden and the like. Heck I think that they might even give a platform to Mrs Reade, whose credibility is now down the toilet.

    Since the networks have covered the DNC without much interruption for commentary, will they do the same during the RNC ?  Despite the fact that so much of the content during the RNC will be a bunch of lies and smears ? How will the media avoid being the vehicle of disinformation ?????? They’ve learned a little bit during the Trump presidency, but old habits die hard.

    I’m confident that the Biden campaign is well aware of what might happen. I hope their plan to counter it will be effective.

  137. 137.

    JPL

    August 22, 2020 at 10:22 am

    @SFAW: It actually was a small cape.   He was an oil guy with several overseas assignments, so for a long time, it was their only home.   She would live there during the summers with their children.   I can’t imagine what that property would go for now.   On that property, a tent would have been fine.

  138. 138.

    eclare

    August 22, 2020 at 10:22 am

    @Frankensteinbeck: I said from the beginning I would support whoever won SC.

  139. 139.

    Stacib

    August 22, 2020 at 10:25 am

    @japa21: mine, too. There were some scary days during the first three primaries, and I was nervous he wouldn’t make it to SC where women that look like me could have their say.  Now, I’m trying to get on the Kamala train as his running mate. In not a fan of her.

  140. 140.

    Kropacetic

    August 22, 2020 at 10:27 am

    @japa21: I know. But I have decided I am going to say that every time I read how Biden wasn’t the first, second or 22nd choice.

    Whatever.  Biden was the absolute last person I ever wanted.  Doesn’t matter.  I’m all in

    @germy: (Sort of like us not wanting to watch the RNC.  I personally can’t stand to see more than a few minutes of any trump speech.)

    It’s been three hours and he hasn’t moved off this ad-lib about his water glass.

  141. 141.

    SFAW

    August 22, 2020 at 10:27 am

    @JPL:

    Sounds wonderful.

    My grandparents had beachfront in southern ME, I wish I had had the $$$ to buy it when they died. Although it’ll be underwater by the time my kids reach my age.

  142. 142.

    Kropacetic

    August 22, 2020 at 10:32 am

    @SiubhanDuinne: Whoever recites the Pledge at the RNC, they’ll probably almost shout “under God.”

    Grabs camera, looks aggressively right into the lens, drops voice a couple octaves, “under God…”

    Then “forgets” about liberty and justice for all.

  143. 143.

    Baud

    August 22, 2020 at 10:32 am

    @rikyrah: Good morning.

  144. 144.

    Brooklyn Dodger

    August 22, 2020 at 10:33 am

    @Baud: I think we were all being quiet.

  145. 145.

    Sab

    August 22, 2020 at 10:37 am

    @JMG: Subpar Parks on Acadia: “The water is ice cold.”

  146. 146.

    chopper

    August 22, 2020 at 10:40 am

    @Geminid:

    roddy piper made me put on these sunglasses and then hoo-boy, lemme tell ya

  147. 147.

    Immanentize

    August 22, 2020 at 10:44 am

    @SFAW: 
    It is for me!

  148. 148.

    Baud

    August 22, 2020 at 10:45 am

    @Brooklyn Dodger:

    Never do that. In 2016, many Hillary supporters believed the better part of valor required staying quiet rather than risk animosity by fighting back.  In hindsight, that was a mistake.

  149. 149.

    Kropacetic

    August 22, 2020 at 10:45 am

    @Stacib: Now, I’m trying to get on the Kamala train as his running mate. In not a fan of her.

    But some people who aren’t fans of Biden like her.  Trust me.

  150. 150.

    O. Felix Culpa

    August 22, 2020 at 10:47 am

    @Immanentize: Hmmph. Show-off.

  151. 151.

    debbie

    August 22, 2020 at 10:48 am

    @artem1s:

    Five bucks says there will be dry ice every night.

  152. 152.

    Immanentize

    August 22, 2020 at 10:48 am

    @O. Felix Culpa: if you are going to Maine. I am meeting you there!

  153. 153.

    Winston

    August 22, 2020 at 10:50 am

    My only complaint about Biden is I wish he would find a barber who could do a good taper.

  154. 154.

    O. Felix Culpa

    August 22, 2020 at 10:51 am

    @Immanentize: That would be awesomeness of the highest degree!

  155. 155.

    CaseyL

    August 22, 2020 at 10:56 am

    @Winston: Thank you!  I’ve been signing up with anyone who says they’ll help with overcoming voter intimidation/suppression, and have not yet heard back from any of them.  So I signed up with this organization, too.

    (It would just me my luck to hear back from every single one all at once!)

  156. 156.

    Brooklyn Dodger

    August 22, 2020 at 10:56 am

    @Baud: Well I should say, for me it was mostly out of shyness and not being confident or practiced in publicly expressing words of support. Did have some passionate conversations with friends and family offline. You are right about the anonymity problem, as I currently walk among folks who have for many years had appalling views and worse understanding of how things work. Working on my script. //

  157. 157.

    Winston

    August 22, 2020 at 10:58 am

    WorldOMeter.info reported 179,200 deaths in the USA Friday night. The RNC will be faced Monday with 180,000. I wonder if Trump will criticize Michelle for continuing to underestimate his carnage?

  158. 158.

    Feathers

    August 22, 2020 at 10:58 am

    I finally had to mute the rose twitter in my feed. Calling Biden “pedo-hands” was what finally did it. They also announced that they were blocking Biden apologists and anyone who said withholding their vote from Biden was a vote for Trump. Sigh. They follow me, so I’m going to check periodically to see if I’m blocked.

    I lived through the Satanic panic/daycare ritual abuse/recovered memories years. This all feels like another round of that. The curtain lifts on the reality of sexual abuse. There is a real reckoning with the damage done, but also a substantial freak out that erases the real victims. A fantastical “abuse world” is created where adherents can bathe themselves in glory fighting imaginary child abuse, hurting innocents all the while. And, of course, there are people doing very well for themselves playing these folks for suckers.

  159. 159.

    Kropacetic

    August 22, 2020 at 10:58 am

    @Brooklyn Dodger: There’s no substitute for practice.

  160. 160.

    WaterGirl

    August 22, 2020 at 10:59 am

    @MomSense: If you want to live blog it, we can put up a post for you.  :-)

  161. 161.

    Immanentize

    August 22, 2020 at 11:00 am

    @debbie:

    I still want some pool started regarding who will be the first at the RNC zooming it in who says,
    “Can you hear me?”

  162. 162.

    Immanentize

    August 22, 2020 at 11:01 am

    @Winston: Yes!!  His old man mullet drives me crazy!  Taper!  Fade!  Whatever, just not that!

  163. 163.

    Winston

    August 22, 2020 at 11:02 am

    It also seems that there was a 7 year old in Texas who raised $25,000 for Bannon’s build the wall campaign by selling hot chocolate,  who was plenty pissed off about getting ripped off.

  164. 164.

    gene108

    August 22, 2020 at 11:02 am

    Just a silly Saturday morning thought, but Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, becomes involved in US politics, wins elected office, and eventually wins the Presidency without renouncing her royal title.

    Nothing’s impossible…

  165. 165.

    J R in WV

    August 22, 2020 at 11:02 am

    @WereBear:

     

    Regarding Cult beliefs:

    It’s a science fiction-sized problem, and I think it will require a science fiction-sized solution.

    So either brain altering drugs, cybernetic surgery, brain replacement by hardware… am I missing any ideas here?

  166. 166.

    debbie

    August 22, 2020 at 11:04 am

    @Immanentize:

    I’m in for: (Tap, tap, tap) “Is anybody there?”

  167. 167.

    Immanentize

    August 22, 2020 at 11:05 am

    @J R in WV: Time travel and clones?

  168. 168.

    Immanentize

    August 22, 2020 at 11:05 am

    @debbie: If it’s Trump himself:

    “Is this thing on?!”

  169. 169.

    Kropacetic

    August 22, 2020 at 11:06 am

    @J R in WV: Alien invasion, food replicators

  170. 170.

    CaseyL

    August 22, 2020 at 11:06 am

    @MomSense: Thank  you for all the wonderful information!  Maine has been on my radar as a place to visit again – I was there for a couple of days during an Autumn Foliage Cruise a few years ago.  I’d like to take a more leisurely trip through all of New England… if we’re ever able to travel cross country again.  (sigh)

  171. 171.

    Kay

    August 22, 2020 at 11:14 am

    @Feathers:

    Agreed, except there wasn’t the huge grift associated with the satanism/daycare panic and there is with the sex trafficking panic:

    Operation Underground Railroad (OUR), a hard-charging sex trafficking “rescue” group with conservative roots, doesn’t just accept donations to fund its multimillion-dollar mission; it also lets donors in on the action. OUR is fueled by a hybrid fundraising and branding model that has—through six years of YouTube videos, hidden cameras rolling—promised results. “These young victims are preparing to be sold for sex,” an early video claims. We see them in a living room as men with long guns and body armor flood in, forcing everyone to the floor. These “operations” became more elaborate looking over time as the group gained prominence and funding: More “girls” are “freed” by more “strike teams” with more gear and weapons. It’s never clear what happens to the girls or what crimes are committed. “I believe OUR exists to show that there is a fight against evil,” an “ops training” video begins. Close to one million accounts follow OUR as well as its founder and Chief Executive Officer Tim Ballard on Facebook, where he shares these videos alongside smiling photos of his large Mormon family, his famous friends Glenn Beck and Tony Robbins, and fundraising appeals.

    The sex trafficking panic isn’t new on the Right- it started around 2000 –  but the people raising huge sums of money off it are new. 

    No one is verifying any of these claims. They throw these huge numbers out and they’re not sourced to anything- if you look, the source of the numbers is the groups themselves.

  172. 172.

    Another Scott

    August 22, 2020 at 11:14 am

    @Feathers:

    Nina Turner is back on CNN complaining about Biden’s convention. She claims to be speaking on behalf of all progressives. I don’t know any progressive who thinks Nina Turner speaks for them.

    Note how it’s the same few people in every story: Nina, Sirota, and Briahna. That’s it.— John Aravosis ?????️‍? (@aravosis) August 21, 2020

    Something to keep in mind.

    (via TBogg)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  173. 173.

    Baud

    August 22, 2020 at 11:17 am

    @Another Scott:

    . I don’t know any progressive who thinks Nina Turner speaks for them.

    She speaks for them if they remain silent when she purports to speak for them. So good on John.

  174. 174.

    WereBear

    August 22, 2020 at 11:17 am

    @SFAW: Yes. That would be nice :)

  175. 175.

    Frankensteinbeck

    August 22, 2020 at 11:20 am

    @Feathers:

    I lived through the Satanic panic/daycare ritual abuse/recovered memories years.

    So did I, and one thing it taught me is that these public outrages have ulterior motives.  That was straight-up a campaign by the evangelicals to make the public accept that a parent should have absolute control over their children, and it largely worked.  It deflected the blame for sexual abuse towards anyone but the family, where most sexual abuse occurs.

  176. 176.

    Omnes Omnibus

    August 22, 2020 at 11:21 am

    @Stacib: I started by supporting Harris, but by early January I was on Team Biden.  This, to my mind is the best pairing that we possibly could have.

  177. 177.

    Another Scott

    August 22, 2020 at 11:21 am

    @Frankensteinbeck: +1

    Cui bono? is always relevant.

    Thanks.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  178. 178.

    WaterGirl

    August 22, 2020 at 11:22 am

    @Winston: Are you still here?

    That sounds really interesting and I would love to feature that a What We Can Do post next week.  Would you be willing to write something up about the organization, how it works, etc?

  179. 179.

    Kay

    August 22, 2020 at 11:23 am

    There was already an established, mainstream Right wing grift around sex trafficking before QAnon.

    These people, I swear. It is just grift everywhere you look. What all of these people have in common is they have no source of income outside the fundraising.

  180. 180.

    Frankensteinbeck

    August 22, 2020 at 11:24 am

    @Kay:

    The sex trafficking panic

    Another ulterior motive campaign.  The people who legitimately want to help kidnapped children get mixed up with the people who want to stop runaways from being able to escape their family, and the people who hate sex work and consider consensual adult sex work trafficking.  What a mess.

  181. 181.

    Another Scott

    August 22, 2020 at 11:26 am

    @Kay: Even when they do have a job, they value fundraising more.

    This campaign isn’t about me. It’s about you—about you not eating and giving your food money to me. https://t.co/Km0tCtnF97

    — southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) August 22, 2020

    “Your money is more important to me than it is to you.  Give it to me…”

    Grr…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  182. 182.

    Kay

    August 22, 2020 at 11:30 am

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    I know a lot about the satanic/day care panic and there are too many differences with the sex trafficking panic, I think, to equate them exactly. I do think they have this in common- they both relied on a message of “your children are in danger”.

    One difference that I think is important is mainstream media validated and promoted the daycare panic and they have not (so far) done that with the sex trafficking panic. Another difference is the daycare panic had promoters on both the Left and the Right and that’s less so in the sex trafficking panic.

  183. 183.

    trollhattan

    August 22, 2020 at 11:30 am

    @Kropacetic:

    They should make that “under god’s Boot of Mighty Vengeance” because I think he’s unleashing that sucker this fall.

  184. 184.

    WaterGirl

    August 22, 2020 at 11:31 am

    @Winston: Oh my gosh, I would give you a hug if I could.  I’m so sorry.

  185. 185.

    Omnes Omnibus

    August 22, 2020 at 11:31 am

    @Brooklyn Dodger: One of the things that I did was try to make sure that I didn’t say anything I would later regret if one of my lower preferences was the one who got the nomination.  I would have supported whoever won, but I wanted to be careful that not to contribute a negative perception about that person.  The one time I can say I probably slipped up on that was during the period (short though it was) when people here seemed to give up on all of the actual Democrats still running and started debating Bloomberg vs. Sanders.  I got a bit chippy about pointing out that there were still four Democrats in the race.  Then the South Carolina primary happened and the conversation changed.

  186. 186.

    Old Dan and Little Ann

    August 22, 2020 at 11:31 am

    My wife the centrist AP Gov teacher wanted Biden all along.  We’ve been arguing about him for a year since he was my 4th or 5th choice. Glad that’s over.  Go Joe!

  187. 187.

    NotMax

    August 22, 2020 at 11:32 am

    @Another Scott

    Put in mind of James Burke’s (Connections) description of pirates.

    “Open your wallet and repeat after me, ‘Help yourself.'”

    ;)

  188. 188.

    Frankensteinbeck

    August 22, 2020 at 11:34 am

    @Kay:

    You can’t equate them exactly, that is true.  The sex trafficking issue is way more complicated, and it’s not based on what’s essentially a fiction like the 80s panics.  It’s a messy mix of people trying to solve a real problem, people trying to solve a real problem but throwing in their own ugly prejudices, evangelicals using it as another way of pushing that parents should control everything their children see or do, assholes using it to attack sex work, and now grifters.

  189. 189.

    Kay

    August 22, 2020 at 11:36 am

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    This is just my observation so perhaps not true broadly but I think law enforcement have not gone along with the sex trafficking panic to the same extent they did with the daycare panics, hence we see so much vigilante activity- police and children’s services agencies are not going along so the faithful say “we must take matters into our own hands”. That also makes it harder to stop, though, because police and childrens services agencies (eventually- not fast enough but they got around to it)  helped discredit the day care panic.

  190. 190.

    Another Scott

    August 22, 2020 at 11:42 am

    @Kay: I would like to think that people are wiser about the necessity of checking out extraordinary claims about heart-wrenching behavior these days.  I’m convinced that W got away with his Iraq WMD claims because too many people would not believe that the President would lie about something as serious as that.  Similarly, the McMartin Pre-school stuff.

    But then I look at Donnie’s polling numbers being stuck at 35-40% for years…  :-(

    It’s very easy to make snap judgments – especially these days.  It’s important for us to take our time and not take weird/fabulous/shocking claims at face value.  But also to not ignore reality…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  191. 191.

    Brooklyn Dodger

    August 22, 2020 at 11:42 am

    @Kropacetic: Right on. Giving voice to ordered thoughts is good work.

  192. 192.

    scav

    August 22, 2020 at 11:43 am

    Nah, it’s the Trumpster. When he gets to the under God in the pledge, he’ll hump a statue of Jebus like it was a flag!  Walk it back later insisting they’re just friends.  Can’t decide if  it’ll be Drump or Dence who goes most literal and has a statue of Jebus fall on him: Under God, see!?  Maybe that’s how’ll they’ll swing getting a new VP.

  193. 193.

    SFAW

    August 22, 2020 at 11:43 am

    @Immanentize:

    It is for me!

    OK, we’ll do a socially-distanced road trip. Get a bunch of lobstahs and a couple bushels of steamers. And vinegar to go with the fries. [Just kidding, gotta do potato chips, not fries, with lobstah.]

  194. 194.

    Kay

    August 22, 2020 at 11:44 am

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    I think the failure is on the part of the legitimate orgs. It’s really ON THEM to call out the grifters in their ranks, which is hard and uncomfortable and not enough people do it. So, just to use the daycare panics as an example- legit child abuse advocates had to discredit and call out some of their own co-advocates as making stuff up and they didn’t do it because they considered them allies to some extent. Professional orgs had to call out the snake oil “therapists” who were manipulating children and putting words in their mouths and THEY didn’t do it. You have to police your own and that’s hard. It doesn’t make you popular.

  195. 195.

    Brooklyn Dodger

    August 22, 2020 at 11:46 am

    @Omnes Omnibus: Yes. I feel that and was trying to be receptive above all else. One thing that makes me laugh now (in a good way) is wondering, if Bloomberg had been the one, how these amazing dem storytellers would have mapped his life story to match how they presented Biden’s.

  196. 196.

    Barbara

    August 22, 2020 at 11:48 am

    @Frankensteinbeck: Maybe this is unfair, but I put right leaning anti-trafficking activists in the same camp as evangelical groups that promote foreign adoption.  The need to see the world’s least fortunate in need of salvation by you is what ties them together.  They are not examining or considering how to alleviate the conditions that give rise to a higher risk of maternal mortality or economic migration.  They just want a feel good salvation story that focuses on themselves as heroes.  No, I am not at all cynical.

  197. 197.

    VOR

    August 22, 2020 at 11:49 am

    Here is a link to the “official website of the 2020 Republican National Convention!” It starts in two days and there is no schedule posted. No list of policy statements. Almost nothing. I bet the DNC’s schedule for counter-programming is more detailed than the actual RNC schedule.

  198. 198.

    Immanentize

    August 22, 2020 at 11:49 am

    @Kay:

    law enforcement have not gone along with the sex trafficking panic to the same extent they did with the daycare panics,

    This!
    I was a PD during that period — It was like a cottage industry that everyone wanted to get in on. Towns were sniffing for the abusers everywhere. Although al of the “evidence” in the cases that got publicity was created by private investigators and experts (not traditional LEO) the prosecutor’s went in BIG on the movement. There were regional and national training regarding how to identify — and prosecute! — cult abuse in day care. It was nuts all up and down.

  199. 199.

    L85NJGT

    August 22, 2020 at 11:50 am

    McMartin (and the King riots) happened under a L.A. County (and California) power system that was straining to avoid a demographically induced power shift. See also: USA circa 2020.

    Once white evangelicals begin to lose power and influence, they start squawking about the devil.

  200. 200.

    Kropacetic

    August 22, 2020 at 11:52 am

    @VOR: Only Dems do details.  You don’t need a plan if you’ll just say anything with no regard for the truth. How hard is it to repeat “mob violence” and “tax cuts” over and over?

    I wouldn’t be surprised to see technology problems, though.

  201. 201.

    Immanentize

    August 22, 2020 at 11:52 am

    @SFAW: NE clambake!  Which of course means lobster and nothing is baked.

  202. 202.

    Immanentize

    August 22, 2020 at 11:54 am

    @Barbara: Not cynical at all.  Perceptive

  203. 203.

    NotMax

    August 22, 2020 at 11:54 am

    @SFAW

    Or potato wedges. Yum.

    With a side of slaw.

  204. 204.

    Kropacetic

    August 22, 2020 at 11:54 am

    @Immanentize: NE clambake!  Which of course means lobster and nothing is baked.

    Not even stuffed quahogs? Clam cakes? The guests?

  205. 205.

    Eunicecycle

    August 22, 2020 at 11:55 am

    @Barbara: There is a woman in our community who has taken on the sex-trafficking cause, and caused a little panic for a while. She was claiming thousands of women in our county of 300,000 were being trafficked. Her definition included a 17 year old having consensual sex with a 14 year old. While not advisable, I don’t see how that is sex-trafficking. Also all prostitution was sex-trafficking.

  206. 206.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    August 22, 2020 at 11:55 am

    Just had a phone conversation with a friend who learned her aunt and cousin believe the Bill Gates-vaccine-microchip conspiracy. She was horrified. As would any sane person be.

  207. 207.

    No name

    August 22, 2020 at 11:57 am

    @Barbara: @Barbara: Not unfair at all; you are absolutely correct.

  208. 208.

    Mallard Filmore

    August 22, 2020 at 11:58 am

    @narya:

     

    My dad (who will be 90 in September) says that most people his age are dead.

    If you can get to the age 100, you have it made. Hardly anyone dies after that.

  209. 209.

    JPL

    August 22, 2020 at 11:59 am

    @Immanentize: One food item that most don’t associate with NE is the summer corn on the cob.   It is much sweeter than other places and it cooks in minutes.

  210. 210.

    Immanentize

    August 22, 2020 at 11:59 am

    @Kropacetic: clams in the shell, not cakes.

    More accurately a “boil.” With corn on the cob. Ok, maybe someone would bake some cornbread, but usually even that is fried.

  211. 211.

    Immanentize

    August 22, 2020 at 12:02 pm

    @JPL: Ha!  I just mentioned that!  I’m a silver princess sweet corn guy myself. My grandfather grew mostly that when he was still farming. Hard to find these days.

  212. 212.

    MomSense

    August 22, 2020 at 12:03 pm

    Traffic was wicked bad in Wiscasset but I made it. Yes to a meet up in Maine!! Normally I would say go to Acadia and crowds be damned, but not now. One of the few weak spots in our Covid response has been tourists on MDI. People are supposed to get tested and confirmed negative no more than 76 hours before dining to Maine (unless you are visiting from the five states with low positivity rates. People have been coming to Maine, especially MDI, before getting their test results then finding out they are positive and causing lots of problems for the hospital and tourism workers.
    I can give tips on other parts of the state, too. Bold Coast, Epcot Center (what the old timers call the Southern Maine tourist hot spots).
    If the shit hits the fan we should all relocate to the Patten area, buy a couple thousand acres of land, and have plenty of space for pets and farming.

  213. 213.

    Kay

    August 22, 2020 at 12:06 pm

    @Immanentize:

    I watched “institutions” squash a panic in real time. Juvenile sex offenders. That was rapidly turning into a goddamned tragedy- they were taking 15 year olds and slapping 25 year sex offender labels on them. The legit actors called out their own extreme offshoots and stopped the panic. So it can be done. There ARE 15 year old sex offenders, just like there IS sex trafficking and child abuse. One can find and treat them without drawing thousands of kids into a panic net. But you need honest and rigorous people in the mainstream orgs and institutions or it won’t happen.

  214. 214.

    Omnes Omnibus

    August 22, 2020 at 12:09 pm

    @Immanentize: Oddly enough, not having lobsters in the Great Lakes, one of the big summertime treats in Door County, WI is a fish boil, basically a Scandinavian Midwestern take on the same thing but with a fire ball.

  215. 215.

    Kay

    August 22, 2020 at 12:11 pm

    @Immanentize:

    If you’re a legit advocate fighting sex trafficking, guess what? You have a new job. Your new job is to call out and discredit the grifters on the Right who have seized your cause. And it won’t be easy. You’ll lose donations and political support. They’ll attack you. You’ll alienate allies. But you have to do it.

    It’s not their fault but is their problem. They have to take care of it.

  216. 216.

    NotMax

    August 22, 2020 at 12:12 pm

    @Immanentize

    Do places still upturn the entire kit and kaboodle onto butcher paper placed on the table?

    If happen to be nearby, way out on Long Island, Citi Island Seafood in Shirley (not to be confused with Island Seafood in the same village) offers a helluva New England steamed platter for takeout, with the addition of andouille sausage. Everything prepared to order from scratch, so there’s a modicum of waiting. Not shown in the picture is the included corn on the cob.

  217. 217.

    MisterForkbeard

    August 22, 2020 at 12:12 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: I took the same approach – tried not to be overly critical of any of the candidates, even Sanders. Though I failed on Tulsi.

    It’s important, I think. To not feed a narrative but also not to back yourself into a corner by hating publicly on people whose biggest sin is that they’re not your favorite. It makes it harder to change gears if you have to.

  218. 218.

    MagdaInBlack

    August 22, 2020 at 12:13 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    I was just thinking of the Fish Boil version

    Eta: sounds like something for which the Dr. would prescribe a salve.

  219. 219.

    MomSense

    August 22, 2020 at 12:15 pm

    @Immanentize:

    Au contraire!  The real clambake is a dying art.  My grandfather was the best at it.  He had a deep hole in the ground and built a fire at the bottom. Then when the fire was at the right temp he put in loads and loads of fresh seaweed. Then racks of potatoes corn lobsters and clams with fresh seaweed between each layer and on the top.  He had a cover for the whole thing and when it finished baking it was the most delicious food ever.
    Best baked beans are bean hole beans which are similar but obviously no seaweed.

  220. 220.

    Immanentize

    August 22, 2020 at 12:15 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: That sounds so good.  When I was in Texas, my Cajun friend used to invite me for a weekend to Boliver Island where we would whip up a shrimp and crawfish boil and deep fry hush puppies.  (Also deep fry dove stuffed with jalapenos, if we had the birds).

    Is it any wonder why people everywhere love the summer?

  221. 221.

    Ian

    August 22, 2020 at 12:16 pm

    @artem1s: Preclearance was only as good as the enforcement of it.  The Reagan years were a dark time on voting rights and and section 4 of the voting rights act was poorly defended.  Could you imagine Jeff Sessions or Bill Barr cracking down on the Republican secretaries of state doing this?

  222. 222.

    NotMax

    August 22, 2020 at 12:17 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus

    What, no lutefisk?

    :)

  223. 223.

    Immanentize

    August 22, 2020 at 12:17 pm

    @MomSense: I never did that!  But yum.  Who does it like that now?  I guess it steams everything, yes?  Wow.

  224. 224.

    Omnes Omnibus

    August 22, 2020 at 12:20 pm

    @MisterForkbeard: It is interesting though how negative our campaigning thought process is because it can be hard sometimes to be a full-throated advocate for your person while saying, for example, “Biden has foreign policy experience that he will be able to bring to bear immediately and we really need to repair our status in the world community, but [insert candidate here] is a fine person who I would vote for if s/he wins the nomination (please don’t be Tulsi; I am not sure how I would handle it if it is Tulsi, so please, god, not her).

  225. 225.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    August 22, 2020 at 12:23 pm

    a private poll fielded by West’s campaign early in the process, which was described as being commissioned by those close to West who did not want him to run, saw the rapper getting around 1 percent of the vote nationally and hurting Trump more than he hurt Biden.

    Trump ratfucked himself BAHAHAHAHAAH

  226. 226.

    Omnes Omnibus

    August 22, 2020 at 12:23 pm

    @NotMax: Lutefisk is for survival in the winter and also why Scandinavians tend to be thin.

  227. 227.

    MomSense

    August 22, 2020 at 12:24 pm

    @Immanentize:

    I haven’t seen anyone else do this except some Passamaquoddy friends. The corn and potatoes are a little smoky but not dry at all.

  228. 228.

    L85NJGT

    August 22, 2020 at 12:25 pm

    Wait…. Allen West is chairman of the Texas GOP?

  229. 229.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    August 22, 2020 at 12:33 pm

    Counter-programming schedule for the @DNC and @JoeBiden‘s campaign next week

    Oh that will be a nice split screen with all the self pity and chest beating of the RNC.

  230. 230.

    NotMax

    August 22, 2020 at 12:33 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus

    No doubt at all that someone, somewhere, has invested a lot of time in creating deep fried lutefisk.

    After all, if we can be graced with deep fried mayonnaise….

    :)

  231. 231.

    mrmoshpotato

    August 22, 2020 at 12:39 pm

    Best of luck, best of health and try not to throw anything to those of you who are going to watch the RNC shitshow.  You masochists.

    I think I’ll treat myself to a Moose and Squirrel marathon next week.

  232. 232.

    Another Scott

    August 22, 2020 at 12:40 pm

    @Frankensteinbeck: Relatedly – https://www.wonkette.com/dont-go-attending-any-save-our-children-marches-they-are-not-what-youd-think

    It’s good that it’s getting pushback before it starts.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  233. 233.

    Omnes Omnibus

    August 22, 2020 at 12:44 pm

    @NotMax: I would prefer clowns doing a version of “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.”

  234. 234.

    NotMax

    August 22, 2020 at 12:46 pm

    @mrmoshpotato

    If you’ve never seen them, the Fleischer Superman cartoons (non-PC wartime heavy handedness and all) are, I believe, available on Prime.

    Product of their times, yes, yet lush animation.

  235. 235.

    germy

    August 22, 2020 at 12:50 pm

    @NotMax:  With rotoscope animation.  The characters’ movements are so fluid and natural

    And of course “Truth and Justice”  without the “American Way” part.

  236. 236.

    germy

    August 22, 2020 at 12:51 pm

    @mrmoshpotato:  Moose and Squirrel are in a Geico commercial nowadays.  But Moose is so tiny standing next to the lizard. I don’t understand it.

    The voices aren’t bad though.  Almost like the original.

  237. 237.

    mrmoshpotato

    August 22, 2020 at 12:54 pm

    @NotMax: Is there at least one Nazi punched per episode?

  238. 238.

    J R in WV

    August 22, 2020 at 12:55 pm

    When I go to town, which is every week or 10 days, depending, I always stop at the Farmer’s Market in Charleston, which is a great facility supported by the Ag Department. Was once a RR freight station now has shops and restaurants, and where the tracks once were now is roofed space rented out to farmers.

    Fresh corn still in their husks, heirloom tomatoes, boxes of WV peaches, you name it, if it grows in the summer, we’ve got it. I always get enough corn for two nights of dinner, I shuck the corn just before it goes into the pot for 3 minutes. I usually get 3 or 4 types of tomato, Cherokee Purple, which is dark red with purple on top, Mortgage LIfters, which are really big red ‘maters, and yellow or red vine ripened… The maters go with pasta, or a casserole, or BLT sandwiches on freshly baked local bread.

    Then I hit the local seafood shop, which just this year added a meat counter for locally grown meats. They also do a variety of seafood bisque, crab dip, Yugoslavian seafood stew, which is a really spicy tomato based dish, and lots of fresh fish, clams, oysters from all up and down the east coast, shrimp, scallops, etc. They’ve been in the business for 40 odd years now.

    Then Kroger’s for salad greens, canned goods, etc, etc. They added a spirits shop just as the shut-down started early last spring, which helps a lot. It’s a pretty good grocery store, big deli with custom sliced meats, etc.

    So we usually eat OK, even though I am dying to eat out. Cooking every night gets old after a few months. I do frozen dinners as a last resort when I start to run out of fresh stuff. True confession time!

  239. 239.

    snoey

    August 22, 2020 at 12:57 pm

    @MomSense: Long ago we took a week long Maine windjammer cruise and one evening they bought lobsters directly off a fishing boat and did them in seaweed on an uninhabited islet.  I’ve enjoyed many a lobster since but that was ridiculously good.

  240. 240.

    mrmoshpotato

    August 22, 2020 at 12:59 pm

    @germy: Forced perspective. :)

  241. 241.

    debbie

    August 22, 2020 at 1:01 pm

    @Kay:

    I listened to an hour-long interview with the Atlantic editor who has researched QAnon. I do not understand how they got to any of their beliefs — unless it was bad acid. “Pedophiles and cannibals”? They are insane.

  242. 242.

    mrmoshpotato

    August 22, 2020 at 1:06 pm

    @debbie: Sounds like “child-trafficking sex ring out of a basementless pizza parlor’s basement” wasn’t stupid enough for these nutters.

  243. 243.

    Kropacetic

    August 22, 2020 at 1:06 pm

    @debbie: They’re fully embracing the post-truth aspect of the Trump era.

  244. 244.

    mayim

    August 22, 2020 at 1:08 pm

    @Chief Oshkosh:

    And don’t forget Belfast in there as well. I lived there for a couple years [job related] recently and fell in love with it. Book shops, nice restaurants, walkable.

    Now back in western Maine on a little lake no one has heard of ~ have my dream job in Augusta [not the tourist part of the state at all!] but I do miss Belfast!

  245. 245.

    debbie

    August 22, 2020 at 1:09 pm

    @Kropacetic:

    And he likes them because they flatter him. God help us.

     

    @mrmoshpotato:

    Yeah, it was just the barest of starting points.

  246. 246.

    MomSense

    August 22, 2020 at 1:17 pm

    @mayim:

    I miss it so much.  Schools are better where I am now, though.

  247. 247.

    Ruckus

    August 22, 2020 at 1:21 pm

    @WereBear:

    Mom gave me that “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all” crap when I was a kid. I asked her what if there is nothing nice to say but plenty of not nice needed to be said? She didn’t have an answer.

    I realize that having a positive answer, being better is not just good, it’s very good. But there is real bad in the world and it gets a foothold when it isn’t countered. In this country that concept was used about slavery. We ended it, sort of, but we looked the other way about the underlying premise of slavery, that people of color have far less value than people of no color. We didn’t say the ugly parts out loud that this is bullshit and it made things worse. We are seeing nazi salutes, flags and racism is not just in the WH but being broadcast by shitforbrains as national policy. We can’t afford to not talk about it. Now I didn’t take mom’s ideas to heart and is why I can feel comfortable calling shitforbrains, that. He’s far more than earned the right to be called what he is, he’s demanded it. Has it made our lives less civil? I think that ship sailed 74 yrs ago when he was born into racism and money. Is it his fault? Well his siblings didn’t follow in his footsteps, any more than Reagan’s kid did his dads so I’d say yes, he didn’t have to be the person he is, even if he is dumber than a fence post.

  248. 248.

    Kay

    August 22, 2020 at 1:36 pm

    Trump Administration had a big loss yesterday:

    In a preliminary injunction halting enforcement and implementation of the rule while she considers the case pitting Washington state against the Education Department, U.S. District Court Judge Barbara J. Rothstein harshly and repeatedly rejected the department’s arguments. She said that the agency subverted the intent of Congress and hurt students most affected by the pandemic, and that Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos did not have the authority to issue the rule in the first place.

    Judge really took DeVos to the woodshed. Reject, reject, reject.

  249. 249.

    Kay

    August 22, 2020 at 1:38 pm

    Sorry- “the rule” judge is rejecting is the rule the Trump Administration wrote that funnels pandemic funding intended for public schools to some of the wealthiest private schools in the country. Fucking outrageous.

  250. 250.

    Ruckus

    August 22, 2020 at 1:43 pm

    @japa21:

    As many have said, he wasn’t my first choice. I’d have to think back, that he was my 3rd or 4th. It wasn’t that I thought he was bad or not worthy, I had other reasons. And I will gladly vote for him, that’s how it works, a consensus is reached about who is the candidate and we move on. He’s not a bad person at all, and he has experience as the second in command, almost never a bad thing. This is a basically a two party system, and yes there are others, but they are so much outliers that all they do is draw votes away from the two actual candidates. In this election we are now down to basically one candidate, because the other one is so bad, so much more than worthless, which is of course about the same as every other candidate from his party for the last 60 yrs and as could have been said about for many years before that.

    Sorry but I’m just not in a good mood any more, and the not has reached epic proportions. Our president would just as soon that over half the country died so that he’d be the president he’s always wanted to be, that of only the white racists. He really wanted to be president of the KKK, because that’s who he thinks should own and run the country. An all white rose garden?

  251. 251.

    Yutsano

    August 22, 2020 at 1:44 pm

    We ended it, sort of, but we looked the other way about the underlying premise of slavery, that people of color have far less value than people of no color.

    Ending white supremacy in the 19th century would have been impossible because the very concept wouldn’t have existed. Striration of races was still well steeped in American and European culture. Whites would have still thought of themselves as superior, just releasing the poor black souls from bondage. But Reconstruction did at least start some down that path. Witness the first Black congressmen to get elected, for example. But Jim Crow was going to assert itself without too much bother because that attitude was still prevalent even in the North. But it would have made such a difference in our modern era if the seeds of ending white supremacy had started right after the Civil War.

  252. 252.

    evodevo

    August 22, 2020 at 1:44 pm

    @SFAW: Yes…and that’s when he was caught with a vial of Viagra in his luggage that didn’t have his name on it

    https://www.cbsnews.com/news/rush-limbaugh-detained-with-viagra/

  253. 253.

    International Mikey

    August 22, 2020 at 2:01 pm

    @JMG: Just ask Steve Bannon.  Is it just me, or does he look like someone who only showers every two weeks or so?  He looks like he stinks.

  254. 254.

    evodevo

    August 22, 2020 at 2:10 pm

    @Barbara: Yeah…it falls under the same umbrella as evangelical short-term mission trips…they do next to nothing to actually aid the client countries, and everything to do with polishing the resume/ego of the tripper…and making them feel more righteous…

  255. 255.

    Feathers

    August 22, 2020 at 2:13 pm

    @Kay: But there were grifters then. A whole network of expert witnesses and therapists for recovered memories sprung up, all of whom also taught high priced workshops. I remember shows on Dateline and 20/20 devoted to the brave fight against ritual abuse and survivors who had been hospitalized for over a year in special units set up by doctors and psychiatrists.

    We didn’t have the internet yet, but there certainly were grifters who worked to the limits available then. There is a great book about the time, Satanic Panic, which is very even handed, but does talk about the policemen and psychologists who built a career around witchhunting and terrifying parents.

    Also, it was shortly after this that insurance companies started refusing to pay for long term in patient mental health care. There were also exposes at the time of teenagers being treated inpatient for dubious causes (AKA being a teenager freaking out their uptight parents) for months and years at a time, then being thrown out and sent home (usually in worse shape) when the insurance company wouldn’t pay any more.

    @Frankensteinbeck: I think that for many this is at an unconscious level and we have to be careful about accusing individuals over this. I think we are seeing this again. People are enormously angry, but see no outlet for dealing with these issues in their own lives, so they start finding outsiders to punish.

    A great deal of this is the failure of the media to deal evenhandedly with the wrongdoings of the evangelical Christians and the secular world. There have been far more evangelical preachers convicted of sex abuse (at one point it was one a week), but the face of child abuse is still a Catholic priest.

  256. 256.

    evodevo

    August 22, 2020 at 2:14 pm

    @Eunicecycle: The religious types also ignore the root cause of a lot of teenage runaway cases (especially female) – sex abuse by a close relative at home.  They DEFINITELY don’t want to know about or discuss THAT…my husband ran into a few cases when he was a school psychologist…

  257. 257.

    Just Chuck

    August 22, 2020 at 2:21 pm

    @germy: Ooh there’s a great idea, take people so angry and frustrated that they take to the streets, and strip them of the peaceful means of changing the system.  What could possibly go wrong?

  258. 258.

    Edmund Dantes

    August 22, 2020 at 2:22 pm

    It’s funny the money all quote is actually completely wrong.

    In fact, stats guys have been arguing coaches aren’t going for it enough on 4th and goal or 4th downs in general.

  259. 259.

    James E Powell

    August 22, 2020 at 2:39 pm

    @Another Scott:

    I’m convinced that W got away with his Iraq WMD claims because too many people would not believe that the President would lie about something as serious as that.

    I’m convinced he got away with it because after 9/11 a very large percentage of Americans just wanted to drop some bombs on Muslims and they didn’t really care to argue the reasons. See, e.g., Tom Friedman.

  260. 260.

    Feathers

    August 22, 2020 at 2:48 pm

    @Kay: On the numbers. The missing and abused children numbers were massively inflated by counting everyone up to the age of 18. The vast majority of cases were teens enduring dating violence. I took a class where we had to find something where the numbers matched a panic situation. The one I found was that the number of children under 10 (or it may have been 12, it’s been a while) abducted and murdered was the same as the number of children who were killed accidentally by cars in their own driveways. One got huge attention, massive mom shaming, kids not being allowed to walk to school, and the Amber Alert system, the other car companies being able to fight off having to put back up camera systems into minivans and SUVs for a long time. And no coverage or outrage on the news.

  261. 261.

    James E Powell

    August 22, 2020 at 2:52 pm

    @Edmund Dantes:

    I saw that, too. A lot of people who use Moneyball as a reference seem not to have read the book or seen the movie.

  262. 262.

    Feathers

    August 22, 2020 at 3:02 pm

    @Kay: One thing that is happening now is that the grifters are more openly grifting. They know getting cops involved is risky, so they avoid them and label them part of the problem. Grifters actively test recruits with nutty shit, so that anyone who tries to complain about them won’t be a “reliable” witness.

    Also, with homeschooling, this whole crowd is just way more cut off from the mainstream.

    Also, the daycare panic/recovered memories took place right when anti-depressants started being introduced. Psychiatrists had been trained in Freudianism and were now having to rapidly pivot to practice in the neuroscience world. Recovered memories can be seen as Freudianism’s last stand. I had a therapist who was in training at a major psychiatric teaching hospital during the switch. She said it happened all at once. Insurance companies weren’t going to cover Freudian therapy anymore, so people who had been doing Freudian therapy for decades had to switch. I can see how challenging people talking about “no these kids were actually abused” would be difficult in those circumstances. We see the garbage clearly now, and many of us did then, but institutions were in chaos at that moment.

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