Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Cancel the cowardly Times and Post and set up an equivalent monthly donation to ProPublica.

The revolution will be supervised.

They don’t have outfits that big. nor codpieces that small.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

Nothing says ‘pro-life’ like letting children go hungry.

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

Michigan is a great lesson for Dems everywhere: when you have power…use it!

It is not hopeless, and we are not helpless.

The media handbook says “controversial” is the most negative description that can be used for a Republican.

“Just close your eyes and kiss the girl and go where the tilt-a-whirl takes you.” ~OzarkHillbilly

The words do not have to be perfect.

In after Baud. Damn.

There are more Russians standing up to Putin than Republicans.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

It’s a good piece. click on over. but then come back!!

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

These days, even the boring Republicans are nuts.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

Petty moves from a petty man.

I’m more christian than these people and i’m an atheist.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

You are here: Home / Elections / Biden-Harris 2020 / Monday Morning Open Thread: (Facing the) Labor Day

Monday Morning Open Thread: (Facing the) Labor Day

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Thank you, Professor Hill!

(I know she probably isn’t interested, but can I fantasize about her replacing Clarence Thomas?)


… At the traditional Labor Day kickoff to the fall campaign, the race remains former vice president Joe Biden’s to lose — which of course could still happen. Trump has tried many things over the past months in an effort to avoid becoming a one-term president. So far, nothing has proved to be the magic potion the president seems to believe is out there…

The race for president has tightened a bit since early summer, when Biden enjoyed a lead, based on a national average of polls in the range of nine-plus percentage points. It, however, has not tightened noticeably since mid-August, just before the two national conventions. Before the Democratic convention, the FiveThirtyEight.com numbers showed Biden with a lead nationally of between seven and eight points. His lead after the Republican convention stands at between seven and eight points…

Reader Interactions

184Comments

  1. 1.

    dopey-o

    I would like to see Anita Hill nominated to the seat Ginzburg will vacate. Just to see Hill and Thomas side by side, with Professor Hill brutally dissecting Thomas’ dissents and foolery.

  2. 2.

    CarolDuhart2

    Holidays don’t seem like holidays this year. This Labor Day, spending it inside and not being able to even go to the store (too many reasons to get into) and watching socially distanced fireworks last night.

    This would be a good reason to vote Biden-so they can find a cure, a vaccine, even a less stressful time of it. No more drama-Trump’s bad drama no less

    And I can at least have my holidays back.

  8. 8.

    JPL

    double blech

    The Washington Post editorial yesterday was about the president setting the tone for the nation.   Just that alone should be reason to boot this guy out of office.

  9. 9.

    CarolDuhart2

    This year finds me more thankful than ever for Obama’s choice and vetting.  Biden is everything we need: experienced, compassionate-and a 78 year old.  One good thing about being 78 is they can’t even invent a scandal anymore.  They talk about Biden’s nearly 50 years in Congress, but that means that he’s gone through so much oppo stuff that nobody has anything left to find.  Anything would have either come out by now, or Obama would have found it, and both of those facts means there’s really no October Surprise.  Even possible. People would yawn and wonder what’s the deal?

    Astonished at Biden’s teflon and enduring lead.  Still nervous about November shenanagins, but at least I won’t have to worry about self-destructive stuff from our side.

  13. 13.

    CarolDuhart2

    “Good morning” to everyone who’s up on a holiday morning.  Also good cheer to those who used to sleep in because they had jobs to go to , and jobs to go to.  Commuting isn’t the same when it’s downstairs or in the garage, is it?  You slept in to get extra sleep before having to get up Tuesday morning. 30 million lost jobs later.  My family is doing okay so far-we have cops and medical workers and other essential workers in our family-so they still have work, and extra risk. My niece does medical coding-and she’s having some issues, but not health ones-and there’s such a shortage they can’t replace her.

  14. 14.

    Geminid

    I read that Congresswoman Xochitl Torres-Small  has a very slight lead in her reelection race in the NM 2nd district. The Albuquerque Journal had her up 47%-45%. The district is pretty much the southern half of New Mexico. This years race is a rematch with the woman Torres-Small edged out in 2018, by less than 4,000 votes.

  16. 16.

    WereBear

    I just don’t know what to say any more. Which is rare for me.

    These people can’t think. After all the nation has gone through, they still won’t consider joining us on the sane side of the world.

    We need a giant mental health initiative, all right. Or something.

  17. 17.

    CarolDuhart2

    I’m already seeing ads for nurses training all over the place.  Along with funeral homes.

    If you have a bachelor’s degree, you can go into an 18 month nursing program and get your R.N.  Soon I expect to see all the medical assistants, coders, and even some medical schools advertise for new people.  This is the effect of the pandemic-not only medical workers who have died, but others who decide to quit or retire due to burnout or health issues.

    There will also soon be ads for all sorts of service workers teachers and school personnel, child care services, and even some funeral workers-and they will be filled with ex-airline personnel, bartenders and such.

    Hopefully we will have a retraining policy that doesn’t put these people thousands in debt-and by the way, we should once again make grants so generous that only the most expensive specialties need to be financed with loans.

  19. 19.

    MagdaInBlack

    @WereBear:

    These people have chosen not to think, because it’s so much easier to let authority figures provide simple answers

    Eta: They turned their brains off a long time ago.

  25. 25.

    raven

    @WereBear: Leon hated it and really disliked Les Blank but he liked his son so he let him release it after Les died. Some good concert footage but, whoah. . .

  27. 27.

    NotMax

    Temps sustained so hot over the past several days that the wrist rest attached to the mouse pad has softened to the point where the gel has begun leaking.

    /1st world problems

  29. 29.

    cmorenc

    @CarolDuhart2:

    If you have a bachelor’s degree, you can go into an 18 month nursing program and get your R.N.

    That’s a brutally arduous way to get a BSN degree – my younger daughter entered an 18-month degree track, and wound up having to stretch it out to 24 months to make the workload doable for her.  While the coursework isn’t as demandingly intense as medical school for an M.D., it’s nonetheless a steady firehose of techical info coming at nursing students and not at all an easy cruise.

  30. 30.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    We used to try to travel on a 3-day weekend because if we stayed home, the third day was boring. No one was around and Jerry Lewis was on the TV. Now every day is the same.

    I know we’re lucky. We’re healthy and aren’t worried about paying our bills. But it’s wearing.

    I’m writing again. That helps.

  32. 32.

    Patricia Kayden

    Meanwhile, across the pond.

    In case anyone was anxious that social norms would rebound too quickly as people start to discount the risk of covid, I (reluctantly) went to a bar last night and I can report that people were literally licking strangers, to get salt off their arms for tequila shots.— Tom Dolphin ??? WASH YOUR HANDS (@thomasdolphin) September 6, 2020

  33. 33.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    I missed the “what are you watching” thread last night because I was asleep. But we finished Mrs. Maisel and started an old show we found on Amazon Prime, Hamish McBeth. It’s fun.

  34. 34.

    randy khan

    @Baud:

    First, the last word I’d use to describe Trump supporters is shy.

    But the “shy voter” hypothesis shows up a lot without much evidence that it’s ever been real when it comes to candidates.  There are some things that people can be shy about, such as specific positions on issues, but the reality is that polling is pretty good on the whole because people who are willing to talk to pollsters tell the truth.

  38. 38.

    Lacuna Synechdoche

    @dopey-o: I would like to see Anita Hill nominated to the seat Ginzburg will vacate.

    While there is something tantalizing in the prospect of seeing Hill face-off againt Thomas on SCOTUS, the fact is that Hill is 64 years old. With the GOP consistently putting far-right judges in their mid-40’s to early 50’s on the Supreme Court to enforce a long-term dominance, we need to start thinking the same way – so I’d rather see a progressive juror in her late 40’s get the SCOTUS nod than Hill.

  41. 41.

    VeniceRiley

    @Lacuna Synechdoche:  Truth. I’d love to see Prof Hill lead the vetting task force for an expanded SCOTUS.

    Meanwhile, 121 in Woodland Hills, CA yesterday set an all-time record for the county and surrounding area. What do we need to get white guys to believe global warming is happening? A heat dome pemanently over Fox News HQ?

    We will need an expanded SCOTUS because we are literally OUT OF TIME to get this handled.

  42. 42.

    Lacuna Synechdoche

    @randy khan: But the “shy voter” hypothesis shows up a lot without much evidence that it’s ever been real when it comes to candidates.

    That’s because it’s never intended to be real. It’s pre-justification for “winning” an election when the polls are against a Republican – just in case that Republican’s efforts to cheat or rig the election are successful.

    (Yes, I’ve become cynical about Republicans over the past five-and-a-half decades. I can’t imagine why. And yes, it’s always Republicans who speculate that they have shy voters, or a silent majority. Never Democrats.)

  43. 43.

    geg6

    @cmorenc:

    Yes.  Our 18 month BSN program only accepts people who have an RN already because it is so rigorous.  Only people with a nursing background can be successful in it.

  50. 50.

    PsiFighter37

    Apparently right-wing Twitter is frothing at some Breitbart report that Jake Tapper convinced some GOP House candidate to not run against Conor Lamb. a) Tapper did a favor if so, because Lamb is a great candidate who would win anyways, and b) it’s delicious to see Tapper get shit on by the right-wing media after enabling those assholes throughout the latter years of the Obama administration.

  51. 51.

    SFAW

    @randy khan:

    First, the last word I’d use to describe Trump supporters is shy.

    How about “snowflake Trump voters”: people who support the Traitor-in-Chief, but don’t want to deal with the (anticipated) disapprobation of others (including friends and pollsters), because their fee-fees.

    The “party of personal responsibility” never was that.

  53. 53.

    SFAW

    @Lacuna Synechdoche:

    (Yes, I’ve become cynical about Republicans over the past five-and-a-half decades. I can’t imagine why. And yes, it’s always Republicans who speculate that they have shy voters, or a silent majority. Never Democrats.)

    They’re just fighting to unskew the polls. [I don’t remember that idiot’s name — no I don’t need someone to remind me, I can google if desired — but his “logic” was about as geometric as Queeg’s.]

  55. 55.

    Steeplejack

    Morning Joe is rerunning some coverage from Super Tuesday. Amazing what a difference six months makes. Biden went from lagging behind, out of money, etc., to a commanding win and the road to the nomination. Easy to forget how messy the situation was back then. Now the Democrats are in array and ready to kick Trump to the curb.

    Over to a lesser PBS station to take a look at Norm Abram on a This Old House episode from January. Not a big fan of the show since it went over the top about, uh, 20 years ago, but I miss Norm from New Yankee Workshop and thought maybe he had retired. He’s 70, and I hadn’t seen him anywhere in quite a while. He was mostly supervising another guy making a coffee table, but he looked in fine form.

    And so I have ended up with Trisha’s Southern Kitchen. Pretty good show, haven’t watched it in a while. End of story.

  56. 56.

    Lacuna Synechdoche

    @PsiFighter37: … it’s delicious to see Tapper get shit on by the right-wing media after enabling those assholes throughout the latter years of the Obama administration.

    I always thought one of Obama’s funniest WHCA Dinner jokes was: “… and Jake Tapper left journalism to go work at CNN.”

  57. 57.

    Lacuna Synechdoche

    @SFAW: They’re just fighting to unskew the polls.

    “Unskewing” the polls is the same dynamic: GOP pre-justification for successfully “winning” an election Republicans are planning to rig.

  60. 60.

    germy

    @VeniceRiley:Meanwhile, 121 in Woodland Hills, CA yesterday set an all-time record for the county and surrounding area.

    CAL FIRE Law Enforcement has determined the El Dorado Fire, burning near Oak Glen in San Bernardino County, was caused by a smoke generating pyrotechnic device, used during a gender reveal party. The fire began at… https://t.co/w62ZRuBdNJ— CAL FIRE BDU (@CALFIREBDU) September 7, 2020

  61. 61.

    narya

    Went out for a run to clear my head (weird dreams last night, after watching the first two Bill & Ted flicks back to back)–gonna be nice today. I have to spend some time laying out the tile, but I made pizza dough yesterday specifically so I don’t have to do much today food-prep-wise.

  62. 62.

    Steeplejack

    @CarolDuhart2:

    My brother’s still working. He’s an ophthalmologist, still seeing patients (with masks and salad-bar guard or via video) and doing cataract surgeries, although they have tried to cut down on elective surgeries. His husband is a teacher in an Arlington County (VA) elementary school, and they’re virtual until (at least) the end of the year.

    My other brother, the RWNJ in Las Vegas, is retired, and I don’t know what he’s doing. I don’t even know if he is an anti-masker. His recent political posts on Facebook are of the “show us on the doll where Nancy Pelosi touched you” variety. He did go on a two-week motorcycling expedition in Alaska a month or so ago, so he’s not hiding out in the bunker all the time (which, to be clear, was his default before coronavirus).

    I did send him the Brent Terhune video about the sinking of the S.S. MAGAritaville on Lake Travis, and he took that pretty well. He is ex-Navy (destroyers). His reply: “Iron men and plastic boats.”

  67. 67.

    Steeplejack

    @raven:

    I gave that a look and decided it’s too early in the morning. He was on the TAMI Show the other night, playing the piano with short, slicked-back hair.

  68. 68.

    Lacuna Synechdoche

    @Sally:

    Hmmmm …. I want to see a thirty year old flaming liberal appointed to the court. Or better still, six thirty year old flaming liberals.

    Marry me.

  71. 71.

    Steeplejack

    @debbie:

    I still give it a look occasionally, but it got too big and elaborate. I liked it in the early days, when they did smaller projects that ordinary mortals could contemplate, if not actually execute. I think they jumped the shark with the dreadful season where they went to London and did a hugely expensive renovation of a flat there. They went over budget, apparently broke numerous building codes and zoning rules and had to slink home with the project unfinished.

  73. 73.

    Steeplejack

    Okay, over to Perry Mason on MeTV: “The Case of the Wayward Wife” (1960). I’ve seen them all multiple times, but Perry restores my faith in the rule of law.

  74. 74.

    debbie

    @Steeplejack:

    I remember that! My personal favorite was their renovation of a church somewhere near San Francisco. The homeowners were so proud of their choice of tiling in the bathroom which included  mother of pearl. A couple of weeks later, the host was walking up to the property talking about the project’s progress. He comes upon the homeowner digging frantically through a dumpster. Apparently, one of the workers had tossed the tile out by mistake. It was found, but I can’t imagine them showing a boo-boo like this now.

  76. 76.

    germy

    @Steeplejack:  Even if I’ve seen an episode a couple of times, I still enjoy watching, if only for the sets, the interiors of offices, homes and apartments.

    Some viewers like to watch the outdoor location shots to identify where they are and compare what they look like nowadays.  I like the indoor environments.

  80. 80.

    Ian

    @randy khan:

    I keep hearing about people who are to ashamed to admit to a random pollster they will vote for Trump.

    Think about that.  One lone Trump voter, intimidated into silence by their evil liberal family?  I bet dollars to cents there are more Dem voters who don’t want to tell their family of bugnuts Trumpniks they are voting for Biden.

  85. 85.

    satby

    Good morning all! Woke up at 3 am, got up for a while and then fell back asleep at 6:30 and got up again at 8:15. Now on my second cup of coffee and still enjoying the Twitter memes from the Lake Travis fiasco. “Klan overboard” on the picture of the boat underwater is my new favorite.

  87. 87.

    catclub

    @Steeplejack: They went over budget, apparently broke numerous building codes and zoning rules and had to slink home with the project unfinished.

     

    I think This Old House would be useful if they listed their budgets – at actual cost rather than sponsors donating to the show.  the later stuff looked like a lot of $4M budgets to me.

  89. 89.

    germy

    @satby:

    The tragic events that unfolded on Lake Travis yesterday afternoon appear to have caught Democrats flat-footed as they scramble to recalibrate their message in a race that once promised to be about the nearly 200,000 Americans who have died during the COVID pandemic.

    — New York Times Pitchbot (@DougJBalloon) September 6, 2020

  93. 93.

    germy

    @zhena gogolia:

    There was a time when Al Jolson was considered the King of show business.  Broke every record, topped every list.

    I wonder if Mick Jagger’s minstrel show will be as off-putting  to future generations as Jolson’s act is today?

  95. 95.

    WaterGirl

    @randy khan: If I were planning to vote for Trump, I would be too ashamed to tell anyone.  But then again, if you’re ashamed, why would you still be voting for Trump?

    Maybe because you’re a racist but you don’t want to be seen as one?

  98. 98.

    germy

    @WaterGirl:  One of the news outlets (it might have been the NYTimes, I don’t remember) tried to call someone a “shy” Trump voter, but then it was revealed he’d self-published a pro-Trump 2020 book.

  101. 101.

    Steeplejack

    @germy:

    Amen to all of that. I’ve gotten my brother semi-hooked, and we always laugh about two things: the money amounts (“A motive for murder? I think . . . $40,000 qualifies, don’t you?”) and the “geography.” Better pack a lunch to go “out to Encino,” and there’s one episode where Paul Drake looks like Malibu could be an overnighter.

    Oh, yeah, real estate. Some guy has “a shack up in the canyon.” Recently seen on Zillow as a $2.5 million reno.

    ETA: I actually got on the Google and checked the dollar amounts one time. A dollar in 1960 is supposedly about $8.75 today, so that $40,000 would be $350,000 now. Definitely more murder-worthy.

  102. 102.

    zhena gogolia

    @germy:

    Oh, we love both! There are so many great tsatskes all over the place. I think the early episodes were art-directed by one of the great old Hollywood art directors, whose name escapes me right now.

  106. 106.

    WaterGirl

    @germy: hahaha

    Just like the “undecided” voters, or the “independents” that have clearly made up their mind but want their moment in the sun.

    So many media hacks, so little time.

  108. 108.

    Jean

    Yesterday, I went to Petco in my Virginia area.  They have a REQUIRED mask sign on the door, and I have not seen any unmasked customers until yesterday.  He was behind me, at least 6 feet away, unmasked; his wife, masked, and two children.  I said to the employee at the register, “That man doesn’t have a mask.”  The employee said, ” I didn’t seem him come in.”  He said nothing to the guy.  SO I said, “You should be wearing a mask.”  As I loaded my car, the guy drives by, stops and says out the window:  ” I have a conceal and carry permit, and a mask is not allowed.  You should (something) before you speak.”

    My mind just went black.  I said nothing.  Got home and looked up the law, and Governor Northam’s mask mandate says that “During this emergency, conceal and carry does not prohibit masks”  The law has been waived.  Next, I sent an email to the store, and will follow with a phone call.  I just am not remaining silent on this issue.

    I hate that gun toting guy.  SO smug, so stupid.

  109. 109.

    PST

    @catclub: 

    what does BSN stand for? Doesn’t sound like a step up from RN

    Bachelor of Science in Nursing. Traditionally, many RNs had an associates degree, so a BSN marked you as special. It could be helpful for advancement and was often something RNs worked to get while practicing, much like teachers getting an MA. It is more and more common at the entry level.

  110. 110.

    satby

    On this Labor Day I’ll be laboring at the eye doctor’s office at least for a couple of hours. But in exciting developments, the manager who drove me nuts has put in her resignation (identifying my return to roll out the new system as a contributing factor). I’m meeting before the office opens with the doctor to plan strategy, because I think she’s leaving the optical store to open her office elsewhere. We need to plan!!

  111. 111.

    Kropacetic

    @WaterGirl: Just like the “undecided” voters, or the “independents” that have clearly made up their mind but want their moment in the sun.

    Most independents I know, myself included*, still lean pretty strongly to one of the major parties or the other and aren’t shy to talk about it.

    *In MA, the designation is “unenrolled.”

  112. 112.

    Steeplejack

    @catclub:

    Agreed. I think the first episode I ever saw—jeez, did it have Bob Vila on it?!—was one where they built an enclosed hallway to a one-car garage so they could upgrade that and add it as a bedroom to a small upper Midwest house.

  114. 114.

    germy

    @satby: because I think she’s leaving the optical store to open her office elsewhere.

    I wonder if she’ll steal all the customers on the way out.

  115. 115.

    Kropacetic

    @germy: Should Joe Biden be eating ice cream just days after one of the worst maritime disasters in Central Texas history?

    Should he be eating at all? It just shows a callous indifference to small boaters swept away by big boaters in a brazen act of class warfare.

  116. 116.

    germy

    @Jean: I just am not remaining silent on this issue.

    Good for you.  I complained to a manager at our local supermarket after I saw three employees with no masks.  One was singing loudly along with the piped-in music.

    Sign on front door:  Mask Required.    I always comply.  Why can’t others?  If people weren’t stupid and crazy, maybe this virus would be a memory by now.

  117. 117.

    satby

    @germy: The customers are almost all hers anyway. There are people who still drive in from Chicago and St. Joe MI and in one case Iowa just to see this doctor.

    Edit: malls are dying and have been since before covid, and this optical store has had a noticeable decrease in upkeep and investment over the last year.

  118. 118.

    Lacuna Synechdoche

    @Steeplejack: They went over budget, apparently broke numerous building codes and zoning rules and had to slink home with the project unfinished.

    This New Yorker says: Sounds like a Trump building.

  123. 123.

    germy

    I don't like puppies. I like old dogs who put a serious paw on your arm as if to say "The jerk I lived with before this buried a treasure map. I still remember where it is. Get your car keys."

    — Elizabeth Hackett (@LizHackett) September 2, 2020

  124. 124.

    Steeplejack

    @donnah:

    LOL. To each her own. I get a raging “gay hustler” vibe from Chuck Connors, so that’s not one of my faves. I’m not a big fan of the Westerns in general.

    Lately, in the grip of coronasomnia, I have been hate-watching what I call “Quinn Martin Theater”: Mannix, Cannon, Barnaby Jones from 2:00 to 5:00 in the morning. Or as much as I can stand. Really dreadful shows, but it’s interesting to see future stars early in their careers and also the stable of “I know that guy but not his name” actors who populated all those shows. Might have gotten cured last week when Barnaby Jones showed me a young but still creepy James Woods kissing Loni Anderson. ?

    I wish they would promote Peter Gunn to a better time slot, and I wish someone would bring back Harry O. Loved that show.

  125. 125.

    raven

    @germy: The Stones were mortified to be following  James Brown. They knew what time is was. Did ya’ll catch Terri Gahr and Zappa?

  127. 127.

    dogwood

    For a great tv series I’d recommend Taste the Nation hosted by Padma Lakshmi on Hulu. It’s a beautiful exploration of food, culture and the immigrant experience in America with an episode about Native Americans committed to rediscovering their culinary heritage. I loved it.

  128. 128.

    Steeplejack

    @Jean:

    Condolences on that. It is insane that we have to put up with all this bullshit in addition to the actual coronavirus.

  130. 130.

    donnah

    @germy: I know, and that’s sad. He was also a singer and songwriter   after his acting career. There were a couple of episodes in the show where he sang and played guitar.

    It’s the one thing about watching classics: most of the actors are long gone.

  132. 132.

    germy

    @donnah:  Some amazing character actors show up on The Rifleman.

    Jack Elam was in the episode where he’s a pool hustler, trying to beat Mark Twain (Kevin McCarthy)

    Sammy Davis jr., was on a few times, playing gunslingers.  And Buddy Hackett played a psychotic bad guy.

    And there’s one guy, he was a standup comic who did a great Humphrey Bogart impression, who was always on, playing serious roles as bad guys.

  135. 135.

    Steeplejack

    @germy:

    Some degree of BJ separation: I had dinner with Teri Garr and a studio P.R. weasel when I interviewed her during the production of Close Encounters. She was great!

  139. 139.

    Chief Oshkosh

    @prufrock: 

    It has been my experience that a universal symptom of being a Trump voter is that you let everyone know.

    That has been my experience, too. They love to fly their freak flags in everyone else’s faces. However, they are fundamentally cowards, so I can easily see how they would become “shy” when anyone with a pencil and clipboard starts asking them questions.

    BTW, “shy” apparently meant “cowardly” in 1800s. Since so many of these incels want to return to that era, this should hit a nerve for them, though I doubt they’ll make the connection.

  141. 141.

    Suzanne

    @Steeplejack:

    They went over budget, apparently broke numerous building codes and zoning rules

    So like every building project attempted w/o an architect and/or engineer.

  143. 143.

    Suzanne

    @catclub:

    I think This Old House would be useful if they listed their budgets 

    Oh goodness yes. Same with every show on HGTV. In my field, it’s a joke about how everyone watches these shows and somehow comes out dumber about them than before they started. First-time homebuyers don’t understand that plastic laminate is cheaper than quartz or granite, but even some commercial clients don’t understand why we don’t use residential materials in commercial buildings. And no one has a reasonable idea of cost. It leads to many “fierce conversations”.

  146. 146.

    dnfree

    @raven: we watched the James Brown biopic with Chadwick Boseman last week. He did a fantastic job. It referenced the Stones following Brown. Apparently this was very early in their career.

  148. 148.

    dnfree

    @Suzanne: we redid too many kitchens in the past fifty-some years. In 2005 we did one in a sixties ranch house (in a still inexpensive rural midwestern city). We looked at granite, quartz, etc countertops and were floored (so to speak) by the cost. The salesman asked, “What have you had in your previous homes?”  We said “Formica”. He said, “And how did that work out?”  We said “Fine….”. So we got laminate again and it still looked fine and worked fine when we sold the house last year.

  149. 149.

    WaterGirl

    @Kropacetic: If Joe stops eating ice cream, it will be a “thing” that Joe doesn’t eat ice cream, and not only does he think he’s superior to us because he doesn’t eat it, but he will also be planning to take our ice cream away from us.

  152. 152.

    Aleta

    I was watching The Saint on youtube last night.   I had never seen it but  I remember my brother excited about it.  So nouveau.  And Secret Agent.  He used to sing  ‘Secret Agent Man, they’ve given you a number, and taken way your name” all the time.  He would act those shows out in the living room, rolling over the couch arms to avoid punches and things.   The Saint is pretty watchable at 2 am.

  153. 153.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Kropacetic: The “shy Trumpy” meme is derivative of the Shy Tory factor often cited as a factor in UK Conservative Party scoring better than its polling in elections since the 1990s – with a dollop of Bradley effect (transmogrified from race to gender in 2016) stirred in for seasoning.

    My semi-informed guess is that there was probably some significant peer pressure & “don’t-betray-your-class” admonition for working-class Brits to vote Labour, which might cause them to disguise their actual intentions. I don’t see that happening here & now – there is no corresponding pressure to vote Democratic, and the combination of the suborned MSM and the Shitgibbon in the WH gives Trumpistas ample permission to letting their bigoted-fascistic-Southron-swastika fly in opinion polls. And a nonthreatening Teflon-coated white male at the top of the Democratic ticket pretty much cancels out any Bradley effect. (Though the Thugs have been, as I predicted months ago, doing everything they can to dirty up Kamala as the skeeery black b*tch who’ll take over once Biden resigns or drops dead, which is gonna happen yesterday if not sooner. IMO the campaign will explode that by showing her to advantage in non-threatening contexts.)

  156. 156.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @OzarkHillbilly: I can’t recall if it was Croooze or Quarrely Fiorina, but standing together onstage one of them allegedly muttered to the other, These human masks are really uncomfortable!

  157. 157.

    raven

    @Miss Bianca:

    In October 2002, Garr publicly confirmed that she had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.[41] After years of uncertainty and secrecy surrounding her diagnosis, Garr explained her reasons for deciding to go public: “I’m telling my story for the first time so I can help people. I can help people know they aren’t alone and tell them there are reasons to be optimistic because, today, treatment options are available.”[41]

    In interviews, she has commented that she first started noticing symptoms while she was in New York filming Tootsie around 1982. After disclosing her condition, she became a National Ambassador for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and National Chair for the Society’s Women Against MS program (WAMS).[42] In November 2005, Garr was honored as the society’s Ambassador of the Year. The same year, she revealed her treatment regimen for the disease, which included regular steroid injections to help manage symptoms.[30] Closer reported in 2015 that she credited her positive attitude and support of her family as helping her fight the disease.[43]

    In December 2006, Garr suffered a ruptured brain aneurysm.[44] The aneurysm left Garr in a coma for weeks,[35] but after therapy, she regained speech and motor skills, and, in 2008 she appeared on Late Show with David Letterman in order to promote Expired, a 2007 film in which she played a set of twins.[45]

  158. 158.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Aleta: “Secret Agent Man” is arguably the best song Johnny Rivers ever did. Am mindestens it beats the living shit out of “A Mountain of Love” (ralph!) which seemed to be the choice of every god-damned moldy-oldies band that ever played for the Friday night swing dances I (sniff) miss so much these days (waaaaaah)….

  160. 160.

    Steeplejack

    @Aleta:

    I was surprised at how much I like The Saint, especially since I hated Roger Moore as James Bond. Started watching it a few months ago on the Folk channel (even lower-rent than MeTV). It’s on right now, in fact: 11:00 a.m. and noon EDT weekdays. Pretty well written, by the standards of the time, and Moore’s rakish charm is better suited to the small screen.

    I was also watching The Avengers and Secret Agent, but they are apparently out of rotation now. The pre-Emma Peel Avengers episodes with Honor Blackman were a revelation: she was equally kick-ass and had her own style.

  163. 163.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Baud: I think it’s less shy and more likely Trump fan bois who don’t normally vote so the polls don’t capture them because they are not likely voters.

  165. 165.

    debbie

    @Miss Bianca:

    One would hope.

    Instead of blowing up things for a gender reveal party, the parents to be should hand out wallets. If there’s a dollar inside, it’s a boy, if there’s 72 cents, it’s a girl
    — Professor Sarah Parcak (@indyfromspace) September 7, 2020

  167. 167.

    Aleta

    @Steeplejack:  Yeah, he is good.  (I couldn’t stand him as Bond.)   Didn’t know he played The Saint.   I like the plots and the acting.  And the scenes.

  169. 169.

    prostratedragon

    @Steeplejack:
    The dollar amounts do sound laughable now, but they of course would have made sense to the audience then. I use a year’s income at around that time for my rule of thumb. Median family income in 1960 was a bit over $5,000 while a Don Draper type would have made $10 to $15 thousand.

  176. 176.

    Steeplejack

    @Aleta:

    “Escape Route” (S5.E14, July 1967).

    Sutherland was also in an earlier one, “The Happy Suicide” (S3.E23, March 1965).

  178. 178.

    Steeplejack

    @Aleta:

    The Saint is interesting because it had two “phases”: an early black-and-white run from October 1962 to August 1965, then a color run from sometime in 1966 to February 1969. (IMDB date order is screwed up.) Dunno what the hiatus was about.

  180. 180.

    Citizen Alan

    @Aleta:  I have often thought that the reason Roger Moore was so bad as James bond was because he was playing bond as if he were Simon Templar.

  181. 181.

    Geminid

    @germy: Johnny Crawford also played Henry Fonda and Joanne Woodwards “son” in A Big Hand for the Little Lady. Burgess Meredith, Jason Robards, and Paul Ford play their parts as well. Worth seeing.

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