Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. let’s win this.

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

I’m pretty sure there’s only one Jack Smith.

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

Seems like a complicated subject, have you tried yelling at it?

This fight is for everything.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

I’m sure you banged some questionable people yourself.

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

Take your GOP plan out of the witness protection program.

This blog will pay for itself.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

After roe, women are no longer free.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

Prediction: the GOP will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

You are here: Home / Civil Rights / Women's Rights / A Woman's Place Is In The House / Tuesday Morning Open Thread: Kamala Harris Is RUNNING!

Tuesday Morning Open Thread: Kamala Harris Is RUNNING!

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I think this is the first photo I’ve seen where Harris wasn’t wearing heels (and, as a fellow short woman, I can appreciate why she goes to such heights to literally be seen).


Jen Rubin is also, understandably, charmed:

… In the weeks since her selection, Harris has fired up fundraising and injected excitement into the race. But more important to the task of governing that will follow a successful campaign, we need a vice president who possesses the right balance of insider knowledge and outsider sensibilities; the empathy that comes from consoling victims; the granular knowledge of the criminal justice system and the web of policies and institutions that perpetuate racism (knowingly or not); the insight into the obstacles that deprive millions of their right to vote; and some righteous anger mixed with unflinching optimism in our ability to perfect America. To get all that, you really do need an ambitious woman on the ticket.

Tiger Beat on the Potomac (h/t Mr. Charles P. Pierce), on the other hand…


#WEAK.SAUCE, Politico!

Reader Interactions

188Comments

  6. 6.

    Baud

    I don’t think I would have thought twice about that video if you hadn’t said something.

    Maybe she should hump a flag, just to see how people react.

  10. 10.

    mrmoshpotato

    why does anyone still act like the president has some weird superpower where if he insults someone or gives them a dumb nickname, it will hurt them
     

    Haha, great way to tell Politico to take a long walk off a short pier.

  11. 11.

    Morzer

    *scratches head*

    Did I miss some unusual mode of walking by Kamala Harris? She seems … perfectly normal.

  14. 14.

    mrmoshpotato

    @matt:

    So far, Politico hasn’t done anything to justify its existence. 

    Well, they are consistent – consistent garbage.

  17. 17.

    raven

    Lots of outrage about shithead saying military leaders just want war to keep the military-industrial complex humming. Rev Al said anti-Vietnam war never suggested such a thing. Rally? Then there is the “sucker” comment  I suggest part of his appeal to all these Nam vets is that they DO feel like they were suckers.  Strange days but I guess if we can ride it to get rid of him it’s justified.

  18. 18.

    debbie

    The cuteness, it burns! The church next door has restarted its daycare program. All these tiny beings, safely distant, lining up in their small masks.

  21. 21.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Missouri Legislature Stays Up Late To Target Kim Gardner

    It only took them sixteen hours, but last night/this morning the Missouri Senate finally managed to pass a package of bills targeting violent crime in St. Louis — and its top prosecutor, Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner.

    Under an amendment voted on in the wee hours of Thursday (and which still requires approval from the House before it can become law) the Missouri attorney general would have the power to intervene in city murder cases if more than 90 days have passed since the crime or if the chief law enforcement officer sends the AG a request. The amendment would empower the AG to take over a case even if charges had been brought and later dismissed.

    This measure, creating a “concurrent jurisdiction” between the Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt and St. Louis’ Circuit Attorney, was first raised as a request by Parson himself, who in August urged the legislature to address Gardner’s “disturbing trend of not going after murderers, which deprives victims of justice.”

    However, as Riverfront Times’ pointed out in last week’s cover story, Parson’s stated evidence for that trend — that “only 33 homicide cases have been charged so far this year out of 161” — appears more than a little misleading when taken with the fact that, according to the St. Louis police department, officers had made just 44 arrests in homicide cases as of August 14.

    And it’s the criminal charges that Gardner has filed, against St. Louis gun couple the McCloskeys, that have raised Gardner’s standing to archvillain in both Missouri and national politics.
    …………………………..
    While that measure failed, Onder revived the proposal for concurrent jurisdiction on the same logic: that Gardner is ignoring homicides.

    “She’s not doing her job. She’s too busy prosecuting the McCloskeys and the former governor while children are dying,” said Onder during the floor debate.

    Senator Jamilah Nasheed (D-St. Louis) fired back that Onder was trying to blame the complex causes of violent crime on Gardner.

    “Here you are trying to strip away her power simply because she’s a Black woman standing up for criminal justice reform,” Nasheed said, according to a report by St. Louis Public Radio.

    Gardner has been pissing off all the right people and recently won her primary race (which means re-elected in DEM STL) by an overwhelming majority. In other words, she’s a scary black woman.

  22. 22.

    Amir Khalid

    If you thought yesterday’s numbers were bad …

    Malaysia’s daily numbers. 100 new cases; Malaysia had not reported a triple-digit new cases number since 10th June. 85 cases from local infection: 55 Malaysians comprising 32 cases from the Benteng Lahad Datu cluster, mostly police detainees at the district police HQ’s lockup and prisoners at Tawau prison; 22 cases in Kedah from the Sungai cluster, located at a private hospital in the state; one case in Perlis from the Sungai cluster. 30 non-Malaysians, all police detainees from the Benteng Lahad Datu cluster.

    15 imported cases: two Malaysians, returning from Indonesia and the Philippines; 13 non-Malaysians, arriving from India (11), Indinesia, and Pakistan. The cumulative reported total is 9,559 cases.

    DG of Health Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah told today’s media briefing that yesterday’s and today’s spikes in new cases reported brings Malaysia’s R0 from 0.72 two weeks ago to 1.72, above the threshold that indicates community spread is increasing rather decreasing. But he noted that the new cases in Lahad Datu involved illegal immigrants already in detention, so they were not likely to spread Covid-19 in the community.

    He also said some in the public and even frontline healthcare workers, as demonstrated by the Sungai cluster, were growing lax in their observance of the necessary precautions. Dr Noor Hisham said to avoid any form of physical contact, including fist-bumping.

    12 more patients recovered and were discharged, for a total of 9,136 patients recovered — 95.57% of the cumulative reported total. Active and contagious cases currently being isolated/treated in hospital jumped to 295 patients; seven are in ICU, four of them on respirators.

    No new deaths since 1st September, and the total stands at 128 deaths — 1.34% of the cumulative reported total, 1.38% of resolved cases.

  24. 24.

    Ken

    @Baud: @mrmoshpotato: I’m sure a PDF will show up somewhere soon enough.  If not, all the best parts will be excerpted for reviews and tweets – in fact, there will probably be extra information in Trump’s angry denial tweets.

  25. 25.

    Jeffery

    I hope both Joe and Kamala use Saint Ronnie’s old line of “There you go again.” When Little Donald throws a hissy fit on stage.

  26. 26.

    AnderJ

    That tweet from Gerry Doyle summarizes my feelings. Why are public figures so afraid about a tweet from Trump? I can see why non-public figures are, because they may lead to harrassment by Trumps followers. However, Harris will be harrassed regardless of tweets from Trump.

  28. 28.

    Starfish

    @Morzer: She is wearing skinny jeans and converse for campaigning. This seems relatable, and I am so glad that we may be retiring ugly pantsuits.

  29. 29.

    JoyceH

    @Morzer: she’s walking like a fit and healthy woman who is not wearing stiletto heels. Since stilettos are almost a requirement for women in politics and media, a woman walking normally looks weird to some people.

  30. 30.

    John S.

    @AnderJ: The better question is why do so many so-called journalists act like mean girls, goading the president to make catty remarks about his opponents so they can hiss derisively in approval at the savage burn he delivered?

  35. 35.

    different-church-lady

    There’s anyone who doesn’t get the Trump Treatment? The entire world getting the Trump Treatment constantly.

  36. 36.

    NotMax

    While not up to Bierce’s later The Devil’s Dictionary level, thought this excerpt from a book published in 1822 might be of moderate amusement, demonstrating that some things remain eternal.

    ;)

    (Have about a dozen other snippets saved which I found of interest in the same book, The Book of Curiosities: Containing Ten Thousand Wonders and Curiosities of Nature and Art, while perusing it last week and which will probably end up sharing from time to time.)

  37. 37.

    Amir Khalid

    @AnderJ:

    Whenever a journo asks for a reaction to a Trumptweet, I recommend that Joe or Kamala (or whoever) just say, “Does the President realise how childish that tweet makes him look?”

  38. 38.

    randy khan

    @debbie:

    Rather than prove his support, he doubles down and insults the officers. Foolish me for being surprised!

    And the best thing about it is that it’s likely that he has more support among officers than enlisted, if you look at the demographics of who joins.

  39. 39.

    Kay

    Greg Sargent
    @ThePlumLineGS
    ·35m
    ABC/Ipsos poll:
    By 55-42, Americans say Biden would do a better job keeping the country safe
    By 59-39, they say Biden would do a better job reducing violence
    Trump is losing this argument, because everyone understands that he *wants* more violence:

    I think he’s also losing the argument because his loyal supporters rushed into the protest areas to defend his honor, and to an outside observer who doesn’t follow any of this closely it now looks like a fight between neo Nazi Trump supporters and Lefties. They were stupid enough to carry The Trump Nation Flag too- his name is all over the protests now. There aren’t any “Biden flags” at these protests- just Trump flags.

  40. 40.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Seeing as so many folks are talking about how a black woman walks, thought you all would enjoy how this black woman walks:

    Rex ChapmanHorse [email protected]
    After serving 6 years in the Army — and 20 years in the Navy – this hero retires and she walked out like this.

    I’m here for all of it.

  42. 42.

    Ken

    What kind of heels does Trump wear? They don’t look like western or boot heels, and that’s the only kind I’m familiar with for men’s shoes.

  48. 48.

    Just One More Canuck

    @Ken: don’t know what kind of shoes he wears, but he definitely wears lift

     

    or what mrmoshpotato said

  50. 50.

    Betty Cracker

    @raven: I had a similar thought. Of course, Trump is a big fat hypocrite on war/peace issues. He hasn’t really done shit to end the “endless wars,” and he brags all the time about pouring money into the Pentagon. He’s not wrong that over-extending the military and out-of-control defense spending are problems. He’s just lying about his own actions to address it and completely inconsistent in the lies he tells about it, depending on the audience. Good to see him getting some blow-back regardless.

  51. 51.

    Robert Sneddon

    Scotland COVID-19 cases today — 3 deaths of COVID-19-positive people has been reported along with another 176 new confirmed cases. Half of the new cases are in the Glasgow and surrounding area which is now under advisory restrictions for care home visits, extended family meetups and the like. The next step would be regulatory closing of pubs, clubs, shops etc. in affected areas but right now that’s not being done as the evidence from the Trace and . Hospital cases are up slightly.

    The government decides whether to change the overall restrictions nationally every three weeks and the next announcement on this will be tomorrow. It’s clear that there’s going to be no further relaxation of the current restrictions given the unwanted rise in cases over the past week or so.

    The First Minister has again emphasised that anyone thinking of going abroad for a holiday has no assurance that their destination won’t become subject to quarantine on return at a moment’s notice even if it’s not on the list when they book the holiday or travel. We’ve had a number of sob-stories in the news from people who got caught out by this previously, whining that they didn’t know that this might happen and they didn’t get enough warning before the restrictions were imposed while they were abroad.

  52. 52.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Amir Khalid: Donning my flameproof briefs before posting this, but I’ve long been a sucker for shapely female legs, and it is scientifically proven that high heels make good legs look better. Yes, they are a health hazard, but they do what they are supposed to do.

    Now wearing high heels with pants is kind of pointless.

  53. 53.

    lamh36

    @lamh36:

    Kamala: Tell me about Joe…

    PBO: …he really does like those aviator glasses…he knows he looks good in them…

    that exchange made me chuckle

  55. 55.

    Immanentize

    @Betty Cracker: I wonder if he will be having any of his horrible “address the troops” photo ops any time soon.  The graduation he ordered up at West Point turned into L’Affair du Glass and Ramp.  He got no milage out of it.  And now?  Does he dare?

  59. 59.

    TS (the original)

    Summer has come and gone, and with it, the toll of the coronavirus pandemic in the United States has only grown worse. From Memorial Day weekend through the unofficial end of the season Monday, the number of Americans who died of covid-19 shot up from just under 100,000 to more than 186,000, according to data tracked by The Washington Post, as infections nearly quadrupled to upward of 6.2 million.

    Trump cannot win with these figures and it is doubtful they will be improving in the next 2 months.

  61. 61.

    different-church-lady

    @Kay:

    Trump is losing this argument, because everyone understands that he *wants* more violence:

    They understand it because he’s effectively admitted it directly.

  64. 64.

    Betty Cracker

    @Amir Khalid: I’ve heard JFK single-handedly killed hats as a  “dress up” fashion accessory for men. Maybe Harris can kill the notion that high heels are the go-to “power” footwear for women.

  66. 66.

    Soprano2

    @Gin & Tonic: Depends on the pants, many types of dress pants almost require a heel to look good if you’re a shorter woman. I don’t wear stilettos, I’m too old for that. I tried them when I was young, and even then I figured out pretty quickly that they’re a bad idea.

  67. 67.

    Immanentize

    @Raven:

    the revolving door

    With Trump there are now three on ramps and exits for the military — he added the administration to the traditional industry/military options. He has done nothing but speed up the corruption of each.

  68. 68.

    Soprano2

    @OzarkHillbilly: Gardner has been pissing off all the right people and recently won her primary race (which means re-elected in DEM STL) by an overwhelming majority. In other words, she’s a scary black woman.

    Isn’t it amazing how Republicans suddenly decide they don’t like local government when the local government isn’t doing what they want it to do? Strange, how they didn’t extend this to Kansas City and Springfield, too. You’re right that they have it out for Gardner because she dared to try to enforce the law against the stupid Trumpie couple. They paid good money to live in a subdivision where they didn’t have to see any dark-complected people who aren’t cleaning houses or taking care of yards, dammit, they have a right to keep it that way! /s/s/s

  69. 69.

    Betty Cracker

    @Kay: That’s true: the right-wing agitators are visibly Trump partisans, and the black bloc people/anarchists who glom onto every protest of any sort aren’t Biden people or even necessarily Democrats. I don’t know how widely known the latter fact is, but at least the visual cues don’t support a false equivalence.

  70. 70.

    Chyron HR

    Who’s going to ring the town bell every time Trump tries to say the brilliant nickname he came up with for Kamala?

  76. 76.

    Immanentize

    @Betty Cracker:

    the black bloc people/anarchists who glom onto every protest of any sort aren’t Biden people or even necessarily Democrats.

    And notably, those folks are almost all white men. The whole ‘black lives’ piece is missing from Trump’s violence.

  78. 78.

    WereBear

    @John S.: The better question is why do so many so-called journalists act like mean girls

     
    I have never improved on the adage that politics is show business for the less attractive.

    To which I add: some people never get out of high school.

  80. 80.

    WereBear

    I love the buzz around this clip because Kamala Harris is conveying how she’s here to get things done and she is more than capable of doing it.

    She’s not on display, she’s comfortable with power.

    Those with Pale Fragile Y Syndrome feel that and fear it :)

  81. 81.

    Barbara

    @Immanentize:

    And notably, those folks are almost all white men. The whole ‘black lives’ piece is missing from Trump’s violence.

    Ammon Bundy and the Malheur Preserve protesters were lionized for standing up to an unjust government.  Yes, I know the hypocrisy is wide and deep on the right, but if you are going to die on the hill of white grievance you have to do better than show two sets of white men fighting each other.  And even to this somewhat casual observer, it is fairly obvious ever since the so-called G8 protests in Seattle that there is a durable subset of mostly white men living in the Pacific NW who seem to live for the adrenaline rush of street fighting. I wish they would all go and start a particularly vicious form of laser tag or paint ball and make everyone sign disclaimers.

  83. 83.

    artem1s

    @raven:

    I suggest part of his appeal to all these Nam vets is that they DO feel like they were suckers.  Strange days but I guess if we can ride it to get rid of him it’s justified.

    I never understood why the Swiftboat thing was so appealing to vets either.  Here was a guy who volunteered.  He could have easily gotten a deferment like Cheney or served in the Guard like W.  The GOP openly mocked him and Max Clelland and lied about their service the way Trump mocked McCain. Yet that was OK because getting shot, twice, isn’t really an injury if your a bleeding hear liberal , I guess?

  84. 84.

    Jeffro

    @TS (the original): Trump cannot win with these figures and it is doubtful they will be improving in the next 2 months.

    Truth.  All Biden & Co have to do is point out that the president* has no plan whatsoever to crush the virus…it’s not a matter of limping along like this until November, or even January, but limping along like this for four. more. years.

    What do you say, America?  You up for four years of double-digit unemployment, K-12 “distance learning”, and not attending concerts or sports events?

  85. 85.

    Kay

    @Jeffro:

    I’m anticipating that the corrupt attorney general, Bill Barr, will launch some kind of political attack against Biden before November. They’ll release/announce/invent something. I don’t think it will matter, ultimately, but it will be at least a week long freak out and blanket coverage by political media.

  86. 86.

    Barbara

    @Jeffro: But don’t forget the October surprise vaccine announcement!  Seriously, every person who woke up this morning and realized that their child, like my son, is going to be trapped at home for the foreseeable future trying to do online classes is going to have a daily if not hourly reminder of what an utter failure Trump has been in addressing Covid-19.  And although I know it is unlikely, I hope every governor who has followed his lead receives equivalent blame.

  87. 87.

    Betty Cracker

    @Barbara:

    And even to this somewhat casual observer, it is fairly obvious ever since the so-called G8 protests in Seattle that there is a durable subset of mostly white men living in the Pacific NW who seem to live for the adrenaline rush of street fighting.

    Exactly! Subsets of semi-pro protesters (mostly white dudes) have been co-opting larger protest movements for all of my adult life. They were definitely in Boston during the Gulf War 1 protests; I’ve still got photos!

  89. 89.

    Betty Cracker

    @Kay: My guess is that Barr’s errand boy Durham will cough up a weak hairball alleging that the 2016 Trump campaign was improperly spied upon, and no one but the MAGAs will give a shit.

  92. 92.

    Patricia Kayden

    But but but Biden needs to condemn violence by BLM and Antifa.

    Trump has reverted to using graphic depictions of violence as a centerpiece of his campaign strategy, converting his Twitter account, stump speech and even the White House podium into platforms for amplifying domestic conflict https://t.co/Cgojg5UK4O— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) September 8, 2020

  93. 93.

    Jay C

    @artem1s:

    I’ve always thought the “Swiftboating” campaign against John Kerry in 2004 was the (hopefully) last gasp of the Vietnam War as a flashpoint issue in American politics.

    I believe that if Kerry had not gotten his start in politics as a high-profile anti war activist, the Swiftboat liars’ charges would have had a great deal less effect. Though, of course, as a Democrat, he would have come in for the usual scathing anyway, but ISTM that the GOPers’ going all-in on the Swiftboat smears was a last middle-finger-salute to the “sellout hippie peaceniks” who they imagine “lost” the war for us.

  95. 95.

    Ohio Mom

    Kamala has a very youthful spring in her step. Quite a contrast to Pence who tries to fake gravitas.

    On another note, aren’t stilettos part of Pelosi’s well-established style? It’s to her credit that she is able to use them to project authority instead of subordination — those things can really hobble their wearers — but I am all for high- high heels going the way of shoulder pads.

  96. 96.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Kay:but it will be at least a week long freak out and blanket coverage by political media.

    There may or may not be blanket coverage (trump would have to take a low profile for that to happen and I don’t think he is capable of that) but I really doubt there will be any “freak out”. At this point everyone knows they lie about everything, that Barr is no more trustworthy than trump and that anything they say has to be taken with a ton of salt.

  98. 98.

    jonas

    “Training Her Whole Life for This?”

    Uh,oh. Rubin, or whoever writes her headlines, should know better than this. Actually knowing stuff, having political ambition, and being qualified — especially if you’re a woman — is the kiss of death. Remember Hillary in the debates? Was it Chuck Todd who remarked that she came off as “too prepared?” Thank God we dodged that bullet!

    Here in America we like our beer cold, our engines loud, and our politicians ignoramuses who act like they just fell off the turnip truck.

  100. 100.

    Gin & Tonic

    More re Belarus. Lukashenko gives an interview to Russia 1 (TV) and says “Possibly, I’ve sat too long [in the President’s seat.] But, truly, at this time only I can protect Belarusians.”

  101. 101.

    WaterGirl

    @jonas: Kamala is “owning” ambition – how do they use it against her when she owns it and makes it clear that it’s a good thing?

    Rubin saying outright that Kamala being ambitious is a good thing … that’s all part of turning the rules upside down.

    I’m all for it.

  102. 102.

    Jeffro

    @Barbara: I am writing an op-ed that walks preK-12 parents through the likely timeline here, ’cause if we just accept blessed “distance learning” as is, then even if Biden wins, we’re likely to lose the entire school year.  If trumpov wins, we will never get our kids safely back in their schools.

  103. 103.

    Nicole

    @Gin & Tonic:

    Donning my flameproof briefs before posting this, but I’ve long been a sucker for shapely female legs, and it is scientifically proven that high heels make good legs look better.

    No, you have been socialized from the time you were small to see bare female legs (as long as they are also hairless) in heels as more attractive than bare female legs in flat shoes.

    I’m not saying this as a waggle-my-feminist-finger moment; it’s just the truth that what we tell ourselves we find “naturally” or “scientifically” attractive is often, in fact, shaped by what society tells us we should find attractive, and it starts very, very, very young.

    Fun trivia fact about high heels- they were originally designed for men to wear in the saddle (to keep their feet in the stirrups), and for years were worn by male aristocrats because it made them look taller and more formidable.  Height in men being something we have been socialized to see as desirable, too.

  105. 105.

    Aleta

    @Patricia Kayden:   Rewrote the Post’s tweet:

    using graphic depictions deceptive images of violence, often falsely labeled,  as a centerpiece of his campaign strategy, converting his Twitter account, stump speech and even the White House podium into platforms for amplifying lies to exaggerate and incite domestic conflict

  107. 107.

    geg6

    @Gin & Tonic:

    I have what are called by others “great legs.”  I have my mom’s shapely calves and dad’s long, long legs.  My inseam is 34 inches.  I admit to wearing stilettos for much of my 61 years, whether in pants or a dress/skirt.  The reason?  Even when you can’t see my legs, you can see how impossibly long they look in them.

  108. 108.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Nicole: And I’m not saying this as a “well, actually” moment, but my use of “scientifically proven” was intended with tongue firmly in cheek. Sorry if that didn’t come across.

  110. 110.

    Jeffro

    @Kay: Only a week-long freakout by our national snooze media and perpetually hand-wringing Dems?  =)

    I think we’re all anticipating some serious nonsense by the corrupt (and nearly broke, apparently!) trumpov campaign, but none of their crap is going to fly with the majority who’ve already decided to vote Donnie out.  The reality on the ground, the evidence of his monumental failure and unfitness is just too great.

  111. 111.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Kay:

    Barr will have a corrupt attack against Biden.  It will not generate a week of scandal.  How can I be sure?  Because he’s done it already multiple times and it flops so pathetically that most people here don’t know it happened.  Barr has repeatedly thrown out “See? Obama and Biden spied on Trump!” documents, and it goes absolutely nowhere.  He’s on his second FBI investigation of Burisma because the first turned up nothing.

    Barr is not very bright.  He is halfway competent and it makes him look like a genius compared to his boss, but almost all of his successes have been in saying “No, I won’t do that.”  I do not fear him.

  112. 112.

    The Pale Scot

    OT: But too funny not to share, a comment on FT

    2017: Norway model Brexit
    2018: Canada+ model Brexit
    2019: Canada model Brexit
    2020: Australia model Brexit
    2021: Uncontacted Amazonian Tribe model Brexit

    Edit-spelling

  114. 114.

    Mike in NC

    It should surprise approximately nobody, but GOP shill Kathleen Parker has a hit piece out on Senator Harris. No link.

  116. 116.

    Aleta

    From The Contagion Externality of a Superspreading Event:
 The Sturgis Motorcycle Rally and COVID-19 (Dhaval Dave,  Andrew I. Friedson,  Drew McNichols,  Joseph J. Sabia)

    … using data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and a synthetic control approach, we show that by September 2, a month following the onset of the Rally, COVID-19 cases increased by approximately 6 to 7 cases per 1,000 population in its home county of Meade. Finally, difference-in-differences (dose response) estimates show that following the Sturgis event, counties that contributed the highest inflows of rally attendees experienced a 7.0 to 12.5 percent increase in COVID-19 cases relative to counties that did not contribute inflows. Descriptive evidence suggests these effects may be muted in states with stricter mitigation policies (i.e., restrictions on bar/restaurant openings, mask-wearing mandates). We conclude that the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally generated public health costs of approximately $12.2 billion.

    Link to paper

    @FriedsonAndrew

    We estimate that over 250,000 of the reported cases between August 2 and September 2 are due to the Sturgis Rally. Roughly 19 percent of the national cases during this timeframe.

  117. 117.

    MomSense

    @Barbara:

    Yup.  An hour into online classes my son texted me that there is no way he can do this.  He wants to see if they will let him work independently and just finish school early.
    None of this had to be this way

  118. 118.

    Gin & Tonic

    @WereBear: Bold contrarian opinion: Chuck Taylors are uncomfortable and very quickly take on an unmistakable and unremovable odor. Their continued popularity mystifies me.

  119. 119.

    Gin & Tonic

    @MomSense: My grand-daughter was to start kindergarten this year, but since the school district said all-virtual, my daughter and SIL decided to pull her out and home-school. They don’t want her sitting in front of a screen for hours at a time.

  120. 120.

    TS (the original)

    White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows said Tuesday that he is “optimistic” that Trump will release an updated list of potential Supreme Court nominees in coming days.

    The release of an original list during the 2016 campaign helped rally conservative and evangelical voters around Trump, and he is seeking to hold together an important coalition heading into November.

    I would think, this time around it will help rally democrats to the polls much more than conservatives.

    All trump knows is what he did in 2016. It would seem he cannot, or will not see that the US and the world are in a vastly different place than they were in 2016. I hope he spends all his time on this type of nonsense. He has nothing positive for a campaign, no achievements and no policies.

     

     

  121. 121.

    sdhays

    @Ohio Mom: My wife doesn’t wear heels. One time before we were married, she left the apartment for work (I was working from home) with short heels on. About 10 minutes later I opened the door to find her leg bloodied and my fiance looking very unhappy and in pain. She had lost her balance and scraped her knee. It was traumatic, possibly more for me than for her (it looked like a lot of blood!).

    Ever since, whenever she has considered buying shoes with any kind of heel, I remind her of that time and “veto” the idea. She never really argues.

  123. 123.

    germy

    @MomSense: None of this had to be this way

    At the very least, the very least, Trump could have said back in March “Wear a mask.  Protect yourself and your neighbors by wearing a mask.  We’ll get through this.”

    Instead, he sounded like the morons who left comments on my local news websites

  126. 126.

    germy

    To recap:

    Trump accuses Pentagon leaders of warmongering for military contractors

    Glenn Greenwald tacitly defends Trump by citing Eisenhower

    Trump overtly defends himself by retweeting Greenwald

    Neither mention Trump appointed a military contractor to run the Pentagon https://t.co/udfFhKoVWa

    — Bill Scher (@billscher) September 8, 2020

  127. 127.

    satby

    @MomSense: @Gin & Tonic: it’s long been a Republican goal to defund and render irrelevant if not outright destroy public schools, and they’re almost there thanks to covid. How the children of less than rich people get educated is not at all a concern, and if the kids end up in insufficient religious schools or being homeschooled (which is often seriously deficient) then even better to maintain the class status quo.

  132. 132.

    Kay

    @Jeffro:

    My personal theory, Jeffro, is that political media is giving Trump too much credit for the economy- Nate Silver’s model bumps him up based on the economy. I think the economy is worse for working and middle class people than the conventional wisdom believes it is and I think they almost completely ignore how hard the pandemic has been on working parents. Really hard. Like, a whole second job they didn’t plan on taking and all had thrust upon them. There are about 55 million K-12 students in this country, and that doesn’t even count daycare.

  134. 134.

    different-church-lady

    I’ma just wonder when a woman is going to be able to shod her feet with kinds of footwear she wants to and it doesn’t turn into a thing.

  137. 137.

    Doug R

    @matt:

     

    So far, Politico hasn’t done anything to justify its existence.

    The Real Origins of the Religious Right

    But the abortion myth quickly collapses under historical scrutiny. In fact, it wasn’t until 1979—a full six years after Roe—that evangelical leaders, at the behest of conservative activist Paul Weyrich, seized on abortion not for moral reasons, but as a rallying-cry to deny President Jimmy Carter a second term. Why? Because the anti-abortion crusade was more palatable than the religious right’s real motive: protecting segregated schools. So much for the new abolitionism.

    So there’s that from 2014.

  138. 138.

    WereBear

    @Gin & Tonic: Not familiar with the “Chuck Taylor” distinction. And right now I am only in possession of a cheap Keds-type knockoff, for financial reasons.

    But, as with so many things human, different strokes/different folks. My amateur study of human nutrition abundantly proves “one size does not fit all.”

  139. 139.

    different-church-lady

    @Kay: Wasn’t it just last week when Wednesday was “800,000 new jobless claims” and Thursday was “Economy bouncing back on 1m new jobs added”?

  140. 140.

    germy

    The president, who hated writing checks to his own campaign and did so reluctantly in 2016, is supposedly considering a huge investment of $100 million of his own money for the final 8 weeks https://t.co/3CQCaxcJXA— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) September 8, 2020

    The chance this is likely to happen is quite slim. But the chance the president is saying it in hopes it loosens wallets of donors who have been holding back is high.— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) September 8, 2020

    Trump doesn’t have $100 million to spare. Come on now.— abbie (@abbierenn) September 8, 2020

  145. 145.

    gene108

    @Nicole:

    Height in men being something we have been socialized to see as desirable, too.

    That’s because of how we socialize through sports.

    Covering a taller kid in a backyard football game, and he just goes over you and makes the catch means you failed to stop him. The taller kid in a basketball game blocking your shot means you got beat, not because you did anything wrong but because you aren’t tall enough to get your shot off.

    There are more examples of height benefiting men in how we socialize through sports, and general contests of athletic prowess as boys grow up.

  149. 149.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @Betty Cracker:

    As a middle-aged guy who is follicularly challenged and graying, I have to chime in about hats.

    I enjoy them a lot, and they can look really sharp if worn with smart clothes. I’ve got a couple of summer hats that I get a lot of compliments on.

  150. 150.

    satby

    @Gin & Tonic: I assumed your granddaughter would be, but there are people home schooling right now who never finished H.S., or in the case of some religious fundies 8th grade. All over this country. And they’re learning the “science” of intelligent design and climate change denialism, among other erroneous lessons.

  153. 153.

    germy

    Joe Biden got an endorsement from the pilot who safely landed a plane on the Hudson River. Trump got an endorsement from the niece of the guy who unsafely landed two planes into the Twin Towers.

    — JeremyNewberger (@jeremynewberger) September 7, 2020

  154. 154.

    Omnes Omnibus

    Regarding the first vid in the OP:  I have absolutely no idea why anyone was bothered by it.  Am I missing something?

  155. 155.

    StringOnAStick

    @Amir Khalid: Thank you for your support!  Perceptions of beauty are socially constructed; as any Chinese woman subjected to foot binding.

    I’ve told the story before but there was an older woman in a nursing home that a friend worked at.  She was only there because a lifetime of wearing nothing but high heels left her with such shortened calf muscles and tendons/ligaments that she could not wear so called “sensible” shoes, and once she developed age related balance issues, she could no longer wear heels or totter around without them.  She was confined to a wheelchair at age 70.  High heels suck.

  156. 156.

    StringOnAStick

    @germy: Maybe recent experiences have finally illuminated the paraders on why there’s those annoying “no wake” rules?

    Having boat parades is such a wonderful example of how the average, common working man supports tRump.  /s

  157. 157.

    montanareddog

    @Immanentize: Lol! But, nowadays, I think it would me more appropriate to treat it as a complaint about, say, lacrosse, since rugby has integrated fairly well since the advent of professionalism

  159. 159.

    Miss Bianca

    @Immanentize: And yet, I’ve had to deal *twice* this weekend, from neighbors, this notion that “antifa” and Black Lives Matter are filled with dangerous radicals who are fomenting the violence during the protests. They’re getting this shit from *somewhere* – I just didn’t have the tact or the patience to parse it.

  161. 161.

    Miss Bianca

    @Nicole: Yeah, but *too* high a heel in the saddle will get your foot *caught* in the stirrup. That being said, yeah – high heels were originally for men.

  162. 162.

    MomSense

    @Gin & Tonic:

    He really wants it to work, but he hates it.  We spent all day and much of the night Sunday and Monday painting his room, setting up his desk, and rearranging his room because he wanted to create a dedicated school area.  I told him to put down his ideas for an independent study proposal and then we will talk to his teacher/advisor and principal to see if we can do this differently.  At this point he just wants to finish his credits as quickly as possible and graduate early.

  164. 164.

    AnotherBruce

    @Frankensteinbeck:  I wonder if Barr is going to pay for his dalliance with the secret police force? There needs to be a trial for that, and there also needs to be prison time for anybody that was involved in that fiasco.

  165. 165.

    Jeffro

    @Mike in NC:

    she’ll never forgive Harris for the ‘hit job’ Harris put on her boy Kavanaugh…

    …which tells us everything week need to know about Kathleen Parker…

  166. 166.

    Jeffro

    @Kay: they almost completely ignore how hard the pandemic has been on working parents. Really hard. Like, a whole second job they didn’t plan on taking and all had thrust upon them. There are about 55 million K-12 students in this country, and that doesn’t even count daycare.

    Absolutely!  “Shouldn’t your kids be in school right now?” is a pretty good question to be asking for the next eight weeks.

  167. 167.

    Jeffro

    @germy:

    “abbie” misses the point: it won’t really be trumpov’s money…where will it come from?  No one knows, ’cause we can’t see his taxes.

    And why the F should anyone be able to donate $100M to a political campaign, anyway?

  169. 169.

    WaterGirl

    @Baud:

    I wish some politician had the courage to take on the whole “pants required” fashion norm.

    The person you are looking for is you!  This is your platform for 2024.

    edit: and of course Aleta got there first!

  171. 171.

    sdhays

    @Kay: I caught some “political analysis” on the Snooze Hour last night. These fucking people. They talk about how things are getting back to normal and the claim that we’re having some kind of “V-shaped recession”. Schools are opening and closing again, we’re still seeing 800+ people dying every day, we have nothing under control, but maybe Donnie Dump’s happy talk will convince voters that everything is fine?

    It’s mad libs analysis with no rooting in reality. They just dust it off every fucking 4 years. “Candidate A says X, but Candidate B says Y. We can’t know Z (even though we really can, but that would be boring), so we’ll just need to watch.” Thanks, cracker jack team of journalists!

  172. 172.

    Zelma

    @different-church-lady:

    High heels are an instrument of torture.  I gave them up 50 years ago.  I am fortunately tall for my age cohort so I never felt I needed them to create a “presence” which I think is one motive for wearing them.

    I have a friend who insisted on wearing them for reasons I do not understand.  (She is quite tall.)  She has serious back and leg problems which, while not completely the result of her shoe fetish, were clearly exacerbated by it.

    I say “Go Kamala!”  Save women from high heels!

  174. 174.

    ballerat

    @Kay: The Trump flag is the new stars-and-bars. It’s the neo-confederates’ neo-confederate flag.

    They shifted to the Trump flag as public sentiment shifted against the confederate flag.

    “Muh heritage!” said the white supremacist slobs waving the confederate flag.

    But more and more other people began to see through that. They began to look down their noses at the racists waving them. Social opprobrium.

    The racists are very sensitive about this. The ugliness and injustice of their racism doesn’t bother them. Getting called out for it does. They insist they be should thought of as “good people” too. It’s not fair!

    So now it’s “Economic anxiety!” and “No bullshit!” and the white supremacist slobs wave the Trump flag.

  177. 177.

    JustRuss

    @Baud:

    I wish some politician had the courage to take on the whole “pants required” fashion norm.

    Considering most of our politicians are old white dudes, and it’s 2020, let me just say “Please god no.”

  178. 178.

    Geminid

    When she was in her 60’s, Winston Churchill’s mother broke her ankle while walking down stairs in a new pair of high-heeled shoes. Infection set in and her leg was amputated. She died not long after from complications.

  179. 179.

    BigJimSlade

    @Gin & Tonic: Yeah, they look cool, but on my feet they want to fit at an angle, like the shoes need to be twisted 20 degrees to line up with my feet – they totally don’t work. And their support is terrible – just about nonexistent. But I’ve got a friend who loves them, if he has to wear shoes, those are his first choice.

  182. 182.

    Another Scott

    @Geminid: My MIL had really, really scary bunions and so forth because of wearing pumps all her life.  :-(

    Go Kamala!!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  183. 183.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Amir Khalid: The bad situation you’re describing would sound like incredibly good numbers even for the state of Massachusetts, and Massachusetts is currently in good shape by US standards. It really brings home how much of a multilayered clusterfuck this is.

  184. 184.

    Matt McIrvin

    @ballerat: That and the “thin blue line” flag, which until recently didn’t get a lot of negative attention because most people in the US, particularly nearly all white people, don’t want to be mean to cops and saw it as a politically neutral tribute to hard-bitten public servants rather than a display of support for shooting black people.

  186. 186.

    Elie

    @geg6:

    Good for you!  Celebrate your gifts — all of them is what I say.  I can’t wear high heels as successfully any more, but I do admire their effect — including that they make your hips sway when you walk.  So ok, I totally get the comments people have about comfort and practicality and support that for every woman.  But I also support sex appeal and celebrating and enhancing our physical gifts.

  187. 187.

    Elie

    @Geminid:

    Honestly!  OK — no high heels cause they kill?

    It was the fracture — she could have sustained the fracture and complications without wearing the high heels though of course, tripping in them can happen.

    Lighten up.  Please

  188. 188.

    J R in WV

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    I admire the PO First Class and her strut on a red carpet departing her many years of service.

    I was not surprised to see a bunch of mean spirited pricks claiming to be veterans hating on her for being disrespectful. That ceremony was HERS, not theirs, and it was impossible for her to be disrespectful at her own retirement ceremony. It was her’s to be who she wanted to be.

    She had a successful career in a highly technical job, and almost certainly will be a success in her civilian life if left alone to succeed.

    Loved all her shipmates saluting and smiling at her strut and dance on her red carpet! Those are the opinions that rightly matter to her, not the babble of shit head pricks on twitter!

    I rang bells like that a whole bunch while standing watches on board a sub tender that had subs tied up alongside frequently. Raised flags, took them down, set them to half-mast rarely too. Never hugged one, not part of the book on handling Old Glory. Never dropped it on the deck, either!

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