Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Republican also-rans: four mules fighting over a turnip.

Text STOP to opt out of updates on war plans.

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

The gop is a fucking disgrace.

The arc of the moral universe does not bend itself. it is up to us to bend it.

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

Mediocre white men think RFK Jr’s pathetic midlife crisis is inspirational. The bar is set so low for them, it’s subterranean.

My right to basic bodily autonomy is not on the table. that’s the new deal.

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

The Giant Orange Man Baby is having a bad day.

Books are my comfort food!

She burned that motherfucker down, and I am so here for it. Thank you, Caroline Kennedy.

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

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

One lie, alone, tears the fabric of reality.

Balloon Juice, where there is always someone who will say you’re doing it wrong.

The line between political reporting and fan fiction continues to blur.

Second rate reporter says what?

The current Supreme Court is a dangerous, rogue court.

There are some who say that there are too many strawmen arguments on this blog.

There are a lot more evil idiots than evil geniuses.

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

All hail the time of the bunny!

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Open Thread: A Real President Speaks

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Pass it on.

Oh, how I miss him.

Open thread

ETA: Sharing this because it’s just amazing. Stripped down to just Marvin Gaye’s vocals.

Reader Interactions

268Comments

  7. 7.

    Immanentize

    @Betty Cracker: Sheee-it!

    That happened in a huge storm in upstate NY (Unadilla) just a few years ago.  Bridge over a creek! On Route 88 (Albany to Binghamton) washed out.  One truck and a few cars drove off the edge in the night killing all the drivers.  Scary.

  12. 12.

    Yutsano

    @Immanentize: Help? You came here for help? Hell I’m having a bear of a time getting ready to leave for my doctor’s appointment and you ask for help?

    *sigh* okay fine. We are a full service blog after all.

    GET TO WORK YA LAZY SCHLUB!!!

  13. 13.

    Ken

    @trollhattan: Shredders, perhaps.  Though I agree with whoever said that this gang will print out the incriminating emails and shred the paper copies, thinking that will destroy the evidence.

  15. 15.

    Kay

    The move comes after Caputo, who led the agency’s communications on the coronavirus pandemic, reportedly said in a now-deleted video posted Sunday on his personal Facebook page that scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were engaged in “sedition” against President Donald Trump.

    I really cannot exaggerate how crazy that video was. He thinks they’re going to kill him. This is like a normal day in the Trump Administration- one of them is sitting on his (porch?) reciting a disjointed conspiracy theory in an oddly expressionless manner, except his eyes keep shifting like he’s seeing things.

    That’s the team! Can you IMAGINE working there?

  16. 16.

    Baud

    @Ken:

    Ah, but if they destroy the printout, you can no longer use the emails against them because of the fruit of the poisonous tree doctrine.

  19. 19.

    Elizabelle

    @Kay: 

    I wondered if Caputo remained on the payroll so that he could keep his government health insurance. He seems to realize he does need mental health care. Further, he was advising his own friends to mask up and leave a venue if too many people were not masked.

    There’s also the feature of “don’t fire Vlad’s helpmates.”

    Anyway, less Caputo and his interference is a net gain for the CDC. Guessing it’s why Schumer and others pressed for Azar’s resignation. Get some attention on the situation.

  21. 21.

    LeftCoastYankee

    Is it me or are running out of “bad” adjectives?  The hurricane flooding is being described as potentially “catastrophic”.  Is that on an official scale for that?

    Out here in the PNW, our air quality was “upgraded” from “hazardous” to “very unhealthy” yesterday.  And those are actual EPA designations with progressively mealy descriptions of ways to breathe less.

    Even the things the government is still able to do have been dumbed down and rendered ineffective from 40 years of Republican bullshit nonsense.

    It doesn’t seem improbable at this rate for future floods to be graded by the number of rubber duckies you will need to stay afloat.

    Vent over.  7 weeks and counting….

  24. 24.

    J R in WV

    A real shame Marvin G was killed by his own father, a seriously crazed preacher.

    Oh, I miss Obama too!! I do not know how he survived his time in office…

  26. 26.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Immanentize: Bridge carrying I-95 in Connecticut collapsed like that in 1983, no storm needed. People drove off and died. Luckily it happened at 1:30 am, so not that many.

  27. 27.

    Ken

    @Baud: I am ashamed to admit that I forgot that legal principle, especially since it’s so fundamental, being enshrined in the Constitution right next to the absolute authority of sheriffs.

  28. 28.

    JPL

    The season premiere of CBS’ “60 Minutes” will include an interview with President Trump’s former national security adviser, H.R. McMaster.
    sorry if this was discussed previously

  29. 29.

    Geminid

    @Kay: I happened to see Caputo on MSNBC last fall, and he looked fat and happy. In the picture of Caputo on his recent rant, he looks like he’s a meth addict. Trump makes people crazy.

  30. 30.

    J R in WV

    @Immanentize:

    Is he saying, more than once “…conjugal media…” for the MSM??

    So strange, he obviously needs medical care for his mind! Too much kool aide, way too  much, the dye is working in his brain…

    If he takes a 2 month health break, perhaps there won’t be a job when he is ready to come back. We can only hope. What a case this Caputo guy has !!

  31. 31.

    tom

    @Immanentize: The Times post on Caputo also said that Dr. Paul Alexander, Caputo’s science advisor who accused the CDC of trying to “undermine” Trump, is leaving the department.

  33. 33.

    NotMax

    @Immanentize

    Back in the 70s, maintenance work was underway on a steel truss bridge not far from where I was residing in the Poconos.

    Whether the equipment was left in the open overnight or in a temporary work shed I don’t recall, but the upshot is that one night some vandals got hold of the acetylene tanks and torches and cut through the span midway, enough that both halves collapsed into the water. Recall seeing pictures of the suddenly V-shaped bridge in the local rag.

  35. 35.

    Elizabelle

    @Immanentize:  LOL that the still photo from the video is backwards and Caputo’s tee shirt, which says NEW YORK, actually, looks to be cyrillic.

    With a martial looking eagle below it, and more cyrillic.

    One has to look for amusement where one finds it.

    Another good thing:  Caputo’s whack job “scientific adviser”, who was peppering Fauci with memos on lies to tell is also out at CDC.  Paul Alexander.  No idea if he has any kind of scientific background, and do not care.

  40. 40.

    JPL

    SC  polling is surprising

    MAINE: Gideon (D) 54%, Collins (incumbent R) 42% SOUTH CAROLINA: Graham (incumbent R) 48%, Harrison (D) 48% KENTUCKY: McConnell (incumbent R) 53%, McGrath (D) 41%    Quinnipiac

  41. 41.

    catclub

    @Immanentize: I remember that (I was in law school). People got hot and bothered about fixing old bridges. For about a week.

     

    A Billion dollars for a new I-10 Twinspan over Lake Ponchartrain to New Orleans was allocated in about a week after Katrina.

  47. 47.

    Mallard Filmore

    @Immanentize: 

    backwards is a big problem for facetime or zoom. There is a setting to flip the image so it looks normal, but most just leave the mirror image.

    My guess is this is for when you are watching the screen for a selfie. It imitates what you would see in a mirror instead of what another person would see.

    If you look in a mirror and raise your hand on the left, the mirror image hand on the left will go up. Too many people would trash talk a device that shows anything else, instead of figure it out.

  48. 48.

    John S.

    @JPL: Collins is likely done. SC will definitely be a nail biter.

    Kentucky is not surprising. Given a choice between a Republican and a conservative Democrat, the Republican usually wins.

  54. 54.

    Goku (Amerikan Baka)

    @Baud:

    Saw that show. Even owned the PS1 game. I can’t believe they expected viewers to buy the Dodge being able to land those jumps. You could see the front wheel axles carving in with some shots!

  55. 55.

    JPL

    @WaterGirl    He’s going to talk about our biggest threats going forward which include Climate Change and cyber terrorism.     Doesn’t sound like a trump supporter

    I’m not sure that trump’s supporters remember who he is.

  56. 56.

    WaterGirl

    @J R in WV:  “Conjugal media” appears to be a metaphor for how entwined the media is with the people who want bad things for this country – that the media is “married” to them.

    How scary is it that I think he’s kinda right abut the media for the last at least 4 years.  But not in exactly the way that he means, of course.

  60. 60.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

    CNBC Now @CNBCnow

    BREAKING: CDC says U.S. should have enough coronavirus vaccine to return to ‘regular life’ by third quarter of 2021

    There goes the Olympics and most of sports for 2021. Fuck.

  63. 63.

    CarolDuhart2

    Besides keeping his medical insurance, Caputo will be paid for the next couple of months-and if Biden wins, could simply quietly resign. By then he would be out of the news and perhaps be available for a back office job at some institute.

  65. 65.

    Martin

    Oh, Barr is now suggesting that protesters be charged with sedition. I guess we’re doing this again.

  67. 67.

    Ken

    @David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch: I blame the Biden administration for not creating an “Operation Warp Speed” to accelerate the actualization of the viral response proactively using the latest disruptive strategies for transformational potentialities and differentiation of our high-payoff catalysts for change.

  69. 69.

    JPL

    @Martin: Any day now another rumor will appear on social media implicating police in another shooting.     Russia has to keep their toady in office.

  71. 71.

    Kent

    @John S.: Collins is likely done. SC will definitely be a nail biter.

    Kentucky is not surprising. Given a choice between a Republican and a conservative Democrat, the Republican usually wins.

    Kentucky does have a Democratic governor so Democrats can win state-wide under the right circumstances when the GOP has a particularly vile candidate.

  73. 73.

    trollhattan

    @Kay:

    That’s the team! Can you IMAGINE working there?

    Don’t know anybody there but have friends in EPA and Interior and let me tell you, they’re hanging on by fingernails.

  76. 76.

    Martin

    @James E Powell: About one bridge in 10 in the US is structurally deficient. That doesn’t mean they are at risk of imminent collapse, but it does mean that an earthquake, storm, etc. could collapse the bridge at a level less than the bridge should be rated at.

    The problem is that we’re falling further and further behind. Bridges are going to fail at an increasing rate.

  77. 77.

    ThresherK

    @James E Powell: All the bridges you want, in all the detail you need (if you’re a disaster junkie) can be had on the podcast “Well, There’s your Problem”.

    And on Youtube it’s a podcast-with-slides.

  78. 78.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

    @FelonyGovt: We were going to go to the soccer/futbol final in Tokyo (Air Canada has a real reasonable fare).  But we’re also going to the full Euro Tourney/party in London in 2022 (photo), so we’ll use the Olympic budget for a side trip to Ireland.

  81. 81.

    Jeffro

    @David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch:CDC says U.S. should have enough coronavirus vaccine to return to ‘regular life’ by third quarter of 2021

    Um, only if a competent administration is in place, running things without grift or malice.

    Hint hint, America

    ETA: I see Martin got there first

  82. 82.

    Jeffro

    Twitler is in a blind panic over his polling and NOW he wants the Senate GOP to step up and SPEND WHATEVER IT TAKES FOR ME TO WIN THE ELECTION TO HELP INNOCENT AMERICANS!

    In a Twitter post on Wednesday, Trump mischaracterized Democrats’ position by saying they were “heartless” for not wanting “to give STIMULUS PAYMENTS to people who desperately need the money, and whose fault it was NOT that the plague came in from China. Go for the much higher numbers, Republicans, it all comes back to the USA anyway (one way or another!).”

    Uh huh.

  84. 84.

    piratedan

    @Martin: if there’s anyone who needs to be sentenced to community service its Barr, I would be satisfied to see him picking up trash alongside of interstate 70 in Utah between Green River and the Colorado state line for the rest of his days.

  85. 85.

    Martin

    @Jeffro: Don’t even need grift or malice. These are really hard problems to solve, and require a lot of competent planning.

    The easy question to answer is ‘who gets the first dose’ – and there’s lots of good answers there – national leadership, medical professionals, etc. The hard question to answer is ‘who gets the last dose’ and how do you notify the country of this, and how do you defend it. Because the country will figure the answer out if you don’t address it, and you’ll have to answer for it. It’s pretty clear that under Trump, that will never get addressed. It’ll become a free market equation, because whenever possible hand responsibility to someone else, and in that case it’s entirely possible that we never get close to herd immunity. Thats never been how we’ve handled national vaccination programs before.

  86. 86.

    gene108

    @John S.:

    Kentucky is not surprising. Given a choice between a Republican and a conservative Democrat, the Republican usually wins.

    FTFY

    Does not matter the Democrat. It’s a tough road to get elected for any Democrat in KY.

  87. 87.

    Jeffro

    @WaterGirl: truth.

    I don’t put a lot of stock in their estimates and expect that Dem leaders will ask to see the details of this plan (or should I say ‘plan’).  What have the results been so far from each vaccine being tracked? Who’s ramping up on medicinal vials?  Who’s putting the shipping/logistics in place?  What’s the plan for getting it to seniors, health-care workers, and _____ first?

    We’ll see how it shakes out.

  89. 89.

    Martin

    Put some cameras out there so we can fundraise for the patriot that ends up tagging him with the front of their SUV.

  90. 90.

    WaterGirl

    I just got a DESPERATE HYSTERICAL email message with lots of bright yellow and red text.

    Says it’s from Barack Obama Alert (via Stop Republicans), with a title of “Goodbye, My Real Name”.

    It reads very Republican.  I went to Open Secrets, and if I read it correctly, they said these guys have given to NO federal candidates in 2020.

    Open Thread: A Real President Speaks

    Open Thread: A Real President Speaks 1

    Ugh.

  91. 91.

    Jeffro

    @Martin: I think I am typing about 2-3 minutes behind as you’re posting today…hopefully our timelines will converge at some point, LOL (see my note at #87 =)

    Under trumpov, you are right: this and many other things will never be addressed, because he’s a lazy moron surrounded by Randians and utterly corrupt smash-and-grab artists.

    Hopefully Biden & Co will be able to make hay of his lack of a plan for vaccine delivery – they are certainly ripping him a new one today over all the lies he told last night on ABC about having a “great” health care plan that’s always “2 weeks away”.

  94. 94.

    Eunicecycle

    Just read on Twitter that our governor Mike DeWine has said if Trump comes to Ohio for a rally he will not have to abide by any of the Covid restrictions. I am LIVID right now! We had been inching up in infections, etc and now he wants to allow a super spreader event! I retract any praise I gave him for the earlier handling of the pandemic. He can go to hell.

  97. 97.

    J R in WV

    @Ken:

    I blame the Biden administration for not creating an “Operation Warp Speed” to accelerate the actualization of the viral response proactively using the latest disruptive strategies for transformational potentialities and differentiation of our high-payoff catalysts for change.

    Oh, MY !! to quote George Takai…

    Well done MBAism rant. I once had a boss like that, we called him squirrel, and he went away pretty soon.

  98. 98.

    J R in WV

    @piratedan:

    if there’s anyone who needs to be sentenced to community service its Barr, I would be satisfied to see him picking up trash alongside of interstate 70 in Utah between Green River and the Colorado state line for the rest of his days.

    Nope. He should have to dig graves for Coronavirus victims, with a shovel. He doesn’t know how to run a backhoe, nor a shovel, but he can learn how a shovel works. He should be paid one PBJ  sandwich per grave dug.

  100. 100.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Martin:

    Not for the first time, I’m grateful for Google.

    5150 refers to the California law code for the temporary, involuntary psychiatric commitment of individuals who present a danger to themselves or others due to signs of mental illness. It has been more generally applied to people who are considered threateningly unstable or “crazy.”

  102. 102.

    Oklahomo

    @Kent: In 2002 a barge train glanced off the I-40 bridge over the Arkansas River in Sequoyah County, OK, dropping half the bridge (both lanes) into the river and killing 14 people.

  110. 110.

    Kent

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:
    @Jeffro:

    Friedman Unit = 6 months.

    Trump Unit = 2 weeks.

    Biden should call him out on that in the Debate.

    “Donald: You’ve been promising your health care plan will be released to the American public in “2 weeks” since you first ran in 2016. You did it again at a public forum in PA last week. Can we have your word that you will release your health care plan in 2 weeks and then conclude that you have been lying to the American public all along and actually have no plan if it doesn’t appear?”

    And then start a 2-week count-down clock to Trump’s Health Care Plan on some big web site.

  111. 111.

    trnc

    @WaterGirl: Good times.

    I know, right? Who woulda thunk that Mr “That guy” would be the deciding vote to save a law named after “that guy?” Every once in a while, the universe surprises me.

  112. 112.

    Jeffro

    ETA because everyone’s ahead of me today (specifically Bill this time =)

    Friedman Units, Scaramuccis, and now trumpov Units.

  115. 115.

    Kent

    @oatler.: @J R in WV: Speaking of https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/9/16/1977899/-Barr-encourages-prosecutors-to-charge-protesters-with-plotting-to-overthrow-the-U-S-government

    None of these cases would even reach trial before mid-late 2021 when Barr will (hopefully) be long gone.  It’s all just grandstanding.

    Although this probably isn’t the right environment for protesters to actually get caught doing illegal shit in a context in which Federal charges can be brought.  Because they will gleefully make examples.

  116. 116.

    trnc

    @gene108: What about Trump’s 2016 campaign promise of having a health plan that would cost less, and cover more, than Obamacare?

    Everything old is new again, and that includes promises bullshit claims.

  117. 117.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    I want Betsy DeVos sentenced to go to every funeral of a child who dies of COVID they caught at school.

    I wrote for two hours today and wound up with 1500 fewer words than I had when I started. I am now eating ice cream straight from the carton.

  118. 118.

    germy

    “Just think about the way we vote now,” Barr said. “You have a precinct, your name is on a list, you go in and say who you are, you go behind a curtain, no one is allowed to go in there to influence you, and no one can tell how you voted. All of that is gone with mail-in voting. There’s no secret vote. You have to associate the envelope in the mailing and the name of who’s sending it in, with the ballot.

    “There’s no more secret vote with mail-in vote. A secret vote prevents selling and buying votes. So now we’re back in the business of selling and buying votes. Capricious distribution of ballots means (ballot) harvesting, undue influence, outright coercion, paying off a postman, here’s a few hundred dollars, give me some of your ballots,” the attorney general said.

    Some jurisdictions require “secrecy sleeves” to separate the ballot from the envelope that could identify a voter. But would you trust that sleeve in Cook County, home of Johnny Rocco?”

  123. 123.

    Kent

    @germy: Such bullshit.

    I could pay you to vote a certain way.  And even in the privacy of the voting booth you could use a cell phone to take a picture or video of your ballot being filled out and cast in order to prove you did it.

    Yes, mail-in voting allows say dickhead abusive husbands to force their wives to vote a certain way.  But in-person voting doesn’t really solve that problem either.

  125. 125.

    Geminid

    @gene108: Political analyst Rachel Bitecofer argues that demographics overrides  candidate quality. I think the example she used is that Claire McCaskill could have won in Wisconsin, but not Missouri.  Bitecofer also emphasizes the educational component of demographics. This correlates with growth in the newer tech and service based economy and may explain why Virginia has gone from red to purple to blue in the past couple decades, and economically dynamic states like North Carolina, Georgia, and Texas are shifting from red to purple, while economically stagnant states like Ohio, Indiana, and Iowa have gone from purple towards red.

  126. 126.

    jackmac

    Barack Obama and Marvin Gaye — two national treasures. Thankfully one of them is still with us, hopefully for many years to come.

  129. 129.

    Kent

    @Geminid:@gene108: Political analyst Rachel Bitecofer argues that demographics overrides  candidate quality. I think the example she used is that Claire McCaskill could have won in Wisconsin, but not Missouri.

    That’s pretty much true.  No Republican, not matter how “high quality” is going to win state-wide in CA or WA right now.  I don’t care if you resurrect Eisenhower.

  130. 130.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Oh — came to the thread so late I forgot to say how much I love both the Barack video (I love him when he’s all hip and cool and groovy like that) and that amazing a capella Marvin Gaye. Excellent midweek soothers.

  132. 132.

    Ken

    @germy: I assume it will turn out that Barr votes by mail.  However, assuming not, where does he vote that still has curtained booths?  Which by the way didn’t do anything to prevent buying and selling votes.

    And as far as secrecy – last time I voted, they put my name in the computer and handed me a smart card. Then I stuck it in the voting machine and it brought up the ballot for my precinct on the touch screen. There’s no guarantee of secrecy there, barring a line-by-line review of the code to check they aren’t associating my name (via the smart card) with my votes.

  134. 134.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: I thought he was quoting “Animal House”

     

    Don’t write this down,
    but I find Milton probably…
    as boring as you find Milton.
    Mrs. Milton found him boring, too.
    He’s a little bit long-winded…
    he doesn’t translate very well into
    our generation, and his jokes are terrible.

  135. 135.

    Gravenstone

    @David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch: Does not exactly comport with another report on vaccine manufacture capacity which posits there won’t be enough for everyone before 2024. Of course, that report was talking worldwide, so assume “rich” countries would butt to the head of the line, as it were.

  136. 136.

    germy

    @Ken:  My guess is he hasn’t voted in person since back when there were curtained booths.  He’s probably been voting by mail for years now.

  137. 137.

    Kropacetic

    @OP:

    A Real President Speaks

    I’m not sure what you mean, Trump has far exceeded the lofty expectations he set for himself. In four short years, we’ve gone from “only [Trump] can fix it” to “it will just fix itself.”

    What more could we ask for?

  138. 138.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    anybody watching Biden’s speech/presser? Who’s this moron telling Biden it’s his fault no one can trust trump?

    ETA: My god, the second question is basically same as the first. “IF you don’t trust the president, does that also mean you don’t trust the CDC?” Even as someone with little faith in the Beltway press corps, this is awful. Not funny enough to be self-parody

  139. 139.

    scav

    @Eunicecycle: ♫ ♪ Dunn da la dun dun, dun da LUN dun, DAHN-Dah! ♫♬♪♫ Trump strides unto the platform. Voiceover: “Double-0 GoPers. Licensed to kill. This message brought to you by the Ohio government,  Coming soon to a venue near you.”

  141. 141.

    cckids

    @piratedan:  if there’s anyone who needs to be sentenced to community service its Barr, I would be satisfied to see him picking up trash alongside of interstate 70 in Utah between Green River and the Colorado state line for the rest of his days.

    Yeah, no – he gets a less appealing place.  He can do I-15 in Nevada, from Vegas north to the Utah border. Bleak, blasted, miserable desert all the way, with WAY more garbage than anyplace in CO.

  142. 142.

    Martin

    @SiubhanDuinne: 5150 refers to a 72 hour psychiatric hold, most commonly for someone with suicidal ideation, but also routinely used for someone who’s gone off their meds. I’ve had a LOT of students over the years get 5150s.

    It’s main use is to put the person in a safe place where they can get rapid increases or stabilization of their meds – faster than you can normally do with prescription. Unfortunately, the facilities are so underfunded that they don’t really achieve the goal so well – particularly for people who are depressed/anxious/paranoid because the facilities don’t feel safe, and because you lose so much agency while there, so patients are often overmedicated as a result.

  144. 144.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    I read this and wondered why anyone would be quoting “Paradise Lost.” It took me almost to the end of the thread to realize I had the wrong Milton.

    I guess I have the wrong Milton too. Who, then, is the right one?

  145. 145.

    Jeffro

    @Geminid:…the educational component of demographics. This correlates with growth in the newer tech and service based economy and may explain why Virginia has gone from red to purple to blue in the past couple decades, and economically dynamic states like North Carolina, Georgia, and Texas are shifting from red to purple, while economically stagnant states like Ohio, Indiana, and Iowa have gone from purple towards red.

    Yup, makes complete sense…purple->red states’ voters would be feeling very strongly (and correctly) that things really are getting worse for them, feel like they’re threatened, etc.  Not an excuse but certainly a reason.

  149. 149.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I thought Biden’s answer to that was great.

     

    Reporter: You're saying don't trust the president, trust me if I'm elected.Biden: No I'm not. I'm saying trust the scientists. Trust the scientists. It's one thing for Donald Trump to say the vaccine is safe. OK. Then give it to the Broad of Scientists. Have total transparency.— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) September 16, 2020

  152. 152.

    Kent

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    I am now eating ice cream straight from the carton.

    And that is a bad thing how?

    My 1/2 gallon carton of ice cream says it contains 15 servings.  They LIED.  I only got two servings out of it.

  153. 153.

    Kropacetic

    @Jeffro: Yup, makes complete sense…purple->red states’ voters would be feeling very strongly (and correctly) that things really are getting worse for them, feel like they’re threatened, etc

    So, naturally, they vote for the people creating and reinforcing these trends.

  156. 156.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: You had the right Milton.  I was playing off “fruit of the poisoned tree” with “Fruit Of that Forbidden Tree, whose mortal taste Brought Death into the World, and all our woe.”

    I am weird.  I know.

  158. 158.

    Jeffro

    @Kropacetic: Yes, unfortunately.  They’re voting for the folks who are ‘speaking their language’, pushing on their fear buttons and tribal buttons, promising the moon (or, say, a super-duper health care plan in two weeks)

  162. 162.

    Kropacetic

    @Jeffro: They’re voting for the folks who are ‘speaking their language’, pushing on their fear buttons and tribal buttons, promising the moon

    Well, the moon is relatively simple and generally understood without a whole lot of explanation.

  163. 163.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Eunicecycle:

    I thought it needed some “synergy” or maybe a “paradigm shift” but maybe that’s too 1980s.

    At the end of the day, it’s all low-hanging fruit.

  164. 164.

    Ruckus

    @Kent:

    GOP has a particularly vile candidate

    Like now

    I think that probably a number of people in KY think that McAsshole would remain

    Leader if they re-elect him. I’d bet that a lot of KY voters don’t really know how congressional leadership works.

  168. 168.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Kent:

    You ever have Girl Scouts Thin Mint cookies? Another lie. I eat them by the box, and not once have they made me thin.

  172. 172.

    japa21

    @Kent: Where do you get 1/2 gallon containers of ice cream? I thought they stopped making those years ago. I think they are now down to 1 1/2 qts.

  175. 175.

    Ken

    @WaterGirl: I’m in DuPage county IL, and the electronic voting has small privacy shields to the sides of the screen but no curtained booth.  Ten years ago when we marked a paper ballot they provided a lectern-like thing, also with privacy shields but no curtain.

  176. 176.

    trnc

    @germy: Notwithstanding Barr’s bad faith argument, I could see how there might be a privacy concern about how we’ve voted, but it seems to me that the primary concern would be about someone trying to influence my vote while I’m in the voting booth. I’m having a hard time getting worked up about the idea that a ballot counter knows how I personally voted since the Tammany Hall days are pretty much behind us.

  179. 179.

    geg6

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    Here in PA, it’s a 302.  it’s a 120 hour hold for evaluation.  If a doctor deems that hospital treatment is necessary, it becomes a 303.  That’s for 20 days and then a 304b hearing can extend that up to another 90 days.  Then a 305 hearing can be held to extend that up to another 180 days.  That’s what I remember from dealing with my oldest brother’s mental illness many years ago.  I believe it’s been changed a bit recently, but am too lazy to look it up.

  181. 181.

    Kropacetic

    @trnc: I’m having a hard time getting worked up about the idea that a ballot counter knows how I personally voted since the Tammany Hall days are pretty much behind us.

    Don’t give them any ideas*.

    As though they have the focus or brains to build an organization like that.

  183. 183.

    Eunicecycle

    @Kathleen: Re: Dr. Acton. I know! He can’t get a new health director because he didn’t protect the last one. He gave some weak statement to the abusers to cut it out, but it was not backed up with any action. It was pathetic.

  184. 184.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @germy: as somebody else said on twitter, I wonder what the regular cast members think of this stunt-casting. At least they’re not going to the McKinnon well again (and I’m a McKinnon fan).

  185. 185.

    Baud

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    I thought Biden’s answer to that was great.

     

    Reporter: You’re saying don’t trust the president, trust me if I’m elected.Biden: No I’m not. I’m saying trust the scientists. Trust the scientists. It’s one thing for Donald Trump to say the vaccine is safe. OK. Then give it to the Broad of Scientists. Have total transparency.— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1)

    Also, too, don’t trust the president and you can trust Biden because he doesn’t lie like it’s second nature.

  189. 189.

    Martin

    @WaterGirl: No. When I first moved to CA it was literally a cardboard box with a black trash bag clamped to it, and we were using the little punch machines.

    Now it’s computerized voting machines, no curtain, and that’s being shifted to drop your ballot off in the box or mail it in.

  190. 190.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Martin:

    @geg6:

    Thanks for the state-specific information. I’m sure Georgia, and most (if not all) other states have similar legislation, with their own unique codes.

  191. 191.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I knew somebody on twitter would track down the idiot

    Johnny Verhovek @JTHVerhovek·29m
    Biden to @marykbruce on if questioning Trump undercuts American confidence in vaccine: “No, because they know he doesn’t have any respect for scientists,” going on to reference Trump’s comments on climate change in California earlier this week

    Mary K Bruce, ABC’s chief congressional correspondent. I honestly wondered if she was OANN. I suspect she was trying to get one of the wildly overrated Tim Russert’s infamous, and wildly overrated. ‘gotcha’ moments

  195. 195.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @LuciaMia:

    Frank Pallotta @frankpallotta· 1h
    JUST IN: Jim Carrey will play VP Joe Biden on this season of SNL. The show will start the new season with five consecutive shows on Oct. 3, 10, 17, 24, 31, and is planning to have “a limited in-studio audience at Rockefeller Center,” per NBC.

  196. 196.

    James E Powell

    @Geminid:

    I think the KY senate race is not winnable in a year when the Greatest White President of All Time is fighting to save America from BLM, AOC, and the CDC.

  197. 197.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Kay: I really cannot exaggerate how crazy that video was. He thinks they’re going to kill him.

    Accusation = confession. Remember who the guy he works for works for: A guy with goon squads adept at tossing inconvenient people out 6th-floor windows or loading up a doorknob with lethal poison. You know they’d do it to us.

  203. 203.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    how is this fat old oaf still with us, by which I mean on television

    Justin Baragona @justinbaragona
    Newt Gingrich: “The number one problem in almost all the cities is George Soros-elected, left-wing, antipolice pro-criminal district attorneys…”
    Fox hos: “I’m not sure we need to bring George Soros into this.”
    Newt: “Okay… So, it’s verboten?”
    Long awkward silence.

    And it does not sound better in his nostalgic German….

    You can see the Fox anchor (Harris Faulkner?) try to remember the times when she had a soul, and a promising future

  208. 208.

    Barbara

    Of interest:  https://www.niskanencenter.org/trumps-covid-19-culpability/

    Lays out our failure in ways that amplify the heartbreak of how many deaths have been so needless.  Basically, this article really takes it to people like Ross Douthat who think we are no worse than average — and therefore absolve Trump of responsibility for excess deaths.

    I wonder whether Douthat and company really understand how much they are doing to throw the concept of “pro-life,” family values, patriotism, moral probity, fiscal prudence, the greatest health care system in the world and American exceptionalism on the bonfire of ideals that the Republican party has decided are no longer worth the effort.  To prop up someone as worthless as Trump.  It’s just astounding.

  209. 209.

    JPL

    @SiubhanDuinne:  Years ago a friend had a situation with her mother and put a hold on.   Here they do it a tad differently because if you sign yourself in, you keep your right to bear arms.    Our guns laws are so lax but that kept that one, because someone was released from the hospital, purchased a gun, and used it in the food court at Perimeter Mall.

  211. 211.

    dnfree

    @WaterGirl: haven’t seen curtained booths in decades in northern Illinois. Just flimsy cardboard things that are open to the view of anyone walking behind you. Easy to chat with the person next to you.

  212. 212.

    James E Powell

    @Barbara:

    I wonder whether Douthat and company really understand how much they are doing to throw the concept of “pro-life,” family values, patriotism, moral probity, fiscal prudence, the greatest health care system in the world and American exceptionalism on the bonfire of ideals that the Republican party has decided are no longer worth the effort.

    They will all be back and central to the Republican campaigns as soon as Democrats are in office. And not just because they were always bullshit or because Republicans are hypocrites. But because they’ve got nothing other than that to cover for their efforts to repeal the 20th century.

  213. 213.

    Mary G

    I’m excited for this!

    The tent is back open for business!On September 25, an all-new season of The Great British Baking Show will start rolling out on Netflix in The US — new episodes will be available every Friday (three days after they premiere in The UK) pic.twitter.com/CQdzQbTiJ6— Netflix (@netflix) September 15, 2020

    From Vogue:

    This season of The Great British Baking Show was brought to a halt by COVID-19, but executives managed to figure out a way to bring it back. “As you can imagine, there was a lot of work collaboratively between Love Productions and our COVID protocols team just to get that right,” Sky Studios CEO Gary Davey told Deadline in July, explaining that cast and crew were quarantined in preparation for shooting.

    Die-hard Great British Baking Show fans will be cheered by the return of host Noel Fielding and judges Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith, although Fielding’s cohost, Sandi Toksvig, won’t be returning; in her place will be English comedian and actor Matt Lucas. In a year marked by higher-than-ordinary stress levels (to say the least), the idea of sinking into the couch and watching people carefully pipe icing onto cakes while politely complimenting each other’s efforts in plummy British accents has never been more welcome.

    I love to hate Paul Hollywood.

  214. 214.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    James Rosen @JamesRosenTV
    EXCLUSIVE:
    @jaredkushner defends the use of assassinations as a tool of U.S. foreign policy — despite Exec. Order 11905, signed by President Ford in 1976, banning the practice.
    @POTUS “keeps all options on the table,” Kushner tells @WeAreSinclair. “This is not touch football.”

    Jared Kushner is qualified to speak on this matter of international law because the previous two generations of his family built a large residential real-estate business, which created a large fortune, $2M of which Jared’s father–before or after his felony conviction and subsequent prison sentence, I’m not sure– used to bribe Harvard University to admit his son. He later married the daughter of another member of lucky sperm club, who himself hosted a bewilderingly successful gameshow. Hence Jared is one of the most influential people in the orbit of the leader of a country that once claimed to be the “leader of the free world

    ETA: Forgot the link. That’s the same James Rosen who was for years held up as a martyr to the Obama administration, now with the Sinclair broadcasting operation? I think it is

  215. 215.

    dnfree

    @WaterGirl: haven’t seen curtained booths in decades in northern Illinois. Just flimsy cardboard things that are open to the view of anyone walking behind you. Easy to chat with the person next to you.

     

    @Kent: bet it’s not a half gallon?  I mostly see 3 quarts these days.

  216. 216.

    trollhattan

    @Barbara: 
    US has nearly 200,000 deaths.
    China has 4,700 deaths with what, 4x the population? 5x?

    How does Chunky Reese square that circle?

  217. 217.

    Geminid

    @James E Powell: “Negative polarization” is a very potent dynamic, and Bitecofer gives it a large role in her political modeling. Anecdotally, two trump supporters I talk with don’t  particularly like trump but they fear “the left,” and will probably vote for trump because of this. Interestingly to me, one says she will probably vote for Cameron Webb, the local Democratic candidate for the Va. 5th Congressional District. So maybe negative polarization is most powerful this election at the presidential level. I hope so, because I want to see Democratic Senate candidates Bollier KS, Bullock MT, Harrison SC, Gross AK, and Hegar TX win in November, even if trump carries their states.

  218. 218.

    NotMax

    First, muster the schmuck out.

    Second, the Army has an “esports team?”

    Today, the Army has found itself in a new pot of hot water after a member of the Army National Guard, Axel “ZexsOG” Torres, shouted out an anti-Semitic username live, as first reported by Motherboard. “Yo, six million wasn’t enough, thank you so much for the follow, I appreciate you,” he said.

    It was only last month that the US Army esports team returned to streaming on Twitch. They’d taken a monthlong hiatus, prompted by a fairly spectacular meltdown — they were banning people in the chat for asking about war crimes. (Our armed forces are streaming on Twitch because it’s a great place to recruit, in case you were wondering why branches of the military need Twitch channels.) Source

  220. 220.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Mallard Filmore: Yeah, most people prefer to look at themselves mirror-reversed rather than as others see them, because we’re used to looking in mirrors. Selfie cameras and videoconference systems usually accommodate that preference by default, but they often don’t return the image to normal for the version presented to others (many users might object if they did).

  222. 222.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @JPL:
    I remember the Perimeter Mall food court shooting very well (if memory serves, the shooter’s name was Music). That was my dad’s “neighbourhood mall,” as it were, and I remember kind of freaking out at work thinking he might have decided to go furniture shopping at Rich’s that day.

    Thx for the info on Georgia committal law.

    ETA: I’m wrong. Musick was the name of the guy who died, not the shooter. And I misremembered the spelling, too.

  223. 223.

    raven

    @JPL: There is  an ordinance in Kennesaw that said you had to own a gun.

     

    Kennesaw’s 1982 gun mandate was a direct response to a gun ban enacted a year earlier in Morton Grove, Illinois. That was later deemed unconstitutional, but Kennesaw’s law is still on the books.

    Added Lt. Graydon, “It was not meant to be an enforceable law. The police department has never searched homes to make sure you had a gun. It was meant more or less as a political statement to support citizens’ second amendment rights to own firearms.”

  224. 224.

    Kent

    @japa21:@Kent: Where do you get 1/2 gallon containers of ice cream? I thought they stopped making those years ago. I think they are now down to 1 1/2 qts.

    Blue Bell in Texas still makes a solid 1/2 gallon ice cream.  They actually advertise that on their labels:  https://www.bluebell.com/get-the-scoop/  One of the few good things about Texas

    Although if they ever sell out to a corporate conglomerate it will probably only take a nanosecond until some Harvard MBA type tells them they need to cut the carton size down to increase profits.  And that will ruin everything.

  225. 225.

    Geminid

    @Geminid: Rachel Bitecofer’s September update of her 2020 Election Model is coming out any day now, and I can’t wait. She has cut loose from Christopher Newport University’s Wason Center, and now her longer work is published by The Niskanen Center. She also puts up an informative Twitter feed.           Rachel Bitecofer wrote a very interesting analysis of the 2016 presidential campaign, but she made her name with her 2018 congressional election model that predicted a 42 seat Democratic pickup. Her prediction was seen as an outlier, but in the event, Democrats flipped 41 seats. Bitecofer said in retrospect that the Dems left some seats on the table, including several in Texas that they are going after hard this year.

  226. 226.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Kent: 

    Yes, mail-in voting allows say dickhead abusive husbands to force their wives to vote a certain way. But in-person voting doesn’t really solve that problem either.

    Husbands can come into the voting booth with their wives–that’s actually legal under the VRA, for good and noble reasons (you can designate almost anybody as an assistant). But it does also mean your controlling husband can effectively vote for you in person. This does happen.

  227. 227.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @Mary G: Just in time!

    We started watching GBBO in lockdown. After running through all the British ones, we went on to Irish and Australian, and are now in the second of three seasons of Canadian.

    After we finished those we were going to start getting a little desperate.

  230. 230.

    J R in WV

    @geg6:

    @J R in WV:

    That is how Jared Kushner actually talks.  I mean, pretty much verbatim, if not totally.

    Well, yeah~!!! Didn’t I say that? I mean, I didn’t use his name, but MBAism or such like!?! Yes, I did!

  231. 231.

    Matt McIrvin

    @WaterGirl: In Haverhill, Massachusetts there are no curtains. We use paper ballots and little open cardboard cubby partitions, usually set up on folding tables.

    The poll workers check off your name and address at the check-in table, then give you a ballot. You take that to the cubby, where there’s a black marker, and you mark the bubbles on the ballot. Then you go to a checkout table and they check off your name and address on another list, then you stick the ballot in a machine that sucks it in–I don’t know if this is an actual scanner/tabulator or if it just stores the ballots.

    There’s no curtain on the cubby. I think they have cardboard sleeves you can put the ballot in if you’re concerned about someone peeking at it while you check out, but few people use them.

    Early voting is pretty much the same except you also get a ballot envelope, like the inner envelope for a mail ballot, and you have to put your address on that and sign it. The whole envelope gets sucked into the box (which obviously isn’t scanning it in that case).

  232. 232.

    J R in WV

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    You ever have Girl Scouts Thin Mint cookies? Another lie. I eat them by the box, and not once have they made me thin.

    We crumble them onto really good ice cream to make a sundae. with either cashews or pecans and sometimes fruit… ummm.

    With a spoon!!!

  233. 233.

    Jinchi

    @Martin: if Trump wins re-election there won’t be a distribution plan.

    If Trump wins it will prove that coronavirus really was just a hoax. He will be too busy arresting traitors like Nancy Pelosi and Jim Acosta to pay attention to a minor flu outbreak.

  234. 234.

    Mingobat (f/k/a Karen in GA)

    @Mary G:  I got laid off last month. You’d think I’d be unhappy, but the executive I supported reminded me of a less TV-ready, more arrogant Paul Hollywood. I realized it once while watching an episode of GBBO and had to stop watching. The layoff made it possible to watch the show again.

    (Epilogue: got a job offer last week. If this executive I’ll be supporting isn’t an abusive ass, it’ll be the best job I ever had by far. There’s landing on your feet, then there’s sticking that landing like Simone Biles. And I can enjoy the Great British Bake Off.)

  235. 235.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Kent: Dare you to try that with sugar-free ice cream of any variety. The lower GI tract does not care for sugar substitutes like Splenda or sugar alcohols & does its best to send them on the way toot-sweet. Half of half a gallon will get you 2-3 hours holding court ex cathedra porcellanibus.

    (Same is true for sugar-free chocolates. When after my type 2 diabetes diagnosis, I first discovered them I gleefully scarfed down half a box. To misquote a girl group of the 60s, You do run run run, you do run run. Never again!)

  237. 237.

    J R in WV

    @Matt McIrvin:

    Husbands can come into the voting booth with their wives–that’s actually legal under the VRA, for good and noble reasons (you can designate almost anybody as an assistant). But it does also mean your controlling husband can effectively vote for you in person. This does happen.

    On the other hand, my wife, a lifelong union member, elected officer and organizer, is now showing her age. So I helped her vote in the primary last summer.

    Part of the ballot was non-sectarian elections, like judges and such. I researched those races, and had a sheet of paper with who appeared to be union-supporting Democrats, and pointed to the candidates for those races which had turned up OK.

    It took me hours to find out what party some of the potential judges and justices belonged to. Some were guilty of multiple crimes, others were fascists, some, on the other hand, were good people, and democratic candidates.

  238. 238.

    J R in WV

    @Another Scott:

    Wait just a minute here!!

    you mean you guys weren’t talking about Little Milton???

    He was an American blues singer and guitarist, best known for his number-one R&B single “We’re Gonna Make It.” His other hits include “Baby, I Love You”, “Who’s Cheating Who?”, and “Grits Ain’t Groceries (All Around The World)”.

    A super-star of the R&B world, was Little Milton~!!!!~

    “Grits Ain’t Groceries” is a great piece of work !!!!!

  244. 244.

    PST

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    You ever have Girl Scouts Thin Mint cookies? Another lie. I eat them by the box, and not once have they made me thin.

    What I love is the convenient single serving tube. (Not original.)

  246. 246.

    Ruckus

    @J R in WV:

    A navy midrats sandwich, very cheap day old white bread, 1 cheap american cheese slice. If you are feeling particularly generous, a Tweenkie, and a hard boiled egg.

  247. 247.

    Citizen Alan

    @John S.:  Oh for fucks sake!  The fact that it’s a very conservative state would have always given mcconnell the advantage, even before you get into expecting  voters to throw out an incumbent who is also one of the most powerful persons in government.  The idea that if only the democrats had nominated someone far enough to the left,  they might have beaten Mitch mcconnell in Kentucky is nothing but wilmerite bullshit.

  250. 250.

    Geminid

    Thank-you TaAmara for posting President Obama’s comments. It is heartening  to be reminded of a good president. Three and one half years is not that long ago, even if it seems like it.

  251. 251.

    Mike in NC

    @Ruckus: The midrats I remember seeing were two slices of white bread with a single slice of baloney in between, and an apple for desert. Yuck.

  253. 253.

    Mary G

    Chief Justice of the Ohio Supreme Court, a Republican, brings the hammer down on the Ohio GOP for accusing a lower court judge of being a partisan Democrat in ruling on issue of how many dropboxes a county can have.

    "The Republican Party’s statement should be seen for what it is: part of a continuing string of attacks against any [court] decision that doesn’t favor a political end, regardless of party, even if that decision may be legally correct and indeed legally required."— Katelyn Polantz (@kpolantz) September 16, 2020

    Ohio GOP’s lawyers tell the court they had nothing to do with the statement, and it’s been scrubbed. Oopsie!

  256. 256.

    eachother

    Sweet music. I love the song and singer even more for hearing this.

    Hanging ‘Vote’ signs like tree ornaments on the corner pine tree.  Updated my 2018 General Election Information 2020 flyer hand out for FAQ.

    Except for Covid, Fires, Economy, Hurricanes and rump being Impeached president, I’m feeling pretty good about the election.  Beat the russian disruption, Vote early.

  257. 257.

    WaterGirl

    @Matt McIrvin: @satby:

    We do the little ovals with pencil.  We do get a huge cover like thing where the ballot slides in, and then we run our own ballot into the optical scanning machine.

    Interesting to see how even county-to-county varies.

  259. 259.

    debbie

    @Mary G:

    Maureen O’Connor takes no shit from anybody

    P.S. The GOP has a very large majority. The Dems can’t do much more than voice their protest. This makes that “scrubbed” statement all the more ridiculous.

  261. 261.

    Nutmeg again (formerly MoxieM)

    @Gin & Tonic: oh yes–the Mianus bridge. Which would be 4th grade funny, except for the unfortunate drivers who died b/c the state failed to inspect and repair. However, they did finally finish the Q bridge! Glory Hallelujah!

  262. 262.

    Kay

    @Mary G:

    I was so pleased she wasn’t afraid to take them on. The state GOP has been lurching Right since Trump was elected and they’re now to the Right of most of the elected officials who have to run state-wide (rather than in heavily GOP districts). The state Party is essentially much further Right than the people who get elected. There was bound to be a collision.

    I think it creates an opening for Democrats, if not this cycle then in upcoming cycles. This is not a fringe, far Right state. There will be a correction.

  263. 263.

    Kay

    @Mary G:

    We’re seeing the Trump-era corruption spike up too. The corruption is blatant. It’s now so bad that the latest scandal was revealed by a GOP political operative.

    I bet the rot is spreading in other GOP-run states too. Look at the national leadership. That will all eventually trickle down to GOP state parties and electeds.

  265. 265.

    J R in WV

    @Ruckus:

    A navy midrats sandwich, very cheap day old white bread…

    Much older than day old sometimes, as is the pseudo salami, which can be green around the edges.

    We had a cook face a captain’s mast for making the whole midnight watch shift violently ill one night. That green edge was a sure marker of really bad !!!! It was 100% of those watch standing sailors!!!

    I don’t think Barr should have that kind of meal. No one should be sickened, just repulsed.

  266. 266.

    Ruckus

    @Mike in NC:

    What I described was the midrats at Long Beach station in 73 when I was one of the transit barracks master at arms for a few weeks. 12 hr shifts every 3 days I had the something like 6pm to 6am. Never had to talk to anybody in charge, paycheck was pinned to the board outside the chiefs office. The worst part about the job was the midrats.

  267. 267.

    Ruckus

    @J R in WV:

    I did that master at arms gig for a few weeks and then SP for a few more and I never saw anything other than whatever that stuff that looked vaguely like cheese. The twinkie was the best part of the meal, it actually tasted like a twinkie and the wrapper said Hostess. I was and still am skeptical about it actually being a Hostess Twinkie.

  268. 268.

    Jess

    I haven’t had a chance to go through the comments so I don’t know if anyone’s already posted about this horrific development:

    Under the Trump administration, reproductive injustice has run rampant inside the federal immigration system—stretching far beyond the family separation policy at the border. A complaint filed yesterday sheds light on a new atrocity: Women detained at the Irwin County Detention Center (ICDC) in Georgia have allegedly been sterilized without their consent. The attorneys behind the lawsuit would not confirm the identity of the doctor referenced in the complaint, but Prism has learned, according to a source familiar with the situation, it is gynecologist Mahendra Amin, based in Douglas, Georgia. The doctor, also an immigrant, is affiliated with Coffee Regional Medical Center and Irwin County Hospital in Georgia.

    The organizations Project South, Georgia Detention Watch, Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights, and South Georgia Immigrant Support Network filed the complaint on behalf of immigrants detained inside of ICDC, which is operated by private prison company LaSalle Corrections. The organizations allege that five women were sterilized at the facility between October and December 2019.

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