Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Jack Smith: “Why did you start campaigning in the middle of my investigation?!”

After roe, women are no longer free.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

I really should read my own blog.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

Jack be nimble, jack be quick, hurry up and indict this prick.

Roe isn’t about choice, it’s about freedom.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

Today’s GOP: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

Everyone is in a bubble, but some bubbles model reality far better than others!

Battle won, war still ongoing.

Trump’s legal defense is going to be a dumpster fire inside a clown car on a derailing train.

Don’t expect peaches from an apple tree.

Chutkan laughs. Lauro sits back down.

Fuck the extremist election deniers. What’s money for if not for keeping them out of office?

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

People are complicated. Love is not.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires

You are here: Home / Past Elections / 2020 Elections / Biden-Harris 2020 / Wrap Up the Weekend Open Thread: Another Endorsement for Biden!

Wrap Up the Weekend Open Thread: Another Endorsement for Biden!

by | 162 Comments

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(Side note: Both Mr. Johnson and his wife are coronavirus survivors.)

Professional Warren/Biden hatestalker journamalist checks her notes:

Reader Interactions

162Comments

  3. 3.

    TaMara (HFG)

    I have loved Dwayne Johnson forever. I was so glad to hear this, this morning.

    In other news, a Republican friend, who is definitely pro-life, told me today (not prompted) that Trump is a dictator and she’s voting Biden. I refrained from whooping. We’ve known each other since college and never talk politics, so this was new, and she really needed me to know her decision.

  4. 4.

    guachi

    I’ve been using the number that The Economist has been publishing for House/Senate/President.

    Today I ran 100,000 simulations on the Senate numbers (assuming all races are independent of one another) and the Democrats average 51.5 Senate seats, just like it says on the website. Breaking down the chances of each number of seats I got this:

    47 0.4%
    48 2.1%
    49 7.0%
    50 16.0%
    51 23.9%
    52 23.7%
    53 16.2%
    54 7.7%
    55 2.4%
    56 .5%

    The range is from 45-58 seats though the chances of the extremes is really low.

  5. 5.

    Ken

    @guachi: I wish I had a way to tell Trump that the only reason the Republicans are pushing the SC nomination is they think that he’s going to lose, and drag them down with him.

  7. 7.

    Jeffro

    @guachi: 

    Love it!

    As great as it is to have The Rock’s endorsement, it sure would be nice for the Dems to hustle up a constitutional amendment that adds requirements like (among many, many other things) having served a term or two as a Rep, Senator, or state Governor before one can even file to run for president.

    I’m serious. I know that President Rock or President Swift or President Legend would be light-years beyond president* trumpov, but still…we gotta get away from this stuff, democrats and Democrats!

    Ok, back to being happy now – glad we are likely to take the Senate!

  9. 9.

    Omnes Omnibus

    I think the Dwayne Johnson endorsement may be a big deal. Trump is part of the wrestling world and this an explicit rejection by one of the biggest stars to come out of it.

  10. 10.

    Chief Oshkosh

    Slightly OT: This just in from the Biden campaign, re: Trump’s demand that Joe take a drug test:

     

    Joe Biden intends to deliver his debate answers in words. If the president thinks his best case is made in urine, he can have at it.

    We’d expect nothing less from Donald Trump, who pissed away the chance to protect the lives of 200K Americans when he didn’t make a plan to stop COVID-19.

  12. 12.

    guachi

    Adding to my above post – 538 had a list they posted on election day 2018 of the chances of victory in each House race. As it turn out, candidates with less than a 50% chance of winning won far less than their estimates predicted. In other words, being over 50% predicted winning really matters.

    What this means is the races the Democrats have a 20-40% chance of winning at the Economist (Georgia 1, Georgia 2, Kansas, Montana, South Carolina, Montana) will probably net the Democrats 0-1 seats and not the 1-2 you’d expect.

  13. 13.

    geg6

    @Ken:

    He’d never believe it.  He’s drinking his own Kool-Aid.  He think he chose her, not the Federalist Society.  He thinks it’s his own brilliant plan to get a 6-3 majority on the Court, not Turtleman’s.  He is convinced he’s the best because that’s what narcissists do when faced with all their failures and lies that they can never admit, especially to themselves.  There are going to be epic meltdowns over this tax shit.  What he’ll go to after his knee jerk “fake news!” primal scream should be epic, too.  All two dozen of his excuses.

  14. 14.

    Steeplejack

    @TaMara (HFG):

    I’ll take it, but I wonder whether she thinks it’s okay to vote for Biden because the Supreme Court is going to strike down Roe v. Wade anyway. But I guess we can burn that bridge when we get to it. Let’s get Biden elected!

  15. 15.

    TaMara (HFG)

    I know it was talked about in the other thread, but I think this deserves an embed

    Biden campaign on President Trump’s attempts to make up a drug test policy for the upcoming presidential debate:

    Joe Biden “intends to deliver his debate answers in words. If the president thinks his best case is made in urine he can have at it.” (1/2)
    — MSNBC (@MSNBC) September 27, 2020

    “We’d expect nothing less from Donald Trump, who pissed away the chance to protect the lives of 200K Americans when he didn’t make a plan to stop COVID-19.” (2/2)
    — MSNBC (@MSNBC) September 27, 2020

  16. 16.

    geg6

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    Fuck him and the Russians he rode in in.  The cops should have dilly dallied on their way so he could finish the job properly.  No quarter to these traitors.  Suicide would have been the easy way out for this mother fucker.

  17. 17.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    I hope so. Although, it wouldn’t surprise me if some WWE fans just “excommunicate” Johnson (“I never liked him anyway! He was always a phony!”), kind of like how Christie responded when Springsteen made it clear he hated Chris’ guts:

    Long-time “Boss” Fan Suddenly Likes Jon Bon Jovi Better

    July 23, 2015 – Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey who has seen Bruce Springsteen over 100 times in concerts and weeped when he met “The Boss” says in an interview on rightwing whack job Laura Ingraham’s “Lifezette” website when asked who he and his wife like better, Bruce Springsteen or Jon Bon Jovi, Christie and his wife responded, “Jon Bon Jovi”. This probably has to with the recent snubbing of Chris Christie after a 2012 Springsteen concert in NJ where the Guv thought he would be invited backstage for the after concert party, but he wasn’t.

    Weirdly, though, he attended Springsteen on Broadway in 2018.

    Anyway, hopefully this endorsement encourages his fans to register and vote

  19. 19.

    lgerard

    WTF  is this about?

    Ex-Trump Campaign Manager Brad Parscale Hospitalized After Police Called to Florida Home

    Brad Parscale was taken in by police under Florida’s Baker Act after threatening self-harm while armed inside his Fort Lauderdale home.

  20. 20.

    gene108

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    I believe Trump’s in the WWE Hall of Fame. I do not know how prestigious a hall of fame this is. Trump’s close to Vince McMahon.

    I hope this gets the attention of pro-wrestling fans, who are persuadable, or who have not voted in sometime and they vote for his preferred candidate.

  23. 23.

    Leto

    @TaMara (HFG): I think I saw on Twitter earlier this morning him sporting a “Dump the Turd Nov 3rd” shirt on. I love his dumb action movies, he’s a pretty generous guy (donates a lot of time/ money to charitable causes), and fuck his haters. I’m sure he’ll lose some fans but we have a bigger tent.

  24. 24.

    gene108

    @geg6:

    Suicide would have been the easy way out for this mother fucker.

    Suicide is never an easy way out.

    The suffering and anguish you go through to reach that point is usually worse, than any problem you have in front of you.

    Trust me on this. I’ve tried offing myself.

  26. 26.

    James E Powell

    @gene108:

    And we’re all glad it didn’t happen. Believe me. I’ve been there and I’m pretty fucking happy I took a giant step backwards.

  27. 27.

    Leto

    @gene108:

    I do not know how prestigious a hall of fame this is.

    Somewhere above getting your head stuck in an elephants ass while sweeping it’s cage, but below gonorrheaclamydiagenitalwarts.

  29. 29.

    Jeffro

    @Omnes Omnibus: why what huh were the reasons before?

    I want to slow down the process where some ‘celebrity’ can waltz in and waste people’s time/get on a ballot or 20/get on a debate stage and do this all over again.

    I know ‘fighting the last war’ is usually a bad idea but in this case we’re weeding out the stupid, the Kanyes, the Ralph Naders, the Marianne Williamsons, and so on.  We don’t even have to give them airtime – “Oh, so you’re running for president, Tom Steyer/Kanye West?  Hate to break it to you but you’re not qualified by law so, buh-bye”

  30. 30.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Didn’t know that, but not surprising. Are there any major, popular entertainer that’s a right-winger? I guess Ted Nugent and Kid Rock. But most of them tend to lean left.

    I read an interesting theory that actors, athletes, and musicians are closer to the middle class and lower classes than the 0.01% like the Kochs/Mercers because they tend to have to work grueling schedules and their incomes are closely tied to their work/talent. On top of that several have come from underprivileged backgrounds

  37. 37.

    NotMax

    “The Rock already announced he has the so-called virus. This newest announcement coming after that is proof doctors injected him with the Gates-Soros Mind Control Chip™.”
    – tomorrow’s RWNJ meme today
    .
    //

  38. 38.

    Amir Khalid

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    Christie’s only meeting with Bruce Springsteen was brokered by Barack Obama. Obama — and Bruce — wanted to persuade Christie to accept the Hurricane Sandy relief money that he was making noises about refusing. In the wake of the Bridgegate scandal, Bruce went on Jimmy Fallon. He and Fallon performed a parody of Born To Run that mocked Christie and his spiteful action against a town whose Democratic mayor had not endorsed his reelection. I believe that makes Christie the only fan Bruce has ever publicly disavowed.

  43. 43.

    WaterGirl

    @TaMara (HFG): I love Doug Jones so much.  Seeing this video made me cry.  He like a mama bear with a cub – he is fierce and he’s really fighting to keep this seat.

    It’s easy to imagine that was a tiger as he fought for justice for those little girls all those years ago.

    I really hope he wins.  I’m sure he’s way more conservative than I am, but he has integrity.

  44. 44.

    Jeffro

    @Omnes Omnibus: I hear you but that was then, and this is now.  We are in a celeb-obsessed age, and it’s long past time to draw a line: just because someone was on a TV show for a long time or won a gazillion Grammys or whatever…I don’t want that person to be able to run for president just because they feel like it.

    F it.  It’s the world’s most important job.  CEO of the USA.  Whatever.  Nobody gets to luck into it, ride their other talents that don’t apply at all into it, etc etc.

    Wanna run the US Government?  Have some sort of track record before you can even file.  And oh by the way, we want you to know up front that decades of tax returns, etc, are also going to be required.

    PS  There’s 330M of us, so I have a feeling we’ll be able to fine decent people who fit the qualifications and can serve the office well.  I really do hear you about Grant, Obama, etc but there’s a lot of talent out there and the downside risk is just too huge.

  50. 50.

    Mary G

    I’m wondering if Parscale is being underbussed as the chosen scapegoat for all the campaign fraud I’m alleging.

  53. 53.

    Patricia Kayden

    Remember the reaction when John Edwards was caught paying $400 for a haircut? Trump paid $70,000 on hair care. How is that even possible? Does that thing sitting on his head eat Pangolins and colossal squid eggs?— Walter Shaub (@waltshaub) September 28, 2020

  54. 54.

    Mary G

    Is it just me, or does the federal government now look like a Trump business? Struggling for direction under the impulses of an unhinged CEO, deeply in debt, high manager turnover rate, low morale, countless lawsuits over questionable practices, and sinking brand reputation.
    — Miles Taylor (@MilesTaylorUSA) September 27, 2020

  55. 55.

    Leto

    @Mary G: I hope that he lives a long long life always looking over his shoulder, wondering if the food he’s eating is safe from the Russians. If he does that in an orange jumpsuit, even better.

  57. 57.

    NotMax

    @Omnes Omnibus

    Ignore it and move on. He paid no attention to the scads of reasons offered here as to why it is a misconceived notion the first half dozen times he dropped it into threads.

  58. 58.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Leto:

    I’ll always hate that Dean Cain is a dbag Republican. He was perfect as Clark Kent/Superman in Lois and Clark

  62. 62.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Leto:

    Also too, both actresses who played Buffy (Geller and Swanson) are on the same list. And David Lee Roth is a conservative? Damnit! And Gary Sinse? That’s disappointing

  63. 63.

    Steeplejack

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    Jesus fucking Christ! That article refers to the same mysterious Lifezette article, in almost exactly the same words, with no link at all. And goes on to repeat, also verbatim, the Mary Pat Christie anecdote.

  64. 64.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    And looks like I was right about the reaction among right-wingers to the Rock’s endorsement:

    Jason Alexander Roberge

    @JasonRobergeVA

    Replying to

    @JoeBiden
    and
    @TheRock

    I didn’t realize the rock was horrible, now we know.

    Chris Cheney

    @JustChrisCheney

    6h

    Replying to
    @JasonRobergeVA
    @samuelnehdar123
    and 2 others

    Do celebrities get paid by campaigns for their endorsements? Serious question. Or does Dwayne Johnson suffer from side effects from the Chinese Plaque? Maybe one too many accidents filming action movies…which I really enjoyed. #November2020

    Plaque! I liked this reply to the first tweet I quoted:

    Alex Wood

    @ThirdBaseDan

    14h

    Replying to

    @JasonRobergeVA
    @JoeBiden
    and
    @TheRock

    “I liked him, until he opposed the dear leader.”

  67. 67.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Steeplejack:

    The original Life Zette article was probably deleted. It is run by Laura Ingraham, after all. Anyway, I swear I remember reading it. And there is a link, but it goes nowhere now

  68. 68.

    Hoodie

    Question for the coming weeks: does Trump have enough assets to cover his liabilities? He claimed enough liabilities to essentially zero out his tax bills, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t owe more than the 400 million he claimed.  He may be technically bankrupt.

  73. 73.

    Gravenstone

    Haven’t read the comments to see if someone else mentioned this, but apparently Jared Kushner has deleted his Twitter posts after the NYT report came out. Just what are you hiding, boy?

  75. 75.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @opiejeanne: I don’t follow Schwarzenegger, and I still can’t believe he was governor of CA, but he’s a never-trumper, and he may have left the party some time ago, like I said, I don’t pay too much attention to him. Anyway, good on him for this

    Arnold @Schwarzenegger
    Today I sent a letter to nearly 6,000 elections officials and county commissioners in states formerly covered by Voting Rights Act Section 5 inviting them to apply for grants, funded by me, to reopen polling centers and improve voting access.

  76. 76.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Steeplejack:

    Tom Selleck makes me sad too. Can’t see Thomas Magnum being a Reagan Republican, despite serving in the Navy. He was a Vietnam vet and I’m sure didn’t hold Nixon in high regard (if he was in Vietnam during his admin, can’t remember if he was).

    The one thing I never liked about Magnum PI is how it perpetuated the Vietnam POW-MIA myth/conspiracy theory. Never acknowledged the antiwar GI movement either. It was rife in the Navy during Vietnam IIRC

  82. 82.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

    @James E Powell: Marsha Mason worked with Caan in “Cinderella Liberty” in the early 70s and in “Chapter Two” in the late 70s.  She said he had become very bitter because he didn’t win an Oscar for various rolls and built up a strong resentments.

    It’s kind of like Reagan, who went from long time liberal (even a communist) to captive of bitter resentments when his movie career died.

  83. 83.

    JustRuss

    @gene108: 

    I believe Trump’s in the WWE Hall of Fame. I do not know how prestigious a hall of fame this is.

    This joint really needs a sarcasm font.

  84. 84.

    Felanius Kootea

    @Cheryl Rofer: He does have a twitter account, with over 118,000 followers (@jaredkushner).  He’s just never actually tweeted from it. So there’s 118,000 people following an account that never tweets.

  86. 86.

    Another Scott

    @Jeffro:  We’ve had crappy, corrupt governors here in the Commonwealth. We’ve had crappy, corrupt US representatives and senators. There’s no automatic virtue in holding those offices and hoping to take the big chair.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  88. 88.

    Omnes Omnibus

    And in notes from the normal world:  The Packers are now 3-0.  And WI PBS is replaying the Billie Eilish ACL.

  90. 90.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    In football news, the Browns won today 34-20 against the “Washington Football Team” (formerly the Washington R******s). The Cleveland Browns actually won a game for once, though I’ve heard they’ve been doing well this season

    Never thought I’d see the day the R******s would change their name. Good

  91. 91.

    opiejeanne

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Good for him. When he was the Governator, he got into some real hot water by following the advice of some of his RW advisers and doing what they suggested. Maria Shriver, his wife at the time, took him aside and explained that he wasn’t to do that any more. At least I imagine it that way. I know she told him, “NO, Bad Arnold!”

    He improved greatly after that.

  92. 92.

    jl

    @Morzer: IRS letting Trump get away with outrageous and shameful double dog triple somersault tax evasion is just a reverse psychology Deep State plot to embarrass him right before the election. Unfair to Trump. Everyone knows him.

    BTW, the true etymology of ’embarrass’ is definitely not some BS about ‘into – hinderment’. It is from ‘into Bare Asseness.’ Everyone knows that two, but Deep State moles in grammar pretend otherwise.

  93. 93.

    mrmoshpotato

    @geg6: Exactly.  Thoughts and prayers?  No.  Thoughts of Fuck ’em!

    I don’t mourn the suicide of Goebbels.  And fuck Brad Parscale too.

    What?  Is he afraid of a crushing defeat and possibly going to prison?

  95. 95.

    jl

    @opiejeanne: Arnold is a peculiar mix of the very good, very bad, and very mistaken, politically. Put in charge of the broad portfolio needed as a governor, he was such a mixed up mess, he often frustrated his own policies, and couldn’t work his way through his own confusion. And then he tended to decompensate, act-out, and pout.

    Glad he either has unconfused himself, or current situation brings out the good Arnold, not the bad or the confused one.

  100. 100.

    Morzer

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Apparently Dan Snyder was forced to change the name when some of the NFL’s big sponsors told him to be a good boy.  Mind you, that hasn’t saved him from a six month shitstorm of revelations about his abusive, perverted, crooked ways,

  101. 101.

    Leto

    Because 2020 is the gift that keeps on giving:

    Ammon Bundy Launches New Antigovernment Organization That Takes on Coronavirus Restrictions

    Antigovernment extremist Ammon Bundy, known for his participation in multiple armed standoffs against the U.S. government, has a new venture. The group appears to be aimed in part at what Bundy considers government restrictions on personal liberties.

    People’s Rights seeks to build a nationwide network of right-wing, often antigovernment activists that can be called upon to quickly mobilize against perceived threats, according to the group’s website and the descriptions by its national and regional leaders.

  103. 103.

    Jay

    In 2016 & ‘17, I paid thousands of dollars a year in taxes *as a bartender.*

    Trump paid $750.

    He contributed less to funding our communities than waitresses & undocumented immigrants.

    Donald Trump has never cared for our country more than he cares for himself. A walking scam. https://t.co/VZChbp8htu— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) September 28, 2020

  104. 104.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Leto: I will give him credit for being willing to speak up against police violence even when aimed at POC, but, fundamentally, he is a dangerous kook.

  107. 107.

    jl

    @Goku (Amerikan Baka):  I don’t know. Arnold has talked about the importance of the Allied liberation in his home town, don’t know whether from very early personal memory or from his family.

    @Omnes Omnibus: I don’t know either. I’d put my money on The Rock, big time, if I had to choose.

  108. 108.

    Jay

    @mrmoshpotato:

    surprise, surprise, surprise, armed white criminal man holed up in his house survives a meeting with the KKKops,

    but an innocent unarmed sleeping Black woman is brutally executed.

  110. 110.

    Goku (Amerikan Baka)

    @Morzer:

    Reading his wiki page, he sounds like a total asshole so it makes sense he was finally forced into the name change. And yeah, it also doesn’t surprise me that a man who would defend a racist slur for a team name for 20 years would also be a sexual harasser

  111. 111.

    Ian

    @Jeffro:   lets see, 1-Democracy is about letting people choose who they want, 2-where do we draw the line (mayor? senator? congressman? dogcatcher? Do longtime government employees who haven’t served in an elected position qualify? ) 3- what about generals, businessmen, union organizers or other non government agents we might want for president, 4- gives people who are governors/senators an implicit ‘your good enough to be president’ even if they are in no way shape or form qualified.

    That is four good reasons not to limit the presidency to only the top echelon of our political leadership.

  112. 112.

    Mike in NC

    @mrmoshpotato:  Of all the mutants and zombies that Fat Bastard surrounded himself with, I always thought Brad Parscale was the craziest. A 6’8″ skinhead type who bilked his idiot boss of millions. I suspect he was being pressured to cough that money back up and he was broke, just like Trump.

  113. 113.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Goku (Amerikan Baka): Welp, we can all go back to hating Ammon Bundy again

    We stopped?  These bastards aimed rifles at federal law enforcement and also abused public land for years.

    Not to mention to destruction in the nature preserve.

  115. 115.

    Manxome Bromide

    @jl: I always felt like he was elected on a fluke, re-elected on a not-a-fluke, and then left office with a terrible approval rating, and that all of these things “made sense” at the time. He first took office when California government spent a lot of time paralyzed, and once it got its act together, he was definitely not up to the task the job turned into. But I see no reason to believe he didn’t mean well; even the bad parts just were not the same universe as Nunes or McConnell.

  116. 116.

    Goku (Amerikan Baka)

    @jl:

    Hmm. Interesting. I do know that for much of the 20th century, Austrians tried to rationalize their participation in the Third Reich (Anschluss) as being essentially forced by the Nazi regime into joining. It was (is?) a big thing in post-war Austrian politics. Arnold didn’t come to America until the 60s I believe

  117. 117.

    Jay

    Police in Denver abducted multiple protestors from their homes (with a SWAT team & tanks, refusing to show a warrant), from shopping centers and cars, and locked them in a cell for EIGHT DAYS in vile conditions without letting them meet with a judge or setting a bail. [THREAD]— Alexis Isabel (@lexi4prez) September 27, 2020

  119. 119.

    Bill Arnold

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    And there is a link, but it goes nowhere now

    Just as a matter of technique, if you have a dead link, try web.archive.org – the page may be archived.
    This is often helpful for accessing stuff that was deleted because it was embarrassing. (GDPR right-to-forget doesn’t apply to web.archive.org because it’s a US operation.)

  124. 124.

    Goku (Amerikan Baka)

    @Jay:

    Oh my god, that’s disgusting. Makes me even more pissed off at the “Back the Blue” bootlickers

    @mrmoshpotato:

    Well, he supported BLM and migrants. This just reminded me of how much of a dangerous kook (as Omnes put it) he truly is

  127. 127.

    Jay

    @mrmoshpotato:

    not  gloating, just noticing that armed white men get almost always “taken alive”, but unarmed BIPOC people tend to die in KKKop encounters, even in Canada.

    if 911 sends out KKKops to do a “Health and Wellness” check, rather than Social Workers or Paramedics, only ask tor a “Health and Wellness” check if the person you are concerned about is a white male.

  130. 130.

    Morzer

    I’m waiting for the movie about Trump’s relationship with Putin; working title: Brokeass Mountain

  135. 135.

    Jay

    @mrmoshpotato:

    I’ve got about 20 books in the library about the ethnic relations and the breakdown in Hapsburg Austria, and post WWI, that I could recommend, but I am pretty sure most people don’t have them.

    The Wiki is pretty good, noting that a bunch of German Austrians were pissed that they weren’t allowed to join in the German Unification following Austria’s defeat .

    That festered for many, more so as the Dual Kingdom tried to play ethnics against ethnics prior to WWI, but got rooked by Hungary.

    Then of course, the Hapsbergs lost WWI, badly, only survived after the first years of the War, because of Germany.

  137. 137.

    Captain C

    @Mike in NC:

    I suspect he was being pressured to cough that money back up and he was broke, just like Trump.

    Or at least he’d have to sell a bunch of his ill-gotten toys and real estate.

  139. 139.

    L85NJGT

    @Goku (Amerikan Baka):

    You should watch Pumping Iron.

    His old man was a cop and party member, and there is clearly resentment on Arnold’s part towards him. It seems to have been the primary motivation for him getting into body building, getting the fuck out of Austria, and not attending his father’s funeral.

  141. 141.

    Jay

    NEW: Dozens of lawyers from 3 major law firms have been hired. Thousands of volunteer attorneys and poll watchers have been recruited. Republicans are preparing pre-written legal pleadings that can be hurried to the courthouse after the election. https://t.co/6kixtRd435— Anita Kumar (@anitakumar01) September 27, 2020

  142. 142.

    Jay

    The difference between police treatment of a Proud Boys rally yesterday vs their response to a protest last night against police brutality could not be more stark https://t.co/xw0ZU8nMPp— Karina Brown (@karinapdx) September 27, 2020

    Keep in mind, it was an unpermitted rally in a Public Park with illegal carry,…….. funny that.

  143. 143.

    James E Powell

    Watching football today I saw a Trump TV ad. A group of people sitting around what looks like a backyard or a driveway. Quick cut to each person saying one line. Seemed like mostly women. I think half of them said Biden will raise their taxes. One said that Trump is the only person who stands between this country and socialism! I think a couple more mentioned socialism. Only two or three said something positive about Trump. It was a low-grade production.

  144. 144.

    Eljai

    The person who wrote that Politico story is invited onto Brian Williams show a lot.  She’s not good at her job.

    Since Republicans and Democrats vehemently disagree over how — and when — those ballots should be counted, the court system might be the ultimate arbiter.

    No, honey, you have one side, Republicans, who don’t want to count votes.  And one side, Democrats, who do.

  146. 146.

    janesays

    @Jeffro: There was a time when it was extremely difficult to get a constitutional amendment ratified.

    We are not in the time anymore. It is functionally impossible to get a constitutional amendment ratified in this nation right now, given the requirements:

    2/3 of both houses of Congress (67 senators + 290 representatives) AND 3/4 of all state legislatures (38 states).

    You’re right, we absolutely need the constitutional amendment you propose (and one that abolishes the electoral college, and one that term limits all federal judges)… but it’s just not going to happen anytime in the foreseeable future. Not in a country where at least 40% of the electorate will be voting to give Donald Trump a second term in the White House.

  147. 147.

    Sebastian

    I told y’all a few days ago that this was gonna happen.

    The sucker loser story was the “one” in the one two punch, the “two” are his taxes. This was fucking EPIC!

    I’ll add another prediction:

    All this, all  we are witnessing now, is not happenstance. It is one of the biggest global powers chess games In history and this is much bigger than just Trump.

    You know who just dropped out of cloaking, guns blazing? The motherfucking United States of America, that’s who.

    I am enjoying the fuck out of all this.

    DING DONG MOTHERFUCKERS!

  148. 148.

    trollhattan

    Shit, shit, shit, the fires are blowing up tonight in northern California. Winds are pushing the big fire near Paradise that has burned for a month towards the area that burned two years ago (evidently there’s still stuff to burn). The town itself is under evacuation warning. And a new fire began overnight in the north end of the Napa Valley. Parts of Santa Rosa (which had the deadly fire three years ago) are being evacuated.

    I fired 2020 today, told it to clear out its cubicle and leave immediately. Leave the red stapler.

  149. 149.

    Comrade Colette Collaboratrice

    Well, hell. Here we go again. Northern California fires have exploded and are heading toward large populated areas, including Santa Rosa and Paradise (those places are far apart, for non-locals, so we’re talking about multiple fires) that burned in the past 3 years and caused dozens of deaths and billions of dollars in damage. Here in San Francisco, the AQ is steadily worsening, the late-night temps are still well in the 70s – which is HOT HOT HOT compared to normal – and there’s a strong smell of smoke. A day of judgement is coming

    ETA: @trollhattan:  When I said 2020 could just DIAF, I didn’t mean literally.

  150. 150.

    Eljai

    @trollhattan: @Comrade Colette Collaboratrice:  This is just breaking my heart.  One of my friends is waiting for evacuation orders in Sonoma County.  Another friend of mine has parents in Santa Rosa — their house narrowly escaped the Tubbs fire three years ago.   Oh and I see a Spare the Air Alert has been issued for Monday.  No shit!

  152. 152.

    Jay C

    As grossly unsympathetic a character as Brad Parscale may be, it’s still sad to hear about these sort of breakdowns: particularly as it seems to have happened at home, in front of his family. But even so, I was struck by the different ways the two Presidential  campaigns tweeted about the issue.

    the Biden campaign expressed sympathy and hoped Brad could get the help he needs,
    the Trump campaign expressed sympathy and blamed “attacks from Democrats and RINOs” for his problems.

  153. 153.

    Ruckus

    @Hoodie:

    Very likely he’s going to be bankrupt. And soon. That FTFNYT article, if I remember correctly, stated that he’s got a 300 mill loan either due or coming up due very soon. All his business properties seem to be hemorrhaging money and he’s very likely in hock on all of them, so even a fire sale on them would likely not be enough and he’s owned them, so who’d want to buy them?

  155. 155.

    CarolDuhart2

    While I would be suspicious about the buildings, the land they sit on would be valuable.

    And while golf is declining in support, the land they have would be valuable too.

  156. 156.

    Ruckus

    @Comrade Colette Collaboratrice:

    A very good friend lives on the east side of Santa Rosa and during the last fire she had to evacuate and didn’t know for quite a while if her house was still standing. It burned close but they only lost one house in the area she’s in and that was in the hills about 1/2 mile west. I’ll contact her tomorrow to see if she’s had to leave once again because the evacuations at CalFire seem to be quite a bit east of her.

  157. 157.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

    @Ruckus: unfortunately the Russians and Saudis will extend his loans as bribes for his services in office.   They’ll carry his loans for the remainder of his life (10-15 years) and he’ll die leaving massive debt to his “family”

  158. 158.

    Kay

    @Jay:

    Republicans are likely to dispute election results in two main areas — the authenticity of mail-in ballots and the deadlines for mail-in ballots to be received and counted. Election officials worry those actions could penalize voters for human error, and that ballots could get thrown out because of a sometimes slow United States Postal Service.

    This only works if all the swing states are as close as Florida was in 2000. They can’t just sue randomly to contest mail in ballots that are received late. The state knows how many absentees they sent out. If there are 10,000 potential absentees that are still out and Biden is ahead by 50,000 the math doesn’t work and throwing out the late-arriving absentees won’t change the result anyway, so they can’t hold it up. That’s how they call the election before all the votes are counted- they know there isn’t enough vote left to change the result. They know that number when the polls close. It’s not a mystery. They add the number of absentees they sent out and then subtract the number of absentees they get back, that gives them a number for absentees still out.
    If this is the actual plan – if this is all they have- it just isn’t going to be a big problem.
    It doesn’t have to be a huge vote lead for Biden for it to be over. Total in person vote (a number they know when the polls close, even if they haven’t counted who got the votes) + absentees received- absentees still out.

  159. 159.

    Kay

    @Jay:

    This whole bullshit narrative by the RNC and the Trump campaign relies on something that is not true- that states just send out some random number of absentee ballots, so we’re all waiting for (unknown) to “come back”. But that’s not true. They know how many they sent out, so they know how many are still out. If they want to challenge the result and start throwing out (potential) absentee ballots they have to show there’s a possibility that would change the result. He would have to come very close for this to be true.

  160. 160.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @jl: Arnold has talked about the importance of the Allied liberation in his home town, don’t know whether from very early personal memory or from his family.

    My guess is both. He turned 8 three days after the Austrian State Treaty was signed, which formally ended the 4-power occupation and reconstituted Austria as an independent but perpetually neutral state. His hometown, just outside of Graz, where he lived till he was 19, was in the British zone. The Western occupiers on the whole were sweetness and light compared with the Soviets, who stripped their zone of whatever assets weren’t nailed down & sent them east, and communication between zones would have made that clear.

  161. 161.

    The Fat White Duchess

    @Morzer: Could legitimately be based on the book “House of Trump, House of Putin” (2018).  Investigative journalism, financial details relevant to today’s news.

  162. 162.

    J R in WV

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    Never thought I’d see the day the R******s would change their name. Good

    The Washington Racial Slurs did not change their name… they just dropped the Racial Slur, and now play with their jersey numbers on their helmets rather than any team logo.

    There is no team name…

    Dunno why so not creative, but seems to run in line with the whole team’s actual football skills, including coaches, ownership  and management.

    ETA: To be clear, in a long ago past I attended college and went to summer school at the small town college where the Washington Racial Slurs had their training camp. Clear back in the ’60s, I played ping pong and pool with members of the team. I was a fan. This was long before I realized how terrible the team name was. I grew up and the Washington Racial Slurs did not. Still have not, the owner is what is terrible now — not just the name.

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