Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

If West Virginia and San Francisco had a love child.

This isn’t Democrats spending madly. This is government catching up.

Can we lighten up on the doomsday scenarios?

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

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

Innocent people don’t delay justice.

The willow is too close to the house.

I’m just a talker, trying to find a channel!

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

I’m starting to think Jesus may have made a mistake saving people with no questions asked.

There are no moderate republicans – only extremists and cowards.

The current Supreme Court is a rogue court. Very dangerous.

Quote tweet friends, screenshot enemies.

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

Hi god, it’s us. Thanks a heap, you’re having a great week and it’s only Thursday!

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

The words do not have to be perfect.

Books are my comfort food!

I did not have this on my fuck 2022 bingo card.

It could be worse. Vance could have said “post-menopausal sows.” Waiting for that audiotape to surface.

Everybody saw this coming.

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Too Soon?

Reader Interactions

204Comments

  1. 1.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Too Soon?

    hell, no

    I guess there’s some demented attempt at symbolism in putting Barron on a lion, and the toy stretch limos…. so vulgar, so needy, so insecure

  2. 2.

    trollhattan

    Little-known fact: Melanie’s cape held aloft by dental floss strand held in lion’s mouth. And who knew there were Hot Wheels limos?

  3. 3.

    jl

    Cole always hits the jackpot: too soon and too late at the same time.

    Versions of that joke have been around for months.

    But, congrats on another feat of strength. I eagerly await the venting of grievances.

  5. 5.

    Sab

    I have always kind of liked that stuffed lion. Not an actual pet replacement, but very cool as a stuffed animal.

  6. 6.

    patrick Il

    Republicans have been complaining about a lack of empathy on the part of some Democrats for Trump’s situation .

    The ironic /  correct response to that would be “Fuck Your Feelings” .

  8. 8.

    jonas

    @patrick Il:

    lack of empathy on the part of some Democrats for Trump’s situation .

    You’re kidding, right? Empathy? They’re actually saying there’s not enough empathy? JFC.

  9. 9.

    Eljai

    Interesting…

    LeAHHHHHH!!! Face screaming in fear Rainbow flag

    @leahmcelrath

    To be clear:  I am not saying Kellyanne Conway has COVID-19.

    I’m reporting her 15-year-old daughter has made a public announcement to her 871K TikTok followers saying she does.

    I don’t know if the info is correct or not. However, Kellyanne was at the Saturday Rose Garden event

  11. 11.

    Benw

    Alright people. Lakers up 14 at the half and Padres up 3-0 in the 8th. Surely all will be well if I take the big dog for late walkies, right?

  12. 12.

    LeftCoastYankee

    You’ll be happy to know the “This Mask is as useless as our governor” masks in the crap ads to the right are now tagged “price drop”.

    It’s only Schadenfreude if it’s shameful.  Definitely not too early… right on time.

  13. 13.

    WaterGirl

    @Morzer: What did all these people think was going to happen when they flaunted flouted all the public health guidelines for not getting fucking COVID?

    edit:  that’s a lot of people

    30 to 50 donors came close to the president Thursday night,

  15. 15.

    featheredsprite

    Question for you knowledgeable folks: What do you think the political effect of Trump’s illness will be?

  23. 23.

    Elizabelle

    Photo is notable because Barron looks so forlorn and distanced from his parents. In his little suit.

  25. 25.

    WaterGirl

    @Morzer:  I would be pissed, too.  On the other hand, how did they not know they were taking a huge risk?  Apparently a lot of really stupid people have a lot of money to donate to Trump.

    Some Republican donors questioned the president’s decision to go to the event after his longtime advisor Hope Hicks became ill.

    Hicks tested positive Thursday morning after displaying symptoms Wednesday night while on a campaign trip to Minnesota with the president.

    White House chief of staff Mark Meadows told reporters Friday that Hicks’ diagnosis became known just before the president left for Bedminster.

  27. 27.

    WaterGirl

    This is election night, only not as horrid.

    Afraid to keep reading because all these people are testing positive, but afraid to go to bed for fear of what I’ll find in the morning.

  33. 33.

    Yutsano

    How long did it take Americans to come up with jokes after the Challenger disaster*? This is how we Americans cope with these things. Not too soon and there really is no such thing.

    *I think there were news reports that Europeans thought we were stark bonkers for making jokes so soon.

  35. 35.

    WaterGirl

    On the bright side, I just figured out what is happening when you guys make duplicate comments, which WordPress does not allow.  Because it just happened to me.

    It appears that somehow the previous comment didn’t get cleared from the comment box when it posted.  So when I hit reply to reply to Sab, my earlier reply to Morzer was still in the comment box.

  38. 38.

    Steeplejack

    Hey, there’s Bill Barr—unmasked, of course—in the front row at the Barrett-fest last Saturday. (Lawrence O’Donnell is running B-roll footage while his guests blab.) ?

  39. 39.

    dmsilev

    Good to see-everything is Just Fine (WaPo):

    As Trump’s condition deteriorated during the day Friday, the president and his team ultimately made the decision to send him to Walter Reed preemptively — and, from a public relations perspective, when he was still able to walk to Marine One on his own, according to one outside adviser in frequent contact with White House officials. They feared the possibility of a further decline, and what that might mean, both for the president’s health and his political optics.
    The White House outbreak thrust Washington into a state of heightened alarm Friday, with uncertainty one month before the election about the health of the president, whose age of 74, as well as additional co-morbidities — obesity, high cholesterol and slightly elevated blood pressure — increase his risks of a negative outcome.
    Though White House officials have begun contact tracing to try to identify the origin of the outbreak, it is not publicly known whether the Rose Garden announcement of Barrett’s nomination was a superspreader event.
    Still, the jarring contrast between the carefree, cavalier attitude toward the virus on display in the Rose Garden last Saturday and the pernicious awakening that occurred Thursday night resembles a Shakespearean tragedy.

    (Emphasis added)

  40. 40.

    sdhays

    @Sab: They also think that having that money means that they’re blessed, and not in the humble/thankful way. They think it means that they are God’s chosen and nothing can touch them.

  45. 45.

    Wyatt Salamanca

    Absolutely not too soon!

    You can’t go more than a single day without reading or hearing an example of Trump’s indifference, lack of empathy, or outright sadism towards some individual or group.

    I hope Trump recovers from COVID so that he’ll live to see his day in court when the Manhattan District Attorney or New York Attorney General bring charges against him once he leaves office. I then look forward to him being found guilty and hopefully serving time in prison.

    Trump’s arrogance, stupidity, and disrespect for science has resulted in over 208,000 Americans needlessly dying. He’s a mass murderer and his presidency has been a goddamn motherfucking crime against humanity.

    Vote this scumbag out!

  46. 46.

    Mai Naem mobile

    If the Republicans were real evangelical Christians they would take it as a sign from god that he doesn’t want Amy Crazy Eyes Coney on the USSC.  Also I am wondering if she gets confirmed who swears her in? John Roberts with his preexisting conditions. Clarence Thomas who doesn’t look all that healthy either. Sonia Sotomayor with her diabetes. Stephen Breyer at his age? Alito ain’t all that young either.

  48. 48.

    jonas

    @Elizabelle:

    Barron looks so forlorn and distanced from his parents.

    Talk about the most fucked up kid in the history of the universe. I feel sorry for him the same way I feel sorry for Michael Jackson’s kids. Sheez.

  49. 49.

    Tazj

    @Morzer: I read that and wondered if her kids had it too this summer.I don’t know why you would expose your kids like that, I don’t understand it.

  50. 50.

    WaterGirl

    @Sab: Lesson learned the very hard way.  Does something eat away at these people’s brains?

    “Don’t stick your hand in the piranha tank or they will eat your hand.”

    “Oh, I don’t believe that.”

    “It ate my hand!”

    Just so fucking stupid.  It boggles the mind.

  54. 54.

    patrick Il

    Kelly Anne’s daughter is furious with her because now the daughter has been exposed too. She had asked her Mom not to go maskless but was reassured that it was outside so it would be safe.

    No matter where you are it is not safe with all of the hugging Isom on the Video

  56. 56.

    sdhays

    @Steeplejack: Which itself is pretty disgusting seeing as how supposedly she left her WH position to spend more time with her daughter, who was threatening to sue for emancipation. It seems that actually spending time with her children wasn’t that important after all…

  58. 58.

    Morzer

    Sure doesn’t sound as if Plague Rat One is having himself a mild case of the sniffles:

    https://twitter.com/AshleyRParker/status/1312204066622066688

    As Trump’s conditioned worsened, he and his team made the decision to send him to Walter Reed before he deteriorated further — and while he could still walk to Marine One on his own. Our latest on the White House Coronavirus Crisis. @AshleyRParker

  60. 60.

    zhena gogolia

    @patrick Il: They are idiots. It’s not distance or masks or outside — it’s distance plus masks plus outside.

    I hate these people so much.

  62. 62.

    PaulWartenberg

    I know and understand there was a lot of talk earlier that trump was staging all of this as a way of gaming the election – either to draw in sympathy votes or to force the states to delay/cancel it – but the way the stories are getting out now of more people testing positive from a shared event – the SCOTUS announcement in the Rose Garden last Saturday – it’s looking like this is a legit case.

    Part of me wonders how trump could have even though of playing a “wounded gazelle” to draw in sympathy votes. 1) Nobody voting against him will ever sympathize with him, and 2) his narcissism would never allow himself to seem weak to the public.

    As Silverman is posting elsewhere on this site, we’re looking at a serious national security and possible succession crisis this weekend.

  63. 63.

    jonas

    Oh shit. Now he’s been moved to Walter Reed “out of an abundance of caution”?? I’m sure while they’re at it, they’ll be administering the routine second half of his annual physical.

  67. 67.

    patrick Il

    @Morzer:

    But no so much that they are cooperating with the contact tracing  group. Wouldn’t  want their names to get out before they have spread ‘ it further themselves.

  71. 71.

    Bluegirlfromwyo

    @jonas: Empathy, yet another thing these overentitled schmucks think they deserve without having to give it themselves.

    I don’t want them to die but I truly hate these people.

  73. 73.

    dmsilev

    @Morzer: In less than 24 hours, we’ve gone from ‘Trump has tested positive but feels fine’ to ‘Trump has some mild cold-like symptoms’ to ‘Trump is spending the next several days in the hospital as a precaution’.

  75. 75.

    sdhays

    @Mai Naem mobile: Yeah, if you believe in that sort of thing, it really ought to give you pause that the Almighty is trying to send a message. But I’ve long stopped believing that these people believe anything they say they believe. They don’t give two shits what the Bible says or how to make their behavior conform to what’s in it. They know what they want to do and that automatically means it’s God’s idea.

    Most atheists have more respect for “God” than actual conservative “Christians”.

  76. 76.

    Kay

    Chris Hayes
    @chrislhayes
    ·5m
    Before RBG was even *in the ground*, the White House staged a super-spreader event to celebrate their nominee in hopes that they could seat her on the court in time to hear their case for why America’s entire system health insurance regulation should be destroyed.

  79. 79.

    Ken

    @dmsilev: additional co-morbidities — obesity, high cholesterol and slightly elevated blood pressure

    The obesity was obvious, but is this the first time we’ve heard the news that the healthiest man ever to be president has high cholesterol and elevated blood pressure?

  81. 81.

    Kent

    @featheredsprite:Question for you knowledgeable folks: What do you think the political effect of Trump’s illness will be?

    Who the hell knows.  But it will completely upset their campaign strategy which was to barnstorm the country at big events with the maskless MAGA faithful calling for the country to reopen and move on.  While at the same time criticizing Biden mercilessly for cowering in their Delaware basement and wearing masks like the effete liberal wimps that they are.

    The Trump campaign strategy was to change the subject to anything but Covid.  ANTIFA, BLM, critical race theory, etc.  Now the campaign is going to be Covid Trump watch 24/7.  Oops.

  83. 83.

    Morzer

    @dmsilev:

    “The president is now violently orange with glowing purple polka dots and his skin has split open in several places, but White House sources say that he is working as hard as ever.”

  86. 86.

    Kattails

    My sympathy for Kellyanne is about as deep as for Trump. And considerably less than that for any kids still living, basically, in cages or women being involuntarily sterilized by people who are also anti-abortion.

    Project Lincoln’s new ad for Joe Biden is actually all warm and fuzzy.  Got me misty for the nostalgia of not having to pay attention to the micro detail of politics every waking minute. I’ve been wanting to crochet, make quilts, paint, watch old movies, anything that results in an attractive and useful item to gift or donate. I can’t make things while I’m online. Even if just scrolling, one hand is always needed to work the mouse. I can’t embroider or do calligraphy.

    I want some part of my life back that has had to pay way too much attention to this greedy self centered person and his enablers.  I want to feel some bare semblance of security again.  I want competence and compassion and rational thought in my representatives (note they are NOT our leaders dammit) . Why is this so hard?

  91. 91.

    Kay

    Alexander Nazaryan
    @alexnazaryan
    ·47m
    A lot of anger will be directed in coming days to senior West Wing staffers, chiefly Meadows, Scavino, McEntee and–this is the one that gets me–Dr. Atlas.
    They sent message to junior staffers that masks & social distancing were essentially barriers to advancement on Team Trump

    Like some kind of bizarre suicide cult. Well, “suicide”. Except for the lower level people who serve them personally who they happily sacrificed to the Trump Family.

  92. 92.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Ken: the cholesterol thing was known, I think it was Ronnie “Dr Feelgood” Jackson who said something about getting the WH chefs to put cauliflower in the mashed potatoes in a vain effort to get him to consume a vegetable

    trump told them to knock it off with that hippie shit

  93. 93.

    sdhays

    @PaulWartenberg: As Silverman is posting elsewhere on this site, we’re looking at a serious national security and possible succession crisis this weekend.

    The “crisis” is mitigated by the fact that the President is more a chaos agent in his own administration rather than a normal President. If he’s out of the picture, it really just intensifies the existing crisis of leadership rather than being a new crisis. Lots of things either happened or didn’t happen without Dump taking any notice at all. With him sick rather than attached to Fox and Friends, will the government “run” much differently? I’m skeptical.

    At least that’s how it seems to me.

  95. 95.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @dmsilev: whose age of 74, as well as additional co-morbidities — obesity, high cholesterol and slightly elevated blood pressure — increase his risks of a negative outcome.

    Wait, how can that be? Dr. Ronny says Trump has no cordites, corbomites, carbonites, whatever.

  96. 96.

    trnc

    @Morzer:

    “GOP donors have been reaching out to Trump campaign and GOP officials for any guidance following a fundraiser with the president hours before his announcement that he has Covid, according to a person briefed on the matter.”

    Guidance? Here’s some guidance. WEAR A FUCKING MASK, AND STAY THE FUCK AWAY FROM PEOPLE WHO WON’T!

    Yes, the DT campaign is wall to wall douchebags for having this event, but maybe having a few million smackers coulda bought a damn clue instead of a willfully stupid administration.

  98. 98.

    mrmoshpotato

    NOPE!

    To hell with this gaudy, Soviet shitpile mobster conman!

    And to hell with everyone who didn’t vote for Hillary Clinton!

  99. 99.

    BeautifulPlumage

    @Morzer:

    “The presidential suite at Walter Reed is equiped with everything he needs to continue working, including a sump pump for the extra fluids and infra red lighting for his eye stalks.”

  107. 107.

    lamh36

    Baby…RBG dying wish they ignored.

    RBG put that GRIS GRISon them with her dying wish and they shoulda taken heed

    RBG had a conversaton with the karma gods on her way up to higher ground.

    All these official including Chump, Melanoma, and 7 others tested positive for COVID were all at that SCOTUS annoucement event at the WH for Ruth Bader Gingsburg’s seat before RBG had even been buried!!!

    Old African American proverb — “god DON’T like ugly, and he ain’t too fond of cute” (ugly meaning bad behaviours or vices)

  108. 108.

    trnc

    @Morzer: Are we sure that Bill Barr isn’t the mask worn by some appalling alien entity?

    Sadly, crap that ugly is all too often homegrown.

  109. 109.

    Kay

    It’s tough for me too, because they will of course lie about each and every thing that happens as this progresses. Because not a one of the can be trusted. So we can expect to be lied to for the next week, daily. They had no intention of telling us anyway- the one and only reason they did someone blabbed about Hicks to a reporter. If that hadn’t have happened we would be told Trump was at Walter Reed for the second half of his physical.

    Can we just skip the lying part this time? Let’s move directly to the leaks of the truth. It will save time.

  111. 111.

    Kattails

    @sdhays: Re: your “chaos agent” can’t remember who/where this popped up the other day but a Russian former agent described Trump similarly, as a “wreaking ball”.

  113. 113.

    Mike in NC

    My wife has for some reason always told people that she was born at Walter Reed Medical Center, which was originally located near Silver Spring, Maryland. Later it was moved to and absorbed the Navy National Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland.

  114. 114.

    WaterGirl

    Okay, you guys.  It’s 10:54 and I am going to go brush my teeth.  Please let there be no more news before I get back, at, say 11:00.

  115. 115.

    VeniceRiley

    In enraging news, one of my white trash trailer park older sisters in Ohio just said on FBook that FOX NEWS was not postive enough about Trump and was inching too far left; so she went looking and found NEWSMAX channel.  We’ll never speak again, I don’t think.

  116. 116.

    Ken

    @WaterGirl: afraid to go to bed for fear of what I’ll find in the morning.

    The radio stations playing solemn music….

    @WaterGirl: let there be no more news before I get back, at, say 11:00.

    …maybe even before morning….

  117. 117.

    Kay

    Will Ragland
    @citizenwillis
    ·11m
    Jeez. The day after the reception the president and FLOTUS hosted a reception for Gold Star families at the White House with most unmasked and the seating close together.

    God almighty. Can someone put these two on a mental health hold before they kill again? Tell them they’re going to Mar a Lago and then keep them there.

  118. 118.

    r€nato

    Reasonable People (RP): Hey, please don’t play in the freeway, it’s dangerous and you could die in a nasty way.

    Cult45: SCREW YOU LIBTARD, IT’S MY RIGHT TO PLAY IN THE FREEWAY IF I WANT TO! FREEDUMB!

    Traffic safety experts: No, really, please do not play in the freeway.

    Cult45: YOU’RE A COWARD FOR NOT PLAYING IN THE FREEWAY! WHY DO YOU WANT TO LIVE YOUR LIFE IN FEAR?

    Government road safety experts: We are begging you, do not play in the freeway.

    Cult45: DEEP STATE! HOAX! GEORGE SOROS! BILL GATES! THIS IS A DUMMYCRAP LIBTARD PLOT TO DESTROY THE ECONOMY TO MAKE TRUMP LOSE! WE WILL PLAY IN THE FREEWAY IF WE GODDAMN WANT TO AND NOBODY WILL STOP US! IT’S OUR RIGHT! FREEEEEEEEDUUUUUMMMMMBBBBB…..

    Semi truck: *smash* *splat*

    RP: Uh, what did you think would happen? We told you not to play in the freeway and why not to. We begged you not to play in the freeway. We pleaded with you to not play in the freeway, and all you did was scream and cry and carry on like spoiled children and bully people for choosing not to play in the freeway. This was clearly what you wanted to do and you were determined to do it. We don’t feel all that sorry for you, in fact it’s kind of funny. You got what you deserved.

    Cult45: WHY ARE YOU LIBTARDS SO HORRIBLE AND MEAN? SHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUP

  119. 119.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @Mike in NC: One of the few “Silver Spring” locations that actually is in Silver Spring. For reasons I never understood a vast territory in that part of MD is referred to as Silver Spring.

    We used to live in one of the places called Silver Spring that is nowhere near Silver Spring. I passed Walter Reed on the way to DC many times.

  121. 121.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Kay:

    Jeez. The day after the reception the president and FLOTUS hosted a reception for Gold Star families at the White House with most unmasked and the seating close together.

    my god

  122. 122.

    CaseyL

    The growing list of GOPers with Covid-19 is almost – almost! – enough to make me believe in a Higher Power.

  123. 123.

    trnc

    @Wyatt Salamanca: I know, right? Support the guy who has been actively dismissing the safety measures, then show up in person and get within spit-swap distance of the guy, then be shocked, shocked, SHOCKED that they could have been exposed to it.

  125. 125.

    call_me_ishmael

    Betting Bill Barr is next up. Nice photo of the event at the top of this politico article

    Laura Ingraham is also a sleeper candidate. This is turning into the mask of the red death, as someone upthread mentioned.

    Also, speaking of co-morbidities, Chris Christie’s probably sweating a bit too.

  126. 126.

    Amir Khalid

    The Trump administration is reaping what it sowed, there’s no disputing that. Given the damage it has done and is still doing to the fight against Covid-19, I can’t really criticise those who react with schadenfreude rather than sympathy. I myself have said that it serves Trump right.

    But let’s spare a thought for the White House junior staff, who had no way to counter their superiors’ fuckups, and who are among the many American victims of Trump’s failures at governing.

  129. 129.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @oldgold: looks like Tillis and Sasse and one I don’t recognize were wearing masks? and is that Tiffany next to Barr in the front? was she working one of those seat filler jobs? Did Ivanka have to go in and get a quick botox injection or a fresh coat of spackle?

  131. 131.

    Kay

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    They simply don’t care about other people.

    Chris Hayes
    @chrislhayes
    Call me crazy, but it seems to me that to be a good judge, you need to have good judgment? Participating in a super spreader event that contravenes local DC law and CDC guidance doesn’t strike me as good judgment.

    The court she is currently ON is operating mostly remotely. Why did she think they were doing that? It didn’t occur to her that her nomination celebrations were not following the rules the court where she works follow?

  132. 132.

    lamh36

    Kellyanne was also one of the debate preppers for Chump! I’m telling ya, my gut tells me that this is all going to come back to Amy Barnett. Like I said before I have no kwowledge of any evidence that having “recovered” from the virus means you are a)immune to being re-infected or b)not still shedding the virus as a carrier to others, c)her “recovery” could have been her just feeling fine and a false negative report.

  133. 133.

    Ohio Mom

    Hmmm.. obese, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. Wanna bet he’s on the verge of Type 2 diabetes as well? All those conditions co-occur frequently. The name for this collection of conditions is hyperbetes.

  134. 134.

    Sab

    OT my favorite cat has developed asthma. He is about 10 yo. He has about 5 major wheezing events every day. I am waiting for Werebear to check in so I can pay for informed advice.

    Meanwhile, any advice. This is scary. One of these days he isn’t coming out of a wheezing event.

  135. 135.

    Croaker

    Now they shall know why they are afraid of the dark.  Now they will learn why they fear the night. – Thusla Doom

  138. 138.

    r€nato

    @Amir Khalid: I feel sorry for those people  you mentioned and even for his idiot base. I do not wish it on them because we merely have political differences.

    But the others? Trump and his senior staff? Fuck em all, every last one of them. Goddamn motherfucking sociopaths, not just people with different ideas than I have. I don’t wish that they die from it, just that the bug take its natural course. Some of them will die, oh well, it is what it is, 99.9999% of people survive it so what’s all the fuss, etc etc etc. I have the exact same amount of sympathy for them that they showed for the American people when they chose to ignore this because of their higher concern for the electoral prospects of Dear Leader.

    Sure hope it turns out that a lot of the Fox News Channel hatemongers like Hannity get it too. They helped spread the disinformation that has made this pandemic so much worse. Future generations will look back and say, ‘what the everliving fuck were they thinking, it was a goddamn death cult aimed squarely at the very people who supported them’.

  139. 139.

    Inspectrix

    @jayjaybear:

    Exactly. Early infection is always mild. The time to watch for decompensation is a week to ten days after symptoms have begun.

    Given the number of people infected so far, some from this outbreak will have progression to severe respiratory symptoms requiring oxygen support or more. If I were 80+ and exposed to one of these nincompoops, I’d get my affairs in order.

  140. 140.

    trnc

    @Kay: Can we just skip the lying part this time? Let’s move directly to the leaks of the truth. It will save time.

    Now, where is the fun in that?

  146. 146.

    trnc

    @CaseyL: The growing list of GOPers with Covid-19 is almost – almost! – enough to make me believe in a Higher Power.

    Or a lower one. Bills coming due and all.

  149. 149.

    Steeplejack

    Has anyone else thought to ask how Maggie Haberman missed this whole scoop with her super insider access? ?

  151. 151.

    Kay

    @oldgold:

    Among others in attendance are counselor Kellyanne Conway, Attorney General Bill Barr and Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts.

    I’m amused by that third picture, where Justice Roberts is standing as far as he can possibly stand apart from Conway and Barr. So ridiculous that he’s too vain to wear a mask. He couldn’t bear up under the peer pressure from the bullies in the 8th grade class. He clearly knows there’s risk here- if he backs up any further he’ll be on the adjoining property but still can’t bear the ridicule from the bullies, so won’t wear a mask.

  154. 154.

    Sab

    @VeniceRiley: Thanks. Hard to stuff pills down this particular cat. Big fangs, and fully clawed. He trusts me as much as any cat trusts a human, but that isn’t much

    I am used to dogs. Wrap it in bacon and they will eat anything. Cats very much not so much.

  155. 155.

    call_me_ishmael

    @Inspectrix: The fact that it took Trump less that 24 hours to go from “I’m fine, and will shake this off no problem” to “I’m going to hospital while I can still walk by myself” would seem to be an ominous sign.

  156. 156.

    Martin

    Pence was seated right in the middle of the people now testing positive at Amy’s Covid Bash. He’s not out of the woods here.

    Seriously, Nancy Smash needs to quarantine. She may need to take the wheel yet.

  160. 160.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @oldgold: Chris Christie, Big Willie Barr, Marsha Blackburn, Josh Hawley… so many people to, um, pray for. That’s it. I shall pray for them

  161. 161.

    Kay

    And it’s not like they haven’t already killed one. Herman Cain. Still. They hold parties. Their social events will have a casualty count.

    I’m not that worried about the succession and the United States. We haven’t had a President for almost 4 years now. Other than the lack of tweets and fewer hate rallies, no one will notice that he’s recovering in the hospital watching tv instead of “at work” watching tv.

  165. 165.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    oh, for fuck’s sake. Michael Moore coming up on Brian Williams’ show? What the fuck does that dimwitted mope have to contribute to a discussion of anything that’s happening?

  167. 167.

    r€nato

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I love Michael Moore even if he does have a troubled relationship with facts. He is a perfect illustration of the saying, “art is the lie that tells the truth”.

    “Bowling for Columbine” and “Where to Invade Next” are masterpieces of what’s wrong with AmeriKKKa.

  174. 174.

    r€nato

    karma is not just bitch slapping them, it’s anally raping them.

    Repeat after me: Ha. Ha. Ha.

  177. 177.

    WaterGirl

    @prostratedragon: That, they do! I wouldn’t be surprised if I wasn’t thinking exactly that, and I got ahead of myself typing.

    In any case, they flaunt and they flout and they are burning their house down.

    I am enraged that senior staff pressured junior staff in the white house not to wear masks.  This isn’t the first time I’ve heard that, but it was so wrong.  Those senior staff people are responsible for what happens to the junior staffers.

    But the junior staffers should have known to get the hell out rather than play russian roulette with their lives for a career in trump’s administration.

  179. 179.

    mrmoshpotato

    @r€nato: No.  Bowling for Columbine was bullshit that brushed aside examining the Columbine massacre to forward the unintelligible narrative he had planned.

  183. 183.

    Aleta

    @Morzer:  And then they call that “the Trump Victory-protocol”… it’s too much.

    People who paid extra (up to $250,000) got to meet privately with him for 45 minutes.  Grab the money off the table and make a run for it DJ.

  184. 184.

    TS (the original)

    @call_me_ishmael:

    I’m going to hospital while I can still walk by myself

    He probably had a full blown panic attack. When you realise an illness may be fatal – it does things to the heart and lungs (breathing). Trump was probably ignoring the instructions from the medics that would bring him out of it.

    I’ve been there but did as told to recover from it.

  185. 185.

    Sab

    @Amir Khalid: Me too. Flout isn’t synonym for flaunt. Sad.

    Weird but funny that you are our resident pedant. English is my first language. Also too I can read French. Plus I know a few phrases of Spanish, Hebrew, Mandarin. German. But your English is better than mine and it is about your fifth language.

  187. 187.

    dww44

    @Kay: Where’s this 3rd picture?  I very much wanted to see it and have spent the last half hour trying to find a link to it.  I’m off to bed but will check this post tomorrow to see if you or someone else  has kindly provided it.

  190. 190.

    Amir Khalid

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym:

    The only thing I know about Silver Spring: one day in the1970s, Stevie Nicks was out driving in Maryland, and she saw an exit sign for Silver Spring. And that somehow inspired her song about her Fleetwood Mac bandmate and ex, Lindsey Buckingham.

  191. 191.

    Ruckus

    @WaterGirl:

    Isn’t that a reliable way to tell if someone is stupid, they donated any amount of money to him. And if they donated a huge sum…….

  192. 192.

    prostratedragon

    @WaterGirl:
    “I am enraged that senior staff pressured junior staff in the white house not to wear masks. ”

    Yes, this is terribly wrong, on the same level as refusing to follow policy guidelines for the whole country, but on a smaller scale. And of course the household staff as well as the junior office positions. Somehow I don’t think a housekeeper or waiter could have worn a mask on duty without risking incident. The President’s valet has had it.

  194. 194.

    Kent

    @Amir Khalid:But let’s spare a thought for the White House junior staff, who had no way to counter their superiors’ fuckups, and who are among the many American victims of Trump’s failures at governing.

    Junior political staff?   No.  They are the vile MAGA faithful who searched out those jobs.  And who got them by being the most vile MAGA extremists possible.

    White House service staff?  Yes, those are career jobs across many presidencies.  Sympathy for them. The cooks, housekeepers, maintenance people, gardeners, etc.

  195. 195.

    Kent

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:@r€nato: Jabba the Barr has apparently been tested and the result was negative.

    My wife is a physician with lots of covid patients.  She’s been running commentary on tonight’s news as we watch MSNBC.  It is WAY too early to be sure that folks like Barr didn’t get it.

    For that matter, too soon to be sure about Biden as well.

  196. 196.

    Kent

    @Kay:I’m amused by that third picture, where Justice Roberts is standing as far as he can possibly stand apart from Conway and Barr. So ridiculous that he’s too vain to wear a mask. He couldn’t bear up under the peer pressure from the bullies in the 8th grade class. He clearly knows there’s risk here- if he backs up any further he’ll be on the adjoining property but still can’t bear the ridicule from the bullies, so won’t wear a mask.

    It would balance out the Karma if Biden got to appoint Chief Justice Robert’s replacement.

  197. 197.

    Edith

    @Sab:

     

    I have a kitty with IBD (kitty Chrohn’s) who needs daily prednisolone. He’s really difficult to pill as well. My vet calls in a prescription to a compounding pharmacy. I think it’s called Roadrunner. They send a transdermal cream in a click-dispensing pen that I rub on his ears. It has been working really well.

     

    There are sometimes quality control issues with compounding pharmacies, and the dosing probably isn’t as consistent as a pill, but given that he is a big, long-bodied, and really strong cat, it’s far better than the alternative of getting no meds at all. It’s also much less stressful for kitty, which is important for an autoimmune disease like IBD. Probably would help with asthma too, since I’m assuming stress increases the risk of attack.

    If your vet is at all willing to experiment with I can check with my vet to see if they’d be willing to discuss their experiences with the process.

  198. 198.

    enplaned

    @Kay: She has the gleaming smile of fanaticism. For this purpose (overturning Roe v Wade) she believes god put her on earth. And if god has that in mind for her, surely the juju will not permit the Covid to waylay her. I wish I was joking, but I bet that’s true.

  200. 200.

    Chris T.

    @Sab: Here is a link to the Cornell pages on Feline Asthma. You should have a vet make sure it really is asthma, and then try corticosteroids and/or an inhaler/nebulizer and/or avoiding triggers if possible.

    (If you’re where there has been bad air from smoke from fires, that’s a common asthma trigger…)

  201. 201.

    satby

    @WaterGirl: I don’t think that’s it, because I often get the duplicate comment box on my first comment of the day, unless you’re thinking that it’s retaining comments several hours. And nothing shows when I type my comment.

  204. 204.

    Skepticat

    My nephew just sent me this, stolen from Chris Vermillion, about our “independent” and deeply concerned senator: Susan Collins is waiting to see whether a majority of Republican senators test positive before announcing her own result.

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