Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I might just take the rest of the day off and do even more nothing than usual.

The gop is a fucking disgrace.

The fundamental promise of conservatism all over the world is a return to an idealized past that never existed.

These days, even the boring Republicans are nuts.

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

All hail the time of the bunny!

Hot air and ill-informed banter

If ‘weird’ was the finish line, they ran through the tape and kept running.

“Facilitate” is an active verb, not a weasel word.

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

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

Just because you believe it, that does not make it true.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

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

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

GOP baffled that ‘we don’t care if you die’ is not a winning slogan.

You are here: Home / Politics / Activist Judges! / GOP Death Cult Open Thread: Nefarious ACB

GOP Death Cult Open Thread: Nefarious ACB

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… “Previously-scheduled floor activity will be rescheduled until after October 19th … The important work of the Senate’s committees can and will continue as each committee sees fit,” McConnell said in a statement.

McConnell added that the Republican-controlled Judiciary Committee would start Barrett’s confirmation hearings on Oct. 12 as previously planned. Senators have the option of attending the hearings in person or remotely.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said McConnell’s decision was dangerous and reckless.

“If it’s too dangerous to have the Senate in session it is also too dangerous for committee hearings to continue,” Schumer said in a statement…

McConnell’s announcement, however, could mean that no new coronavirus aid bill will be approved by Congress in the coming days, despite negotiations this week between House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi and White House officials…

#MoscowMitch will kill his own teammates as happily as he would Democrats…



… even his closest Komrades!

Reader Interactions

193Comments

  3. 3.

    hells littlest angel

    Senate rules require ALL 12 Republicans on the Judiciary Committee to show up — in person — to advance Barrett’s nomination in vote expected Oct. 22 if Democrats boycott. 2 of those senators have tested positive for COVID.

     

    Fuck you, Republicans. The card says, “Moops.”

  4. 4.

    Hungry Joe

    If some of the GOP committee members are too ill to attend, can’t McConnell change the quorum rule or remove those senators from the committee and replace them with other GOP senators? I suspect that all he has to is say, “ Make it so,” or maybe sign a piece of paper.

  6. 6.

    Jerzy Russian

    My exciting activity for today:  going to Lowe’s to get a replacement gate valve for the garden hose.    The previous valve had a ball joint that is starting to fail.    The sad thing is that it will take me a few hours this evening to settle down from all of the excitement.

  7. 7.

    Jeffro

    I guess I always knew that McConnell would ride this one all the way in…the Russia sellouts too. It’s just weird to see it actually happening in real-time.

    Especially since the more they do, the more obvious it becomes just what they’re doing, and even more obvious that the Dems will be perfectly fine if/when they add four seats to SCOTUS to make up for this madness.

  8. 8.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Hungry Joe: I would be surprised to see the Senate to vote to allow remote voting, maybe as a temporary measure, by Wednesday at noon.

  9. 9.

    Jerzy Russian

    @Hungry Joe:   Barrett will eventually need a majority vote of the whole Senate.  If enough of the GOP senators take ill, then what happens?

  10. 10.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    The Contessa was telling me about contact tracing protocols in NSW (or NZ, I never actually listen well). They traced an outbreak back to a point where one person touched the handle on a dumpster an infected person had just used, and they managed to isolate the entire infection chain.
    The White House is nowhere near as competent. They never thought they should have to think or do it.

  15. 15.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Jerzy Russian: google says you need 51 Senators for a quorum, they have 53 in the caucus, right? So assuming Angus King and the ConservaDems would play along, the Rs need at least one of the three known infected to show up, I think. I don’t know if Pence could be counted as a member for a quorum. And Chuck Grassley is 86 and refusing to be tested.

  16. 16.

    Cacti

    21st century version of Martin Niemoller’s “First they came”:

    First Covid came to the blue states, but we didn’t care, because we’re Republicans.

    Then Covid came to our own voters, but we didn’t care, because we’re Republicans.

    Then we got Covid, and everyone laughed and hoped for our deaths.

  17. 17.

    Anoniminous

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    The rule says “Senators” and Pence isn’t.

    AFAIK it’s a Rule, not a Law.  Thus McConnell could change the rule in a majority vote to allow the Veep to be counted towards a quorum.

  18. 18.

    Ken

    @sdhays: I still think the best way to derail the nomination is to convince Trump that Barrett infected him.  He’ll withdraw the nomination and probably order her shot.

  21. 21.

    CCL

    Like others here, I prefer to refer to her as Covid Amy and leave the three initial nomenclature for the honorable RBG. I want nothing that suggests the two are on equal footing.

  22. 22.

    piratedan

    looks like the most recent polling is confirming the Biden trend in Georgia, so far looking better for both Biden and Ossoff and looking much more positive for Warnoff to at least make it to the expected runoff….

     

    Go Team Blue!

  23. 23.

    randy khan

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    I understand from a friend who knows these things that the committee can vote remotely, but the full Senate cannot.  To alter rules, if the Republicans who have COVID-19 don’t show up, they need either Murkowski or Collins.  So one of them would have to more or less go back on her word about a vote on Barrett.  If the three who have it and the three who are self-quarantining don’t show up, the Republicans don’t have a majority to change the rules.

    Of course, the 6 could just show up even though they shouldn’t, and then there’d be a majority.

  24. 24.

    Kay

    Steven Dennis
    @StevenTDennis
    NOTE: Senate rules require ALL 12 Republicans on the Judiciary Committee to show up — in person — to advance Barrett’s nomination in vote expected Oct. 22 if Democrats boycott. 2 of those senators have tested positive for COVID.

    At this point you wonder why they even pretend to follow any rules. None of these people think rules apply to them. It’s obvious in everything they do. They all believe they are special, privileged exceptions.
    Rules are for suckers and chumps and little people- like you and me.
    We’ve already been sternly scolded that we aren’t permitted to ask the judge any questions- why bother with the formalities? Just install her by proclamation.
    I hope we kick their ass in November. A brutal, humiliating shellacking. Finally, finally some small measure of accountability for people who are utterly and completely out of control and have gotten a pass every single day of their lives.

  25. 25.

    JoyceH

    Is anyone else taking an unholy glee in the news that Trump is ‘rattled’ and keeps asking people around him if he’s going to die?

  27. 27.

    Cacti

    Is it too soon to start calling her Amy Covid Barrett?

    Her public introduction seems to have been the mass infection event.

  28. 28.

    Alison Rose

    @randy khan:

    To alter rules, if the Republicans who have COVID-19 don’t show up, they need either Murkowski or Collins.  So one of them would have to more or less go back on her word about a vote on Barrett.

    Collins go back on her word? UNPOSSIBLE!

  30. 30.

    zhena gogolia

    @sanjeevs:

    For some reason I’m not too worried about Biden. Christie probably got up close to the monster while he was spewing bile.

  31. 31.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @CCL: FDR, JFK, MLK, RFK, LBJ (Fuck LBJ for raven), HRC, and AOC.  I probably missed some.  Is it okay if we save some typing on the blog?

    ETA: Your ‘nym is a bit of a glasshouse, isn’t it?

  32. 32.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Jerzy Russian: They delay the vote until those Senators are “good enough” to vote in person.

    They can lose 4 senators from the vote. Murkowski and Collins have said they won’t vote yes already, so now they’ve can lose two.

    There are three GOP senators with COVID that we know of. They SHOULD be in isolation for the next 3+ weeks, but who knows if they’d pay attention. And they’re entirely capable of showing up sick and putting everyone else in danger to ram this through. Though this might just mean that they vote on Barrett in really late October, only days before the election.

  33. 33.

    Kay

    Sine Barrett already works in a federal court and all federal courts have elaborate rules re: covid and safety I guess I’m wondering why she thought those rules went in, since none of her co-partisans followed any of them at the parties they threw at the White House.

    What does she imagine the rules are about? Why would the court where she works go to all that trouble if the intention was no one has to follow them?  Why would a party at the White House be any different than a courtroom?  Some special virus exception for powerful people that wouldn’t apply to an in-person hearing with ordinary litigants?

  34. 34.

    Wyatt Salamanca

    I propose a new tag for any Balloon Juice post dealing specifically with Mitch McConnell:

    “Gravedigger of American Democracy”

    If the US has someone whom historians will look back on as the gravedigger of American democracy, it is Mitch McConnell. He stoked the hyperpolarization of American politics to make the Obama presidency as dysfunctional and paralyzed as he possibly could. As with parliamentary gridlock in Weimar, congressional gridlock in the US has diminished respect for democratic norms, allowing McConnell to trample them even more. Nowhere is this vicious circle clearer than in the obliteration of traditional precedents concerning judicial appointments. Systematic obstruction of nominations in Obama’s first term provoked Democrats to scrap the filibuster for all but Supreme Court nominations. Then McConnell’s unprecedented blocking of the Merrick Garland nomination required him in turn to scrap the filibuster for Supreme Court nominations in order to complete the “steal” of Antonin Scalia’s seat and confirm Neil Gorsuch.

    h/t https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2018/10/25/suffocation-of-democracy

  35. 35.

    zhena gogolia

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    It’s normal for presidents. AOC is because her name is too damn long and Spanish. Supreme Court justices are not normally called by their initials. Only Ginsburg. It’s a blatant attempt by the Repugs to equate the two. I find it disgusting. Call her Barrett. Coney is her middle name. Like Rodham, which she was criticized for using.

  39. 39.

    Mousebumples

    @MisterForkbeard: There are three GOP senators with COVID that we know of.

    I believe the count is 4.

    1. Lee (UT)
    2. Tillis (NC)
    3. Johnson (WI)
    4. Scott (SC)

    I wouldn’t be surprised if others are also positive and trying the initial Trump approach of not saying anything and hoping they don’t need treatment that gets out to the public.

    edited because Scott later said he had not tested positive.

  40. 40.

    Ksmiami

    @sanjeevs: Don’t worry too much. Have you seen the Trump debate prep pics? Hicks, Trump, Christie Et al packed into a closet sized area “rehearsing.”

  41. 41.

    CCL

    @Omnes Omnibus:   Point.   But I am not adjectivized (as notorious, etc.) and no one would ever “compare me” to RBG.

    Ditto what zhena goglia said.

    Only Ginsburg. It’s a blatant attempt by the Repugs to equate the two. I find it disgusting. Call her Barrett.

    I guess I find it infuriating because I can imagine some smarmy Repug smirking lurking behind its usage, thinking they are oh so cute.  Be interesting to track its first public usage and who “coined” it.

  42. 42.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Mousebumples: Scott from FL was briefly on the list this morning because he didn’t know the difference between positive and negative.  Do you have a source for the SC Scott?

  43. 43.

    Kay

    Nate Cohn
    @Nate_Cohn
    ·7h
    Joe Biden leads Donald Trump in Pennsylvania and Florida, according to new Times/Siena polls taken after the first debate.
    Biden leads in Pennsylvania, 49 to 42 percent among likely voters. He leads in Florida, 47 to 42.

    The days of superspreader social events at the White House are rapidly coming to a close. The public aren’t going to be the only people sacrificing in this pandemic when President Biden takes over. Our political leaders and judges and everyone else on the public payroll are going to start following the same rules we all follow.
    No special exceptions for a privileged few, who then put other innocent people at risk. The grownups will be back in charge.

  44. 44.

    Mai Naem mobile

    We all need to remember that RBG was pretty strategic in the cases she took on with the ACLU Womens Rights Project. There is no reason she would not be just as strategic making her case before god and using her smite button. I,of course, am not wishing ill on anybody. I am just pointing out RBG’s strategery.

  45. 45.

    frosty

    @Jerzy Russian: I, too, had an exciting day. I took a bunch of stuff to the dump, then swept out the garage and contemplated how to hang the garden tools without spending much money.

    I’m beat!! Hope I can make it to SNL!

  46. 46.

    Ken

    @JoyceH: Any report on what they’re telling him?

    I suppose ethics gets in the way of any of the medical staff replying “We’re all going to die, some of us sooner than others.”

  48. 48.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @CCL: I am fine with wanting to avoid the adjective and initials thing that would link the two.  Beyond that, I am dubious.

  49. 49.

    Cacti

    How nice for Chris Christie that he’s able to just “check himself into a hospital.”

    Too bad Republicans don’t want that for anyone else.

  51. 51.

    Mousebumples

     

    @Omnes Omnibus: Scott from FL was briefly on the list this morning because he didn’t know the difference between positive and negative. Do you have a source for the SC Scott?

    Just double checked and you’re right, sorry! I’m trying to keep up here and on Twitter so I must have missed that adjustment to the record. (Too late to edit my above comment, too. ?)

  52. 52.

    Ian R

    It would be pretty funny if the Republicans sacrifice their own lives and any remaining hint of legitimacy to pack the court, only for Covid Amy to promptly die of covid.

  53. 53.

    mrmoshpotato

    Oh look!  The Rethuglican party is still a goddamn fucking pile of shit!

    Hard habit to break after 40+ years I guess!

  55. 55.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    Well, Trump is on video from Walter Reed. Alive and well. I didn’t want him to die, but I did want him to suffer a little bit like being on a ventilator for a few weeks. Like all of the people he killed through neglect

  57. 57.

    Cacti

    @Ian R: My preference would be:

    A bunch of GOPers sacrifice themselves to Covid to make Amy Barrett the 6th Republican vote…

    On a 15 member Court after the Dems take power.

  58. 58.

    Ken

    @Omnes Omnibus: You’re reminding me of an old Ellery Queen mystery.  Spoiler ahead, though I doubt it’s even been reprinted since it was in EQMM.

    The mystery was to identify a member of a criminal gang in a list of names. Queen spotted that the gang members used aliases where the first syllables were presidential initials.  For example, Jason Ephriam Kayman, JAY EFF KAY.

  59. 59.

    Starfish

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): He still has a few more days to get sick.

    A lot of people have said this video and the last one look “bad,” but I think he looks almost human with less makeup.

    He said “coronavirus or whatever you want to call it” which is the rare instance where he is not making it racist. He also said something about “almost-bipartisan” as if he is trying to extend his base beyond a single prison white supremacist gang.

  60. 60.

    Kay

    Looking at the photos of the guests mingling and hugging and enjoying themselves at the superspreader White House event, all I could think about was my son’s school. They missed graduation last year. This year, every single one of them wears a mask 6 hours a day with the exception of a half hour for lunch.
    200 kids sacrificed and suffered last year, and this year they ALL wear masks without complaining, every single day.
    And yet this whole group of some of the most privileged and powerful people in the country could not be bothered to sacrifice AT ALL, even to extend of putting on a cloth mask for 2 hours. Too vain, too full of themselves, too much ego to even do that.

  63. 63.

    mrmoshpotato

    @zhena gogolia:

    I hadn’t heard that. I hate myself for feeling an instinctive surge of satisfaction at reading it. 

    If it makes you feel any better, just remember Dump is a mass-murdering Soviet shitpile mobster conman.

  67. 67.

    Cacti

    @Kay: I imagine everyone at the Barrett soiree truly believed that because they’re “important”, bad things like infectious disease can’t happen to them.

  68. 68.

    Steeplejack

    @zhena gogolia:

    Christie did debate prep with Trump, so he had prolonged close exposure. Biden was 12-15 feet away from Trump for 90 minutes. I like the odds.

    I will admit to a twinge of concern, not so much because of Trump but because you can catch the damn virus anywhere. I hope Biden’s entourage is being extremely careful.

  69. 69.

    Mousebumples

    I’ve seen speculation on Twitter that the recently released Trump video may have been pre taped at the White House before going to Walter Reed. No idea what the interiors look like but it seems plausible – and like something a reality tv president would do.

  70. 70.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Mousebumples:

    Are you certain about Tim Scott (SC)? I know earlier today Rick Scott (FL) announced he had tested positive, then walked it back an hour or two later saying that he said “positive” when he meant “negative.” If you have a source for the SC Scott, I’d be glad to see it.

  71. 71.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Wyatt Salamanca: As with parliamentary gridlock in Weimar

    It is really fucking that hard for everyone to stop pretending Wiemar was some kind of Jeffersonian paradise before Hitler showed up. The reason there was no respect for democratic norms in Germany was because Democracy was imposed on upon German by the Entant with the publicly stated goal  of breaking Germany up.

  73. 73.

    Brachiator

    @zhena gogolia:

    It’s normal for presidents. AOC is because her name is too damn long and Spanish. Supreme Court justices are not normally called by their initials. Only Ginsburg.

    It’s a modern thing and inconsistently applied to presidents. Ginsburg became unexpectedly popular and the riff off of Notorious BIG took hold for RBG.

    ETA: Eisenhower was Ike, but we let Nixon be Nixon. Sometimes Tricky Dick.

  74. 74.

    Kattails

    I need some din-din before the wine hits, but just took a quick look at the Project Lincoln twitter feed:  Rick Wilson is making quite a comment that they’ve received  intel today that is “both remarkable and terrifying”.  this time-lined at 7:28 PM.  “At the WH, the number of infections and potential infections constitutes a national security crisis of the first order.” Leaves it hanging but sounds like more to come.

  77. 77.

    Steeplejack

    Too lazy to source it right now, but I will repeat from earlier that the first two GOP senators on the Judiciary Committee who tested positive both specifically said they would isolate for 10 days, not the recommended 14, which would theoretically allow them to be present for Barrett’s hearing on October 13.

  78. 78.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: Woah, I would say that Germany had no respect for democratic norms because it has never developed them in the little kingdoms and principalities that preceded the Empire or during the Empire.  I’d be interested in in seeing links showing that Weimar was imposed by the Entente and that it was with the intention of breaking up Germany.

  80. 80.

    Kattails

    Can’t keep track, has anyone noted a tweet from Gabriel Sherman (retweeted by Steve Schmidt) that Trump had heart palpitations on Friday, a possible negative side effect of the Regeneron treatment, and that his fever reached 103. Someone else is asking Where’s Javanka?

    well.  Dammit, I still need dinner. For all the times I’ve fed my cats you’d think they could bring me a snack at least. Oh wait…

  82. 82.

    different-church-lady

    @Kattails:

    …and that his fever reached 103

    Which would have gotten him sent home without income from every goddamned freelance job I’ve been able to eek out since this fucking Keyzer Soze of viruses showed up on the scene.

  85. 85.

    Jeffro

    @Kay: Yup.  Something like 80-85% of the American public is fine with wearing masks for however long it takes to get the virus under control, to the point where we can effectively test, trace, and isolate.

    But nope, the idiot rump FREEDUMB!!1! crowd just won’t have it, can’t be bothered.

  86. 86.

    lgerard

    @Kattails:

    Note this from Sherman’s article

    Trump waited to leave for the hospital until the stock market closed on Friday, a source said.

  87. 87.

    Jeffro

    @Kattails: the TCNJs have self-decapitated the government of the U.S. and the weird thing is, it’s the one they were already running(!)

    I know we joke about how they’re so bad and so dedicated that they kneecap themselves, but this is just about as extreme as it gets before we get into Heaven’s Gate territory.

  88. 88.

    A Ghost to Most

    @Omnes Omnibus: He thought he could squeeze it in without ruffling too many feathers.

    That plan just went out the window. He’ll ram this through regardless now. Owning the SC, a 40 year journey for these assholes, justifies any means. Any.

  89. 89.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    Um, Texans? When is my brisket done? I’ve had it on the smoke since 10:15 this morning, and it is just at 160 degrees in the point.

    I’ve done baby back ribs, chicken, pulled pork in the past, but this is hard. I trimmed it, have been keeping the fire at 250-275 all damned day. I might be drunk, and have avoided hitting the edibles…

    Am also on Cigar#3.

  93. 93.

    A Ghost to Most

    Norman Ornstein
    @NormOrnstein
    I want to note that the quorum issue —that the Senate cannot do official business without a quorum of half its members—is a real one. Not that I think it would stop McConnell! But there is a larger point about playing hardball, in the face of a party regularly blowing up norms.
    2:07 PM · Oct 3, 2020

  94. 94.

    Kattails

    @lgerard: aha.  I’m desperately trying to get offline for a few minutes to start the wood stove and eat, so I just grabbed the quick twitter take.  Will need to go look at the article.  Thanks for that.

  96. 96.

    sdhays

    So, even if Covid Amy isn’t the actual person who sprinkled COVID all over the guests at her coming out party, it almost certainly was one of the guests, right? It seems to me that considering the extent of the spread, it wasn’t someone who was quietly serving horderves, it must have been somebody talking and hugging people all over the place.

    I mean, it’s possible it was just “the help”, but the odds are surely against it, right?

  99. 99.

    JaySinWA

    @zhena gogolia: I heard that Supreme court clerks commonly refer to justices by their initials when talking amongst themselves. I hadn’t heard anyone refer to them publicly that way before RGB though.

  100. 100.

    WaterGirl

    @Steeplejack: It’s not the droplets that worry me as much as the air circulation.

    I do like looking back and remembering that Joe Biden deliberately  almost never faced Trump, at least that’s how it seemed to me when I was watching on Tuesday.

    I am furious that they let the lying cheating president in with no testing when they PROMISED that everyone would be tested.  I bet Joe is furious about the risk too JIll.

    I’ve got money that says Trump deliberately came late to avoid testing for all of them.  At the very least, they should have tested Trump and his entourage, even if the results weren’t available until the debate was over.  Not to have done that is stupid, stupid, stupid.

    I noticed she kept a mask on all the time, so that’s good.

  104. 104.

    WaterGirl

    @Mousebumples: I just did a strikethrough on Scott and made a notation on your post so you won’t have to answer this all night as people read through the post.

    I can undo that if you prefer.  Let me know.

  105. 105.

    Jeffro

    @sdhays: I started hearing this shit earlier today with my crazy-ass dad…”all these WH staff running around without masks”…as if trumpov himself hasn’t been ignoring the need for masks and distancing since, oh, MARCH.

    They really are going to blame it on any and every possible person but the Orange One Himself before he croaks in Walter Reed and/or goes down in flames next month.

  106. 106.

    Morzer

    @Kattails: Vanity Fair has Gabriel Sherman’s article on Plague Rat One’s COVID story:

    corrected link

    After spending months denying the dangers of COVID-19, Trump is expressing an emotion aides have rarely seen: fear. On Friday, Trump grew visibly anxious as his fever spiked to 103 fahrenheit and he was administered oxygen at the White House, according to three Republicans close to the White House. Two sources told me Trump experienced heart palpitations on Friday night—possible side effects of the experimental antibody treatment he received. Trump has wondered aloud if he could defeat the disease. “Am I going out like Stan Chera?” Trump has asked aides, referring to his friend, New York real-estate developer Stan Chera, who died of COVID in April.

  107. 107.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Cacti: I have been calling her that since yesterday. We don’t know when she had it and whether she was infectious during the ? garden event.

  108. 108.

    Suzanne

    Just saw that Johnson took his test, knowing he’d been exposed…. then went to an Oktoberfest fundraising event.

    These people.

    We have been living under what is essentially house arrest for months, at great personal cost, all in an effort to stop this thing. And they are taking this sacrifice and pissing all over it.

  109. 109.

    Steeplejack

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    You’re in the front line of sounding like a Cheeto-stained gamer circa 2005. The rest is the death of copy editing.

    And you can always find a reference to almost anything pre-1900 because illiteracy and bad spelling were more prevalent then.

  113. 113.

    jl

    @WaterGirl:  Impossible to know since we don’t know the ventilation standards for the hall. If they turned up to exchange air faster than airline or hospital infectious disease ward, might put the aerosol risk low. But so much we don’t know, like how much interaction between GOP and Dem staff. Any close quarters conversations that were no recorded.

    I hope Biden has subbed out any staff that were there or had contact with any who were there. For continuity, those people can Zoom or call in from quarantine. The Biden should have their vital signs monitored and take follow-up tests every day or two for up to two weeks, so I guess a week from next Tuesday.

    That is the IMHO on it.

    Good that Biden tended not to look in Trump’s direction. But, I wonder if he would have done that even if no covid. Biden must have been tempted to the limit not to lose his cool. Looking at something in mid distance probably helped with that. Biden could have pretended the noise was coming from some random chair out in the audience.

  114. 114.

    mrmoshpotato

    @WaterGirl: Ahoy there!

    Tweets in posts aren’t showing up properly for me.  I just get the text and links like it was an embedded tweet in a comment.

    Running Android 9, and I’ve tried Duckduckgo, Firefox and Chrome.

  116. 116.

    Bill Arnold

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:

    They traced an outbreak back to a point where one person touched the handle on a dumpster an infected person had just used, and they managed to isolate the entire infection chain.

    Is there a case study for that written up? Infection with SARS-CoV-2 via infected surfaces hos not yet been solidly documented, AFAIK.

  117. 117.

    Jack Canuck

    @Omnes Omnibus: The Weimar Republic was not imposed by the Entente. The Kaiser abdicated on 9 November 1918, two days before the Armistice was signed (let alone Versailles in summer 1919), and the Provisional Government was led by the socialist SPD in a republican (i.e. non-monarchy) structure. The new constitution was drafted at Weimar starting in January/February 1919, and was officially adopted in August 1919.

    There were some ideas about breaking up Germany amongst the Entente leaders and diplomats, but they had nothing to do with the republican system that the country adopted internally, and they didn’t actually go anywhere – though the country did lose substantial territory in various spots, that was not part of an effort to ‘break up the country’.

  119. 119.

    Jack Canuck

    @Omnes Omnibus: I teach this stuff every year to Year 11 and 12 IB students! I’m spending time reading threads here right now instead of marking exam essays…

  121. 121.

    zhena gogolia

    @EmanG:

    I am one of 100 million Americans who has surrendered so much for the last six months to try to maintain the levees of the bullshit river, all while these guys were holding a fucking boat parade on it. They gave themselves a disease at the party they threw for the Supreme Court justice they’re going to ram through against the wishes of the American people.

    Meanwhile, I won’t see my family in person this Christmas. I haven’t hugged anyone since April. They have robbed us of our lives for six months. Of our jobs. Of our health. Of our families. Of our joy. And they are telling us not to laugh now? Are you kidding? I am vibrating so hard I cannot be detected by speed cameras.

    Beautiful.

  123. 123.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Jack Canuck: You teach IB history?  Cool.  I went to an IB high school and was one of four who went full diploma; we were only the second year of full diploma candidates at the school.  I loved the IB History course.

  124. 124.

    Goku (Amerikan Baka)

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques:

    It is really fucking that hard for everyone to stop pretending Wiemar was some kind of Jeffersonian paradise before Hitler showed up. The reason there was no respect for democratic norms in Germany was because Democracy was imposed on upon German by the Entant with the publicly stated goal  of breaking Germany up

    Democracy was not imposed on Germany after WW1. There was a revolution in Germany as a result of it losing the war so badly

  125. 125.

    Jack Canuck

    @Omnes Omnibus: Yeah, been doing it for seven years or so now, really enjoy it. Except for the marking. Blech. Back to it now, I suppose, those essays won’t mark themselves.

  127. 127.

    MomSense

    Bought some really good cider from the farmers’ market today and just warmed it with cinnamon stick and star anise.

  128. 128.

    WaterGirl

    @Morzer: Your link wasn’t working (missing a letter at the end) so I added it.

    I also removed the raw link because it’s so long that it will mess up the formatting for phones and tablets.

  129. 129.

    Kay

    Top aides of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton have asked federal law enforcement authorities to investigate allegations of improper influence, abuse of office, bribery and other potential crimes against the state’s top lawyer.
    In a one-page letter to the state agency’s director of human resources, obtained Saturday by the American-Statesman and KVUE-TV, seven executives in the upper tiers of the office said that they are seeking the investigation into Paxton “in his official capacity as the current Attorney General of Texas.”
    The Thursday letter said that each “has knowledge of facts relevant to these potential offenses and has provided statements concerning those facts to the appropriate law enforcement.”

    Co-chair of Lawyers for Trump, so the usual Trump quality.

    These are his own aides. His subordinates reported him.

  132. 132.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @tarragon:

    Only gonna stick with ribs/pulled pork in the future unless this brisket is otherworldly.

    This is insane.

  135. 135.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    I’ve wrapped it in foil now, jacked up the heat via charcoal and now useless (but expensive) applewood chunks and hit the bourbon bottle again.

  140. 140.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    Now I’m wondering if I screwed up by keeping it on the upper deck of the smoker – wondering if I should have kept it lower.

  146. 146.

    mrmoshpotato

    @WaterGirl: Tweets in the posts show up properly on Windows 7/Firefox.

    Also, I’ve tried selecting Desktop Site in the browsers on my phone.  No dice.

     

    Mitch, please put a paper bag over your head too!

  147. 147.

    Another Scott

    STATNews:

    The information that could ease American minds, quash conspiracy theories, and slow a rapacious 24/7 news cycle around President Trump’s case of Covid-19 could fit in a few paragraphs that would not fill a single page, several doctors tell STAT.

    So why, they wonder, has none of that information been included in a 15-minute press briefing and three short memos released by the president’s physicians?

    “The fact that it is this vague and unclear at this moment is unacceptable,” said Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown School of Public Health. “Somebody knows, they should just level with the American people.”

    Instead, the press conference on Saturday featured evasion, limited information, and, afterward, a correction about a key, simple point: how long it has been since Trump was diagnosed with the disease. Also unclear: whether he got oxygen, and what his vital signs are. Without that information, it’s simply impossible to know how Trump is doing.

    […]

    They are a cult.

    Grr…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  148. 148.

    Another Scott

    @mrmoshpotato: I was seeing things like that earlier on my phone, but it seems Ok now.

    It might be something to do with Twitter’s servers/mirrors where you are (I’m in NoVA).

    Just a guess.

    Good luck.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  150. 150.

    Mousebumples

    @WaterGirl: i appreciate the edits. ?

    In other news, I’m doing #PostcardsToVoters for the Ohio Supreme Court tonight. If any jackals get postcards from Wisconsin, let me know. ?

  152. 152.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: The reason there was no respect for democratic norms in Germany was because Democracy was imposed on upon German by the Entant with the publicly stated goal of breaking Germany up.

    You are so full of shit it’s hard to know where to start. The Entente imposed nothing on Germany except the existence of a responsible government competent to sign a peace treaty. It was the German Army, specifically its evil genius Erich Ludendorff, that forced out first the Kaiser and then the provisional government under Prince Max of Bavaria to leave the Social Democrats holding the bag, so they could be blamed for signing the Versailles Diktat and justify the Dolchstosslegende, the fairytale in which the Reichsheer had never really been defeated in the Great War but instead had been forced to surrender because it was “stabbed in the back” by the socialists (read: Jews) at home.

  153. 153.

    WaterGirl

    @mrmoshpotato: Can you send me a screen capture from your phone?

    I assume it’s not just that the tweets are filling in late or you would have told me that.  I’m going to add a tweet in the comments – I’d like to know whether you can see that one properly.

  158. 158.

    WaterGirl

    @mrmoshpotato: Yep.  Unless it looks just like a tweet would look if YOU put it in the comments.  If that’s the case, then you can just confirm that and you don’t need to send the screen cap.

  162. 162.

    Nutmeg again

    @zhena gogolia: Every time I see her, or her name, I think of Gollum. “You’ll make him sick, you will, behaving like that.  There’s only ONE way to eat a brace of coneys.”

  164. 164.

    dirge

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: jacked up the heat

    That can work, but under no circumstances allow your brisket much above 205 or it’ll be good for nothing but making chili (epic chili for sure, but obviously not the desired outcome).  203 is your target.  Get the smoker cooling back down to reasonable temp by the time it crosses 195.

  166. 166.

    Sm*t Cl*de

    @Bill Arnold:

     

    Details here.

    https://www.health.govt.nz/news-media/media-releases/no-new-cases-covid-19-50

    While we cannot be certain, our hypothesis is that the virus may have been transmitted to a person (the 23 September result) via the surface of a rubbish bin which was used by another returnee who was likely infectious at the facility (a case from 9 September). This returnee tested positive on day 12 of their stay in managed isolation, however they were likely infectious a few days before testing positive. They tested negative on their day 3 test as they were likely still incubating the virus.

    Public health officials and staff at the Christchurch facility have conducted an extensive investigation, including viewing CCTV footage.

    A rubbish bin has been identified as a common factor.

    This is not dissimilar to the case at the Rydges in Auckland where we believe a maintenance worker may have picked the virus up from a pressing a button on a lift shortly after someone with COVID-19 used it.

    It goes to show how tricky the virus can be and that it can be transmitted via surfaces.

  167. 167.

    Bill Arnold

    @mrmoshpotato:

    FWIW I also just see just tweet text including on the front page posts, both Firefox and Chrome (both over a VPN), both browsers heavy with privacy plugins; both are using Privacy Badger and uBlock Origin.

    If i click on the tweet I see it.

  169. 169.

    Wyatt Salamanca

    @Another Scott:

    Trump has surrounded himself with people who have utter contempt for facts and for truth.  From top to bottom, everyone who works in this White House is scum. We need to rid ourselves of these assholes in November. Hopefully, the NY Attorney General or the Manhattan District Attorney can build an airtight case against Trump for tax evasion or some other crime and this bastard ends up in prison.

  170. 170.

    WaterGirl

    @mrmoshpotato: Got it!

    Can you let me know tomorrow whether it’s still doing it or if it has resolved itself?

    Cheryl Rofer had something like that happen for maybe an hour or so a few weeks ago, and it righted itself.

    So let’s see what this one does.  Let me know tomorrow?

  172. 172.

    Bill Arnold

    @Sm*t Cl*de:
    Thank you. Interesting. I wonder how complete the CCTV surveillance was, but they apparently did a good faith investigation. The “button on a lift” case could have been shared exhaled air, from the description. I don’t know if the rubbish bin was inside and the time between the two people, so it might have been shared air with lingering virus laden particles too, if inside.

  176. 176.

    Bill Arnold

    @WaterGirl:

    Cheryl Rofer had something like that happen for maybe an hour or so a few weeks ago, and it righted itself.

    When I use a VPN, sometimes when I look at a twitter feed, images are replaced with blank placeholders. I assume that twitter is rate limiting because too many people are using the shared VPN endpoint IP address, but not sure. This is not the same as the text-only embedded tweets effect, though.

  179. 179.

    Wyatt Salamanca

    Fuck Bob Woodward.  How does this guy sleep or look himself in the mirror?

    Isaac Chotiner @IChotiner

    Oct 2

    Bob Woodward just said on CNN that the media is too focused on getting the story of what’s going on with Trump’s health, and that the focus should be on wishing him well and treating him medically.

    Isaac Chotiner @IChotiner

    Oct 2

    “It’d be nice to have briefings & know all kinds of things. I think we can put that on the back shelf for a few mins…If u or I were in that situation, you’d want the energy to go to [medical treatment], & not being overly concerned w/ briefing the media & public.”—Bob Woodward

     

    h/t https://twitter.com/ichotiner/status/1312152304871645185

  183. 183.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    Trump’s video; he does sound hoarse, but that might the room he is in acoustics. He did sound weasy and looks really old and haggard.

  184. 184.

    Bill Arnold

    @Wyatt Salamanca:

    Jaime Harrison brought his own plexiglas divider to his Senate debate with Lindsay Graham.

    That’s beautiful. Treating Graham like the member of the Plague Party that he is.

  185. 185.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Wyatt Salamanca: Yes, fuck Woodward for harshing out theater of cruelty. I think we should be demanding Trump tell the doctors to go blow and hold more fund raisers with many prominent Republicans as proof he is well.

  186. 186.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    @NotMax:

    Bank ’em! Never know when you’ll need them.

    Also, help me make “Czechia” a thing. Now official and legit. We (mostly) did “Kyiv.” We can do this.

  187. 187.

    Mai Naem mobile

    @Suzanne: well, Johnson did go to a GOP event. If the Wisconsin GOP Supreme Court judges were at the event and he gave them long affectionate hugs, I will consider him a helper. Mr Rogers did say to look for the helpers.

  189. 189.

    Sm*t Cl*de

    @NotMax:

    Just started watching a Czech film from 1970. Received my monthly quota of diacritical marks from the opening titles alone.

    Let the record show that the name for the main Czech diacritical, ‘haček‘, does indeed include a haček mark. One of many reasons why Czech > German.

  190. 190.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Wyatt Salamanca: “It’d be nice to have briefings & know all kinds of things.”

    Yes it would be nice Bobby because we want to know if we’ll be able to imprison the Soviet shitpile mobster conman after he loses to Biden!

  192. 192.

    SFAW

    @NotMax:

    Received my monthly quota of diacritical marks from the opening titles alone.

    So you’re saying the film was a dia-critical success?

Comments are closed.