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Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Anne Laurie is a fucking hero in so many ways. ~ Betty Cracker

No one could have predicted…

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

A norm that restrains only one side really is not a norm – it is a trap.

After dobbs, women are no longer free.

It’s a good piece. click on over. but then come back!!

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Weird. Rome has an American Pope and America has a Russian President.

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

You cannot shame the shameless.

“In this country American means white. everybody else has to hyphenate.”

“In the future, this lab will be a museum. do not touch it.”

Humiliatingly small and eclipsed by the derision of millions.

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

Stamping your little feets and demanding that they see how important you are? Not working anymore.

Not all heroes wear capes.

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

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

There is no right way to do the wrong thing.

He seems like a smart guy, but JFC, what a dick!

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

Disappointing to see gov. newsom with his finger to the wind.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Excellent Links / Excellent Read: “We’re On to Cincinnati”

Excellent Read: “We’re On to Cincinnati”

by Anne Laurie|  October 14, 20207:19 pm| 153 Comments

This post is in: Excellent Links, GOP Death Cult, Sports

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I wrote about the ongoing Failure Agenda on the pandemic, the national inability to self-soothe, and other current events. The good stuff! https://t.co/3okSkN35ie

— David Roth (@david_j_roth) October 13, 2020

Always worth reading Dave Roth, even in a piece that’s mostly about football (and the NFL’s reaction to the pandemic):

The Friday before last, the anti-government demi-celebrity Ammon Bundy forced the cancelation of a high school football game in Idaho…

…[O]ppressive state tyranny had taken the form of Caldwell High School’s requirement that fans wear masks and social distance. Bundy was livestreaming his stand on Facebook, which meant that while he was yelling “When are you going to stand for freedom, coach?” at the head coach of visiting Emmett High School, the town of Caldwell’s police department reportedly received numerous anonymous threats. “I will not put on a mask!” Bundy responded when parents and fans who had been in attendance confronted him outside. “I have a right not to put on a mask! You guys should be brave enough to do the same thing.” Two of Bundy’s sons play for Emmett, which was up by five touchdowns at the time the game was called. “Bundy was told before the game was stopped that he could cost Emmett a win and potentially a playoff spot,” the Idaho Statesman noted in its story.

Bundy’s exhausting public life is proof that, for some people, this country is an absolute wonderland of public places in which to become upset. But there’s something perfectly apposite about this last gratuitous, thirsty, unreasoning tantrum happening at a football game. No venue, and no tragicomic streaming meltdown, could have better anticipated or mirrored the President and his party belatedly attempting to defeat a rampaging pandemic with old-fashioned smash-mouth football…

When Trump himself finally, preposterously, inevitably got sick, he was at last finally invested in the whole thing. When Trump emerged on what either is or isn’t the other side of his illness, vibrating and fluttering and looking even more like a photographic negative of himself than usual, he brought with him a realization. He had faced Covid and bested it, and in so doing he’d learned that the soaring collective threat of the pandemic was … exactly what he has always thought everything was all along. In proclaiming that Covid was a test of individual will and personal strength, Trump spoke with a liberation and purpose that couldn’t be credited to the various powerful steroids currently bearing him aloft on a storm cloud. He had finally found a way to care about the pandemic, which was to make it about him. He had found a solution that appealed to him, which was to make it about his lifelong fixation on fear and domination in general, and his fear of being dominated in particular. Once he had confirmed that he was in fact immortal and the pandemic was just another binary matter of winners and losers, Trump was free to live as a dumb god…

It makes sense that the NFL, like Trump’s administration, did not so much fail to plan for Covid as make a principled choice to go on misunderstanding it. There are only so many ways to try to pull off a football season in a country that’s being overrun with a pandemic. The NFL attempted zero of those. This was not just because the few options available are difficult and annoying and require massive compromises and collective action, although that surely didn’t make them more appealing. It’s because the very act of doing that work would be an admission of vulnerability; the facile conceit that makes football work is that the people who play and coach are just different, and both less human and somehow superhuman for it. Every other American sports league has had to warp and wrench itself out of order just to have some kind of season. The NFL, being the NFL, was only and always going to do it without changing a thing…

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Reader Interactions

153Comments

  1. 1.

    Kay

    October 14, 2020 at 7:25 pm

    Bundy’s exhausting public life is proof that, for some people, this country is an absolute wonderland of public places in which to become upset

    So good. Thanks, AL

  2. 2.

    Goku (Amerikan Baka)

    October 14, 2020 at 7:27 pm

    Bundy responded when parents and fans who had been in attendance confronted him outside. “I have a right not to put on a mask! You guys should be brave enough to do the same thing.”

    Imagine thinking that a refusal to wear a mask and practice social distancing is an example of bravery. The right-wing is pathetic

  3. 3.

    khead

    October 14, 2020 at 7:28 pm

    Nick Saban has tested positive for the virus.

  4. 4.

    Elizabelle

    October 14, 2020 at 7:30 pm

    Thank you, Anne Laurie, for yet another excellent link. Really appreciate your finding this cool stuff for us.

  5. 5.

    Elizabelle

    October 14, 2020 at 7:31 pm

    @khead:  I will not be crying if I hear Tommy Tuberville has, as well.

    Anything to help out our man in Alabama, the wonderful Doug Jones.

  6. 6.

    Ken

    October 14, 2020 at 7:39 pm

    the facile conceit that makes football work is that the people who play and coach are just different

    For example they never suffer brain injuries from impacts to the head.

  7. 7.

    Kent

    October 14, 2020 at 7:47 pm

    Two of Bundy’s sons play for Emmett, which was up by five touchdowns at the time the game was called. “Bundy was told before the game was stopped that he could cost Emmett a win and potentially a playoff spot,” the Idaho Statesman noted in its story.

    Oh, PLEASE PLEASE happen.

  8. 8.

    mrmoshpotato

    October 14, 2020 at 7:52 pm

    @Goku (Amerikan Baka): 

    Imagine thinking that a refusal to wear a mask and practice social distancing is an example of bravery. The right-wing is pathetic

    When you’re a sack of shit Karen…

  9. 9.

    RobertDSC-iPhone 8

    October 14, 2020 at 7:52 pm

    And we won the Super Bowl that year. ”Brady’s washed up” my ass.

  10. 10.

    Benw

    October 14, 2020 at 7:53 pm

    @Kent: like, I want just ONE consequence, is that too much to ask?

    Also, too, Dave Roth is fantastic; thanks AL!

  11. 11.

    Bill Arnold

    October 14, 2020 at 7:53 pm

    @Goku (Amerikan Baka):

    refusal to wear a mask

    Call it lack of mask discipline, and liken it to poor gun discipline.

  12. 12.

    Baud

    October 14, 2020 at 8:01 pm

    Kamala will be on Rachel tonight.

  13. 13.

    NotMax

    October 14, 2020 at 8:05 pm

    How much of the roster was already on a regimen of steroids?

    //

  14. 14.

    Scott P.

    October 14, 2020 at 8:07 pm

    I don’t know what the hating on the NFL is about. The NFL instituted a comprehensive test and trace program, exactly as the nation as a whole should have done, and the program has been successful in detecting persons who are infected and enabled appropriate action to be taken. It should be a model for how to behave in the pandemic.

  15. 15.

    trollhattan

    October 14, 2020 at 8:09 pm

    Birb is My Copilot.

    Owl joins flight crew of firefighting heli in California. Pic of Hootie on the job.

  16. 16.

    TS (the original)

    October 14, 2020 at 8:13 pm

    Thought you might like to hear, the US doesn’t have all the fools refusing to accept pandemic rules.

    In Melbourne (Australia) there is a 5km (3 miles) travel limit – unless for a number of specified reasons (work, emergency, caring for elderly parent e.g.), otherwise there are large fines ($1000+).  Most of the stores are closed other than food, pharmacy, gas etc.

    Today a man caught a train from Melbourne to Geelong, 75km (47 miles) because he needed to buy a backpack and Melbourne stores were all closed.  An expensive backpack.

  17. 17.

    Matt McIrvin

    October 14, 2020 at 8:16 pm

    @Bill Arnold:

    Call it lack of mask discipline, and liken it to poor gun discipline.

    These are the people who photograph themselves aiming guns at their dicks so they can pwn the other gun nuts for being wimps.

  18. 18.

    TS (the original)

    October 14, 2020 at 8:17 pm

    @Goku (Amerikan Baka):

    Imagine thinking that a refusal to wear a mask and practice social distancing is an example of bravery. The right-wing is pathetic

    Exactly what trump has been selling to his minions for months. Exactly why republicans have been going to court to stop state Governors from setting up rules re masks and social distancing.

  19. 19.

    brantl

    October 14, 2020 at 8:22 pm

    @Scott P.: The hating on the NFL that I do, is based on the fact that the play a game where the first thing done, after running across the line, is a big exhale in your opponent’s face. Not a way to avoid spreading the virus, NEH?

  20. 20.

    Benw

    October 14, 2020 at 8:28 pm

    If you don’t count the first inning the Braves are only down 1-3

  21. 21.

    Gin & Tonic

    October 14, 2020 at 8:31 pm

    Today was the first day of early voting in RI, the first time we’ve ever had that option. We’re unlikely to be mentioned in the same paragraph as Texas, but almost 6,500 people voted here today.

  22. 22.

    patroclus

    October 14, 2020 at 8:35 pm

    @Scott P.: Yeah, I’m not too sure about this “hating on football” thing either.  At my alma mater – TCU – the relevant conference, the Big 12, instituted a mandatory testing program and, importantly, a mandatory heart screening test because of the possibility of heart complications (myocarditis) as a result of COVID+ tests.  Our QB – Max Duggan – was required to take the heart test and, although he didn’t test COVID positive, the test resulted in finding a heart defect that had been there since birth and had never been treated or diagnosed.  He immediately was made to stop practicing, underwent heart surgery, and is now back practicing and playing having the heart defect cured (or, at the least, addressed).  If there hadn’t been the required heart test, the non-COVID-related condition would likely have never been found and there would have been no surgery.  Football is actually taking a leading role in developing regimes and protocols that can and have been beneficial for public health

    I should add, though, that Bundy is an idiot, and that masks and social distancing should be required (and followed).

  23. 23.

    HumboldtBlue

    October 14, 2020 at 8:35 pm

    New Biden ad is an attention-getter.

  24. 24.

    Ken

    October 14, 2020 at 8:37 pm

    @Benw: If you don’t count the first inning the Braves are only down 1-3

    Are you contemplating a career in political commentary after the election, and practicing your explanation of how Trump really won if you don’t count women, persons of color, college-educated persona, and people over 65 or under 30?

  25. 25.

    Quinerly

    October 14, 2020 at 8:39 pm

    @HumboldtBlue: ?

  26. 26.

    Sab

    October 14, 2020 at 8:40 pm

    OT: but what is a nice conservative Catholic girl like Amy Barrett doing with those really big dangly gold earrings at a daytime professional public hearing?

    My edition of Emily Post on manners says flashy daytime jewelry is a no-no. Dog-whistle of wealth?

  27. 27.

    Robert Sneddon

    October 14, 2020 at 8:41 pm

    @Gin & Tonic: Today was the first day of early voting in RI, the first time we’ve ever had that option. We’re unlikely to be mentioned in the same paragraph as Texas, but almost 6,500 people voted here today.

    That’s all of you, isn’t it? Dixville Notch, eat your three hearts out!

  28. 28.

    HumboldtBlue

    October 14, 2020 at 8:42 pm

    Amy Coney Barrett is my mom. Hilarious.

  29. 29.

    Citizen Alan

    October 14, 2020 at 8:42 pm

    I hope one of Biden’s first acts is to sell off all that grazing land that Fuckwit Bundy refused to pay a minimal grazing fee to use. Sell it to some private company that’ll charge more for grazing than the dumb SOB can afford.

    I still wish Obama had sent in Seal Team 6 with guns a-blazing. The Republicans called Obama a dictator anyway, why not go with it.

  30. 30.

    SiubhanDuinne

    October 14, 2020 at 8:42 pm

    @Benw:

    Thank you. I feel so much better. //

  31. 31.

    Jeffro

    October 14, 2020 at 8:45 pm

    @HumboldtBlue: just. perfect.

    thanks HB!

  32. 32.

    Ken

    October 14, 2020 at 8:45 pm

    @Robert Sneddon: Actually, Rhode Island ranks 44th among the states by population, ahead of Delaware, South Dakota, North Dakota, Alaska, Vermont, and Wyoming.  I hadn’t realized Wyoming was last.

  33. 33.

    Baud

    October 14, 2020 at 8:47 pm

    @Ken:
    It’s nice that we have a few of the small states.

  34. 34.

    Sab

    October 14, 2020 at 8:48 pm

    Liz Warren’s campaign texted me to early vote. Happy to text back that I did a week,ago.

  35. 35.

    Baud

    October 14, 2020 at 8:48 pm

    Chris Hayes just used “normies.”

  36. 36.

    lurker

    October 14, 2020 at 8:49 pm

    @patroclus: not up to speed on fb, as I have been working on staying away for a number of years.  However, I have a sense that Duggan is good enough to get invited to the NFL draft combine, where he likely would have had some MDs examine him for the teams, and something might have been noticed there.  I am aware of a few hs kids, including one at my distant alma mater who died in hs due to heart conditions that were not detected and felled them, potentially in part due to participation in fb. It is good that his condition was addressed earlier rather than later.

     

    That being said, the game is so much about making some hard hits that it is difficult to justify paying attention to it at this point.  I tell every young kid I know that playing organized fb is asking for a concussion.  Recreational touch fb is potentially different, in a sane group.  Then again, I am heavily involved in soccer, which is not a perfect sport either.  We all have our bread and circuses..

     

    ETA: and agree that Bundy is an idiot, for all sorts of reasons…

  37. 37.

    patroclus

    October 14, 2020 at 8:50 pm

    @Baud: Chris Hayes is an “abnormie.”  But I (mostly) like his show and met him at Netroots Nation one year.

  38. 38.

    Yutsano

    October 14, 2020 at 8:50 pm

    This is a month old. but oh man I would vote for Jaime Harrison just from this mini movie alone.

  39. 39.

    SiubhanDuinne

    October 14, 2020 at 8:52 pm

    @HumboldtBlue:

    That’s very fine.

  40. 40.

    Baud

    October 14, 2020 at 8:52 pm

    @patroclus:

    He used it to differentiate between “online” and “not online” people.  We tend to use to for people who don’t follow politics daily. Ultimately, I think it amounts to the same thing.

  41. 41.

    Baud

    October 14, 2020 at 8:53 pm

    Hayes cited a poll that says Biden is winning seniors by 20 points.

  42. 42.

    Jeffro

    October 14, 2020 at 8:54 pm

    Just too many excellent turns of phrase to quote them all, but here are my three favorites:

    ‘Fox News Cinematic Universe’

    …”trumpov has always responded to adversity by simultaneously quitting and declaring victory; this has, because of how things work for rich people, mostly worked out for him”…

    …”Once he had confirmed that he was in fact immortal and the pandemic was just another binary matter of winners and losers, trumpov was free to live as a dumb god.  And so having contracted Covid-19 finally made it possible for trumpov to embrace his ultimate destiny as…a Covid denier”…

    Thanks AL!

  43. 43.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    October 14, 2020 at 8:54 pm

    @Baud: KO said ‘Twitler’ on one of his ‘Worst Persons’.

  44. 44.

    Jeffro

    October 14, 2020 at 8:56 pm

    @Ken:Delaware, South Dakota, North Dakota, Alaska, Vermont, and Wyoming

    OT but why don’t we throw the GOP a curve ball in January and make all six of those states one state, with just two senators?  (Sorry Delaware and Vermont!  Thanks for taking one for the team!)

    And people say I don’t think outside the box  =P

  45. 45.

    Mike J

    October 14, 2020 at 8:57 pm

    @Scott P.: Didn’t Nashville’s team conduct secret practices in violation of the publicly declared policies of the NFL?  What sort of penalties are they going to face?  Why are other teams even consenting to play them?

  46. 46.

    HumboldtBlue

    October 14, 2020 at 8:58 pm

    If some laughs are needed, Jim Gaffigan has been releasing compilation videos all summer and they are fantastic.

  47. 47.

    Jeffro

    October 14, 2020 at 8:58 pm

    @Baud: He’s totally reading Balloon Juice daily…maybe twice daily.

    Chris, can we get a little shout-out here on the next show?

  48. 48.

    Gin & Tonic

    October 14, 2020 at 8:58 pm

    @Ken: Hey, wanted to apologize for barking at you earlier today. Steeplejack was right, I seem to have taken offense at something which wasn’t intended that way.

  49. 49.

    debbie

    October 14, 2020 at 9:00 pm

    @Citizen Alan:

    A great place for a windmill farm!

  50. 50.

    Elizabelle

    October 14, 2020 at 9:01 pm

    Spinal Tap reunion up.  PA Dems promise to make Donald Trump “smell the glove.”

  51. 51.

    Jeffro

    October 14, 2020 at 9:03 pm

    Btw WaPo hack Marc Thiessen has an “interview” up right now that is nothing of the sort.  It’s a Thiessen spin on trumpov getting re-elected and dealing with the pandemic, sprinkled with a few supposed trumpov quotes.

    Show us the transcripts, Marc!  THOSE would be truly enlightening for the American public, don’t you think?

    (never mind…everybody already knows the state he’s in…)

  52. 52.

    patroclus

    October 14, 2020 at 9:04 pm

    @lurker: Duggan is only a sophomore and wouldn’t be at the NFL Combine, if he’s good enough, for another 2 and a half years, if he doesn’t take advantage of the possible extended eligibility.  That’s plenty of time to fall victim to an undiagnosed heart condition.  Plus, he led the Frogs to a W over Texas last week.  Because of our weak O-Line, though, he has been taking a beating and could very well get concussed soon.  Football is a very violent sport and should only be undertaken by those who are aware of and voluntarily assume the risks of serious life-harming injury.  I was just trying to make the point that some of the football/sports-protocols they’re experimenting with might have beneficial effects.

  53. 53.

    zhena gogolia

    October 14, 2020 at 9:05 pm

    Nothing stops Trump. Everything breaks his way. He’s like a raging rhino that they keep shooting and he just keeps running. Nobody even talks about the fact that he was impeached. 200,000 dead and counting. Doesn’t matter. HIs wife says fuck Christmas. Doesn’t matter. Ruth Bader Ginsburg dies right on time for him to get a third SC justice. We’re stuck with him. He’ll get re-elected and he will never, ever die.

  54. 54.

    HumboldtBlue

    October 14, 2020 at 9:06 pm

    It’s rutting season in Bushy Park.

  55. 55.

    piratedan

    October 14, 2020 at 9:06 pm

    @Jeffro: I wonder how we’ll finally have a long needed discussion and ask the people who live in our/the territories if they want to join the union or live under the rules as they now stand or manage their own affairs as an independent nation. As a country that believes in a certain element self-determination, its long overdue.

  56. 56.

    FelonyGovt

    October 14, 2020 at 9:07 pm

    Los Angeles County has now received and counted my ballot, a day after my husband’s and daughter’s (we all dropped them off at the same time). Thanks to the folks who calmed me down on this on a previous thread. I got stupidly upset about my vote not being counted.

  57. 57.

    Sebastian

    October 14, 2020 at 9:09 pm

    @Bill Arnold:

    I call them open sneezers. Always makes the mask doubters stop in their tracks.

  58. 58.

    Elizabelle

    October 14, 2020 at 9:11 pm

    @ Zhena Goglia:

    Blurb from WaPost website:  and this was meant for Zhena:

    Across the country, Democratic enthusiasm is propelling an enormous wave of early voting

    Roughly 15 million Americans have already voted, setting a trajectory that could result in a majority of voters casting ballots before Election Day for the first time in U.S. history.

  59. 59.

    Ohio Mom

    October 14, 2020 at 9:14 pm

    Zhena, I’m pretty sure Trump is mortal.

    Sab: I noticed those earrings too. They seemed on the incoventional side for someone like Barrett. Truth be told, those earrings raised my hackles, Bohemian is MY lane! Scoot you Handmaid!

  60. 60.

    Ken

    October 14, 2020 at 9:14 pm

    @Jeffro: My outside-the-box plan has the advantage that it could be done with a change in the law.  I’m pretty sure yours would need a constitutional amendment, unless (very improbably) those small states agreed to the plan.

    Until 1911, they increased the number of representatives as the population increased.  The Constitution sets a bound of no more than one per thirty thousand, which would work out to 10,000 representatives today which is probably excessive.

    But we could set it based on the least-populous state.  In 2010 that was Wyoming with about half a million, which would give about 620 representatives – not all that great an increase.  This would reduce the bias of the electoral college.

  61. 61.

    debbie

    October 14, 2020 at 9:15 pm

    @zhena gogolia:

    I was just reading Daniel’s posts on Trump’s Iowa rally. Things got so silly, he bailed in the middle of it.

  62. 62.

    Jeffro

    October 14, 2020 at 9:16 pm

    @zhena gogolia:We’re stuck with him. He’ll get re-elected and he will never, ever die.

    It feels that way sometimes.  He’s on his way out, though.  Have faith!

  63. 63.

    Ken

    October 14, 2020 at 9:17 pm

    @Gin & Tonic: Apology accepted and thanks.

  64. 64.

    LurkerNoLonger

    October 14, 2020 at 9:17 pm

    @zhena gogolia: Take a break.

  65. 65.

    dmsilev

    October 14, 2020 at 9:17 pm

    From a state-of-the-race piece at the Post:

    Trailing significantly in national and swing-state polls, Trump is attempting to stage a historic comeback. But his actions and rhetoric in recent days have stumped even some of his allies who are trying to decipher his broader strategy — and, increasingly, questioning whether there is one. Just this month, Trump has called the Democratic vice-presidential nominee a “monster,” retweeted images of a man being shot, suggested that Gold Star familiesmay have infected him with the virus, amplified a conspiracy theory questioning Osama bin Laden’s death, openly denigrated his own attorney general, attacked the nation’s leading infectious-disease expert, pulled out of a presidential debate, announced a complete withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, called off talks for a stimulus package and restarted the talks calling for more spending than his party had embraced.

    (I took out some of the links to avoid angering the filter gods). That’s just two weeks of crazy, meaning that the first debate and so forth aren’t even counted. And I’m sure they’re missing a bunch of crazy.

  66. 66.

    Ken

    October 14, 2020 at 9:18 pm

    @zhena gogolia: He’ll get re-elected and he will never, ever die.

    Why, this is Hell, nor am I out of it.

  67. 67.

    Jeffro

    October 14, 2020 at 9:19 pm

    @piratedan: Sure – that would be nice.  I don’t really understand the politics of it (and each territory is probably different) but my guess is that whomever’s nominally in charge of these territories sees some benefit to straddling the line between independence and US statehood.  Maybe that equation will be changing soon?

  68. 68.

    Sab

    October 14, 2020 at 9:19 pm

    @Ohio Mom: You often make me laugh. Ruefully but laughing.

  69. 69.

    HumboldtBlue

    October 14, 2020 at 9:22 pm

    @debbie:

    He just strutted around the podium tearing his tie off and tossing it into the audience. He’s playing his WWE role.

  70. 70.

    Jeffro

    October 14, 2020 at 9:22 pm

    @Ken: my plan was just me kidding around, which is the case about 75% of the time  ;)

    I like yours but I think – unless we get away from states being winner-take-all – it doesn’t really have a net effect on the EC.  I think.

    I’m all for a modified EC that starts with your ‘expansion’ and then awards an electoral vote from each congressional district nationwide, based on who gets the most votes in each district (which would almost, essentially, turn us into a parliamentary system) and no electoral votes for Senators/states.  That should work well.  I think.

    Anything to quit this ridiculous minority rule!!

  71. 71.

    Jeffro

    October 14, 2020 at 9:23 pm

    @HumboldtBlue: Someone please get this man to stage dive, stat!  Go for it, trumpov!!  Totally appropriate in the middle of a pandemic when you’re 10+ points behind in the polls.

  72. 72.

    Ohio Mom

    October 14, 2020 at 9:24 pm

    Sab, next summer? Fall? Whenever, we *will* have that meet-up in Columbus!

  73. 73.

    jl

    October 14, 2020 at 9:25 pm

    I heard an interview with one of the sane county sheriffs in California. He said that there wasn’t much anti mask, anti social distancing nonsense until Trump started his twitter campaign to free this or that state. After that, he said it really took off. I don’t know if that is true, or just his impression.

  74. 74.

    Amir Khalid

    October 14, 2020 at 9:26 pm

    @Jeffro:

    I think I see a problem with combining those states: two of those states are geographically contiguous, but the other states are not. Then again, this might not matter; I am not aware of any Constitutional requirement that states be geographically contiguous.

  75. 75.

    piratedan

    October 14, 2020 at 9:27 pm

    @Jeffro: well the thought is that the topic never makes it to the dinner table.  We’re supposed to be a representative democracy and while these people are citizens, are they being represented? Is there a place for their voices to be heard?  Has anyone bothered to ask?

  76. 76.

    debbie

    October 14, 2020 at 9:28 pm

    @HumboldtBlue:

    Whew! I was afraid he had resorted to stripping for votes.

  77. 77.

    guachi

    October 14, 2020 at 9:29 pm

    Biden tweeted a few minutes ago that he raised $383 million last quarter. Lots of dough for Joe.

  78. 78.

    dmsilev

    October 14, 2020 at 9:29 pm

    @Jeffro: That’d be hilarious, considering that he almost definitely weighs far more than his ‘official’ 239 pounds and a lot of his fans aren’t in great physical shape themselves.

  79. 79.

    Sab

    October 14, 2020 at 9:29 pm

    @Ohio Mom: I am desperate ( however it is spelled) for this. Also too, old enough that I am used to waiting.

  80. 80.

    Steeplejack

    October 14, 2020 at 9:30 pm

    @zhena gogolia:

    Take this paper bag and go breathe into it for a while.

  81. 81.

    frosty

    October 14, 2020 at 9:30 pm

    “Bundy’s exhausting public life …” ‘xactly. Listening to these people, seeing them in the news (and blogs) is exhausting. I just want them all to go away so I can get something done. I think this is Biden’s Secret Power.

  82. 82.

    jl

    October 14, 2020 at 9:31 pm

    @debbie: “resorted to stripping for votes.”

    Could the Democrats try that? I heard pole dancers and ex Chippendales hunks are ruined and need gigs very badly.

  83. 83.

    HumboldtBlue

    October 14, 2020 at 9:31 pm

    The right is freaking out over social media calling out their bullshit.

    BREAKING: Kayleigh McEnany has been locked out of her account by Twitter for spreading disinformation.

  84. 84.

    jl

    October 14, 2020 at 9:32 pm

    @HumboldtBlue: You need to walk the walk to be a good Trump press secretary. Trump finally found a top person who performs up to expectations.

  85. 85.

    WaterGirl

    October 14, 2020 at 9:33 pm

    @Yutsano: That was excellent.

  86. 86.

    Amir Khalid

    October 14, 2020 at 9:33 pm

    @Ohio Mom:

    I agree.  Only Keef is immortal.

  87. 87.

    frosty

    October 14, 2020 at 9:34 pm

    @trollhattan: That owl picture is all kinds of amazing. Great story, thanks for posting it!

  88. 88.

    dmsilev

    October 14, 2020 at 9:35 pm

    Click through if you dare…

    Trump ends the rally with some fist-pumping and awkward dancing to “YMCA” pic.twitter.com/rub8Momz31
    — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 15, 2020

  89. 89.

    jl

    October 14, 2020 at 9:37 pm

    @Ohio Mom: If you are still here, I posted a public access article on  the two modes of covid transmission issue at the end of the previous thread. An academic thingee, but enough in plain English to read, and some good policy implications in the conclusion.

  90. 90.

    Gin & Tonic

    October 14, 2020 at 9:38 pm

    Good and short Twitter thread starts here, about Rudy and Ukraine, from somebody who knows who’s who.

    As someone who works on Ukraine let me make something perfectly clear: Rudy Giuliani is the last person you should listen to on Ukraine.
    — Sasha Jason (@sashasjason) October 14, 2020

  91. 91.

    sdhays

    October 14, 2020 at 9:38 pm

    @guachi: Oh, it’s around that time for official disclosures for the 3rd quarter, isn’t it? So we’re going to learn how much Dump didn’t raise soon???

  92. 92.

    schrodingers_cat

    October 14, 2020 at 9:41 pm

    @dmsilev: Whatever that is, it is not dancing. More like drunken/drugged swaying.

  93. 93.

    lurker

    October 14, 2020 at 9:41 pm

    @patroclus: we probably largely agree, and I understood your point.  I was thinking about the inequity of college fb, where most athletes will not get much medical attention unless they get injured, whereas Duggan seemed sufficiently talented that he would at least go through the combine process, or an agent would have a doctor check him and thereby find it beforehand.  My comment was dashed off  and then there was a phone call and a domestic question and life otherwise intervened.

    aside from that, I find it hard to talk about fb without bringing up the physical aspects.

  94. 94.

    Danielx

    October 14, 2020 at 9:41 pm

    …this country is a wonderland of public places in which to be an utter asshole.

    There’s no law against it, but sometimes, sometimes….

  95. 95.

    Sab

    October 14, 2020 at 9:41 pm

    Ohio Mom. Your mom loved a chocolate store in Akron. My husband (living in Akron) mentiond it. It is still there!!!

    We are going there next week. Buying stuff for my dad in nuring home. Also for plump husband . Anything for you or your mom? ( I will pay. I like you a lot.)

  96. 96.

    jl

    October 14, 2020 at 9:42 pm

    @guachi: Joe dough flow helps slow foe go.

    Just in case Variety doesn’t cover the story. I try my best to make this a full service almost top 10,000 blog. At no charge to Cole, and he is very welcome.

  97. 97.

    Danielx

    October 14, 2020 at 9:43 pm

    @zhena gogolia:

    In all seriousness, don’t give up hope.

    ETA: if Fat Bastard wins, which may all gods forbid, then despair is in order.

  98. 98.

    jl

    October 14, 2020 at 9:46 pm

    @Danielx: On the bright side, some of that stuff isn’t covered because Trump keeps making a damn fool of himself and punching himself in the face.

    The taxes were forgotten because Trump prompted a superspreader covid event, which was forgotten because Trump got covid himself, which was forgotten because Trump very publicly killed talks on the relief bill, which was forgotten because Trump started acting like a clown shoe crackhead about to OD in public…. etc.

  99. 99.

    frosty

    October 14, 2020 at 9:46 pm

    @zhena gogolia: We’re stuck with him. He’ll get re-elected and he will never, ever die.

    I was with you up to here. Yeah, we’re stuck with him. No matter what happens he’ll still be making noise that we’ll hear whether we want to or not. But he won’t get re-elected. And he will die. Hopefully wearing an orange jumpsuit, but probably not.

    If the sentences I quoted were for effect, then yes, nicely said!

  100. 100.

    Poe Larity

    October 14, 2020 at 9:48 pm

    Kudos on Melania’s statement that she and Baron got care that most have no chance to get.

  101. 101.

    Amir Khalid

    October 14, 2020 at 9:50 pm

    @dmsilev:

    Somehow I can’t see The Village People as Trump supporters. They’re probably as ticked off with Trump about this as the Stones are about You Can’t Always Get What You Want, or Neil Young is about Rocking In The Free World.

  102. 102.

    H.E.Wolf

    October 14, 2020 at 9:52 pm

    @zhena gogolia:

    Sympathies. I hope things will look brighter soon.

    “All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.”

  103. 103.

    frosty

    October 14, 2020 at 9:52 pm

    @Jeffro: then awards an electoral vote from each congressional district nationwide, based on who gets the most votes in each district

    I thought this was something the Republicans wanted. It certainly incentivizes gerrymandering.

  104. 104.

    WaterGirl

    October 14, 2020 at 9:52 pm

    @Gin & Tonic: Thanks for that introduction.  So often there are tweets here without any context at all, and I am left wondering what it’s about or why I should care what someone I have never heard of thinks.  :-)

  105. 105.

    mali muso

    October 14, 2020 at 9:53 pm

    Doing something every day to help move the needle towards a blue wave really does keep me level.  Just finished up a stack of postcards to voters in SC in support of a Congressional candidate.  Last night it was postcards to voters in PA.  These downballot races matter too, and win or lose, it makes me feel helpful to be doing something concrete.  Hang in there!

  106. 106.

    jl

    October 14, 2020 at 9:54 pm

    @Poe Larity: Is the link? I didn’t see explicit acknowledgement that she recognizes she and Trump got care others would not. But on the whole, miles better than anything Trump could do, or probably would want to do.

    As deeply flawed, deluded, ungenerous, and benighted as she is, we’d be in far better shape if she were president. (Edit: faint praise, since that could be said for tens of  millions of people in the US, some really well trained and smart border collies, etc.)

    First Lady Melania Trump: “My personal experience with COVID-19.”
    October 14, 2020

    https://www.whitehouse.gov/articles/first-lady-melania-trump-personal-experience-covid-19/

  107. 107.

    WaterGirl

    October 14, 2020 at 9:54 pm

    @dmsilev: I clicked on that and he is just talking about suburban women.  I don’t see any dancing or anything like that.  What am I missing?

  108. 108.

    zhena gogolia

    October 14, 2020 at 9:56 pm

    @H.E.Wolf:

    The snippets I’ve seen of the Barrett hearings have just broken me.

  109. 109.

    zhena gogolia

    October 14, 2020 at 9:57 pm

    @jl:

    Oh, yeah, she works her ass off. And who gives a fuck about Christmas?

    Night, all.

  110. 110.

    Quinerly

    October 14, 2020 at 9:57 pm

    @dmsilev: I clicked thru and also checked out Dale Daniel’s thread. Insane. He was tripping over words, calling the governor “honey” and talking about Jim Jordan.

    And no masks.

  111. 111.

    dmsilev

    October 14, 2020 at 9:57 pm

    @WaterGirl: Twitter’s embed code is a bit wonky I guess. Scroll down a few Tweets in that thread to see it.

  112. 112.

    WaterGirl

    October 14, 2020 at 9:57 pm

    @jl: I’m going to be uncharitable and assume that some PR person wrote that for her.

  113. 113.

    jl

    October 14, 2020 at 9:58 pm

    @zhena gogolia: There’s your trouble. I’ve boycotted them, won’t listen to a second of them. I can always read a summary later. There is just so much a human being can take at one time.

  114. 114.

    Calouste

    October 14, 2020 at 9:59 pm

    @Amir Khalid: There isn’t, and as Maine used to be a non-contiguous part of Massachusetts before it became a state in its own right, there is even precedent.

  115. 115.

    jl

    October 14, 2020 at 9:59 pm

    @WaterGirl: Yeah, that occurred to me after I finished the comment. So, OK, at least she has a decent PR person. Still a step up from Trump himself.

  116. 116.

    Jeffro

    October 14, 2020 at 9:59 pm

    @Amir Khalid: Oh I know – was just kidding (see #70)

    But it would be fun to rattle the wingnuts with something like that. ;)

  117. 117.

    WaterGirl

    October 14, 2020 at 9:59 pm

    @dmsilev: Ugh.  He looks almost human in that, even if the dancing is terrible.  I don’t want anything to make his appear normal, even for a minute.

  118. 118.

    Philbert

    October 14, 2020 at 10:00 pm

    @Jeffro: that still leaves us a victim of Gerrymandering.  Not originally my idea, but how about awarding electoral votes proportionally for each state,  that would still give small states a little extra but not over much like now.

  119. 119.

    Jeffro

    October 14, 2020 at 10:00 pm

    @dmsilev: steroid euphoria could well be our friend here!

    Go for it, ya orange moron!  To quote our 45th-best president*, “What the hell do you have to lose?”

  120. 120.

    WaterGirl

    October 14, 2020 at 10:02 pm

    @jl:  There’s no way she wrote any of this.  What crap.  If they know enough to hire someone to say some of this, then they fucking well know what other people are going through, and they are still lying about tit.  What appalling creatures.

    In one way I was glad the three of us went through this at the same time so we could take care of one another and spend time together. He has since tested negative.

    I was very fortunate as my diagnosis came with minimal symptoms, though they hit me all at once and it seemed to be a roller coaster of symptoms in the days after. I experienced body aches, a cough and headaches, and felt extremely tired most of the time. I chose to go a more natural route in terms of medicine, opting more for vitamins and healthy food. We had wonderful caretakers around us and we will be forever grateful for the medical care and professional discretion we received from Dr. Conley and his team. It was an unfamiliar feeling for me to be the patient instead of a person trying to encourage our nation to stay healthy and safe. It was me being taken care of now, and getting first-hand experience with all that COVID-19 can do. As the patient, and the person benefitting from so much medical support, I found myself even more grateful and in awe of caretakers and first responders everywhere. To the medical staff and the residence staff who have been taking care of our family—thank you doesn’t say enough.

    Recovering from an illness gives you a lot of time to reflect. When my husband was taken to Walter Reed as a precaution, I spent much of my time reflecting on my family. I also thought about the hundreds of thousands of people across our country who have been impacted by this illness that infects people with no discrimination. We are in unprecedented times—and with the election fast approaching, it has been easy to get caught up in so much negative energy.

  121. 121.

    Poe Larity

    October 14, 2020 at 10:02 pm

    @jl:

    I guess perhaps the media spin may be somewhat generous. Don’t know if the ABC guy was generous or if he’d gotten that from staff.

    I want people to know that I understand just how fortunate my family is to have received the kind of care that we did

  122. 122.

    mad citizen

    October 14, 2020 at 10:02 pm

    @Amir Khalid: Well Neil Young started a lawsuit against Trump in August over songs at rallies.  I doubt Neil will ever see any money from Trump, though.

    Watched a Trump clip–no tie, but big black overcoat (cold in Iowa I guess).  I love how his campaign effort has dwindled to

    1. Helicopter to plane
    2. Sit in plane
    3. Walk a couple hundred feet to stage
    4. Lie for an hour, brag about himself
    5. Get back on plane, helicopter
    6. Home.
  123. 123.

    Brachiator

    October 14, 2020 at 10:03 pm

    He had finally found a way to care about the pandemic, which was to make it about him. He had found a solution that appealed to him, which was to make it about his lifelong fixation on fear and domination in general, and his fear of being dominated in particular. Once he had confirmed that he was in fact immortal and the pandemic was just another binary matter of winners and losers, Trump was free to live as a dumb god…

    Goddam this is so on the money!

  124. 124.

    Steeplejack

    October 14, 2020 at 10:03 pm

    @WaterGirl:

    Awkward dancing here. Not much dancing.

  125. 125.

    Jeffro

    October 14, 2020 at 10:03 pm

    @frosty: they want it but only in the states where it would help them (ie, Democratic and swing states).  Of course.

    Done/mandated nationally, especially if we expanded the House as was suggested upthread, it would kill ’em.

  126. 126.

    WaterGirl

    October 14, 2020 at 10:04 pm

    @jl: As a former model, she knows everything is about appearances.  They get no credit from me for doing that article.  Appalling creatures.

    (Not picking on you, just disgusted with them.)

    And the person who wrote that didn’t even try to sound like Meliania.  They don’t even give a shit. I don’t care, do u?

  127. 127.

    TS (the original)

    October 14, 2020 at 10:04 pm

    @jl:

    Just no.

    She would probably be worse than trump – if that is even possible. Neither did she write that article,  she does not have anywhere near that command of  english.

    You seem to write many posts decrying trump while talking about the good  things in this administration  of which there are none.

  128. 128.

    Jeffro

    October 14, 2020 at 10:06 pm

    @WaterGirl: I feel like I should look through Michelle Obama’s “Becoming”, and see if there was a chapter about her and the family getting sick – maybe Melania read it and then just swapped out ‘the flu’ with ‘COVID-19’ and ‘Dr So-and-So’ with ‘Dr Conley’

    Also, gee, sorry about all that ‘negative energy’ there, Melania.  Verily, it is a mystery where all of that is coming from (mega-eyeroll)

  129. 129.

    Kay

    October 14, 2020 at 10:07 pm

    Weekly Trump Administration corruption story:

    But hours earlier, senior members of the president’s economic team, privately addressing board members of the conservative Hoover Institution, were less confident. Tomas J. Philipson, a senior economic adviser to the president, told the group he could not yet estimate the effects of the virus on the American economy. To some in the group, the implication was that an outbreak could prove worse than Mr. Philipson and other Trump administration advisers were signaling in public at the time.

    The sleazy, low quality hires who work for the Trump Administration lied to the public about the severity of the coming pandemic, while telling their donors it was going to be very bad – the donors then rushed out to attempt to cash in on the information.

  130. 130.

    jl

    October 14, 2020 at 10:07 pm

    @Poe Larity: Thanks.

    I should confess that I have preferred FLOTUS to POTUS for some time. I think that starting from Bill Clinton, the country would be better off if the POTUS just showed up for ribbon cutting, ate his damn ceremonial dinners and read the script and let the FLOTUS run things. Bill could have been allowed to explain stuff, then wheeled off to the next ceremony, though.

    I admit, maybe 50-50 for Michelle Obama and could have a good argument over it.

  131. 131.

    Steeplejack

    October 14, 2020 at 10:07 pm

    @Brachiator:

    A-fucking-men! I bookmarked it so I can marvel at it later. Trump in a nutshell, and the best explanation I have seen for why he has been so manic since “recovering.”

  132. 132.

    Miss Bianca

    October 14, 2020 at 10:08 pm

    This guy is such a good writer. I’m going to have start reading his football articles, obviously, and I so do not GROK football. Never mind, he’ll make me find something to care about in there!

  133. 133.

    Jeffro

    October 14, 2020 at 10:09 pm

    @mad citizen: I love how his campaign effort has dwindled to

    1. Helicopter to plane
    2. Sit in plane
    3. Walk a couple hundred feet to stage
    4. Lie for an hour, brag about himself
    5. Get back on plane, helicopter
    6. Home.

     

    Hey, whatever keeps him under stress, out in the weather, and getting breathed on frequently by his fellow mask-haters.

    Why, if he had anything at all to offer the American people…starting with a plan to combat the pandemic…he could probably do most of his campaigning from his basement, I guess.

  134. 134.

    Ken

    October 14, 2020 at 10:09 pm

    @Amir Khalid: Only Keef is immortal.

    Not so much immortal as chemically preserved.

  135. 135.

    Miss Bianca

    October 14, 2020 at 10:10 pm

    @Kent: Can you imagine Bundy’s sons’ reaction?

    “DAD!! Jesus CHRIST, DAD!!”

    Shit, can you imagine what the OTHER kids would do to Bundy’s sons if that happened?

  136. 136.

    jl

    October 14, 2020 at 10:11 pm

    @TS (the original): “You seem to write many posts decrying trump while talking about the good  things in this administration  of which there are none.”

    Huh, what? Are you sure about that? ‘Many posts’,  dude, you are nuts, or what? I can’t think of one damn thing good I have said about this administration. Unless you think my repeated recommendation that Trump deserves a trial at The Hague a complement.

    In fact, your suggestion that someone would be worse than Trump is far more favorable than anything I’ve said about him or anything in his administration.

    Edit: please take some deep breaths.

  137. 137.

    HumboldtBlue

    October 14, 2020 at 10:11 pm

    Burmisia is a new place.

  138. 138.

    TS (the original)

    October 14, 2020 at 10:13 pm

    @jl:   Why ever since Clinton?  

    Hillary would have been a better President than her husband. She certainly wouldn’t have been impeached for straying from the marital bed.

  139. 139.

    TS (the original)

    October 14, 2020 at 10:14 pm

    @jl:  Go back and check any replies – including this one – that you have ever written to me. I thought I was imagining it until you start linking to b.s. from the 3rd lady.

  140. 140.

    jl

    October 14, 2020 at 10:14 pm

    @TS (the original): Sorry, I forgot put edit when I typed ‘starting from’. I didn’t mean to say anything mean about HRC.

    And sorry, I do stand by my claim about current FLOTUS. We’ll see about Dr. Biden and Joe.

  141. 141.

    jl

    October 14, 2020 at 10:16 pm

    @TS (the original): I think you’re riled up and confused. Only link I’ve ever given to anything by current FLOTUS was to see what another comenter was talking about. Otherwise I wouldn’t take the time to read anything she had to say.

    Maybe you have me confused with someone else?

  142. 142.

    Ken

    October 14, 2020 at 10:18 pm

    @Quinerly: Insane. He was tripping over words, calling the governor “honey” and talking about Jim Jordan.

    Say the secret word and the duck gives you $100.

  143. 143.

    Kay

    October 14, 2020 at 10:18 pm

    @WaterGirl:

    The Trumps are so incredibly desperate to hang onto power it’s embarrassing. They’re now going to attempt to reinvent Melania as “caring” in the next 2 weeks? This now? What next? They get a dog?

    I knew it would be cringe-worthy toward the end but I confess I didn’t anticipate them trying to be ingratiating. It’s almost worse than their real personalities.

  144. 144.

    Miss Bianca

    October 14, 2020 at 10:21 pm

    @HumboldtBlue: Wait – what? Are you kidding? I can’t even tell anymore, what’s signal and what’s noise – it’s ALL noise where that guy’s concerned.

    I’m no longer thinking of Trump in terms of antichrist – I’m thinking of him as a kind of brain-damaged Loki.

  145. 145.

    Kay

    October 14, 2020 at 10:22 pm

    Kyle Griffin
    @kylegriffin1
    · 2h
    Breaking NYT: On Feb. 24, Trump’s economic team privately addressed the Hoover Institution and implied that a COVID outbreak could prove worse than advisers were signaling to the public. Aides appeared to be giving wealthy party donors an early warning.

    I think we now know why Rudy crawled out from under a rock with his “bombshell”.

  146. 146.

    WaterGirl

    October 14, 2020 at 10:47 pm

    @Jeffro: I think I hate her even more for putting that fake “I’m actually a real person who cares, and I understand what you are going through” story.

    Just when I thought she couldn’t disgust me any more than she already did.

  147. 147.

    Sm*t Cl*de

    October 14, 2020 at 11:03 pm

    @Kay:

    while telling their donors it was going to be very bad – the donors then rushed out to attempt to cash in on the information.

    When life gives you national catastrophes, make insider-trading-ade.

  148. 148.

    Gravenstone

    October 14, 2020 at 11:08 pm

    @Gin & Tonic: To be fair, Rudi is probably the last person you should listen to about anything.

  149. 149.

    James E Powell

    October 14, 2020 at 11:08 pm

    @zhena gogolia:

    He’ll get re-elected and he will never, ever die.

    Just like The Judge in Blood Meridian.

  150. 150.

    Amir Khalid

    October 14, 2020 at 11:22 pm

    @Jeffro:

    1. Helicopter to plane
    2. Sit in plane
    3. Walk a couple hundred feet to stage
    4. Lie for an hour, brag about himself
    5. Get back on plane, helicopter
    6. Home.

    c.f. Biden:

    1. Sit in basement
    2. Fire up Zoom.
    3. Do campaign stuff.
    4. Already home.

    //

  151. 151.

    Ruckus

    October 14, 2020 at 11:52 pm

    @zhena gogolia:

    Just because he doesn’t act like it, he’s mortal.

    I’ve known people who’ve died at 6 months old and at 104 yrs. And pretty much everywhere inbetween. My grandfather died at 46, it was his grandson who died at 6 months. His daughter, my mom, died at 94. One of his other daughters died of the same thing that got him at the same age, 46. That’s one half of one family. But everyone of us goes at some point. And shitforbrains is well on his way. The drugs can only do so much. And given where he’s at he doesn’t have a lot of time. Next, his turn at playing president is up soon and he’s not getting a reprieve, it ain’t happening. We far out number his supporters. How long ago was it that ActBlue hit 7 billion? It’s now up just under another 227 million and will probably be by the time I finish typing this. There are too many people who hate him with the heat of a thousand suns. We may not throw down that he’s still there now, but I’d bet there will be hell to pay if he doesn’t walk out that door on his own. The republicans know they are getting their asses beat, maybe not every one of them but a lot of them are and a lot are getting beaten badly. People are standing in line for 12 hrs to vote. CA republicans are breaking the law trying to fuck up the vote, but it won’t turn out well for them either. The tide is not just turning it’s turning rapidly and strongly

    Yep, ActBlue just went over 7 billion 227 million and rising.

  152. 152.

    J R in WV

    October 15, 2020 at 2:00 am

    @TS (the original):

    Hillary would have been a better President than her husband. She certainly wouldn’t have been impeached for straying from the marital bed.

    Even if she  had strayed, she would have been with someone who was smart enough not to talk about it with a Repugnant operative. Who cared enough about both Clintons tontreat both of them well. Etc.

  153. 153.

    J R in WV

    October 15, 2020 at 4:35 am

     

    @Gin & Tonic: To be fair, Rudi is probably the last person you should listen to about anything.

    No, the very worst would be taking financial advice from Larry Kudlow, who appears as if he would have trouble balancing a check book to me.

     

    @Gravenstone:

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