Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

You can’t love your country only when you win.

Shut up, hissy kitty!

“And when the Committee says to “report your income,” that could mean anything!

If you are still in the gop, you are either an extremist yourself, or in bed with those who are.

It’s pointless to bring up problems that can only be solved with a time machine.

Fight them, without becoming them!

ha ha ha! Nice try weird people.

These days, even the boring Republicans are nuts.

SCOTUS: It’s not “bribery” unless it comes from the Bribery region of France. Otherwise, it’s merely “sparkling malfeasance”.

There is no right way to do the wrong thing.

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

Well, whatever it is, it’s better than being a Republican.

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

“I never thought they’d lock HIM up,” sobbed a distraught member of the Lock Her Up Party.

It looks like winning debates is a black job!

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

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

If you thought you’d already seen people saying the stupidest things possible on the internet, prepare yourselves.

Innocent people don’t delay justice.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

“The defense has a certain level of trust in defendant that the government does not.”

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

The frogs are rarely mistaken.

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

You are here: Home / Elections / Biden-Harris 2020 / Open Thread: Joe Biden For Healer In Chief

Open Thread: Joe Biden For Healer In Chief

by | 273 Comments

This post is in: , , ,

You might need a tissue:

A couple of events I didn’t have a chance to post:

This is your daily reminder of who we are electing…to cut through whatever garbage the orange disease is going to throw our way today.

Open thread

Reader Interactions

273Comments

  3. 3.

    lamh36

    I’m an Auntie again! New niece, Olivia Love took her sweet time, but she final made her grand entrance last night. Already our lil chunky monkey diva! Congrats To my baby sister Jess & her husband Ro. Layla and Josh got them a new baby sister!

  8. 8.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    Eagerly awaiting the day when I can think about what fun or edifying things I can do without worrying about how the actions of the psychopathic buffoon running my government are ruining my life.

    I will also be welcoming the return of over 6 figures of household revenue to the house ledger to start digging me out of this deep fucking hole.

  9. 9.

    Another Scott

    Nice.  Thanks.

    In other good news, PPP poll of Texas from 10/16:

    Last week PPP took a look at the Presidential race in Texas, and this week we checked in on the Senate race. MJ Hegar trails John Cornyn just 49-46, making up for the Republican lean of the state thanks to a 55-34 advantage with independent voters.

    Hegar is running close to Cornyn even though he still has a 15 point advantage in name recognition on her. 76% of voters have an opinion about him with 39% rating him favorably and 37% unfavorably. 61% of voters have an opinion about Hegar with 32% rating her favorably and 29% unfavorably.

    There’s evidence within the numbers that if Hegar had parity with Cornyn on name recognition she would have a very good chance at winning the race. Among voters who know enough about Hegar to have an opinion about her, she leads Cornyn 51-48.

    This is the third Cornyn-Hegar poll PPP has released this year and they’ve gone from a 7 point lead for Cornyn to a 4 point lead to now just a 3 point lead. That’s a similar trajectory to the one the 2018 Senate race followed and Hegar has already reached the point where Beto O’Rourke finished last time. With two and a half weeks to go she has a chance to pull off the upset as more voters tune into the race and become familiar with her.

    PPP interviewed 712 Texas voters on October 14th and 15th. The margin of error is +/-3.7%. Full results here

    (Emphasis added.)

    Make it so. We need to vote the monsters out!!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  11. 11.

    West of the Rockies

    Does anybody remember decency?

    Damn, that was great. Gotta go donate a little more to get this excellent man and phenomenal woman elected.

    GOTV.

  13. 13.

    mali muso

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Congratulations!  Now you can…umm…relax?

    On the “doing something” front, I finished up my stock of 100 postcards to voters (the last batch went out to SC to support Jaime Harrison), and given how close we are to D-day, I think I’ll turn my energy to attempting the text-banking thing.  Or just continuing to donate money.  Or both!

  14. 14.

    Marcopolo

    Great Biden clip. I don’t buy the comment that Ds aren’t reaching out to non-voters, however. Obviously it is easier for campaigns to reach out to voters cause they can get their information from state BoEs but that doesn’t mean they aren’t trying to bring new folks into the fold. I am too rushed for time to re-up my comment at the end of the last thread but AOC & Ilan Omar did a live stream gaming GoTV event last night that was watched by 435,000 folks in real time. I bet a hell of a lot of them aren’t registered voters

    Everyone have a nice day.

  16. 16.

    Ned F.

    About 7 years ago, at commencement for our girls (public) high school graduation, we gathered in the stadium bleachers to watch our kids get their diplomas. I noticed a few guys in suits with ear pieces, and thought security is up this year, but not surprising with all the school shootings at the time.  While waiting on our bleacher seats, I noticed the Vice President of the United States and his wife were three rows in front of us. I then remembered they had a nephew in the same class, but never did I think I would see them there.  They were part of the crowd, no standing or waving, no official announcement,  and the crowd respected their privacy and left them alone.  At the end they left a few minutes early to beat the crowd.   I could never imagine or want to see what would happen if Trump went to a nephew’s graduation, if he would just join the rest of the families in the bleachers, or actually go for that matter, since it isn’t about him. 

  17. 17.

    dmsilev

    Once a grifter selling useless baubles to fools, always a grifter selling useless baubles to fools:

    In an email to supporters Wednesday, the Trump campaign said that anyone making a donation before Thursday would have a chance to win one of the stars that adorned the stage during the August event in Washington.

    “I want YOU to have a piece of that historic moment, which is why I’ve signed and framed 50 of the Gold Convention Stars that were a part of the stage that night to give to 50 of my TOP Patriots,” Trump says in the email.

    “This is your chance to own a piece of history. Only 50 Patriots can win these ICONIC Gold Convention Stars, so don’t wait. Please contribute ANY AMOUNT by 11:59 PM TONIGHT and win (1) of these beautiful Gold Convention Stars that I signed for YOU.”

    (Washington Post’s election-update feed). I give it roughly three days before Trump starts auctioning off his daughter’s used underwear.

  20. 20.

    O. Felix Culpa

    Sweet video. And at least some Dems are reaching out to non- or low-propensity voters. Our county party just finished sending over 8K hand-addressed postcards to young voters in that category. Similar efforts in the primary had surprisingly good results, so we more than doubled our outreach this time around.

  22. 22.

    BC in Illinois

    I am 12-days-and-a-wakeup early for this, but this is what I look forward to for the first week in November:

    Oct 31 – Halloween
    Nov 1 – All Saints Day
    Nov 2 – Day of the Dead
    Nov 3 – THE LONGEST DAY OF THE YEAR
    . . . continuing into the night . . .
    Nov 4 – A continuation of Nov 3,
    with celebrations and hope

    If things go as the American people are saying that they should, then November 4th will be a day to go dancing in the streets. (I went to a socially distanced George Floyd /BLM protest 4-5 months ago; it can be done.)

    Yes, I am prepared to be disappointed, enraged, and motivated to go into the streets with a massive street protest, if needed, but I am looking forward to better things. Something along the lines of V-E Day.*

    *My mother was a WAC in WW II. [[ She and I (Navy) – and my brother (Army) – all made E-5. Dad was an Army Air Corps Captain. ]] On the 50th anniversary of V-E Day, someone was going on and on about how she was in New York on V-E Day, and “You can’t imagine how exciting it was.” Mom didn’t have the heart to tell her that on V-E Day, she was in Paris.

    Yes, I know that Nov 4th will be the beginning of three months of national hell, before the days of “There is so much to DO” and “There is so much to UN-DO!” But again, going back to my mother’s days, on D-Day, she was in London. And there was still so much to do.

    As a tweet said above, “I have waited four years, to be waiting two weeks.”

  27. 27.

    germy

    Even if that laptop isn't Hunter Biden's and everything on it was planted by Russians, its very existence still raises uncomfortable questions for the Biden campaign.

    — New York Times Pitchbot (@DougJBalloon) October 20, 2020

  30. 30.

    zhena gogolia

    @BC in Illinois:

    Yesterday I dug out the sheet music for the Star-Spangled Banner (which I love, BTW). If we have good news I’m going to play it on a loop all day long 11/4.

    Now the obligatory kina hora, не сглазить, тьфу, тьфу, тьфу

  31. 31.

    NotMax

    @dmsilev

    Please contribute ANY AMOUNT by 11:59 PM TONIGHT and win (1) of these beautiful Gold Convention Stars that I signed for YOU.

    12:01 a.m.: “So, any bright ideas on what to do with the 48 we’ve still got left?”

    //

  33. 33.

    rp

    @germy: Well, why would Russia and the Trump campaign go to all of that trouble to manufacture the evidence? That by itself raises troubling questions about the election and, by extension, the Biden campaign.

  36. 36.

    Wapiti

    Open Thread? I saw What the Constitution Means to Me last night in a distributed watch party. It’s on Amazon Prime (the show was on Broadway and filmed last year). I was impressed – I’m not sure what I expected but the personal narrative of the author/actor turns at some points to discuss domestic violence and other feminist issues.

  37. 37.

    mrmoshpotato

    @NotMax: It’s pretty much guaranteed now that those are Commie stars, and they each opened a secret Chinese bank account.

    So fitting for a Soviet shitpile mobster conman.

    Comrade Dump just loves his Communism.

  40. 40.

    Baud

    @dmsilev:

    I give it roughly three days before Trump starts auctioning off his daughter’s used underwear. the Declaration of Independence in the National Archives.

    Probably will market it as a treasure map.

  44. 44.

    Ken

    @germy: That sign company has a history of putting up right wing nut job billboards.

    There’s another kind?

    Actually, last time I drove from Missouri to Illinois, I noticed a billboard entering Illinois that said basically “Welcome to Illinois where abortions remain safe and legal.” Maybe someone’s planning ahead for a reversal of Roe.

  45. 45.

    germy

    Did anyone here think Tiffany was the good one?

    I saw a clip of her giving a speech (I guess you could call it that) and she gave the audience air kisses while extolling the benefits of her father’s administration.

  47. 47.

    different-church-lady

    Upon reflection: the idea that you’re gonna out-maneuver 60 Minutes is just fucking nuts.

  51. 51.

    lafcolleen

    I had a strange dream last night. Settle in – this is a long one.

    Scenario: its an RNC like event with COVID distancing needed. the brain trust running the Trump campaign decide that Trump needs to do an event with some dramatic flair for TV.

    okay. so in my dream, there is a huge billboard at the top of a big bluff. its one of those billboards that has a permanent walkway at the level of the actual sign, so people can climb up and redo the sign or whatever.

    So, in my dream my friend N and I are on a bluff opposite with a small group watching. Bright lights shining on the billboard, everyone focused on the sign.

    The event starts with Trump emerging through a door built into the billboard and stepping out onto the little gangway. He is supposed to do a dramatic unveiling of the campaign billboard.

    As he emerges and shuts the door, the whole billboard starts to wobble a bit. Next to me, N mutters, “holy shit.”

    Nobody else seems to notice. Trump walks along the gangway and starts to do some sort of announcement. As he walks along, we see the billboard start to sort lean over to one side as if the supports on that side are giving out. There is no reaction from anyone other than N who gets progressively louder as he says things like, “what the hell?” and “what the fuck?” and “what the actual fuck is going on?!”

    By this time Trump is clinging onto the sign and obviously realizing he could fall off. FINALLY there is a clamor as the risk of him falling off the sign is becoming obvious to everyone.

    Then the sign appears to stabilize and there is this long, long pause.I feel this huge surge of disappointment that Trump is still hanging on. N is next to me still aghast.

    Then slowly, slowly, slowly the billboard topples over into the ravine with Trump still on it.  And I think to myself, that idiot Donald Trump just feel into a ravine at a campaign event on national television.

    . . . and then I woke up.

  60. 60.

    PPCLI

    @germy: The three times I can remember that Trump face: after Stahl, after the catastrophic Tulsa rally, and after his meeting with Putin in Helsinki.

  63. 63.

    NickM

    That video at the top, with the kid running up to Joe for a hug — maybe I’m way too stressed out, but it made me weep.

  64. 64.

    CaseyL

    Every day since Election Night in 2016 I have awoken from sleep with my heart pounding and a feeling of ice water in my veins.

    Some days it’s mild, some days it’s not.

    I hope with all of my might that after this year’s election, I can stop doing that.

  65. 65.

    Betty Cracker

    Wow, that clip! What a contrast. It’s impossible to imagine Trump comforting that grieving child. He would sic the Secret Service on him.

  67. 67.

    germy

    If he loses this election, will he spend the next four years promising to run in 2024, thereby sucking all the oxygen out of any republican primary process?

    Imagine you’re a well-groomed young republican presidential hopeful, and you want to run for ’24 on your platform of “say the quiet parts quietly” and meanwhile Trump is busy yelling on TV, twitter and at public appearances that he’s tanned rested and ready for another campaign?

  68. 68.

    Geminid

    It’s good to see that Kamala Harris is out and about again. She is in North Carolina today, appearing in Charlotte and in Asheville. And Harris has several stops planned in Georgia Friday.

  69. 69.

    germy

    @Betty Cracker:

    I remember when he was running for president.  A man brought his young son to get his MAGA hat autographed.  Trump took the hat from the little boy, autographed it, and then tossed it out to the crowd.

    I’m not kidding.  I remember the clip.

  70. 70.

    Subsole

    @Another Scott: Did my part. One more itty bitty blue chip in the big red wall.

    Everyone at the polling place was masked up, little bit of a line but moving swiftly. In and done in under 30 mins. The workers said they have never seen turnout like this, said it has been non-stop since early voting began. This is a purplish town in a red county, so that isn’t necessarily good news, but I did find it interesting.

  71. 71.

    Gin & Tonic

    @germy:

    If he loses this election, will he spend the next four years promising to run in 2024, thereby sucking all the oxygen out of any republican primary process?

    Yes. SATSQ.

    It’s the best way to keep the grift going.

  74. 74.

    trnc

    @dmsilev: I give it roughly three days before Trump starts auctioning off his daughter’s used underwear.

    If E Jean Carroll’s attorneys pony up a couple of bucks, they’ll have the dna evidence they’ve been looking for.

  75. 75.

    MazeDancer

    Clinging to 270toWin.com for constant reassurance – which I highly recommend on Election Night for everyone.

    Take the 2016 Electoral College map.

    Give Biden back WI, MI he’s at 258.

    AZ gives him 269. Add in NE district for 1 more. 270!

    or

    NC gives him 273.

    That is without FL or PA.

    Both AZ and NC report on Election Night.

    As does FL.

  76. 76.

    trollhattan

    File under “they grow up so fast”: the kid just texted the spouse, “Happy birthday, woman.”

    Somebody may have had to remind her what this date is.

  77. 77.

    Yutsano

    @Marcopolo:AOC sus…

    You want an argument for getting younger leaders involved? This is a strong one. AOC & Rep Oman met these younger people on their level. Hopefully that can translate to more votes.

    Not to mention Among Us is a hella fun game. And the strategy flips depending on your role in the game.

  80. 80.

    UncleEbeneezer

    I’m not sure what “in a world where non-voters are never targeted by Dems” means.  Various Dem-affiliated groups have been doing registration efforts since 2017 (and still are today).  Obama urged people to vote, Hillary did too.  Does he mean that Dems typically call actual registered voters in their final pushes near Election Day, rather than calling rando’s who probably won’t bother voting?  If so, isn’t that just smart use of resources?  Does the GOP do any differently?  It’s a weird line that raises Dems-Are-Always-To-Blame sensors.  Am I missing something?

  83. 83.

    Sloane Ranger

    Open thread, so will post this.

    Some Jackals here may remember that I posted a while back that I had got into an exchange of views with some RWNJ on Future Learn. Well, we’ve been going at it every day since but when I logged on to check his reply to my post on the great Hunter Biden laptop non-scandal, I found that he had posted to say that I was “mendacious and offensive” in saying that the issue was of no interest to anyone other than Fox News and Trump supporters and that he no longer wanted to engage with me. I replied that this was fine by me.

    I consider this a win for Right and Justice!

  84. 84.

    PST

    @BC in Illinois:
    The story about your mother being in Paris on VE day made me think of something wonderful (setting aside the sexism of the time) that A.J. Liebling wrote about being in Paris after its liberation:

    For the first time in my life and probably the last, I have lived for a week in a great city where everybody is happy. Moreover, since this city is Paris, everybody makes this euphoria manifest. To drive along the boulevards in a jeep is like walking into some as yet unmade René Clair film, with hundreds of bicyclists coming toward you in a stream that divides before the jeep just when you feel sure that a collision is imminent. Among the bicyclists there are pretty girls, their hair dressed high on their heads in what seems to be the current mode here. These girls show legs of a length and slimness and firmness and brownness never associated with French womanhood. Food restrictions and the amount of bicycling that is necessary in getting around in a big city without any other means of transportation have endowed these girls with the best figures in the world, which they will doubtless be glad to trade in for three square meals, plentiful supplies of chocolate, and a seat in the family Citroën as soon as the situation becomes more normal. There are handsome young matrons with children mounted behind them on their bikes, and there are husky young workmen, stubby little employés de bureau in striped pants, and old professors in wing collars and chin whiskers, all of them smiling and all of them lifting their right hands from the handlebars as they go past. The most frequently repeated phrase of the week is “Enfin on respire.” (At last, one breathes!)

  87. 87.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @germy:

    Well, no wonder. The song neither rhymes nor scans. My late, beloved Hamish quite enjoyed the song I wrote specially for him:

    I like your face and I like your nose.
    I like your feet and I like your toes.
    I like your neck and I like your purr.
    I like your back and I like your fur.
    I like your tummy and I like your tail,
    And I like the place where you used to be a male!

  88. 88.

    CarolDuhart2

    @Gin & Tonic: 

    Unfortunately, yes, if he’s healthy enough. If not, Don Jr will. Trump owes about a billion to people not adverse to rough methods of collection, not to mention possible lawsuits and legal defense. He has to pay them somehow to stay above ground. A presidential pension isn’t enough here. The ill will he’s created has pretty much nixed other post-presidency options: book, speaking engagements, whatever. Even his golf courses and casinos and other projects, already bleeding money, he will have to sell to pay up.

    But promising a 2024 run could be a source of money for years. He could promise a campaign and not have to deliver up until the filing deadlines of 2024 approach.

  90. 90.

    trnc

    @Cheryl Rofer: Obama is supposed to speak at 6:30 ET, and the networks may be there.

    So that will make the 11:00 news. I wonder why he didn’t schedule for 5:00 so it could be added to the 6:30  nightly news shows.

  94. 94.

    Wolf

    Bring Back Boring!

    Vote Biden 2020

    Bring Back Decency!

    Vote Democrat!

    ——————————————

    Hard to type with the dust making my eyes tear.

  97. 97.

    CarolDuhart2

    @Gin & Tonic:

    Unfortunately, yes, if he’s healthy enough. If not, Don Jr will. Trump owes about a billion to people not adverse to rough methods of collection, not to mention possible lawsuits and legal defense. He has to pay them somehow to stay above ground. A presidential pension isn’t enough here. The ill will he’s created has pretty much nixed other post-presidency options: book, speaking engagements, whatever. Even his golf courses and casinos and other projects, already bleeding money, he will have to sell to pay up.

    But promising a 2024 run could be a source of money for years. He could promise a campaign and not have to deliver up until the filing deadlines of 2024 approach

    There’s a reason why Carter, Daddy Bush, Herbert Hoover haven’t even tried a Grover Cleveland approach.  It’s too hard, too expensive, and in the modern era the financial perks of a post-presidency outweigh a possible new run

    And the advantage is that it’s legal, and requires a minimum of infrastructure and upkeep.  No building  (maybe an office), minimum legal costs, and possibly some low level ads to keep him in front of the public eye up until the first filing date.

  98. 98.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @germy: If he loses this election, will he spend the next four years promising to run in 2024, thereby sucking all the oxygen out of any republican primary process?

    That’s my prediction.  And it is not just the oxygen, it will be all money Trump will suck out of the GoP.  Josh at TPM is saying Trump is always setting up the COVID stabbed me in the back, but I would have won.  These rallies are Trump’s main revenue source.

    I am partially convinced that the reason the Republicans in the senate are bawling at new stimulus bill is Trump just ran off with the money to their states on the first one.

  99. 99.

    Kay

    Some concerns about the smear Hunter Biden strategy:

    “But he’s leading with Hunter Biden,” Kilmeade interrupted, asking “Is that a mistake?”
    “Yeah, It is a mistake,” Huckabee flatly answered. “Because the average person doesn’t understand it. It’s too complicated. And frankly, it doesn’t matter to them. They care about their healthcare costs. They care about their taxes. They care about safety in their neighborhood on their block and in their art. Focus on that and he wins the election by a landslide,” he concluded.

  103. 103.

    Geminid

    Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger debated her VA 7th challenger last night. The republican opposed any more individual stimulus aid, saying that instead federal spending must be reduced. Spanberger said that help for people and businesses is urgently needed, and proposed raising the corporate tax rate. She also touted her ranking as the most bipartisan member of the Virginia Congressional delegation. Both Spanberger and her opponent strongly favored rural broadband.       In 2018 Spanberger flipped a seat that had been republican for decades. She is favored to keep it.

  105. 105.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    I wish the debate was about foreign policy. Biden knows a lot.

    But if Trump wants to spend it bellowing incoherently about Hunter Biden that’s okay too.

  107. 107.

    germy

    Don Jr tells a PA rally his father pressed US generals to explain why we’re still in Afghanistan, but they couldn’t. “The end goal is they want a board seat at Raytheon,” he says. Trump’s defense secretary, who he gets to pick, was a Raytheon lobbyist.

    — Liz Goodwin (@lizcgoodwin) October 20, 2020

  113. 113.

    Bluegirlfromwyo

    @lamh36: Aw, my grandma’s name was Lucille Love and my cousin’s is Katrina Love. Excellent choice by your sis. Congratulations to all!

  118. 118.

    Kay

    American Oversight
    @weareoversight
    We obtained nearly 400 pages of Mike Pompeo’s personal emails from his time as CIA director.
    These records reveal a problematic amount of official business conducted over private email and show Pompeo fielding questionable investigation requests.

  119. 119.

    CarolDuhart2

    @CarolDuhart2: But Trump’s own mouth won’t allow for such easy and lucrative options.  People hate him with a thousand suns for a variety of reasons.  Even a Presidential library won’t provide him with the funds he needs.  Nobody trusts him to pay anything, including the banks.  So a 2024 promise it looks like.

  120. 120.

    Baud

    @MattF:

    Hahaha.

    The next two weeks are going to be lit.  I just hope we have a happy ending in November.

    The QAnon people will need some therapy.

  123. 123.

    A Ghost to Most

    RawStory is abuzz that S.B. Cohen punked Roody into an ‘indiscreet encounter’ with a fake right wing journo woman, and Borat bursts in on them.

    Will it be in the movie?

  126. 126.

    Another Scott

    @germy: Zooks.  That looks horrible.

    Let’s see…  Blood thinners?  Warfarin?  COVID treatment??

    It’s irresponsible to speculate??

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  130. 130.

    Keith P.

    @Another Scott: It looks like he had some IVs put in both hands, and had blown valves in each one.

    BTW: Expect the Borat movie to be on Amazon tomorrow night around 7:55pm Central (their release dates are keyed to midnight GMT)

  131. 131.

    Roger Moore

    @germy:

    If he loses this election, will he spend the next four years promising to run in 2024, thereby sucking all the oxygen out of any republican primary process?

    If he loses this election, he will be facing endless legal problems that he has so far managed to postpone by using DOJ as his personal legal firm.  He may fight them in court or he may dodge them by fleeing abroad, but they’re likely to define the remainder of his life.

  132. 132.

    JPL

    @Baud:      Trump’s personal attorney has indiscreet encounter with actor playing Borat’s daughter in hotel room during pandemic

    OH MY

  133. 133.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @MattF: you mean this?

    The reputation of Rudy Giuliani could be set for a further blow with the release of highly embarrassing footage in Sacha Baron Cohen’s follow-up to Borat.

    In the film, released on Friday, the former New York mayor and current personal attorney to Donald Trump is seen reaching into his trousers and apparently touching his genitals while reclining on a bed in the presence of the actor playing Borat’s daughter, who is posing as a TV journalist.

    Following an obsequious interview for a fake conservative news programme, the pair retreat at her suggestion for a drink to the bedroom of a hotel suite, which is rigged with concealed cameras.

    After she removes his microphone, Giuliani, 76, can be seen lying back on the bed, fiddling with his untucked shirt and reaching into his trousers. They are then interrupted by Borat who runs in and says: “She’s 15. She’s too old for you.”

  142. 142.

    James E Powell

    Pardon me for not paying attention, but I just realized that there is going to be another “debate” – I thought Trump said he wasn’t going to do any more.

    What do you guys think? Does he go full on Howard Beale? Doesn’t he understand that if he just talked like a normal person for an hour and didn’t say stupid, hateful things that the press/media would declare a new tone that signals a pivot that shows that he is finally ready to be a great president?

    Somebody on twitter said it’s his last chance, but I think all the ships have already sailed.

  143. 143.

    trollhattan

    @MattF:

    Bwa-ha-ha!

    After she removes his microphone, Giuliani, 76, can be seen lying back on the bed, fiddling with his untucked shirt and reaching into his trousers. They are then interrupted by Borat who runs in and says: “She’s 15. She’s too old for you.”

    Here’s hoping they also managed to punk Dersh in similar fashion.

  147. 147.

    Kent

    @Kay:“But he’s leading with Hunter Biden,” Kilmeade interrupted, asking “Is that a mistake?”
    “Yeah, It is a mistake,” Huckabee flatly answered. “Because the average person doesn’t understand it. It’s too complicated. And frankly, it doesn’t matter to them. They care about their healthcare costs. They care about their taxes. They care about safety in their neighborhood on their block and in their art. Focus on that and he wins the election by a landslide,” he concluded.

    I know “art safety” is a big priority issue of mine.

    I lose sleep every night worrying that my art isn’t safe.

  149. 149.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @James E Powell:

    Somebody on twitter said it’s his last chance, but I think all the ships have already sailed.

    I think he’s convinced himself that Hunter Biden is his golden ticket to reelection

  150. 150.

    Gravenstone

    @MattF: That must be the bit that the film’s promotional teasers were touting about how “someone might end up in jail” as a result of something shown in the film.

  151. 151.

    MazeDancer

    @CarolDuhart2:

    If he is not in jail. Trump will likely be headlining TrumpTV. Paid subscription. Can be run from countries without extradition. Though that will cut down on the paid rallies.

    Revenue going to keep his kneecaps and his kid’s lives intact.

    This will overlap nicely with his taking over QAnon.

    All those patsies ripe for the plucking.

    And he will constantly be dropping “proof” from his time in office.

  153. 153.

    trollhattan

    @germy:

    I’d like to see the whole frame including Turtle’s ugly mug before I start professionally diagnosing why his blood vessels seem to all be rupturing.

  154. 154.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Kay: @Kent: Damn. When Mike “Crooked Racist Gravy-Stained Southern Sheriff” Huckabee is telling you you’re aiming too far below the lowest common denominator, even the lowest common denominator of the Fox News viewership….

    ETA: I had to check to make sure it wasn’t Jethrene cause it suggests someone who has at least talked to someone outside the trump bubble

  155. 155.

    sdhays

    @germy: I’m still waiting for the AP to get back to me on the rumor that Donnie John blew a goat (or two…I’m clear on the specifics) before his debate with Biden and that’s why he was late getting to the venue.

    Maybe that’s why he walked out on Leslie Stahl!

  157. 157.

    Gravenstone

    @Marcopolo: just imagine what Putin, Xi, or  and MSB have on him

    No need to be exclusionary. They probably share the fun stuff, just for giggles.

  158. 158.

    Immanentize

    @germy: I said this yesterday — before I saw his hands just now.  Mitch obviously took a face plant fall.  His chin and upper lip and nose were scraped.  And his eyes have the yellow bags from having makeup over black eyes.  But those hands are bad!

    Yet no reporter mentioned it at all?  Jackasses.

  159. 159.

    Gravenstone

    @Kent: I think he’s inartfully (snerk) saying that people don’t want to be confronted by art that offends their tender sensibilities.

  162. 162.

    Aleta

    (Vanity Fair via CNN) White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows is apparently doing Donald Trump’s bidding in a pressure campaign for a 5G wireless deal that would directly benefit the president’s allies. CNN reported Tuesday evening that, according to a number of senior administration officials, the White House is urging the Pentagon to fast track “what would essentially be a no-bid contract to lease the Department of Defense’s mid-band spectrum—premium real estate for the booming and lucrative 5G market—to Rivada Networks, a company in which prominent Republicans and supporters of President Donald Trump have investments.” Among those stakeholders is Fox News commentator and GOP strategist Karl Rove, who is also a lobbyist for Rivada. Rove apparently encouraged Trump to pursue the bid, a deal that one administration official said would likely be “the biggest handoff of economic power to a single entity in history” and that a Pentagon official called “an absolute gold mine.” …
    …(In Sept.)  Meadows ramped up his push to help Rivada by urging Pentagon officials to offer the communications company a “request for proposal” (RFP) without a competitive bidding process, a move that the DoD is reportedly pushing back on for a host of reasons—including, as Pentagon lawyers have told the White House, “that their department has no authority to issue RFPs for the purpose of leasing or selling off its spectrum…” (CNN  Jake Tapper)   (T)he White House’s rush to pursue the deal comes before the Pentagon has fully vetted Rivada’s assertion that it “has the ability to lease the spectrum for commercial use while also preserving the US military’s ability to use the spectrum for military exercises and the defense of the country.”

    … Senator John Thune, a South Dakota Republican, and 18 other GOP senators cited national security concerns in a letter to Trump in late September, (and) urged against any proposal that would …  push “nationalizing 5G and experimenting with untested models for 5G deployment.” And earlier this month, Democrats Frank Pallone Jr. and Mike Doyle launched an inquiry into the DoD’s apparent push to own and operate a national 5G network and lease federal spectrum for commercial purposes, noting “several political operatives or lobbyists with close ties to President Trump or his staff” are backing the moves, including Rivada investor Peter Thiel, who is a Trump supporter, and Newt Gingrich. …

  164. 164.

    hueyplong

    Trump will not be trying for the 2024 nomination.

    Trump will not be in jail.

    Trump will not be on the lam in another country.

    Trump will be deceased.  He might go a week from Friday, but I’m willing to bet folks on this board that he’ll be dead a year from today.

    Look at him.  Imagine what it will be like after he gets crushed and then Barack F’ing Obama taunts him a second time about The Apprentice, with Joe Biden on camera nodding and smiling.  There are no drugs to stop that stroke.

  165. 165.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @hueyplong:

    Then you reminded me that Maureen Dowd exists.

    MoDo has become so irrelevant that nobody even notices how, in the age of viral links and retweets and screen-shot quotes, you almost never see MoDo mentioned. I think the last time she got any attention was when she ate a THC chocolate bar in a Denver hotel room (and lied about it, which didn’t get nearly enough attention).

  166. 166.

    Kent

    @Gravenstone:@Kent: I think he’s inartfully (snerk) saying that people don’t want to be confronted by art that offends their tender sensibilities.

    Tipper Gore on line one huh?

    Yeah, after ANTIFA and HUNTER BIDEN!! wash out, Trump’s October Surprise is going to be a new proposal for “Art Safety” to mobilize the MAGA faithful

    Hah.

  172. 172.

    PPCLI

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: 
    Trump and his cultists have the mind-set of the compulsive gambler who has put himself in a deep hole.

    Instead of settling in and taking purposive action that might begin to ameliorate the situation over the long haul, he keeps desperately seeking for one miracle bet or one miracle hand that will make it all better, quickly and painlessly.

    And digging himself deeper each time.

  173. 173.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Kent: I think he’s talking about statues of Klansmen. He forgot the buzzword for that is “heritage”. His fans are all like, “Why’s he talking about Mama’s Blond-Jesus-in-a-Maga-hat collection?”

  174. 174.

    Aleta

    My newest song to this dog here goes to the tune and beats of John’s Prine’s Never Going to Let You Go.

  175. 175.

    zhena gogolia

    @Baud:

    Nope. Me either.

    ETA: I have to add that BJ is essential to my being able to keep focused for my next intense Zoom thing. I really consider it a part of my work, especially since I don’t work 9-5 but am on duty every waking hour.

  176. 176.

    cckids

    @Betty Cracker:It’s impossible to imagine Trump comforting that grieving child.

    Honestly, can you even imagine him comforting HIS OWN child in this way? Showing a sincere concern for another human? It just doesn’t compute.

  177. 177.

    Gin & Tonic

    @zhena gogolia: Hey, WaterGirl was concerned we’d spend all our time talking about Jeffrey Toobin’s dick. Easy-peasy solution: talk about Rudy Giuliani’s dick instead.

  185. 185.

    Patricia Kayden

    By the time this thing is over, we’re gonna find out Trump was born in Kenya, he’s gotten twice-weekly payments from Burisma since 2009, and that Hillary’s email server is actually in his stomach.— Jay Black (@jayblackisfunny) October 21, 2020

  187. 187.

    Kent

    @hueyplong:

    Trump will not be trying for the 2024 nomination.

    Trump will not be in jail.

    Trump will not be on the lamb in another country.

    Trump will be deceased.  He might go a week from Friday, but I’m willing to bet folks on this board that he’ll be dead a year from today.

    Look at him.  Imagine what it will be like after he gets crushed and then Barack F’ing Obama taunts him a second time about The Apprentice, with Joe Biden on camera nodding and smiling.  There are no drugs to stop that stroke.

    My prediction?

    He’s going to find some deep pocketed MAGA freak and create a new network to compete with FOX, which he will think betrayed him.  And then set up court trying to do a remake of the Apprentice except that it will be 3rd rate MAGA politicians who have to suck up to him, like Lindsey Graham, and then he will get to abuse them on TV.   Giuliani will be his Ed McMahon at the end of the couch.  And he will spend his days 24/7 tearing down every GOP politician who doesn’t properly kiss the ring.  He will wreak unholy revenge on the GOP for abandoning and betraying him.

    He will spare some time to go after “sleepy Joe and Kamala” but his real rage will be for the GOP.

    And for the next 4 years, every time Ben Sasse or Tom Cotton go in front of the camera they will be confronted by “Trump said this [horrible thing] about you…how do you respond???”

  194. 194.

    LuciaMia

    Unfortunately, yes, if he’s healthy enough. If not, Don Jr will.

    Ugh, forget a horror movie. This could be an episode of The Outer Limits.

  196. 196.

    trnc

    @Kent: I never understood why Tipper Gore got so much grief for wanting the same kind of warning on records that movies had for a few decades.

  197. 197.

    Kent

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:@Kent: I think he’s talking about statues of Klansmen. He forgot the buzzword for that is “heritage”. His fans are all like, “Why’s he talking about Mama’s Blond-Jesus-in-a-Maga-hat collection?”

    Oh right.  I forgot about safety for confederate statutes.  Maybe that’s the issue that is going to put him over the top in WI and PA.

  200. 200.

    Barbara

    @germy: McConnell probably takes blood thinners.  Lots of elderly people do.

    @Kent:  He is far too lazy for that.  If someone else has plans for a new network and offers him some kind of exclusive deal he might take it, but he won’t be in the thick of actually trying to make it happen.  Fundamentally, he is too lazy to accomplish anything real.

  201. 201.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Kent: It’s a mistranscription. I was curious enough about it that I listened to the clip. What Huckabee actually said was “on their block and in their yard.” It’s very clear on the tape; the transcriber just messed up.

  204. 204.

    Kay

    Holly Otterbein
    @hollyotterbein
    · 1h
    On a call today held by President Trump’s campaign, GOP Rep. Mike Kelly said Trump is polling in his district in northwestern Pennsylvania with a lead over Biden of “9, 10 percent. … I feel very strong about what’s going on.”
    In 2016, Trump won the district by 20 points.

    That’s the best they can do in a call by the campaign.
    He’s -10 from ’16.

  205. 205.

    germy

    When asked in a new interview what he would do differently if he got a “mulligan” or a “do-over” on his Covid response, President Trump told Sinclair broadcasting, “not much.”

    — Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) October 21, 2020

  206. 206.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Kay: “Focus on all the things Trump has made worse and Trump wins in a landslide” is a really interesting approach. Let’s see if it pays off for them.

  208. 208.

    Kent

    @trnc:@Kent: I never understood why Tipper Gore got so much grief for wanting the same kind of warning on records that movies had for a few decades.

    Did you forget about the V-Chip?

    And how much time and effort they went through to make us pay for a button on your remote so that you could keep your kids from watching the Sopranos?

  209. 209.

    Immanentize

    @JPL: Like some have said — looks like IV hands with collapsed veins.  I really don’t know what injuries ventilators cause on the face, if any.  But he has been off camera quite a bit lately.

  210. 210.

    Kent

    @SiubhanDuinne:@Kent: It’s a mistranscription. I was curious enough about it that I listened to the clip. What Huckabee actually said was “on their block and in their yard.” It’s very clear on the tape; the transcriber just messed up.

    Oh…so things like lawn darts, dangerous pesticides, and safety guards on lawnmowers then?

    Hah.

  211. 211.

    Kay

    @MisterForkbeard:

    When he loses, though, that will be the consensus. That he wasted the whole summer on law n order and then wasted the fall on weird, disjointed attacks on individuals. The Huckster is just out early with it.

  212. 212.

    PPCLI

    @zhena gogolia: Though normally when I think of Trump, I think of Smerdyakov. Except a much stupider version.

    Though admittedly, as far as I know, Trump’s mother’s odor was not at all disagreeable.

  213. 213.

    Roger Moore

    @Kay:

    They care about their healthcare costs. They care about their taxes. They care about safety in their neighborhood on their block and in their art. Focus on that and he wins the election by a landslide

    The Republicans’ problem is that they can’t focus on those things because they don’t have a fucking clue about what to do about them, and they’ve lost credibility with the voters on those issues.  They have to talk about anything but the issues because they’re losing hard on the issues.

  214. 214.

    James E Powell

    @trnc:

    I never understood why Tipper Gore got so much grief for wanting the same kind of warning on records that movies had for a few decades.

    Because what she proposed was not only stupid & pointless, but contributed to and encouraged the witch hunt that had people suing bands & convicting kids who liked metal bands for crimes they did not commit.

  217. 217.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @cckids:

    One thing I loved was the way Joe said “We’re going to be all right. I promise you.”  Not you’re gonna be all right. We. With that one word, he was right there with the kid, shouldering some of his pain.

  219. 219.

    LuciaMia

    @Kent:

    They care about safety in their neighborhood on their block and in their art.

    In their art? Yeah, that puzzled me too. Maybe hes referring to Rudy’s scene in the new Borat movie?

  220. 220.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @James E Powell: What do you guys think?

    I think the first time they cut off his mike** he starts shouting incoherently & comes down off the podium & tries to bullrush his opponent, hoping Joe’ll back away & “look weak.” (My devoutest hope is that Papaya Pinochet trips over his own jacked-up shoes & faceplants before a nationwide audience.)

    ** If the over/under on that is more than 10 minutes in, I’m taking the under & betting the limit

  222. 222.

    Woodrow/asim

    @Kent:

    Well, that’s basically OANN — already right of Fox News, and even had rumors in May that Trump Junior was buying a stake.

    That said, I think it’s more a risk that Trump et al. will just try to make a Government in exile, of sorts. Think Tea Party x1000, fueling Trump-esqe candidates from friendly media, esp. when the reality of Biden not fixing everything kicks in.

    Even without Trump — hell, even if the GOP tries to repudiate its White Supremacy situation —  the temptation to follow in his footsteps will be strong as hell, I fear.

  223. 223.

    germy

    "The Republicans have become a party that celebrates rulebreaking, because they have come to see rulebreaking as a show of strength. Their moral compass, inverted by their single-minded pursuit of self-interest, now points south."https://t.co/s6UwHjdwn8

    — Quark the Bird (@Gracklefeet) October 18, 2020

  224. 224.

    HRA

    As today is a special day for me personally and I had vowed to not work towards where I make sure I school some fools, I am now going to acknowledge every day has to be worked on to save ourselves and the country. I appreciate all I read here from you.

  225. 225.

    Baud

    @Kent:

    @SiubhanDuinne:@Kent: It’s a mistranscription. I was curious enough about it that I listened to the clip. What Huckabee actually said was “on their block and in their yard.” It’s very clear on the tape; the transcriber just messed up.

    Oh…so things like lawn darts, dangerous pesticides, and safety guards on lawnmowers then?

    Hah.

    Milkshakes.  They have the unfortunate side effect of bringing all the boys to the yard.

  229. 229.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Woodrow/asim:

    Well, that’s basically OANN — already right of Fox News, and even had rumors in May that Trump Junior was buying a stake.

    I was just thinking about that, how that story disappeared. I think hostile foreign gov’ts would see an interest in having a loud trump media presence creating discord and political dysfunction in the US. In fact, I still think that was Putin’s goal in ’16. And now he can probably get MBS to put up the cash.

  230. 230.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @WereBear: Geeze, you people serenading your cats. All our cat gets from me is a “Hi, cat” in passing. And a couple of pats if she deigns to let me pet her.

  233. 233.

    sdhays

    @Uncle Cosmo: comes down off the podium & tries to bullrush his opponent

    But since he can’t actually walk well anymore, he trips and falls flat on his face, and he just starts pounding the ground, screaming like a toddler who wants more ice cream and is overdue for his nap.

  237. 237.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Baud: I don’t watch a lot of his stuff, mostly because it gives me painful wanderlust, especially now, but he’s a big advocate for multiculturalism and awareness and acceptance and good stuff. He did show from or about Iran a few years back– I can’t remember if he went himself or used another journo’s footage and interviews- during one of the McCain-Graham efforts to gin up a war, and it sure seemed like a brushback against the anti-Iranian hysteria in certain quarters. He’s subtle, but you get a sense of his politics.

    He’s also apparently a big advocate of legalizing the pot.

    ETA: @zhena gogolia:

    ETA: missed the “jk”

    me too

  239. 239.

    Kay

    Aaron Blake
    @AaronBlake
    In new answers, Amy Coney Barrett declines to:

    -say whether it’s a crime to vote twice

    -say whether Article II allows Trump to “do whatever I want”

    -comment on Trump saying a judge’s heritage=bias

    -say whether murder on federal land is a federal crime

    She’s ridiculous. She has a very thin record and she refuses to reveal anything at all to the public.
    This phony ran a cynical campaign to use her religion and her family to shield herself from ANY questions about her qualifications or views, and she got away with it.
    It’s really arrogant and entitled.

  241. 241.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Kay: Nah. I think they’re going to make the case that he was just swamped by COVID and that any president would have done about the same or worse. I mean, look at how Biden hasn’t cured COVID yet!

    They’re going to go with minimal repudiation.

  243. 243.

    BC in Illinois

    @PST:

    “Enfin on respire.” (At last, one breathes!)

    This will be the headline in Le Monde on November 5th.

  246. 246.

    Kent

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:I was just thinking about that, how that story disappeared. I think hostile foreign gov’ts would see an interest in having a loud trump media presence creating discord and political dysfunction in the US. In fact, I still think that was Putin’s goal in ’16. And now he can probably get MBS to put up the cash.

    Yep, Trump is the Russian investment that keeps on giving.  Why wouldn’t Putin funnel a couple hundred million into a new megaphone for Trump to continue with the chaos that has fucked this country for the past 4 years.  Win-win.

  249. 249.

    Jeffro

    @Kay:“Yeah, It is a mistake,” Huckabee flatly answered. “Because the average person doesn’t understand it. It’s too complicated.

    So very hard to understand a bogus laptop with bogus emails, and that it’s being used to try and frame a vice president’s son.  Couldn’t POSSIBLY wrap our heads around all that… (eyeroll)

  251. 251.

    jonas

    @Kent: The long game was always the creation of a media empire where Trump could reprise his old Apprentice role (wealthy, successful businessman, in stark contrast to reality) and slag Obama and Hillary 24/7 to make himself feel like a big man. That’s undoubtedly what he’ll be doing once he’s out of the WH.

  252. 252.

    Jeffro

    @Baud:I’m never going to get any work done ever again, am I?

    LOL I was just thinking the same thing.

    Nov 4th my productivity is going to shoot up by something like 5000%.  No wait, I’ll be too hung over to move.  Nov 5th!

  253. 253.

    Ken

    @Gravenstone:  I think he’s inartfully (snerk) saying that people don’t want to be confronted by art that offends their tender sensibilities.

    As a Christian, Huckabee is surely aware of Jesus’ instructions for when your eye offends you.

  255. 255.

    cckids

    @Uncle Cosmo: Well, yes. I remember the 2016 R convention; Tiffany had her moment to try to humanize Trump. She told about the day a close friend killed themselves, and “my father . . . took the time . . . to call me.”  That was her “he’s a wonderful guy” story. On a horrifying, tragic day in her life, her father made a phone call.  Jesus wept.

  256. 256.

    Ken

    @germy: Tom Lehrer, aged 92, has decided to put all his lyrics and sheet music into the public domain

    Excellent news, I don’t have to feel guilty about that thick stack of photocopies.  It’s remarkable (and a little discouraging) how much of his music remains topical, and I don’t just mean the songs he wrote for The Electric Company.

  258. 258.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @germy: Their so-called attacks on Biden have the same inverted quality: He’ll listen to the scientists. He’s like Mr Rogers. His texts to his son are loving and supportive. They think all those things are bad. It’s just bizarre.

  259. 259.

    Jeffro

    @Roger Moore:The Republicans’ problem is that they can’t focus on those things because they don’t have a fucking clue about what to do about them, and they’ve lost credibility with the voters on those issues.  They have to talk about anything but the issues because they’re losing hard on the issues.

    A-men.

    Most of the country wants taxes raised on the rich.  Most of the country now supports the ACA – expanding it, even.  Most of the country wants real action on climate change.  etc etc etc.

    Conservatives are so rabid that they don’t even realize

    • the ACA is a conservative way to extend health care to more citizens
    • there are market-based ways to address climate change
    • and so on

    They’re just so far gone with the Randism and racism, it’s unbelievable.

  260. 260.

    Brachiator

    @Jeffro:

    @Kay:“Yeah, It is a mistake,” Huckabee flatly answered. “Because the average person doesn’t understand it. It’s too complicated.

    So very hard to understand a bogus laptop with bogus emails, and that it’s being used to try and frame a vice president’s son.  Couldn’t POSSIBLY wrap our heads around all that… (eyeroll)

    Man, this shit gets tiresome. We’ve got all these stories about a deep dive into Hunter Biden’s laptop to look for corruption. Meanwhile, Trump Family Corruption, Featuring the Grifter Trio Don jr, Ivanka and Eric, and Guest Starring Zombie Young Jared goes on right out in the open.

    There ain’t nothing complicated or even significant about this crap.

    Oh yeah. And sanctimonious dopes who want to drone on about how political figures should prevent their grown ass children from trying to profit from the family name need to hunt down an old can of Billy (Carter) Beer and stick it where the sun don’t shine.

    How many days until November 3?

     

  263. 263.

    Jeffro

    @Brachiator: I…agree with you?  I think?

    My comment was about how many GOP political/media figures are backing away from the Hunter Biden thing, and they seem to have settled on the very lame, “It’s too complicated” as their excuse.  They can’t just come out and say, “it’s complete bullshit”, because trumpov’s guy Rudy G is behind it, and trumpov’s trying to make hay out of it, and so if they call it bullshit, trumpov will mean-tweet at them.  Or something.

    Anyway, it’s too late for all of them.  Blue Wave II is already on the way.

  264. 264.

    Kay

    @MisterForkbeard:

    Yes it’s real and she hasn’t answered anything. This was a deliberate, cynical campaign to hide information from the public which is (of course) dishonest, making Barrett a complete phony.

  265. 265.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @zhena gogolia: Agreed.  Great video, but weird commentary.

    The Tweeter also wrote “We did this in Obama ’08 and kind of perfected it for Bernie 2016. More often than not, these are the pieces that inspire, and that you remember — shared from voices you trust.” in the thread.

    So it sounds like they DIDN’T do this for Hillary, which also rubs me the wrong way, considering if there was ever a candidate who could have used that sort of support to fight a 30-year disinformation/smear campaign it was Sec. Clinton.

  266. 266.

    Brachiator

    @Ken:

    @germy: Tom Lehrer, aged 92, has decided to put all his lyrics and sheet music into the public domain

    I cannot express how cool this is. Just a wonderful gesture. And it is good to know that Lehrer is still with us.

    Excellent news, I don’t have to feel guilty about that thick stack of photocopies.  It’s remarkable (and a little discouraging) how much of his music remains topical, and I don’t just mean the songs he wrote for The Electric Company.

    I did not know that he wrote songs for that show. My younger brother had issues concentrating at school and The Electric Company helped make learning fun and comprehensible. I would watch episodes with him to provide a little support.

     

     

  267. 267.

    Brachiator

    @Jeffro:

    My comment was about how many GOP political/media figures are backing away from the Hunter Biden thing, and they seem to have settled on the very lame, “It’s too complicated” as their excuse. They can’t just come out and say, “it’s complete bullshit”,

    Totally agree. But the GOP have been stuck in this mode since Trump was elected. Trump’s goons go off the deep end with some bullshit and the rest of the GOP pretend in various ways that they don’t know what’s going on.

    Anyway, it’s too late for all of them. Blue Wave II is already on the way.

    I certainly hope so.

    And Trump doesn’t seem to have many more tricks left. I expect to see him try the Hunter maneuver during the debate and maybe try to preview some last minute shit there or at an upcoming rally.

  268. 268.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Keith P.: IIRC she claimed she was given no advice on how much to take so she ate a Hershey bar sized edible and was like, trippin’ balls man! all alone in her hotel room, frightened and paranoid. It wasn’t entirely clear if she was trying to do her own version of Dave’s not here or a Mrs Grundy-ish warning about the evils of legal pot. My hunch was the latter.

    Then the kid who sold it to her told Denver media that he recognized her and remembered her and they went over how much THC was in it and how she should start slow, etc. Then it came out that she had at least one friend with her. It was overall incredibly dishonest, but the Village reaction was, “Oh, that Maureen! She’s a caution!”

  269. 269.

    Another Scott

    @MisterForkbeard: It’s against federal law for a judicial nominee to answer questions in writing.  It says so right there in the 1st Amendment.

    HTH!!!!11ONE

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  271. 271.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @sdhays: Um, in the post you replied to, what part of

    My devoutest hope is that Papaya Pinochet trips over his own jacked-up shoes & faceplants before a nationwide audience

    did you happen to miss?

  272. 272.

    Galahad Threepwood

    Re the tweet shown at the top of this post:  How much of this sense that “the election will be closer than the polls indicate” would be present if the race were reversed?  Say Trump was ahead by the margins Biden is at this point in the race–would there be a lot of Republicans saying, “Man, I just don’t know, the election could still be a crapshoot”?  I really don’t think so.

    I realize 2016 scared everyone, and is giving folks the whim-whams this time around, but the Trump campaign seems to be self-destructing in front of us–he just lost his shit on 60 Minutes, of all places–and I don’t believe you can keep running a shambolic operation that appeals to one specific slice of the electorate and keep scraping out narrow wins.  Maybe in a low-turnout election, but this doesn’t look like one of those.  I understand reserving judgment, and I’m holding my breath if I’m being honest, but on the face of it, it seems like a lot of this anxiety is reflecting back on the last election, and not looking at the current state of THIS election.

  273. 273.

    planetjanet

    @Galahad Threepwood: I am holding my breath, because the with all the horror that has been this administration, it is unbelievable that it would be at all close .  He should be getting no more than 27%.

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