Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The world has changed, and neither one recognizes it.

Come on, man.

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

America is going up in flames. The NYTimes fawns over MAGA celebrities. No longer a real newspaper.

We can show the world that autocracy can be defeated.

Giving up is unforgivable.

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

Relentless negativity is not a sign that you are more realistic.

Live so that if you miss a day of work people aren’t hoping you’re dead.

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

People are weird.

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

I would try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

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

These are not very smart people, and things got out of hand.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

Consistently wrong since 2002

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

The republican ‘Pastor’ of the House is an odious authoritarian little creep.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

Every decision we make has lots of baggage with it, known or unknown.

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

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

Let me file that under fuck it.

You are here: Home / Politics / domestic terrorists / “Outside Agitators”: It Was Right-Wing Boogaloo Bois That Burned That Minneapolis Police Station

“Outside Agitators”: It Was Right-Wing Boogaloo Bois That Burned That Minneapolis Police Station

by | 267 Comments

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The Minneapolis Star-Tribune:

… A sworn affidavit by the FBI underlying the complaint reveals new details about a far-right anti-government group’s coordinated role in the violence that roiled through civil unrest over Floyd’s death while in police custody.

Ivan Harrison Hunter, a 26-year-old from Boerne, Texas, is charged with one count of interstate travel to incite a riot for his alleged role in ramping up violence during the protests in Minneapolis on May 27 and 28. According to charges, Hunter, wearing a skull mask and tactical gear, shot 13 rounds at the south Minneapolis police headquarters while people were inside. He also looted and helped set the building ablaze, according to the complaint, which was filed Monday under seal.

Unrest flared throughout Minneapolis following Floyd’s death, which was captured on a bystander’s cellphone video, causing Gov. Tim Walz to activate the Minnesota National Guard. As police clashed with protesters, Hunter and other members of the Boogaloo Bois discussed in private Facebook messages their plans to travel to Minneapolis and rally at the Cub Foods across from the third precinct, according to federal court documents. One of the people Hunter coordinated with posted publicly to social media: “Lock and load boys. Boog flags are in the air, and the national network is going off,” the complaint states.

Two hours after the police precinct was set on fire, Hunter texted with another Boogaloo member in California, a man named Steven Carrillo.

“Go for police buildings,” Hunter told Carrillo, according to charging documents.

“I did better lol,” he replied. A few hours earlier, Carrillo had killed a Federal Protective Services Officer in Oakland, Calif., according to criminal charges filed against him in California…

How is it all these ‘lone wolf’ domestic terrorists are so publicly in contact with each other?

And where is the Attorney-General?

Reader Interactions

267Comments

  6. 6.

    geg6

    These fuckers need taken down.  If Doug Jones loses, I hope Biden appoints him AG.  He’ll get them but good.

  8. 8.

    pat

    I could have predicted this at the time, but did anyone ask me??  Nooooo..

    I also predicted a surge in covid cases in WI when the bars opened and the colleges opened.

    I am now predicting a third, fourth and fifth surge in the next four to sixth months.

    You heard it here first…

  9. 9.

    scav

    I’d rather enjoy seeing these reports and evidence chains played on a loop to strapped down blue line and blue lives supporters until they’re blue in the face.

  10. 10.

    RaflW

    The strange ‘umbrella man‘ who helped incite the looting before the 3rd burned still hasn’t been apprehend. It seemed like there was a strong lead at one point, but it’s mostly gone silent. Not as critical as getting the ‘Boogs’, but I want that guy found and prosecuted. I think he was a cop, ex-cop, or had a military background based on how cool and focused he was on the hit and run.

  11. 11.

    Ohio Mom

    Peale @5: I believe the umbrella man was identified but was he charged? We will have to Google.

  12. 12.

    Tony Jay

    Damn, those insidious Antifa are so devious that they’re infiltrating salt-of-the-earth, grass-roots patriotic militia groups to launch these false-flag attacks.

    Someone really should do something! Bill Barr, you’re America’s only hope. /s

  13. 13.

    RaflW

    @Ohio Mom: Just commenting above about it. Very little news since the late June flurry of info about a possible suspect. StarTrib reporter in early Sept claimed that charges could still happen (emphasis added).

    Local authorities have opened investigations into several racially motivated incidents, like the case of the “Umbrella Man,” who police believe has ties to the Hell’s Angels and Aryan Cowboy Brotherhood motorcycle gangs and was seeking to incite racial tension when he was recorded smashing out the windows of an auto-parts store that later went up in flames. The case could wind up in federal jurisdiction.

  14. 14.

    Goku (Amerikan Baka)

    From the US Elections Project Early Voting

    In-Person Votes by Party Registration

    Reporting states with party registration data: CO, FL, KS, KY, LA, MD, NC, NM, NV, SD

    Democrats

    1,743,363

    38.8

    Republicans

    1,763,545

    39.2

    Minor

    26,69 50.6

    No Party Affiliation

    962,415

    21.4

    TOTAL

    4,496,018

    100.0

    Should I be concerned about this? Republicans are surpassing Dems in-person early voting in the above states. They include FL and NC

  15. 15.

    Ohio Mom

    RaflW: Yeah, that’s what I found out googling just now.

    One of my perennial questions is, What percent of crimes do police actually solve? I’m guessing not very many. I think of them as underachievers at best.

    Here they have video evidence of unargueable property crime and eye witnesses, and no follow-through.

  17. 17.

    John Revolta

    DEEP STAKE FATE NEWS!!

    I hear Rushbo has gone full-on QAnon for his final act. That’s just the kind of superspreader event the Q looneys need. They’re gonna have a member in Congress soon too. Wheee!

  26. 26.

    Goku (Amerikan Baka)

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    @Baud:

    I guess I’m just worried this is early evidence that they’re more fired up to vote, at least in those states. I’m probably worrying over nothing I admit and it is too early to tell

    ETA: and you’re right that there are lot of red states on that list too

  29. 29.

    piratedan

    you should also be aware that there’s no legit 3rd party push this year and note the number of stories and polling that continue to show GOP voters no longer enamored with the top of their ticket.

    So you have to ask yourself, are the polls bullshit?

    Is the continuous reporting showing cranky GOP voters bullshit?

    all this talks about is who voted, not who they voted for.

  30. 30.

    VeniceRiley

    @Goku (Amerikan Baka):
    Returned Mail Ballots by Party Registration
    Reporting states with party registration data: CA, CO, CT, FL, IA, KS, KY, MD, ME, NC, NE, NJ, NM, NV, OK, OR, PA, SD
    Party
    Returned Ballots
    Freq. Distribution
    Requested Ballots
    Return Rate
    Democrats
    10,205,458
    52.9
    23,457,957
    43.5
    Republicans
    4,667,623
    24.2
    13,360,683
    34.9
    Minor
    118,388
    0.6
    365,351
    32.4
    No Party Affiliation
    4,292,756
    22.3
    15,161,310
    28.3
    TOTAL
    19,284,225
    100.0
    52,345,301
    36.8

     

    The D advantage is in the vote by mail tab, not the in person tab.

  31. 31.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    @Goku (Amerikan Baka):

    Take this paper bag and breathe into it for a while. You’ve got a difference of 20,000 R>D voters out of 3.5 million, and there’s another almost a million with no party affiliation. And, as somebody pointed out, a lot of these are red states anyway. I don’t think there’s cause for worry.

  35. 35.

    Bill Arnold

    @Goku (Amerikan Baka):

    I’m probably worrying over nothing I admit and it is too early to tell

    Another effect that will be real (probably small, but I do not know) is that there are voters who do not vote the party they are registered as, and this may skew towards Democrats in this election.
    My father was registered Republican all his life, but started voting Democrat (mostly, with some exceptions in local races) in 1992.
    My brother, who I don’t talk politics with at all, I thought was a Republican voter, but he let slip in a recent call that he’s still a registered Republican but is thoroughly disgusted with them and votes against them lately.

  36. 36.

    hells littlest angel

    @Goku (Amerikan Baka): Without breakdowns by individual state, it’s virtually meaningless data. It’s just the sum of ten states, the names of which could have been pulled out of a hat.

  38. 38.

    206inKY

    @RaflW: I agree. I think the initial rumors identifying him as a St Paul police office were correct, and they circled the wagons with that cell phone location data supposedly placing him in St Paul. That just means his cell phone was left at home while he went on a false flag crime spree. This biker gang tip sounds like a false lead to draw attention from that guy. I remember the photo evidence of his nose, eyebrows, bone structure, height, gait, and bearing all being extremely convincing.

  40. 40.

    badgirl

    NC is also setting records for early voting numbers.  36.88% of registered voters have already voted as of yesterday.

  42. 42.

    JoyceH

    There was a guy right behind Trump at the Villages rally wearing a Proud Boys cap and flashing white power signs. Doesn’t the campaign vet the folks who will be on camera, for attire at least?

  46. 46.

    geg6

    @Goku (Amerikan Baka):

    Read today that in PA, something like 70% of requested mail in ballots were Dems.  Of those Dems, 50% have already turned in their ballots and they were accepted.  Two of those from my own home.  Don’t start freaking out.

  50. 50.

    Roger Moore

    @JoyceH:

    There was a guy right behind Trump at the Villages rally wearing a Proud Boys cap and flashing white power signs. Doesn’t the campaign vet the folks who will be on camera, for attire at least?

    Would it make you happier to find out that they did, and they were fine with the guy being there?  I’m not saying that’s true, but I wouldn’t be the tiniest bit surprised.

  54. 54.

    WaterGirl

    @Omnes Omnibus: I would bet that there is very little overlap between the people who worry here the most and people who are volunteering their time working on the election in some way.

    I’m not judging, because sometimes I worry, too.

    But putting in time on for a candidate or voter turnout or whatever is the best antidote to worry.

  55. 55.

    Ohio Mom

    Jay @25: Thanks.

    I’m going to round down a bit because we know they don’t always get the right person (see for example, The Innocence Project).

    So these numbers say, police, at best, solve around half of the big violent crimes, and between 13-18% of various sorts of thefts.

    Can you imagine if Fire only put out half the fires? The EMS only delivered half of their patients alive?

  57. 57.

    randy khan

    @WaterGirl: 

    On McConnell, friends who are on blood thinners think he may well be on blood thinners. He’s never said he’s on blood thinners, and his heart surgery was eons ago, so unless he has stents there’s probably no related reason for him to be taking them. But he’s never disclosed that he’s taking them.

  58. 58.

    sanjeevs

    From a FT piece on Dems push in Texas

    Republicans in the state take the threat seriously. Steve Munisteri, former head of the Texas Republican party, says: “We have to treat it like the largest competitive state in the union. Democrats are pouring a lot of money into the state, but Republicans are not.” Yet the former Trump White House official, who is advising Cornyn in his race, says the Republican National Committee is convinced that “Texas is pretty solid” for them, even if he thinks the president is only “slightly ahead”.

    Such optimism stems from the fact that Democrats have long fared badly in Texas. The south-western state is critical due to its 38 electoral college votes — the second-highest after California — but no Democratic presidential candidate has won there since Jimmy Carter in 1976. It has not elected a Democratic senator since 1988 or governor since 1990.

    Over the past two decades, Republicans have also held sway over the redistricting of congressional seats that follows each US census. This is partly due to their majority hold on the Texas House of Representatives since 2002, after more than a century of Democratic domination. In 2003 and 2013, Texas congressional districts were redrawn in a way that helped Republicans control a large majority of the state’s 36 congressional seats.

    Whatever the result, the Democrats will probably struggle to make a large dent in the 22-13 advantage that the Texas Republicans have in the US House of Representatives, because of the way districts are drawn. Their main target, however, is the Texas House of Representatives. Having flipped 12 seats out of its 150 in 2018, Democrats need just nine more to win the majority.

    Beto O’Rourke, former presidential candidate O’Rourke is heavily involved in these campaigns. After withdrawing from the presidential contest, he formed a group called Powered by People that is mobilising Democrats to vote in the state House races. For him, these are the contests that matter most in the long term.

    Control of the state legislature would give Democrats more influence over the next redistricting, which will see Texas gain more congressional seats because of its expanding population. The state will also secure a corresponding increase in its electoral college votes, making it even more important in future presidential races.

    “My entire focus for this past year, with every breath in my body and every waking minute of the day, has been on the state House,” O’Rourke tells me on the phone after returning from two days campaigning in north Texas. “There’s nothing more important for the future of this country.”

    As the centre of the US oil industry, Houston had been a magnet for white workers. But that trend halted abruptly after 1982 when oil prices collapsed. This helped turn it into one of the cheapest big cities in America, as Stephen Klineberg, a Rice University expert on state demographic trends, explains. Today, it is the poster child for US demographic change, as younger and more ethnically diverse Texans — some born in the state and others from elsewhere — overtake older, more conservative voters. As Klineberg puts it: “This southern city, which was dominated and controlled by white men, is now the most ethnically diverse city in the country.”

    Harris County, home to Houston and the third most populous county in the US, was 63 per cent “Anglo” in 1980, according to Klineberg. Black people made up one-fifth of the population, Hispanic people 16 per cent and Asian people 2 per cent. According to the 2010 census, Hispanic Texans were the largest ethnic group at 41 per cent, while the percentage of white people almost halved. That trend will only have continued when the 2020 census results are released.

    Yet while the demographic trend favours Democrats, the party has not been able to convert that into big national victories. One reason that they have not always been able to capitalise on population changes is that voter turnout in Texas is frequently the worst in the country. Democrats attribute that to voter suppression, but some say the party also has to take some of the blame.

    As Hurtado has campaigned over the past two years, she has frequently heard the same refrain: “I’ve lived here for 20 or 30 years and nobody has asked for my vote.” She believes O’Rourke started to change that dynamic in 2017 by travelling to all 254 counties in Texas to reach voters, many of whom had long been ignored. “I started seeing people I had never seen in my life going to political events,” Hurtado says. “Younger folk were excited because he was relatable.”

    Last week, O’Rourke organised a virtual phone bank with Oprah Winfrey which reached 2.9 million Texans over 24 hours. He says other groups, such as the Texas Organizing Project, which is working to get disengaged voters in communities of colour to vote, have also made a huge difference. After our call, he texts me a link to a video of Winfrey calling a man named Christian who exclaims “holy smoke!” before telling her that he is going to vote at 8am the next day — the first day of Texas’s early voting.

    That same day, Harris County, which Hillary Clinton won in 2016, saw record turnout. For O’Rourke this underscores an often-ignored point about the 2020 race. He says the focus on whether Biden can win back the white rust-belt voters who went for Trump overlooks a much bigger story. “The real story is that you’ve got all these amazing voters in communities of colour who are showing up in record numbers in what had been the lowest voter turnout state in the country, and one that had to contend with the worst voter suppression laws in the country,” O’Rourke says. “That’s what is so exciting about this moment.”

    Another group trying to get Texans to the polls is Voto Latino, the biggest Hispanic voter registration group in the US, which is spending $8m-$10m in the state. Illustrating their potential voting power, Klineberg told me that 51 per cent of Harris County residents under the age of 20 were Latino. Voto Latino’s president, María Teresa Kumar, says Texas is “in play” because young Hispanics are angry at Republicans over their immigration stance.

    “You have a slew of candidates who are young and hungry and grassroots activists who are mobilising,” she says, adding that her group ended up registering 267,000 Texans, far above their goal of 190,000. Kumar says many Latinos are reacting to a Texas anti-immigrant law passed in 2017 that echoes a move in California in 1994 to deny public benefits to illegal immigrants. Pete Wilson, the California Republican governor at the time, attached himself to Proposition 187. It passed and he won re-election, but the measure energised Latino voters and crippled the Republican party, which has not won the state in a presidential race since 1988. Kumar, who grew up in California, says: “Texas is Pete Wilson on steroids.”

    Scott Braddock, editor of Quorum Report, a Texas politics newsletter, says the current situation reminds him of the Republican effort in 2002 to win the state House. “It’s that aggressive,” he says. But it’s also a sign of how big a challenge it will be. “A majority victory isn’t possible unless they win in some of those unexpected places,” says Braddock.
    The Texas Democratic party is targeting 22 Texas House districts — nine where O’Rourke beat Cruz and 13 where he lost with a margin of less than 10 points. In one district that is home to the Fort Hood military base, Keke Williams, a black retired army captain, is trying to oust Brad Buckley. Just before my call with O’Rourke, I read that Williams said she had raised more than $330,000 in seven weeks. O’Rourke says it is “phenomenal” that the veteran has raised so much money in an area that “is not a liberal bastion”.

  59. 59.

    WaterGirl

    @Goku (Amerikan Baka):

    We did it.

    485 days after the first presidential primary debate of the cycle, back in the simpler time that was 2019, we’ve made it here. Election Day is only 11 days away.

    If you’ve already voted, we know it can be tempting to want to fast-forward to the night of November 3 so we can just find out how this all turns out.

    But these final days are so important we can’t sit them out.

    We’re in the final phase of the election cycle—the “Get Out the Vote” period—when campaigns mobilize all their resources and volunteers to turn out their supporters. These last two weekends are the biggest and most important of the entire race.

    So we wanted to make it as easy as possible for you to get involved. Our updated Vote Save America volunteer hub has ways for you to get involved in person or from anywhere.
    VOLUNTEER
    Tomorrow is the first-ever Vote Early Day, and we’re celebrating by helping make sure voters in key battleground states know their early voting options and get out to vote as soon as possible. If you have an hour or two to spare, can you sign up for a shift tomorrow?

    To make it super easy for you, we’re going to be co-hosting a Vote Save America “virtual staging location,” where you can stop by and make calls to swing state voters with our team. We’ll have experienced organizers on hand to train you and support you throughout your volunteer shift.
    SIGN UP 10/24 OR 10/25
    SIGN UP FOR 10/25 – SPANISH LANGUAGE
    We’ll also have shifts available next weekend all the way through when polls close on November 3.

    Thanks for doing your part,

    Vote Save America
  61. 61.

    tokyokie

    @VeniceRiley: In Texas, where there basically isn’t vote-by-mail, early voting through yesterday was already 70% of the total vote from 2016. It’s apparently skewed heavily toward Democrats, and I believe that this coming Sunday is when black congregations are loaded into church buses and taken to the polls. So that’s likely to skew things even more toward the Democrats.

  63. 63.

    Keith P.

    @randy khan: I’ve been on blood thinners, but never had bruising that bad.  Hell, I’ve had *four* AV fistula surgeries on my arms, and I’ve never had bruising that bad.

  64. 64.

    debbie

    @randy khan:

    Blood thinners may be an aggravating factor, but they’re not the sole cause. I have taken them since 1997 and have bruised very badly from time to time, but not like that. In fact, once when down with the flu, I neglected to eat like I’m supposed to and ended up with an INR high enough that the doctor ordered me to go to the ER. ( I didn’t.) I had not bruised any more than normal.

    Someone screwed up his IV. Why he needed an IV is the issue.

  65. 65.

    Kent

    If Biden wins he needs to take off the fucking gloves with these folks and get serious about anti-terrorism on the domestic level.

    Obama was pretty kid gloves for a variety of reasons, partly because there was so much pushback from the GOP Congress and partly because he had a fucking GOP FBI director.

    Clinton was gunshy because he inherited the whole Waco David Koresh Fiasco his first month in office.  Janet Reno basically had that turd land on her plate her first day in office and they were shy about going against right wing militant groups for a decade after.

    Biden needs appoint some people to kick ass and take names.

  67. 67.

    japa21

    @geg6: First of all, freaking out is what Goku does. And that isn’t a criticism.  He just expresses out loud concerns a lot of us feel.

    Secondly, the assumption is that a person who is registered as a Republican in a state is an automatic Trump vote. That is not an accurate assumption.

  69. 69.

    catclub

    @Goku (Amerikan Baka): I would say not to worry.

     

    you have GOP(ish to extreme)  FL, KS, KY, LA, SD

     

    and Blue CO,  MD, NC, NM, NV,

    so the big one is florida. also just because republicans are voting early, not all of them are voting for Trump.

  73. 73.

    Ohio Mom

    randy khan: there are a number of conditions for which blood thinners are prescribed. I know one of them is Afib, because my aunt took them for that. Though she never bruised like that!

  75. 75.

    Calouste

    @NotMax: McConnell is not a private citizen. I’ll stop speculating about his health when he resigns from the Senate and is no longer an elected official. As long as he is an elected official, voters have the right to know if and for how long he can perform his job.

  78. 78.

    debbie

    @Calouste:

    He celebrated when RBG died. Enough reason for me to keep it up. Relatedly, my RBG dissent pin showed up today. Better late than never.

  82. 82.

    Ohio Mom

    Jay @80: The last I looked, in Cincinnati, police were a bit over a quarter of the budget, and fire/EMS another quarter (many more ambulance than fire runs). But it is a big city with many departments and programs that smaller jurisdictions might not have.

    Your point stands, police account for a lot of state and local government spending. Considering how ineffective they can be, it might be time to, I dunno, defund them?

  83. 83.

    FlyingToaster

    @WaterGirl:

    I believe that Barr has COVID and that they are keeping it quiet.

    That looks a lot more like post-Covid vascular problems.  If he had the ‘rona last May and now is on meds for his fall (broke his shoulder over the summer, IIRC), it would explain a lot.  Trying to find a vein and resorting to the damaged vessels in the hands is, well, dire.  Like “should he be in the Senate at all” dire.

  85. 85.

    SixStringFanatic

    @WaterGirl: Bill Barr was just in Indianapolis yesterday.  I don’t think he has COVID, I think he’s keeping his head down as much as he can.  They can all see the writing on the wall, that this campaign is likely to lose. if that happens, Barr knows his hands are already dirty.  Might be he’s now concerned with keeping as much additional dirt off of them as is possible.

  87. 87.

    LuciaMia

    @Delk: Im always amused by this ploy. Bump it up for a week so he can claim ‘NY Times best seller!’ (while disdaining the NYT.) In another couple weeks itll be down to 33,000 in Amazon books.

  89. 89.

    planetjanet

    There was a difficult conversation I had with a friend of mine on Facebook who had posted something that was somewhat insensitive, along the lines of All Lives Matter.  I really don’t like conflict, but felt I needed to say something.  Her husband is a police officer.  I offered a different view with compassion and kindness.  She reacted as if I had called her a racist and I assured her that I knew she harbored no ill intent, which I why I needed to share with her.  Her son jumped on the post about how police face danger every day and commit suicide a high rates and pointed to the killing of the officer in Oakland.  I did not engage with him and I don’t know him directly and felt it was not my place.  But I cared for my friend.  Now to find out that the Oakland killing was by anti-government white supremacists just gives me chills.

  90. 90.

    raven

    In another well-known case, a man nicknamed “Tommy the Traveler” visited numerous New York State colleges, posing as a radical member of Students for a Democratic Society. He encouraged acolytes to kidnap a congressman and offered training in Molotov cocktails. Two students at Hobart College acted on his suggestions and firebombed the campus ROTC building. Eventually it came out that his full name was Tommy Tongyai, and he had worked both for local police and the FBI.

  91. 91.

    Mary G

    New coronavirus cases today in the US (per WaPo) are 82,670. Highest it’s ever been! We’re #1.

  92. 92.

    Kent

    @Mary G:New coronavirus cases today in the US (per WaPo) are 82,670. Highest it’s ever been! We’re #1.

    India was about to catch us but no more.  The red states came through for us and left India in the dust

    My big question is how this is going to affect in-person voting in places like Wisconsin and PA that are getting really hot.

  94. 94.

    Nelle

    @japa21: I’m in a smallish neighborhood where, in warm weather, people walk in the evenings and have short, friendly chats.  At least they R registered neighbors have told me they won’t be voting for 45.  A much older Republican says she is eager to vote for that nice young man named Pete when his turn comes.  I’m not assuming partyregistration means a vote in that column.

  95. 95.

    Kent

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: If they beat us fair and square, then there’s nothing to do except deal with the fact that the country has lost its soul fucking mind.

    No, its soul.  These people aren’t delusional.  They know exactly what they are voting for and why.

  96. 96.

    JoyceH

    @NotMax:

    @JoyceH

    To go OT for a second, have you had a chance to inaugurate the Instant Pot yet?

    Not yet. I’ve received it but haven’t tried it yet. The instruction manual is rather skimpy and unhelpful, so I ordered and have just received Instant Pot For Dummies.

     

  98. 98.

    J R in WV

    @Jay:

    Looks like a scientific survey of crime clearances.

    But I wonder how many are actual perps being arrested, versus people being arrested just because they can. Capiche?

    Random black guy walking a block away? Guy the cops fingered at the line-up, etc.

  100. 100.

    Immanentize

    @Nelle: my Mom, who voted for Hillary, thought both candidates were too old to be President.  This year, she is 90 and just shaking her head.  I think JFK really changed her idea about the value youthful Presidents — that they are good.  “My days are over!” She told me.

  101. 101.

    Kent

    @JoyceH: If you like Chili, that’s a great go-to first recipe.  There are a bazillion instant pot recipies for various types of chili scattered about online.

    I mostly use mine for various soups from chili to chicken noodle to chicken tortilla to split pea to various Indian lentil dals.  I don’t try to do fancy stuff that is easier done on the stove or oven.  Like say lasagna.

  103. 103.

    Just One More Canuck

    @Goku (Amerikan Baka): it seems like you’re looking for something to worry about. Why would early in-person voting be a better indicator than total early voting that includes mail in voting? The total early voting totals (mail in and  in-person) for the states you listed shows 5.2 million for the Democrats and 3.6 million for the Republicans, with the Democrats ahead in every state (including Kansas but South Dakota (the above numbers don’t account for  unaffiliated voters). When I looked, there was no breakdown for Kentucky. South Dakota and Kentucky are really long shots (at best), and it doesn’t mean that the Democrats will win each one, but by not including mail in votes, you make it look a lot bleaker than reality

  105. 105.

    Kent

    @Just One More Canuck: Each state is also unique.  Texas is mostly in-person early voting.  Here in the west coast it’s 100% mail in early voting.  Some states are a blend of the two but most lean one way or the other.

  106. 106.

    Jay

    @J R in WV:

    Defence Lawyers cite a process called “bullshit arrests”. That’s where a Cop in the last half hour of his shift makes a questionable arrest. Because processing the arrest, the person and the evidence takes a lot of time, ( overtime), in places like NYC a Cop can boost their income from $110k a year to $455k,  boosting their defined pension benefits, by the same amount.

    Unfortunately, studies of Police Clearance rates, vary by Department, are based on aggregate arrest, prosecution and conviction rates, ( or the identification of a suspect) and are not tracked over time for false convictions,(etc) then weighted to correct the records.

    It’s also a measure of the “Justice System” where in many take a plea on lesser charges because they can’t fight for justice, or those who rot in jail because they can’t afford either bail or a lawyer.

    Then too, you have the Public Defenders who don’t defend their Clients.

  108. 108.

    J R in WV

    @Jay:

    So, are you agreeing with me, or arguing with me?

    FYI, I’ve been on several criminal juries, my only legal education was from the judge and the lawyers on both sides. For what it’s worth, we indicted everyone the prosecutor presented on the grand jury I served on, and acquitted both defendants in the two murder juries I was on.

    The petit jury cases were, to me, easy decisions. The grand jury meeting was also easy to decide, but far more upsetting driving home than either petit jury.

    But I’m in a very rural county, many people have rarely been outside the county for any reason…

  109. 109.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Jay: I am going to have to disagree with you about public defenders.  99% of the public defenders I have known have chosen that line of work out of dedication and a belief that all people deserve a defense.  Most of them could have easily found higher paying, less stressful jobs in other areas of the law.  To the extent that they are unable to do as well as one would hope it is almost always to case load and lack of resources.  You are talking out of your ass.

    ETA:  I also wouldn’t mind seeing a source for that $455k figure.

  113. 113.

    Sab

    @Jay: Gotta disagree with your comment on public defenders. They are very much under-resourced ( i.e. too big a case load) but they all do care about doing their job. They could all be making a hell of a lot more money in almost any other branch of law

    On the other hand I have seen prosecutors try to bully defendants into pleading out on a felony when the prosecutor hadn’t even read the phuckimg file.

  114. 114.

    jl

    @Immanentize: My mom was older than both Trump and HRC in 2016 by more than a few years. And she kept griping about how old both where. Trigger warning: not an HRC fan but supported her.

    ‘There’s that damned old Trump again.’

    ‘There’s that old Hillary again.’

    When I pointed out that she was quite a bit older than either of them, she responded that she had the common sense not to run for president at her age.

  117. 117.

    J R in WV

    And regarding the Right Wing Boogaloo Boies who fomented riots all over the country, and set on fire a police station, who ever said only left winger agitators can start riots?

    Obviously the Ku Klux Klan has been fomenting criminal behavior for a century and a half~!!!~

    I know,the answer to the question above is Republicans, right wing Republicans, in fact.

  119. 119.

    Sure Lurkalot

    @JoyceH: I downloaded a full length manual for my model on the InstantPot website. You may want to check there for more complete instructions and explanations for all the functions.

    Confession…I bought mine last December and it stayed in my office for 2 months because I was afraid of it. I never had a pressure cooker before and was fixated on explosions and liquid spewing everywhere. I’m glad I overcame my paranoia.

    ETA: On InstantPot.com site, click “support” then “user manuals” and look for your model

  120. 120.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Kent: no, it’s their minds, voting for Trump is voting for two more years of death and misery from the pandemic.

  121. 121.

    WaterGirl

    @sanjeevs: Yep.  That’s what this BJ thermometer is all about.

    These are the 9 TX legislature seats that Beto won in 2018.

    Balloon Juice for Flipping Texas (split between GOP-held districts won by Beto)

    Goal Thermometer

  122. 122.

    WaterGirl

    @Calouste: I agree.

    Plus, McConnell isn’t just a senator, he is in a very key position, and is ramming through a SC justice.  And he’s 11 days away for an election that determines whether he remains a senator.

    He should be disclosing it if there is something wrong, and there most certainly is.  If it were something inconsequential, you can be damn sure he would be disclosing it.

    In my opinion, he doesn’t get a pass on this.

  128. 128.

    Jay

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    The agency’s highest-paid employee was Regina Womack, a PAPD sergeant who took home $423,467 — after pulling down $259,717 in OT on top of her base pay of $131,843, according to numbers released by the nonprofit Empire Center.

    reportdoor.com/this-port-authority-cop-makes-more-than-the-president/

    justice.gov/usao-ma/pr/nine-boston-police-officers-arrested-overtime-fraud-scheme

    You could have just googled “Police Overtime Fraud”.

    Because the US Justice system is a patchwork of jurisdictions and laws, varying wildly by Municipality, County, State and Federal, Justice varies wildly.

    In some places, you have hardworking Public Defence Attorneys, often overworked and underpaid, in others, you have Court Appointed Attorneys, sleeping during the trial.

    google.ca/amp/s/www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-oct-28-mn-43390-story.html%3f_amp=true

    themarshallproject.org/2014/12/10/what-can-you-do-with-a-drunken-lawyer

    Even here, not everybody who can’t afford a lawyer for a criminal trial, get’s a Public Defender.

    There is often a huge difference between a Public Defender and a “Court Appointed Lawyer”.

    google.ca/amp/s/amp.lansingstatejournal.com/amp/91846874

  129. 129.

    raven

    ya’ll see this by Arlo

     

    Gone Fishing

    It’s been a great 50+ years of being a working entertainer, but I reached the difficult decision that touring and stage shows are no longer possible. I’ve cancelled the upcoming shows, and am not accepting offers for new ones. That’s the short version. For the longer version continue reading…

    As a folksinger, I never really thought much about getting older. It seemed to me that I could just continue year after year, decade after decade, singing and playing as I had done for most of my life. As the years went by, it got more difficult to keep touring, but I did it, mostly because I’d been doing it my entire life. It was the life I knew and loved.

    In 2016 on April 1st, April Fools Day, I got really dizzy in the parking lot of the hotel, and started seeing as though I were looking through a kaleidoscope. That evening the show went on as though nothing had happened. I had no idea I’d just encountered a mini stroke until weeks later, when I was told about it. It didn’t appear to affect my performance, or my state of being. I continued touring for the next 4 years.

    Then, on Thanksgiving Day 2019 (of all freaking days) it happened again. This time I was on my way to The Church / The Guthrie Center to help out with our annual Thanksgiving Dinner that we hold every year. I had pulled over to fuel up and realized I couldn’t continue to drive safely, as everything was spinning around, sort of like the old days, but without the help of illegal substances. I was taken to the hospital, and was under evaluation, when I broke out. I had an important gig at Carnegie Hall in New York – The end of an annual series I’d been doing for decades and it was Sold Out. I had to be there. It was imperative.

    The next morning I left the hospital, took the family and headed for New York. And what a show it was! We wrapped up 50 years with a terrific evening with the entire family on stage. I really enjoyed it.

    The following day I flew to my home in Sebastian, FL just as I had done for years, this time with the history of Carnegie Hall behind me. My girlfriend, Marti picked me up at the airport, and we settled into the routine of being on the river I loved. Two nights after arriving home, I awoke in the morning and was lurching from sIde to side. I knew something was wrong, and went to keep a doctors appointment we’d previously set up. The doc said “You need to go to the hospital – Now.”

    So, Marti took me to the hospital nearby in Vero Beach. They kept me there for 3 days, running tests of all kinds, and essentially informed me that I’d suffered a stroke. This time was more serious, as I’d lost some ability to walk, and I wondered if if would be able to play music. I spent about a week in a rehab center to re-learn the basics, like walking. I went home after that, and began a regimen of playing guitar, walking… All the things I would need to continue touring and performing. During the entire time, Marti kept the family and close friends advised as to my progress, and took really great care of me. I needed all the help I could get. And she was there to see it done right.

    By the the time our first shows began in 2020, I was at about at 80% and felt like I was improving. Then the pandemic hit. All the shows we had planned for 2020 were at first, postponed, then rescheduled and finally cancelled. My hopes for a gradual recovery onstage came to an abrupt end.

    Meanwhile, I’d decided back in 2018 to move from the home in Florida. And just as I’d returned from our last gig in Tennessee, a buyer appeared, and we had a deal on the table to sell The CrabHouse. I wasn’t in any shape to go through the intricacies of selling a guitar pick, let alone a home with 30 years of stuff we’d collected. Marti ended up doing it all. She finalized the deal, and dealt with the stuff that either had to be sold, moved or thrown out. It was quite a lot. But, through garage sales, online markets, movers and friends, she’d pretty much emptied the CrabHouse of everything, and we moved into her place about a mile away.

    We were there for a few weeks, before it was safe enough to return to The Farm in Massachusetts. That was in June 2020. Since then we’ve been holed up at The Farm trying to keep out of harms way, and also trying to provide some online entertainment for our friends who were, and continue to be, holed up wherever they are. My band and crew arranged a few short gigs that were filmed at The Church, but when I saw the play-back in the editing room I realized that it was not up to the standards I expected of myself, let alone the expectations that our friends and fans had come to enjoy.

    A folksinger’s shelf life may be a lot longer than a dancer or an athlete, but at some point, unless you’re incredibly fortunate or just plain whacko (either one or both) it’s time to hang up the “Gone Fishing” sign. Going from town to town and doing stage shows, remaining on the road is no longer an option.

    I don’t remember answering the question on the other side of that piece of paper when I was asked “Kid! Have you rehabilitated yourself?” But, the short answer is now clearly, “No!” In fact, I hope to be a thorn in the side of a new administration pretty soon. Tom Paine once wrote “To argue with a man who has renounced the use … of reason, and whose philosophy consists in holding humanity in contempt, is like administering medicine to the dead….” In other words, you cannot and should not argue with people who don’t care, or hold the caring of others in contempt. A healthy suspicion of authority, left, right or center has been the hallmark of my career since the beginning, and I will continue to poke fun at cultural, political, or personal absurdities as I see it. I’m actually looking forward to it.

    I’m happy, healthy and good to go, even if I’m not going anywhere. I’ve taken back 6-9 months that I used to spend on the road, and enjoying myself with Marti, my family and friends. In short – Gone Fishing.

  130. 130.

    Raoul Paste

    It would sure be great if that subset of police who are sympathetic to right wing militias would learn from incidents like this.

    Spraying a police station with an AK-47?      Not clear enough for you?

  133. 133.

    frosty

    @Goku (Amerikan Baka): Welcome to the nervousness club. Here in South PA I can believe that we’ve may have newly registered Trumpers voting, either by mail or in person on 11/3. I also worry about how my neighbors with signs and flying flags will react on Election Day. It’s the main reason I don’t have a Biden sign, and never had an Obama one either.

  135. 135.

    schrodingers_cat

    OT non politics techie question

    I want to upgrade the RAM in one of my computers. It has two memory banks, one bank is 4 GB and one is empty.  It can take a maximum of 16 GB. How necessary is it that both memory banks have identical RAM.

    Can I put 8GB in the empty slot?

  137. 137.

    MisterForkbeard

    @raven: Glad to hear he’s retiring with dignity. Arlo is amazing – I saw him at the Strawberry Music Festival almost 20 years ago, and he spent his entire set trolling the audience and pretending he was about to play Alice’s Restaurant.

    A born entertainer and musician with an amazing life. Glad he’s taking his time here.

  139. 139.

    MisterForkbeard

    @schrodingers_cat: Can depend on your particular computer, but it’s not strictly necessary. Typically having identically sized ram sticks results in it being a little faster (if I remember right), but it’s not required.

    Edit: If you can, put 8 in both.

  142. 142.

    MisterForkbeard

    @raven: He’s long been one of my father’s favorite musicians, too – I think he got to see him a few times back when my father still had hair and used certain substances. :)

  147. 147.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Jay: And, in my experience (which in this subject is considerably wider than yours), most court appointed attorneys are reputable members of the defense bar who do the best job they can for their clients at a fraction of the pay that they would get for a private client.  Usually, you put yourself on the court appointment list for the same reason that you become a public defender – you believe in the job.

    At this point, consider the first rule of holes.

  148. 148.

    cain

    Arrrgh, I’m so bugged. My ex texted me telling me she’s thinking of voting for Trump. I told her she was fucking crazy and that he’s been stirring up trouble with the racists – none of us will be safe. She’s a dentist and I think she’s racist against hispanics because of perceived abuse of the oregon health plan. Whatever.

  154. 154.

    Medicine Man

    Going to be orgiastic when the DoJ is handed over to uncompromised leadership and set loose on these cretins.

  157. 157.

    Eolirin

     

    @schrodingers_cat: You’re probably fine with just putting the 8 in if you’re not doing anything that’s heavily performance critical. 12 gigs of ram is also plenty for most common use tasks.

  163. 163.

    Eolirin

    @schrodingers_cat: Yeah, honestly 8 gigs is also enough, so you can do that, but unless the timing on the chips is the same, I don’t think you get the same performance benefit, if I’m remembering correctly. Every system build I’ve done always used exactly the same ram chips, brand and model. So that’s a bit more complicated.

  167. 167.

    frosty

    @raven: I hadn’t seen that. Good for Arlo, it sounds like giving up the stage for Gone Fishing is the right choice at this stage of his life. I’m glad he’s back to 80% at a minimum.

    Comin Into Los Angeles is still one of my favorite songs.

  169. 169.

    Winston

    @cain: I have the same thing going with my ex girl friend from Michigan who likes to call me and complain about her life. In one call a couple weeks ago, I told her anyone who votes for Trump is my mortal enemy. So what does she do, but call me back a day later and says she’s voting for Trump. I said, well good bye then. She’s been calling me every since about 6 times a day. but I won’t answer. Tonight the police stopped by and asked me if I knew this lady, and I said yes but I’m trying to avoid her. He said okay, I’ll tell her to stop bothering you. That’s good.

  171. 171.

    Jay

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    naw, just bugs me when somebody who should know better because of their actual lived experience, papers over the rot out of “professional courtesy”.

    You have seem to have given up on the KKKop Overtime.

    What, no “few bad apples” platitudes.?

    I would have thought that our Resident Pedant would know what YMMV means. Apparently not.

    You just, once again, illustrated that there is no reason to even try to engage in any manner with you.

  172. 172.

    frosty

    @WaterGirl: I wondered who Arlo was, had to google one of your paragraphs.

    OK, now I feel really old, or something. Or (work with me here) maybe you weren’t tuned in to the zeitgeist back in the day?

  174. 174.

    Gravenstone

    This just rolled across my FB newsfeed compliments of a friend’s posting it. Not only was they guy stupid, but he was proudly stupid. Yeah, let’s go try to start a “race riot”, and brag all over social media about our exploits!

  175. 175.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Jay: On the over time issue, I asked for a source.  You provided one.

    As for the rest, I’m perfectly comfortable letting the rest of the jackals make their own judgments as to our relative credibility on this issue.

  176. 176.

    Jay

    Former Berkeley College Republicans president Matthias Ronnau of Rossmoor is a presidential elector for the state of CA. Here he is in his appearance on white supremacist media Red Ice while his colleague Naweed Tahmas is interviewed by white nationalist Nathan Damigo pic.twitter.com/TbNNvUxggD— Berkeley Antifa (@berkeleyantifa) October 23, 2020

  181. 181.

    CarolPW

    @raven: I adore Arlo and saw him live twice. The second time was in Spokane and he sang that song and I wept. I did tutoring in math and science for the VA at the community college in 1972, and they were all Viet Nam vets. The damage was shocking, and I (total hippie) worked as hard as I could to get them through their classes and held them as tight as I could in my heart. I listened to the song again tonight from your link, and wept even more because there has been so much damage done to all of us.

  184. 184.

    Danielx

    @Ohio Mom:
    It’s not that they don’t try – but even with cameras, DNA, etc., they still depend on informants – a lot. Wasn’t for informants, they’d have a hard time catching Jesse James if he was still doing trains on horseback. Then there are crimes that never get solved because they are well planned or because the doer knows how to avoid being seen. Was a young woman named Lauren Spierer in Bloomington IN , where I went to college, who vanished into thin air after leaving a bar late at night. At a guess, she got snatched by an opportunistic serial killer and she’ll never be found except by coincidence or accident if at all.

    A lot of people are scared to inform, with good reason.

  185. 185.

    Kent

    @Jay:Former Berkeley College Republicans president Matthias Ronnau of Rossmoor is a presidential elector for the state of CA. Here he is in his appearance on white supremacist media Red Ice while his colleague Naweed Tahmas is interviewed by white nationalist Nathan Damigo pic.twitter.com/TbNNvUxggD— Berkeley Antifa (@berkeleyantifa) October 23, 2020

    Shrug.

    Republican elector.  He only has a role in the process if Trump wins California.  And if that happens, trust me we have bigger problems than worrying about which College Republican douche is a GOP elector.  Every damn Trump elector is some sort of MAGA douche by definition.

    Do you not know how the electoral college works?

  188. 188.

    JanieM

    @raven: Ahhh, sigh.

    I saw him live a few times over the years — the first in 1969 in an outdoor concert on a sunny fall day in Medford, Mass. He was sick of doing Alice’s Restaurant and didn’t sing it, but no one minded much. Between the joints, the music, and the sunshine, we all had a good time. Later I saw him several times with Pete. Will never stop listening to their songs.

    My favorite rendition of one of my all-time favorite songs. Pete’s there too.

  191. 191.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Kent: Our presidential elections are a global pastime. If I had a penny for every uninformed take I have read on Twitter by people who don’t even live here I would be wealthy enough to benefit from Republican taxcuts

  194. 194.

    raven

    @Omnes Omnibus: Not well. My buddy here moved there from Long Island to surf in the 80’s and his brother followed him. The knew Murf the Surf and the sketchy cats. I got to go down and fish with them at the inlet and in the bay. How bout you?

  197. 197.

    Kent

    @schrodingers_cat: @Kent: Our presidential elections are a global past time. If I had a penny for every uninformed take I have read on Twitter by people who don’t even live here I would be wealthy enough to benefit from Republican taxcuts

    Yeah well,  Sometimes I get annoyed and take the bait I guess.

  198. 198.

    Jay

    @Gravenstone:

    back in the late ‘80’s a bunch of West Coast Nazi’s took to bank robberies and armoured car robberies. They used the money to set up various Nazi groups across the US with PC’s so they could communicate quietly on Usenet.

    For decades they have jumped from platform to platform, using various techniques, closed forums, apps, to communicate.

    Nazi’s were the first, ( they beat ISIS in the “race”) to use the chat features of various MPRP Games and “teams” to network and recruit, hidden in the “noise” of the Internet.

    Starting about 5 years ago, hackers, defectors, fake persona’s, used by anti facists, started exposing them, their networks, and started using various tools, such as Google Image Search to doxx them.

    Law Enforcement is starting to catch up.

    ”They”, the Nazi’s don’t realize that what worked well, ( ease, convenience, closed groups, hiding in the “noise”), doesn’t work anymore. They have tried to adapt, ( eg, Telegram), but have been pushed more and more into the further corners of the internet, where they are easier to find.

  199. 199.

    Kent

    @Baud:

    because of perceived abuse of the oregon health plan.

    As opposed to Trump’s many actual abuse of everything.

    Exactly.  And the Oregon Health Plan is just a fancy word for Medicaid.

    Most likely she is annoyed because Hispanic parents are getting Medicaid coverage for their AMERICAN CITIZEN children under CHIP. As is their actual right as citizens and residents of Oregon.

  201. 201.

    WaterGirl

    @frosty: Well, I wondered if it was Arlo Guthrie, but a quick scan of the quoted text didn’t show a last name so I wondered.

    I got to see Arlo Guthrie live, and Steve Goodman, and others I think of in the same vein.

    That article made me sad, and when I started watching the video Raven linked too I started crying and had to leave it until later.  As I said, the end of an era.

  203. 203.

    Eolirin

    @schrodingers_cat: I just went and double checked my recollection on the stuff and basically, what’ll happen if you’re using different chips is that the system may lower the performance of whichever chip is faster to the slower one, and you’ll have better performance on the first 8 gigs of ram than on the last 4 that isn’t paired by the 4 gig chip. Neither of those should be big issues for what you’re doing.

    There is one caveat, which is that if there is a difference in the voltages of the two chips that while there generally shouldn’t be a huge issue, other than that one will be downvolted and suffer some performance reduction for it, in some edge cases there could maybe be problems. But even in that very unlikely scenario, you can just remove the 4gig stick.

  204. 204.

    Kent

    @cain: Well, OK then.  Oregon is not a swing state so we have room for some idiocy.  But you don’t want it in the family.

  205. 205.

    cain

    @Winston:

    @cain: I have the same thing going with my ex girl friend from Michigan who likes to call me and complain about her life. In one call a couple weeks ago, I told her anyone who votes for Trump is my mortal enemy. So what does she do, but call me back a day later and says she’s voting for Trump. I said, well good bye then. She’s been calling me every since about 6 times a day. but I won’t answer. Tonight the police stopped by and asked me if I knew this lady, and I said yes but I’m trying to avoid her. He said okay, I’ll tell her to stop bothering you. That’s good.

    Lawd, that’s one crazy lady. :-)

  206. 206.

    Jay

    @Kent:

    Once upon a time, ReThugs with ideas of a career used to “nudge, nudge, wink, wink” disavow Nazi’s.

    Now they suck their cocks in public.

  207. 207.

    mrmoshpotato

    MLB – we have a contagious disease ravaging the country!

    Fuck cancer BUT FUCK COVID-19 LIGHT YEARS MORE!  MASTERCARD, DONATE MONEY WITHOUT CREDIT CARD SPENDING!

  208. 208.

    CarolPW

    @raven: Did not know about Rose but it looks fascinating, thanks. That was when I realized I loved to teach. It was weird – I was usually younger than them (and not only female but hippy to boot) and I was terrified that it would be awful when I signed up but it was one of the most rewarding things I have done.

  211. 211.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Jay: Keep shooting your don’t-know-a-fucking-thing-about-the-USA Canucklehead Of The Frozen North mouth off, asshole. We just luuuuuv hearing from a shitstain like you what we’re doing wrong.

    (And, sorry to break this to you, but the facts that you performed a decent and considerate act for your late coworker, and that you occasionally post interesting though suspect links, don’t magically transform your customary imbecile comments into wisdom. Stopped clock, twice daily, etc.)

  212. 212.

    Kent

    @Jay: You are talking about California.  The only thing left of the rump GOP in CA is Orange County crazies, MAGA farmers in the Central Valley and white supremacist separatists in in the far northern counties.    College Republicans from Berkeley are probably a moderating force.

  213. 213.

    TS (the original)

    @mrmoshpotato:

    I’m not 100% sure Hillary warned us he would be responsible for the death of 220,000 + and the illness of 8 million+ .

    If she had the doctors may well have spoken as to her sanity.

  215. 215.

    raven

    @CarolPW: I’m a GED grad and my dissertation was the life histories of 8 folks with the same path. The Rose book was helpful in looking at all the issues folks face. I salute you.

  216. 216.

    frosty

    @WaterGirl: I got to see Arlo Guthrie live, and Steve Goodman, and others I think of in the same vein.

    I feel better now. :-) I saw a lot of live shows, but Arlo wasn’t one of them. At least as far as I can remember. I recently found out from friends that I was at a Black Sabbath concert, I only remembered the opening act.

    No wonder I have tinnitus!

  217. 217.

    Steeplejack

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Throwing my oar in late:

    You should be okay adding an 8GB chip. Just make sure you get one that is the same type/​speed as your 4GB one. And I would put the 8GB chip in the “primary” slot and the 4GB one in the secondary slot.

    Worst-case scenario, if compatibility doesn’t work, for some reason, you can roll just with the 8GB chip. Still ahead of the game.

  222. 222.

    WaterGirl

    @JanieM: Ha!  I had even clicked the link!  But I double clicked on the letter so the print would be big enough to read, and that took the billboard off the screen.  :-)

    Can’t wait to see the legal response from the Lincoln Project.

    Honestly, who would even do legal work for anyone related to Trump?

  223. 223.

    Jay

    @Kent:

    yurp, but once upon a time, a Cali ReThug would just go to a dogwhistle place and give a dogwhistle speech, because they might actually be able to have a long career in politics.

    Now, they are proudly 1 degree of Kevin Bacon away from the Ark scene in Raiders and Proud of it, not just in Cali, but Florida, New York, Texas, Georgia, Ohio, Wisconsin,……

  225. 225.

    CarolPW

    @raven: I know your path having read BJ a long time. We are pretty close in age (10/11/50) and both of us went sideways through college to eventually end up with PhDs.

    When I was teaching at Clemson we went to Athens a lot and I loved it – I wanted to be teaching at a university that had an artsy/crafty/foody community associated with it like Athens.

  229. 229.

    Jay

    @WaterGirl:

    Honestly, who would even do legal work for anyone related to Trump?

    Klayman,…….

    Wingnut lawyers still bill for hours. While Dumph won’t pay, no shortage of MAGA’ts will, even if they have to Go Fund Me.

    So in the MAGAt world, you earn cred, and then get hired by the latest Karen or Chad after their Go Fund Me has rooked in $500k or so.

    It’s a form of Ambulance Chasing.

  231. 231.

    Barbara

    @Kent: That made me laugh, though I am not sure how accurate it is. This is the same group that wanted to induce panic and mayhem at UCB by inviting Milos Yannapoulos to speak and then screamed about cancel culture when the university pushed back. They may bring less crazy but they do it at a much higher volume.

  232. 232.

    frosty

    @schrodingers_cat: If I had a penny for every uninformed take I have read on Twitter by people who don’t even live here I would be wealthy enough to benefit from Republican taxcuts.

    Now that’s just brilliant!

  233. 233.

    Kent

    @Barbara: They are crazy on a different spectrum than the olds.  College Republicans tend not to be right to life fanatics or anti LGBT, for example.  They are more performative crazy and just like to stir up shit.

  234. 234.

    Jay

    “State Department leadership, for a sustained period, supported the administration’s efforts to misuse career professionals in Washington and abroad to pursue a U.S. electoral advantage.” t.co/eFX7JqdOrA— John Sipher (@john_sipher) October 23, 2020

  235. 235.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Yutsano: It was written for Jarvanka to read.  No one else would be affected.  But just think about the billable hours….* And Jarvanka wouldn’t be impressed if it didn’t come with a big bill.  The fact that much of the billable time was spent giggling about during a Zoom meeting is immaterial.

    *One assumes they have a massive retainer to bill against.

  236. 236.

    Yutsano

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    One assumes they have a massive retainer to bill against.

    Consider their clients. If that retainer isn’t seven figures I’ll eat my hat*.

    *I currently do not have a hat.

  237. 237.

    Ruckus

    @Bill Arnold:

    I have a buddy who is a registered republican and won’t change. He does not however vote republican and hasn’t for a long time. He hates where the country is, why and who is at the forefront of that, one shitforbrains – our president. I’d bet there are a lot of people like him now that the entire republican party has shit the bed. Not all will take the plunge to vote correctly but even if they just stay home and don’t vote, that’s OK.

  244. 244.

    Ruckus

    @WaterGirl:

    It’s possible that mitch has COVID but don’t forget that he had/has polio as a child and while middle age may not be all that bad, the effects are life long and bite you in the ass as you get old. I know a woman with polio who is my age, a tad younger than mitch and she’s having issues. She has kids and had a life, she’s now back in a wheel chair. mitch seems to refuse a chair and has taken a few falls because of it. There was a picture of him getting ready to step up on a stage to take the mike and he face planted, not long ago. This may be the result. From the Mayo Clinic.

  251. 251.

    Ruckus

    @Calouste:

    Especially one that has thrown out all pretense of being anything but a total conservative asshole who takes joy in fucking over people. He’s trying to install an unqualified candidate for the supreme court, because she’s a rabid religious conservative and his only method of getting someone like her on the court is to cheat and he’s kept others off the court by not even allowing a vote, with a premise that he’s totally disregarding, after making it a huge deal prior. So no, I don’t think his health is off limits, seeing as how he’s taken joy that RGB passed away so that he gets the opportunity to screw all of us.

  252. 252.

    Ruckus

    @Baud:

    Ain’t that the truth.

    trump could be a Rhodes scholar and still couldn’t find his ass with both hands, which isn’t difficult as he’s all ass.

  254. 254.

    Ruckus

    @debbie:

    As I said above, it could also be his polio coming back to haunt him hard. It does that for some and he seems to refuse to do the things that would make his life easier. He is a strange human being, with a history of being stubborn and a disease history that rewards that badly. Mind you I’m not saying it’s not COVID, it could easily be or just as easily be both or even more. It’s just that he has a history that could easily explain everything, without COVID.

  255. 255.

    NotMax

    Flipped over to MSNBC for just a second and what do I hear?

    From Brian Williams’ mouth: “Perspective from Michael Moore when we get back.”

    ARRRRGH! Will. Not. Stick. Around.

  256. 256.

    James E Powell

    @Yutsano:

    That letter is what we call client service. No one is going to feel threatened by it, but that’s not really why it was written, sent, or made public.

  257. 257.

    James E Powell

    @NotMax:

    Serious question, why would anyone give a shit what Michael Moore thinks?

    Do they bring him on because they can’t find an actual Democrat for a ‘disarray’ story?

  258. 258.

    Dopey-o

    @Steeplejack: Regarding upgrading your PC’s RAM.

    Windows Task Manager has a Performance tab that will show a graph of memory use. You can Google the steps, it’s rather simple.

    Load up all your applications and put the stress into gear.

    Watch to see if your memory use red-lines.

    Or just bite the bullet: $40 vs. $80 is insignificant, you will not have to make a second trip to the Covid-laden computer store.

  259. 259.

    Yutsano

    @James E Powell:

    Do they bring him on because they can’t find an actual Democrat for a ‘disarray’ story?

    The bookers know they can get him. Moore is an attention whore. Plus he’s great for a controversial take that will get the eyeballs in. Also: Democrats must always be seen as in disarray. The Narrative will not be questioned on this.

  261. 261.

    LongHairedWeirdo

    @Eolirin: Well, fun fact: if you don’t actually *need* memory, it won’t help. And some people don’t!

    If you *do* need memory, it will help, and while it might not be *as* good, RAM is, order of magnitude, a million times faster than disk. Disks usually have a so-many-milliseconds response time; RAM has a so-many-nanoseconds response time, and a thousand million = 1 billion (and “nano-” means “one billionth”).

    If you’re a database engineer (like me) or someone interesting, like a gamer, squeezing every bit of performance out of your RAM might be worthwhile.

    But if you’re not doing something *intense*, and, if your board can do 8gb+4gb RAM, and, if you need the RAM, you’ll get a great improvement, and won’t even notice, nor care about, any loss due to mismatched chip type/timing/etc..

  262. 262.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Goku (Amerikan Baka): What you’re seeing is the vastly greater Democratic propensity to vote by mail (where they can). I would not be surprised if in-person voting runs Republican all the way to the end–early-in-person nearly even, Election Day bright red. But the majority of votes in this election may well be mail votes.

  263. 263.

    Steeplejack

    @NotMax:

    Unlucky you. I clicked off when he started the show with a trio of pundits including noted veep debate moderator Susan Page.

  264. 264.

    Steeplejack

    @Dopey-o:

    Forty bucks vs. 80 may not be significant to you, but schrodingers_cat indicated that it is to her.

    Windows Task Manager has a Performance tab that will show a graph of memory use. You can Google the steps, it’s rather simple.

    Thank you so much. As a 30-year software professional, I get this. But it seems beside the point. More RAM is always better. But it is possible to mate chips of different capacity, as long as they are the same type and speed. I have done it many times for clients and friends.

  265. 265.

    Another Scott

    @schrodingers_cat: Most likely you can put an 8 GB stick in the empty slot with no issues.  Most computers can take various configurations of sizes in the different slots.

    A good thing to do is to go to Crucial.com and tell it what brand and model computer you have.  It will recommend various upgrades and there you can see what type of DIMM sticks your computer uses (DDR3, DDR4, SODIMM, etc.) and speed.  Once you know the type, you can either buy the parts there (or from Amazon), or save a few bucks with similar sticks from another manufacturer.

    HTH a little.  Good luck!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  267. 267.

    The Pale Scot

    @WaterGirl:

    The I suggest you go with 16 now and be done with it.

    Word. I have 10 yr old Macs that can do everything but AfterEffects and large PS files no problem. RAM is a lot cheaper than a new PC.

    @schrodingers_cat: I’m assuming it’s a desktop?

    If you max out the RAM and put in a Solid State Drive the box will outlast you most likely. Just reinstall Windoze once in a while since Microsoft seems to up to their old games of forcing updates that deliver bloatware

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