The right has a new thing self-described faction, "InCons," or "involuntary conservatives," folks forced into voting for Trump by liberal extremism. Which sounds exactly like what Southerns demanding massive resistance said about their response Brown v. Board of Education. https://t.co/UJjpSbVpaD
— Rick Perlstein (@rickperlstein) October 23, 2020
Just the linguistic proximity to ‘incels’ would seem to be off-putting, for those politically aware enough to be acronyming themselves on social media.
Not to mention, startling all the Boomer-demographic voters who’ve started searching for ‘adult products’ in the bladder-control section, rather than the contraceptive aisle.
However…
Fortunately we have a historical case to compare such "incons" to. pic.twitter.com/znnXnjhAD0
— Black Lives Matter (@GuestTonight) October 23, 2020
Omnes Omnibus
Isn’t this just a remix of “I ustabee a Democrat, but Chappaquiddick made me rethink my views on healthcare?”
ETA: Except not a cool Ben Watt or Mark Ronson one.
Mousebumples
(https://twitter.com/JeffYoung8/status/1320565661890990080?s=03)
I think this is the guy/company that threatened to sue John Oliver and led to some crazy musical performance on his show? He was old, but this is the first I’d heard that he’d died. Perhaps getting his voice and money out of Coal will make opposition to green energy a bit easier?
Goku (Amerikan Baka)
Is it too late to donate money to candidates that will still make a difference?
BruceFromOhio
Call yourselves what you wish, as long as you’re not in charge of anything.
Mousebumples
@Omnes Omnibus: or a I Would Vote Democrat except the candidate didn’t personally call me and speak to my exact esoteric issue so I shall claim to be ignored and vote for someone else.
I call them drama llamas. Or attention whores. Or, given the Toddler in Chief’s tendencies, wannabe grifters.
MisterForkbeard
Same as it always was.
“I would totally vote Democratic except they wont admit that their nominee has secret ultra bad dementia and the media loves them all the time and I’d totally unfair and wont say that I’ve got the biggest penis. I am reluctantly forced to vote for a Nazi, whom I have substantive differences with even if I love the uniform.”
These chucklefucks so this EVERY TIME. Same assholes would wouldn’t have voted Trump except Hillary’s Emails made them do it.
West of the Rockies
Okay, that makes me an InRage I guess. I am involuntarily enraged by all the stupid Republican horseshit we’re forced to deal with constantly.
MisterForkbeard
@Goku (Amerikan Baka): Not quite – you have another day or so to help with GOTV efforts and so on.
opiejeanne
@Goku (Amerikan Baka): think it’s not too late to donate to make a difference, but I’d do so either tonight or tomorrow so the campaign can make good use of it.
Punchy
These must be the millions and millions and millions of “shy voters” who tell pollsters they’ll vote for Biden, when they’re voting for Trump. So Im told. To trick the pollsters. Because millions and millions of citizens of Dumbfuckistan can coordinate in such fashion and be so clandestine about it.
When does Trump throw his last hail mary and bomb Tehran?
Chetan Murthy
@Mousebumples: This guy also ran that coal mine where a bunch of miners died b/c he fucking ran it like a shithouse. Ding dong the witch is dead! Good riddance, burn in hell, Bob Murray.
Jim Appleton
I’m just done with 2020.
The idea that Incels mating with Teahadists are at all a thing …
Mousebumples
@Goku (Amerikan Baka): depends where you go. I had seen from Sen Schatz on Twitter earlier that Ossoff needed $X to run the turnout campaign they needed to win.
The money, at this point, should go to turnout, I’d think. I’m more inclined to give to state parties or to Souls To The Polls-esque groups for now. Gotta do some research to see where I will donate for this last week, myself.
Chetan Murthy
“InCon” ? No. “Traitor”. Fucking Traitors. For the rest of my life, when I meet one, I’m going to ask him why he didn’t have the decency to fucking die of covid during the pandemic.
scav
Inconsequentials? And honestly, they’re not in on the con, whatever they call themselves. Marks, mugs, rubes or gulls.
Mousebumples
(https://twitter.com/ChrisMurphyCT/status/1320387532509634562?s=03)
Subsequent tweets show they’ve met that $500k goal but other races likely have similar thresholds to hit, for fundraising.
cokane
not gonna lie, for me, the Weinsteins (Bret and Eric) are some of the most insufferable people who’ve risen to political salience during the Trump era. And there’s some stiff competition among that set.
West of the Rockies
@scav:
Patsies, dupes, chumps, suckers, stooges…
Roger Moore
It’s amazing how all the issues that drove these InCons to become conservative are ones you would only be paying attention to if you were listening exclusively to the conservative echo chamber.
RepubAnon
@MisterForkbeard: It’s more like “I’d like to vote for a Democrat, but only for Democrats who agree with Mitch McConnell’s complete agenda…”
In other words, anyone who says that is either a single-issue voter, or a concern troll.
dmsilev
Reminds me of the tea-party types, who started out by calling themselves tea-baggers, and only changed once they realized that the colloquial meaning of the term was one big reason why lots of people were laughing at them.
Brachiator
Wait. You mean it is not Trump conservative extremism to be an incompetent con man who deliberately lets Americans die from a virus rather than take steps to contain the pandemic?
A lot of this stuff is just idiots falling back on their preferred positions, and just offering lame rationales.
I also see a variation of this in some of the worst “progressives” returning to “Trump Biden no difference” nonsense.
Roger Moore
@RepubAnon:
They would happily vote for a Democrat, but only an old-school Democrat like George Wallace.
Adam L Silverman
@Omnes Omnibus: @Mousebumples: @MisterForkbeard: @Punchy: @Jim Appleton: Turns out the NY Times was walking around with its Zito hanging out:
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@MisterForkbeard: @opiejeanne: @Mousebumples:
Now I feel like I’d be throwing money away. Fuck me, I can’t win
Adam L Silverman
@Goku (Amerikan Baka): You want to donate to the Adam L Silverman Student Loan Freedom PAC! All lines are open, all operators are standing by!//
Punchy
@Roger Moore: Yup. They’d rather vote for the Democrat Party, but theyre turned off by The Radical Gay Agenda, and the thugs in the BLM movement, and how Hunter Biden is trafficing in kiddie pRon. Also they learned from Hannity that Joe is going to rasise taxes eleventy trillion dollars, and they cant support that, or so Tucker says so…
Adam L Silverman
@cokane: It would be nice if someone would mention that Eric Weinstein is a managing director at Thiel Capital. So he’s definitely got a very specific axe to grind. Knowing Thiel the axe is named Gimli.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
NVM. I jumped the gun. Again.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
Anya
@Mousebumples: Senators Schatz and Murphy are the best. They know how to use twitter. They’re funny and I love their banter. I love them so much and I always donate whenever they ask.
Kattails
@Brachiator: I had a young guy, would have thought Biden supporter, give me the “all the same” crap. He didn’t believe things would get better with Biden. People just need to listen to each other. when I pointed out that Mitch M. was blocking 400 bills he said “that’s just one guy”. Like as opposed to an entire political party enabling. Also, he didn’t think it was worth talking about. I wasn’t quick enough to point out the massive piece of cognitive dissonance it took to tell me that the problem was not listening and that he didn’t want to discuss it; and my blood pressure was going up. So I walked. Should have sent him a postcard with Cole’s tire rims and anthrax line.
And my mother’s given me the “Biden will make us all Socialists” thing. She’s 91 so it’s really not worth starting a phone argument.
Omnes Omnibus
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Do I have a song for you.
Jim Appleton
@Jim Appleton:
ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn
opiejeanne
@Omnes Omnibus: LOL!
Omnes Omnibus
But for the circumstances, I’d answer, “It beats being a fascist.”
opiejeanne
@Jim Appleton: That cough sounds really bad. You should have it looked at.
Matt McIrvin
I refuse to believe that any movement that voluntarily patterns itself IN IMITATION OF “incels” is an electoral force to be reckoned with.
Matt McIrvin
@Omnes Omnibus: I think Bérube’s formulation was “I used to be a liberal but ever since 9/11 I’ve been outraged about Chappaquiddick.”
Omnes Omnibus
@Matt McIrvin: That too.
Anya
@cokane: I always see ppl screen cap the Eric dude’s stupid tweets and I get curious to find out wtf he is but I am never that motivated. He is always saying some dumb shit posing as a cogent analysis.
Aleta
@Goku (Amerikan Baka): You can also do this:
https://twitter.com/PatinkinMandy/status/1319996323228274689
Ruckus
@Chetan Murthy:
Did he have kids or a spouse he left it to?
I used to know a fella who had been a financial advisor to Mrs. Walton after Sam passed. He was not impressed by her humanity or her process of making money, lots of money.
If he had kids he left it to there might not be as much change as one might assume. OTOH some kids do not take after their parents.
Adam L Silverman
@Anya: He’s a managing director at Peter Thiel’s Thiel Capital.
Aleta
@Adam L Silverman: You know he makes 200$ an hour, with all expenses paid. //
Jim Appleton
@opiejeanne:
The Aristocrats!!1!!
jl
People who find excuses to do things they have an urge to do while being unwilling to even try to explain to themselves or others why they do them are real.
Not the always the worst people in the world, but they have their limitations. We’ve all run into them at work, got mixed up with them in our personal lives, had to put up with them in our families.
randy khan
By now I think it’s obvious that all those people who say they’d vote for the Dems except for these three things really mean they never intended to vote for the Dems in the first place. They should be objects of amusement or, if that’s the way you ride, disgust, and nothing else.
piratedan
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
no one minds you being nervous, we’re ALL nervous and anxious, if you have money to give, there have been plenty of outreach info available, avail yourself of it and know that what you do will do good.
stop going THARN….. you KNOW this stuff is out there, use it.
Yutsano
@Omnes Omnibus: Yer mean. I like you.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
I feel better. Donated $5 each to Alan Gross, MJ Hegar, and Peters. Donated $10 to the Tier 2 House candidates and another $10 to Biden’s campaign.
matt
Right, these are people who are in favor of Trump but against having responsibility for him.
Adam L Silverman
@Aleta: I did not know Goku was doing that well. Congrats to him!
matt
@Kattails: ‘Biden will make us all Socialists’ – yep, just like he did when he was Obama’s VP.
Calouste
@Roger Moore: Yeah, if you watch so much Fox News that you think Seattle mayor Jenny Durkan is a radical leftie (and not as a fair chunk of Seattlelites think, bought and paid for by Jeff Bezos) , you’re not an involuntary conservative.
Kattails
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Did you see the note I made in the previous thread about an effort to get Navajo voters to the polls? they’re trying to raise $25,000 to rent vans to transport up to 38,000 people to distant polling stations.
Anya
@Adam L Silverman: That’s a valid reason to ignore him then. He works for a non entertaining comic book villain.
Thanks, Adam. You’ve saved me from googling that douchebag.
patrick II
I thought incon was short for “incontinent” at the thought of the coming election.
Geminid
This InCon stuff tracks with the concept of “negative partisanship” that forms much of the basis of Rachel Bitecofer and partner Sam Epstein’s electoral modeling. Bitecofer explains it well in her February 2020 New Republic article titled “Hate is on the Ballot.” I know a couple people who don’t favor trump so much as they fear “The Left,” and have bought into the propaganda defining the Democratic coalition by its left most members. My acquaintances would benefit from reading some Rose Twitter, so they could see what the real leftists think about the Democratic party. Incidentally, I follow some lefties, mainly former Sanders staffers, and a publication I’ll call Common Screams. That publication has stopped running anti-Biden stories, focusing now on how bad trump and company are. And there is now pushback in the comments against people arguing that Biden is no better than trump. It seems that trump is so damn scary that some people who despised the idea of voting for Biden will now reluctantly, grudgingly vote Democratic. Though some claim they’ll puke afterwards. There weren’t so many holdouts to begin with, but every vote counts, and it’s good to see some of these soreheads give themselves a reality check.
Brachiator
@Kattails:
Ha! Would not be a bad idea.
jl
@matt: Sleepy Joe Biden, the Big Man running all international gazillion $ crime rings, socialist commie, rich man’s friend on Wall Street, sinister antifa lord plotting to have them invade suburban homes and take all the stuff, brutal bigot locking up all black men laughing while he throws away the key, BLM flunky plotting to genocide the police.
I just don’t know how Biden can answer for all that.
Just saw on Josh Marshall’s twitter a new ad saying Biden looks too old, like a corpse, to be president.
I guess next Trump will report that Biden had ‘old’ smell at a rally.
They have Biden somewhere or other, all over the map, I guess. A comprehensive attack!
Kattails
@Omnes Omnibus: exactly. And at 91 she should damn well be old enough to underfuckingstand fascism, she lived through WWII.
Kattails
@matt: I think that Republican voters, who have authoritarian leanings, can’t grasp that Biden will NOT be able to do any kind of “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” thing with the Democratic party, as Trump has done with theirs–even if he were so inclined. Which he isn’t. Which they also can’t understand.
Brachiator
@jl:
Biden looks old, not “too old,” and he seems to be pretty spry.
But who is Trump trying to fool with his orange bronzer set to “unbelievable” and his clown freak comb-over?
Trump reminds me of the caked on makeup and wigs that a vain Queen Elizabeth I used to try to hide the ravages of age.
Calouste
@Brachiator: Talking about looking like a corpse, look at the shitgibbon’s hands next time. They’re not the bloated corps look that McConnell has, but they are of a color so pale that it is also rarely seen on living humans.
cokane
@Anya: Yep. Both him and his brother are just profoundly in love with themselves. They think they’re these deep, insightful analysts with seemingly no limit on the topics they can talk about with authority. But the sad reality is they’re both essentially just social media influencers.
Achrachno
@Mousebumples: Good riddance — hate to say it, but it’s true. He was a genuinely evil man, responsible for many deaths. and much injustice.
I wonder if COVID got him.
Chetan Murthy
@Achrachno: The obit I read: https://wtov9.com/news/local/bob-murray-dead-obituary
said nopes. But it was public knowledge that he was trying to sue the govt for black lung benefits, as he actually had it. So one presumes he was in quite ill health.
cthulhu
I basically understand the Obama-Trump voter phenomenon. Those people were desperate for change agents, whatever form they might take. Am I supposed to believe, with this InCon concept, there’s some sort of non-zero population of Clinton-Trump voters? Because I can’t see that. We are clearly not talking about Bernie dead-enders because these people are claiming to be Dem, uh, center-ish. appalled at the left.
So reads as fan fic to me.
Omnes Omnibus
I don’t.
Chetan Murthy
@Omnes Omnibus: Me neither.
Achrachno
@Chetan Murthy: Oh, well. He’s gone and that’s the main thing; exact cause of death much less important. But there is a certain justice in his suffering from black lung, which he was responsible for many others getting.
Goku (Amerikan Baka)
@Omnes Omnibus:
@Chetan Murthy:
I don’t get it either. How the fuck could somebody go from voting for Obama to….that
One of life’s great mysteries I guess
@Kattails:
I’ll definitely check them out. Thanks for pointing them out to me!
Ivan X
@Omnes Omnibus: there’s a meaningful number of people who just like shiny new shit because it’s shiny and new. Obama, and Trump’s first run, appealed to that desire. So did Bernie the first time around for several people I know.
Omnes Omnibus
@Ivan X: Okay, but of your three things, shiny, new, and shit. Only one describes Trump.
Redshift
@Omnes Omnibus: There were apparently a significant number of people who supported Obama as long as he pretended he wasn’t Black. Like, for whom the line about “if it had a son, he might have looked like Trayvon Martin” was a turning point.
Which isn’t to say I understand it either. Racists who voted for Obama to prove to themselves they weren’t racist, I guess.
Redshift
I’d be more annoyed by the “involuntary” types also being part of the “Party of personal responsibility,” but I know that “personal responsibility” was only ever meant to be applied to lazy poor people, not them.
Achrachno
@Goku (Amerikan Baka): “Chetan Murthy:
I don’t get it either. How the fuck could somebody go from voting for Obama to….that
One of life’s great mysteries I guess”
Many voters are completely uninformed and essentially vote randomly, or based on some recent gust of wind. That’s how we get various dead people, criminals, and complete zero/vanity candidates either elected or getting a good chunk of votes.
Ivan X
@Omnes Omnibus: touché.
cthulhu
@Omnes Omnibus: These are voters who feel very disenfranchised and don’t pay attention to any details, just their basic hope that the “system” will be shaken up. Somehow. It in way that will finally benefit them. I am not saying it is rational. But as a psychologist, I understand it.
Honus
@Chetan Murthy: you’re probably thinking of don blankenship whose upper big branch mine killed 29 miners in 2010 due to ignoring mine ventilation rules. Murray only killed nine in some mine out west. He was famous for violating MSHA regs too, rnabled by Elaine Chao. Why any miner would vote for mitch McConnell is a mystery to me.
jl
@Brachiator: ‘ But who is Trump trying to fool with his orange bronzer set to “unbelievable” ‘
I asked during the debate, and I ask again (not to Brachiator, but just in general), anyplace I can go to find color swatches against Trump’s bronzer face?
Chetan Murthy
@Honus: Oh ha, you’re right. So I have something to look forward to! (sigh)
jl
@jl: OK, apparently no pages with make-up color swatches because Trump’s custom bronzer is such an unnatural color, doesn’t correspond to any normal human skin tone, or anything anyone would want. Two different pages said that.
So, I’ll look for pages with paint and woodstain color swatches.
Developing……
Omnes Omnibus
@jl: Does this help?
jl
@Omnes Omnibus: Thanks! Great! I think Day-Glo Arc Yellow is the best match.
I’ll look for a page that matches a couple to photos of Trump’s face
Edit: Day-Glo Blaze Orange when it’s a little darker.
Eljai
@Honus: Until you pointed that out, I had Blankenship and Murray mixed up too. They’re both pasty, bloated-looking, mediocre white men who caused death and suffering, except one is dead now. Got it.
Goku (Amerikan Baka)
I’ve made a complete fool of myself and nobody round these parts is going to take me seriously for a good long time
The Moar You Know
@cthulhu: my stepfather is one of them. He fundamentally just wants to blow the system up. He never did any research on Obama and couldn’t understand why the angry black guy wasn’t doing angry black guy stuff. Decided he’d been bought off. As far from reality as you can get.
Trump, well, he grew up in Queens and he knew about Trump all his life. Except he didn’t do his research there either. He still thinks the guy has money, doesn’t understand the obvious stealing, and still thinks Donnie’s gonna take down the system. Which he is, at the rate of two thousand Americans per day. He just didn’t think his face would get eaten. And he may dodge covid, but he won’t dodge what’s coming to the stock market.
Not paying attention to history has a price. Pretty much the first thing any astute reader of any period of history figures out is that revolution fucks everybody good and hard, not just the out group of the moment.
jl
This site says Pantone 16-1449 TPX Gold Flame
WHICH PANTONE COLOR IS DONALD TRUMP?
An important investigation
Elle Decor, By DEVIN ALESSIO SEP 8, 2016
https://www.elledecor.com/celebrity-style/news/a9048/pantone-colors-for-donald-trump/
jl
This article says the color is from an antimicrobial application Trump used after some face surgery in 2016. Trump like the color. OK, this is getting weird and creepy, I’m calling off this line of research.
Donald Trump’s Orange Complexion Due To ChloraPrep From Last Plastic Surgery
Gomerblog, By Naan DerThaal
https://gomerblog.com/2017/09/donald-trumps-orange-complexion-due-to-chloraprep-from-last-plastic-surgery/
Chetan Murthy
@Goku (Amerikan Baka): Dude, chill. It’s OK. You’re among friends, and we’ve known you long enough that we sort of expect this. It’s cool, OK? And also, seriously now, you aren’t the only one who is terrified of what might come in a little over a week, OK? I sure am. I know several of my family members are. And we live in *California*. I can only imagine what people feel in red states like … (shudder) Ohio. So it’s OK that you’re afraid, OK that you look at news with trepidation and fear.
Do the things you can, to the extent you feel able and that you are willing to invest. And then, well, what will be, will be. Maybe an analogy will help. I have a few minor health problems. One of them is bad knees. So my left knee got swollen for some reason a week-or-two ago, and while it’s slowly going back to where it was before, it hurts, and for a while I basically couldn’t put any weight on it. My mother would ask me about it, and I would tell her I didn’t want to discuss it. Why? Because (a) I can’t go to a doctor’s office (covid), can’t get an MRI (covid), hence can’t really get physical therapy, and (b) I don’t like dwelling on things I *literally* can’t change. I mean, there’s *nothing* I can do, other than keep weight off it, and wait for it to recover — at which point, I can try to do static exercises to strengthen it. But nothing else. Nothing. Else.
So why talk about it? It won’t change anything. Not a thing.
So maybe that’s what I’d suggest: do what you feel you can, and then, well, make your peace with just waiting for the outcome. And, well, make your peace with the idea that you’re not going to have recriminations about not having done enough, on Nov 4. I think that that last part is important. Be at peace, eh?
Honus
@Eljai: Murray’s the guy who made his workers go to trump rallies back in 2016. Which of course resulted in a lot of death and suffering.
jl
@The Moar You Know: I ran into a number of those during 2016 phone banking. When I try to describe those people, it sounds impolite.
Ignorant, self-righteous, they are mad as hell and they are not going to take this any more!, impatient, free floating anger and frustration. I agree with you: they say they voted for Obama because they would get some big change that would blow up the corrupt system and change things from the way they are to something better. Obama didn’t do that, or he made a start and Trump can take up his work.
When I asked what kind of change they wanted, they usually couldn’t articulate anything.
What they said made no sense. I’m tempted to say they are just bigot liars who are trying to hide their bigotry by claiming to have voted for Obama. But what they said made no sense, and maybe they are just senseless people, and that is a good explanation too: ignorant senseless people with anger issues, who think things are rotten and want some kind of change to fix that, somehow, they can’t say how or to what.
NotMax
@jl
He’s getting closer and closer to Creole.
;)
jl
@NotMax: Subliminal ethnic outreach? No one has done this since Abraham Lincoln!
Amir Khalid
@Goku (Amerikan Baka):
That has been true of many a jackal, including me. But it is never a reason to quit saying your piece here.
The Moar You Know
@Goku (Amerikan Baka): You’ve done that from day one and never stopped. I could not for the longest time believe that anyone would show up here and post the stupid shit that you do on an hourly basis and not be a troll and I told you so directly.
You need to read a lot more, preferably not on the internet and especially not on social media. Because it is cruelly obvious you don’t get information from anywhere else but Twitter and sometimes here.
Your heart’s in the right place, there’s no doubt of that, but you really need to get your face out of your screen and start thinking shit through.
Sorry for the lack of empathy/support/coddling but if somebody doesn’t tell you now how you come off to people you’re just going to keep going through life like this.
NotMax
@Goku (Amerikan Baka)
Complete? Pish and tosh. Gammon and spinach. The Official B-J Fool-o-Fone™ readout is 46.0097%. You’ve got miles to go.
:)
jl
@Goku (Amerikan Baka):
” I’ve made a complete fool of myself and nobody round these parts is going to take me seriously for a good long time”
That is what BJ commenters DO, dammitall!
Seriously, I don’t track the arc of commenter’s comments well enough to know what this is about. If you do good stuff, like working or donating and making a difference, that is what’s important. Many campaigns and GOTV orgs need $ in last week. So, still time to make a difference.
scribbler
@Goku (Amerikan Baka): Hang in there Goku. You care a lot, and that’s a good thing. And we need young blood to balance out all us olds. Only 8 days to go. Stay strong.
MisterForkbeard
@Goku (Amerikan Baka): You did? All I (and most others) thought was that you were worrying more than you should… but hell, we understand the feeling.
I think about what I’d do if Trump wins and I panic a little too. Just chill, you’re among friends here.
smike
@jl:
Cogent!
Me like.
Geoduck
@jl: In case you didn’t notice, that article is satire.
LeftCoastYankee
“Involuntary” my ass.
We’re all born ignorant, becoming stupid however is a choice.
jl
@Geoduck: Thank you. I should have stopped with the piece that ID’d the Pantone color code.
Chetan Murthy
@Geoduck:
*snort
NotMax
@jl
Turns out the goop he uses probably isn’t an American product, also too.
Willing to lay some serious folding money on the table it’s exempted from the tariffs.
opiejeanne
@Kattails: Thanks for that link. I donated to them.
jl
@Chetan Murthy: Sounded like a good Dutch name to me. I pictured Naan, a beautiful lass skipping through the tulip fields, growing up to be a medical skin tone journalist.
James E Powell
Every time people start to panic over every rumor or fluctuation in a poll, I am reminded of the Lepage glue gun passage in Catch-22.
These things are food for our anxieties and our anxieties are very hungry creatures.
I am the opposite of an optimist and I’m feeling pretty good going into the last week. I just keep looking at the Evil Three from 2016 and taking all variations in polls into consideration, I don’t see him getting any more votes in those states than he did last time. And I see Joe Biden getting more than Hillary, a lot more.
There’s no rabbit he can pull out of a hat. There isn’t even a hat. If the FBI or Barr or one of his other stooges announces something shocking about Joe Biden, the only people who will care about it will be people who are already not going to vote for Joe Biden.
My main concern is that Collins might get re-elected. I will be so angry.
jl
@NotMax: From your link, the heading:
‘ Orange makeup isn’t meant to be worn alone ‘
sounds like an important safety warning.
Mel
@Chetan Murthy:
To add insult to injury, he even had the nerve to file for black lung benefits for himself, after decades of fighting against workplace protections and also against restitution funds for the miners who became ill from the horrible conditions and lack of proper safety equipment / precautions in WV mines.
What an utter monster he was.
dnfree
Shalimar
@Goku (Amerikan Baka):
I’m just here to make jokes. Seriously is overrated. You’re fine.
Mel
@Chetan Murthy: Oops! Replied to your earlier comment, but see now that you had already noted monsterbob’s black lung benefit claim.
Mea culpa!
NotMax
@jl
The quote at the very bottom from the manufacturer of the stuff is pretty good too.
Mel
@Chetan Murthy: Seconded.
And, Ohio resident here, feeling the terror, indeed.
There are a few good signs – several phone calls from my local Dem volunteers, many more Biden/Harris yard signs than I would have expected, etc.
But, damn, it’s so difficult to break through the racism and the knee-jerk tribalism.
Sab
@The Moar You Know: Yikes.
Aleta
This voting line in Philly!!!!
Sm*t Cl*de
@jl
…as the police told Baud.
jl
@Sm*t Cl*de: Baud XXXX!!!! makes up for lack of high quality scandals with volume.
¡ Una naranja espantosa !
sukabi
@Mousebumples: think black lung got him….and yes, he had a thing about squirrels and John Oliver.
sukabi
@patrick II: that’s accurate…also they could be having typo problems and really mean InCom, for incompetent, that works as well.
Bruce K
“The Fake News Media is forcing me to go conservative” is about as morally defensible as “why do you keep making me hit you?”
I’m with Goat: however they rationalize it, they’re fascists.
bjacques
You did say Open Thread. When it comes to groundless legal threats, the gold standard is still https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reply_of_the_Zaporozhian_Cossacks
CarolDuhart2
@Ruckus: At his age, there may be not only children, but grandchildren and even a great-grandchild who will get a substantial amount of cash. The third generation may well feel freer to be liberal, having the old vulture’s influence being a bit more distant.
Patricia Kayden
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@cokane: Yes, they both come across as complete tools. Then again, Trump supporters.
It also says a lot of about how unpopular Trump is if his own supporters feel the need to pretend not to support him.
Humanities Prof
@jl:
Gomerblog is a satirical site. Like the Onion, only for doctors.
prostratedragon
Spread in today’s Guardian about how Chickenshitler is grabbing U.S. wilderness and natural refuge lands by the private parts. Another of the biggest (we need a new class of superlative) reasons to vote the mfs out.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
So these “Incons” all live in very liberal states like California and New York and if they open their fool mouths with their idiocy they get told to shut up.
RobNYNY
@jl: That doesn’t make sense because sometimes he gets the greasepaint in his eyebrows.
oldster
I just want to make it clear that I did not become a Nazi for any of the reasons listed in that tweet.
No, what drove me to support the Fuhrer was the unforgivable cruelty of his opponents.
What did they do to me, you ask?
They called me a… a… Nazi!
It was beyond the pale. After that I had no choice but to join the SS.
No choice, I tell you!
Mudbrush
@Goku (Amerikan Baka):
No way! I’m impressed that a nursing student/new grad is financially able and cares enough to donate to candidates! Virtual hug!
Mudbrush
@jl: gomerblog. Gomer = Get Out of My Emergency Room.
Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony
@Omnes Omnibus: The Obama-Trump voter I know started going to the gun range on weekends, befriended crazy NRA types, and I think is now part of QAnon (though I’m not sure).
Albatrossity
Wow. Incons…
Yeah, the linguistic association with incels is an amazing thing to volunteer for. But even better is the linguistic association with incontinence.
J R in WV
@Mousebumples:
This guy was an infamous coal operator who killed not only his mining crew, who were doing illegal and highly dangerous work in his Utah mine, “Pulling pillars” which is exactly what it sounds like, removing the last bit of coal in the pillars holding up the mountain above the mine. He also killed the rescue workers trying to find and recover the missing miners.
Very fittingly, Bob almost certainly died of black lung from being too manly to wear a respirator and too cheap to operate his mines with the federally required water sprays to keep coal dust down. He was lucky not to have blown up a crew, coal dust in the air is by far the largest cause of fatal explosions underground, as well as the cause of black lung, incurable solidification of lungs by coal dust penetrating deep into the respiratory system.
Serves him right, the cheap murderous bastard!!
Thanks for passing this along. Jeff is a great guy who used to work for WV Public Radio as a reporter and has visited our farm in the distant past.
boatboy_srq
Question is whether being an incon will make one as unlikely to procreate (with anyone willing, that is) as being an incel implies. In such case it might just be a short-term tolerable arrangement.
ab_normal
@bjacques:
Peter Capaldi doing a dramatic reading of the letter:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQTlT8-qYUk
J R in WV
@Honus:
Murray’s most famous big accident “only killed nine” in Utah. But every man who worked for him probably got black lung and slowly suffocated to death. It’s a horrible death, slow and painful.
He also spent a lot of time and money denying that people could cause climate change. So while Don was more famous for his explosion than Bob was for his mine collapse, I would bet it was a dead heat regarding total fatalities each murderous bastard caused.
J R in WV
@Goku (Amerikan Baka):
I wouldn’t say that; you shouldn’t either. You’re stressed out, nothing foolish about that.
Just take a deep breath … For what it’s worth, we have a $90 bottle of champagne to drink election evening, even though most people have obviously decided to vote early.
Miss Bianca
@Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony:
The Obama-Trump voter I know (or at least, he claims to be) is my neighbor. Also, unfortunately, my accountant. He did me a solid on my taxes a year or two ago (did them for free and straightened out a back taxes mess in exchange for skid steer and trenching work), but I think I’m going to be shopping for a new accountant this tax season.
He’s also the guy who claims he “can’t” get COVID because he takes so much Vitamin C and D. I finally just shut his ass down one day when he started ranting about our Governor Polis being “a dictator” for mandating mask usage. Haven’t talked to him since.