Looking at one of today’s amusing events, one of the things about contrarians and people who always play the Devil’s Adovcate is that they spend so long going against the grain that they naturally start to think that any time someone tells them they are wrong or full of it, then that just means THEY ARE ON TO SOMETHING and THE MAN IS TRYING TO KEEP THEM DOWN. So the more you try to tell them “umm, this is bullshit, show some receipts,” the more they think they are right and correct and the ONLY ONE WHO GETS IT. This then pushes them to find those who are more like them and to seek out those voices who reinforce what they are thinking. And pretty soon, before you know it, you go from reasonable posts about the NSA having way too much authority and doing all sorts of objectively wrong shit to “ZOMG I TOTALLY A THINK THESE OBVIOUS FAKES OF HUNTER BIDEN BANGING TEENS ARE REAL AND EVERYONE IS TRYING TO SILENCE ME DAMNED SHEEPLE.”
And such is life.
On another note, it is amusing to me that many people seem familiar with the concept of cokeheads but clearly have never spent any time with them. It would not at all surprise me that three eightballs and 4 gallons of scotch into a three day bender, Hunter Biden was caught on tape with any number of crazy business propositions. I bet he and his friends have had literally hundreds of conversations about ways to make money- in one night. Probably at 5 am with the curtains drawn as the sun comes up as they call someone looking for something to take the edge off when doing more lines doesn’t get them more high but does keep them from crashing and man their jaws are sore from grinding.
If you know, you know. What does this have to do with Joe Biden? Approximately fuck all. Unless you are an idiot.
And people who try to use the drug addiction and trouble of someone’s kid against the parents is the lowest form of fucking low.
John Revolta
“IF IT ISN’T TRUE THEN HOW COME THEY’RE DENYING IT?? HUH?? GOTCHA LIBZZ!”
geg6
Completely right. I am unclear about why I should care about Hunter Biden. He’s not running for anything, so why are they so bent on ruining him? And I’ve known lots of cokeheads. Way more than you have, for sure. Several who literally gave their lives for another line or pipeful. None of them did anything as stupid as what is being alleged here. Heroin addicts and meth heads are a whole other story. But I am not aware of any allegations about heroin or meth in relation to Hunter. I shouldn’t give Rudy ideas, though.
burnspbesq
Jeremy Corbyn picked a good day to get defenestrated. Not a fucking soul outside the UK chattering class is paying attention.
Time to light the Tony Jay signal.
Poptartacus
Hunter biden
no one gives a flying fuck about this bullshit
eyes on the prize boyo
Josie
I don’t understand any of this, and I don’t see what it has to do with Joe Biden’s ability to be our president. This is just the dregs of the Republican party doing their worst to win. Anyone who doesn’t see that is just not looking. They are absolutely filthy people.
HinTN
Pretty fucking low … Yep
Yep
This is why we keep coming back to you, Cole.
HinTN
@burnspbesq: Missed that. What up?
Percysowner
I just hope Hunter Biden is getting lots of support, because this is a LOT of pressure on a kid who has had trouble dealing with pressure in the past. Right now Joe Biden is too busy to be that kind of support. I wish Hunter well, because the Republicans are doing everything they can to destroy Joe Biden through his son and making Hunter relive every bad decision he ever made. If I were religious, I’d pray for him, but all I can do is hope that he has what he needs to get through this.
jl
“I’m too lazy to write a substantive post about anything but here is an attempt”
I nominate this for a new rotating header
Edit: for next Cole post on the Biden global world historical crime family cartel bosses, and need a clip of druggies, I suggest a video of one of Cole’s cats blasted on ‘nip.
Mike in NC
We just watched “Everything’s Fine with Sarah Cooper” on Netflix. Mildly amusing. Liked Jon Hamm as Mr. Pillow.
burnspbesq
@HinTN:
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/oct/29/turmoil-in-labour-as-corbyns-allies-strongly-object-to-suspension
Gin & Tonic
@burnspbesq: He wrote about it in a morning thread
Jim Appleton
I’ll buy that for a dollar …
Yutsano
If you want to talk opposite effect:
If (and I’m not saying they are) those text messages are genuine, they mostly show Biden is a helluva dad. They show his warmth, his empathy, his genuine love for his wayward son. There is nothing in any of these messages that is untoward. Well, if you’re not submerged in the MAGA tea anyway. As far as the rest of the docs? Yeah to the outside world they show nothing. And anyone who believes Tucker’s tall tale of loss and found again probably should have their head examined.
HinTN
@burnspbesq: unh huh
Couldn’t happen to a more deserving ….
cain
@burnspbesq:
Fuck Corbyn, the man fucked up Brixit, right proper. He deserves to be suspended. Fucking Labour morons. Now we gotta deal with asshole Tories. Also a loud fuck you to all the British Indians who are Tory MPs.
jl
@Yutsano: If someone can suggest a good glossary so I can decode some of the charges, I’d appreciate it. Actually, a glossary is not sufficient, need a CliffsNotes.
MelissaM
B-b-but Glenn Greenwald said….
Sorry, couldn’t finish that with a straight face. God, next Wednesday AM scares me.
Kay
They’re going to do this every election now- the Trump judges and justices are going to attempt to throw out Democratic ballots.
Every single election will be like this now. They’ll wait for 2 weeks or a week before the election and just start making completely arbitrary orders to attempt to throw out ballots.
cain
I’m here to whine that in response to his twitter post – “… only read if there is a pet picture attached.” I attached a pet picture of one of my velociraptors and I got no likes. How can you not love this pet pic??? – https://twitter.com/sramkrishna/status/1321939522553196544
NotMax
“a substantive post”
You new here?
:)
Baud
With respect to your analysis of Greenwald, I think you’re ignoring the seductiveness of cold hard cash.
Mary G
Twitler Jr. has been on the internets in posts he puts up himself, including one he did in bed that look like he’s been on something for several days and spouting gibberish Twitler himself couldn’t.
cain
@Baud:
He really needs to turn in his “civil rights” creds. The man doesn’t give too shits about civil rights.
raven
@Percysowner: Kid???
Patricia Kayden
jl
@Kay: I looked up a few news articles on this latest court mess. The history of the extension, what the GOP’s complaint and argument was, and the federal court’s reasoning make no sense to me.
IANAL, but there are bounds set by common sense and plain English.
Maybe the news reports are confused. If any BJ lawyer or elections commenter can explain, I’d appreciate it.
David ?Booooooo!? Koch
@Baud:
Martin
@Kay: This is what I was saying yesterday – the federal courts are telling the state courts and state administrators that they are unable to interpret and implement state laws.
This is wild.
PsiFighter37
@Kay: Fixing voting rights needs to be in the very first bill that passes. Dare the GOP to sue it, and if SCOTUS overturns it, add justices. Very simple.
Biden has enough of a margin to overcome this fuckery, but the judiciary is seeded with a bunch of unqualified Trump hacks, and that is going to take years, if not decades, to root out.
jl
@Patricia Kayden: Looks like AOC was photographed in front of a very ritzy rose garden. How’d she afford that? Huh?
Amir Khalid
@burnspbesq:
Tony’s plenty cheesed off about it, going by his comments here. He has long believed that Corbyn is being framed for anti-Semitism and shunted out by his party establishment.
I haven’t followed this anywhere near as closely as he, of course, but it does seem to me that — how shall I put this? — es gibt kein Rauch ohne Feuer.
debbie
@PsiFighter37:
Seconded on the voting rights bill.
jl
@Martin: If that is the case, then by the reactionary SCOTUS rationales (which was perhaps cooked up as an emergency ex post fix), then it’s a matter of federal courts meddling in state election law, so SCOTUS will erase all of it and the elections state official’s action will stand.
If this ever gets to SCOTUS, we’ll see what happens.
Kay
@jl:
I think Biden is far enough ahead that the advantage they gain from the judges and justices changing the rules 7 and 6 and then 5 days out won’t matter for this one, but we are looking at them doing this every two years- every federal election.
How is the public with this? They’re okay with this absolute chaos they’re creating, where 850,000 Minnesotans could be disenfranchised although the voters relied on the rules that came with the absentee ballot?
Are we up for this corrupt interference with voters every two years? Because that’s what we’re looking at.
PsiFighter37
@Kay: Have to imagine there will be an emergency appeal to SCOTUS. Will be interesting to see what happens.
The fact this is expanding to states that are unlikely to flip (like MN) means the GOP is getting desperate and trying to open more lanes. They know they are losing TX and GA. By my count, even if they ratfuck MN, WI, and PA, they still lose 349-189. Even subtracting those out means they have to win FL (where Trump has not been ahead in a reputable poll for 5-6 months). Honestly, it’s getting a bit ridiculous. But fixing voting rights – it goes into the stimulus bill. Give money for national holiday on Election Day, more funds for machines/staffing, require mail-in ballots and early voting. Just fucking do it. We should have done it back in 2008 during the last crisis, but the voting imperative wasn’t there. It sure is now.
Elizabelle
@Kay: The John Lewis Voting Rights Act.
Enough with this sabotage.
Baud
@jl: Roberts seems to want to defer to state officials, so maybe there’s some hope.
Mary G
Another profile in courage like Perdue’s:
Kay
Democrats should take this question directly to voters. GOP judges don’t want them to vote. They’re hoping they can stop Democratic votes from being counted, but they’re casting a really wide net and what they’re really doing is stopping THE PUBLIC from voting.
Public okay with this? We’re going to put up with this absolute bullshit from these public employees? Keep paying them for this? We can’t vote them out- they got a lifetime job. So we just have to put up with this every federal election? Some Right wing judge will decide if the vote we cast pursuant to the rules we were given will be counted or not?
They’re not attacking Joe Biden. They’re attacking every voter in the country.
No name
@cain: Not on Twitter but he gets a ❤️ from me. Magnificent kitty.
PsiFighter37
@Baud: Doesn’t help if they deadlock in this case, because it would mean the Appeals Court ruling stands. He will have to convince Brettski to come along with him somehow.
Martin
@jl: Don’t count on it. Some of that message has come from USSC.
jl
@Kay: I agree that big D lead in MN, plus D GOTV plans that didn’t count on extensions should result in low odds of a post election crisis.
But you are right, judicial partisan corruption in favor of GOP will create a crisis in the future, and even the risk for current election is unacceptable.
Only saving grace in the current mess is that enough rulings are coming down before the election, that election officials can take measure to at least prevent a counting crisis. Though, I think the post election arrival court mess was so likely, they should have planned to segregate ballots from the outset, as well as worked with USPS to undo this summer’s sabotage as much as possible.
Baud
@PsiFighter37: Right.
gwangung
@Baud: If he’s being consistent.
Not sure conservative judges are that way now.
Amir Khalid
@jl:
It’s like AOC’s Republican accusers don’t know that the fancy threads were provided to her only for the photo shoot; or that the photographer, not she, picked the backdrop.
Martin
@Elizabelle: I’m not convinced that will help given their eagerness to declare things like the ACA unconstitutional, and their extraordinarily narrow reading of the 15th amendment.
That’s sort of the point of originalism – your subsequent changes are invalid.
jl
@Martin: Problem is some of the reactionary maniacs’ reasoning is so opaque, that it is hard to tell what explanations that try to impose some consistency and principle are real, and what are flimsy covers that will be discarded at the next case.
Baud
@gwangung: Agreed.
dmsilev
@Kay: Looking for a silver lining in the cloud, it’s good to see Senator Klobuchar not pull any punches in terms of blaming the Republicans for causing this. The era of “turn the other cheek” seems finally to be drawing to a close.
jl
@Amir Khalid: Well, all I know is that she’s in front of a really ritzy rose garden that looks like it’s in the courtyard of a mansion and how did she get all that money? That Biden China money?
//snark
PsiFighter37
Lil Wayne just endorsed Trump. Methinks that since the Kanye West experiment failed, the Trump campaign is starting to pay rappers to endorse them. Who the fuck would EVER listen to anything Lil Wayne had to say about anything?
Baud
@jl: Is it worse than Nancy Pelosi’s ice cream?
Kay
@PsiFighter37:
It’s an absolutely outrageous overreach and they quoted Justice Kavanaugh.
I agree with you that they probably can’t steal this one. But they can steal the next. And the one after that. Because this is now how they plan on winning elections. By changing voting rules a week before the election and attempting to throw votes out.
Mail delivery doesn’t vary by household. It varies by zip code. If there’s a slowdown in mail delivery it will be slow in one zip code and faster in another. It’s not random. The later-delivered ballots will be bunched in certain zipcodes. If they threw out 20,000 ballots and those ballots included a local race with a lower total vote share, they have so tainted that election it shouldn’t be certified.
dmsilev
Also, every hackish decision by GOP judges (not “Trump” judges; it’s the whole damn Party that’s the problem) is one more log on the fire for “expand the courts. All of the them, not just SCOTUS”.
Baud
@PsiFighter37: Or rappers don’t want to pay taxes.
NotMax
Justice holds a set of scales, not a Fizzbin deck.
//
matt
@Patricia Kayden: Reminds me of the way they flipped out about Clinton getting a haircut. Remember, no amenity is too cheap to be unacceptable for Democrats to get, and no amenity is too expensive to be acceptable for Republicans to get.
Original Lee
You have perfectly described one of my friends to a T, John. I have been baffled as to why she’s been burbling about the Hunter Biden stuff for the last few days, and now I know it’s because she’s a contrarian.
The latest “revelations” involving Malia Obama should, in a just world, result in whoever thought them up being struck by lightning.
LongHairedWeirdo
Well, the worst part of *all* of this is that you’ll have people like Tucker Carlson who promote this, in a way that validates the “concerns” of these people we’d have called “nutjobs” in the past.
Add to that, there’s a persistent notion in journalism that, if a lot of Republicans insist they believe something, it’s automatically *not* batshit crazy, even if it is, on the face of it, batshit crazy. To call a spade a spade means that the caller is partisan – not that there’s a partisan attempt to peddle some batshit insanity to the public.
And it’s not like they haven’t had experience of being pantsed by the Republicans over and over, so it’s not like they don’t have reason to start realizing that, wow, maybe the *impeachment* wasn’t partisan – maybe the *defense* was! Hell, I didn’t see anyone (except maybe a couple articles in Vox) that even advanced the notion that “yes, there’s definitely partisanship on display, and it clearly must be one side or the other, but let’s consider the facts, and ask *who* is being partisan, and who has legitimate concerns”.
This is what makes me so nervous. If this was a blowout election, if Mitch McConnell lost in a surprise upset, *then* the Republicans might have to realize “wow, we done stepped in it, up to our necks!” but since that’s not likely to happen, we both know they’ll do their best to keep pain levels *really* high, for the next two years, so they can say “see how horrible things are, now that Biden is in charge?” to try to take over in the midterms, again.
That’s assuming the election is not stolen by the Trump team, who’ve been openly announcing their plans, but it will be “whooo, no, can’t say that, too partisan!” if people try to point that out when the court cases start flying.
I confess, there are days emigration seems like a plan.
Patricia Kayden
Winston
Wow, over 91,500 new COVID cases in USA today.
dmsilev
Alan Alda endorses Biden:
PsiFighter37
@dmsilev: It makes the argument a lot easier. I sure hope Biden’s advisors, along with Pelosi and Schumer, are busy writing bills to pass as soon as January 20th shows up.
CaseyL
@cain: I love kitties to the nth degree, but this is the umpetty ump time I’ve seen them referred to as “velociraptors,” and I have to say I don’t get it.
Velociraptors are dinosaurs and their descendants, birds of prey.
Velociraptors are not cats.
Where did this come from?
Baud
@Patricia Kayden:
puts all of us talking about crawling over broken glass to shame
Baud
@dmsilev:
cool, but he’s no Lil Wayne.
Amir Khalid
@Baud:
I never really understood the ice cream thing. Even the most expensive ice cream isn’t that expensive in absolute terms.
Gin & Tonic
@Amir Khalid: Of course they know, they’re just being gratuitous assholes.
trollhattan
Key element to my avoiding television news of any sort is binging shows. Having now finished Mrs. Maisel S3 (there will be a 4th, folks) the box offered up “Fleabag” and I dove in.
Holy hell, bring my PFD. Nothing prepared me for Phoebe Waller-Bridge. And then Olivia Colman* shows up as her step mom–gonna need a bigger teevee to contain all that talent and lurid behaviour. This is going to be a bumpy ride.
*If you have not seen “The Favourite” fix that ASAP.
patrick II
Watching Maddow talking about a Russian cyber gang taking out our hospitals.
Baud
@Amir Khalid:
?♂️
Amir Khalid
@CaseyL:
Someone decided they wanted a fancier word than “predator”.
Percysowner
@Baud: Yeah but 4-4 lets the decision stand and if ACB votes they will probably uphold the lower court decision.
The Dems do need to pass Voter Reform, BUT activists in the states need to start putting election issues on the next ballot, because the Supreme Court looks like it’s about to declare that only the State Legislature can set election law. So we need states to institute mail in voting, additional time to vote, drop off boxes, and having any ballot post marked by the election be considered valid. Personally, I’d add a requirement that the legislature be forced to pass legislation stating the exact same conditions, just so our OH SO ETHICAL Supreme Court won’t pull the “a law passed by the citizens of a state doesn’t count” bullshit that they will come up with.
We need to fight at the local levels as well.
Patricia Kayden
@PsiFighter37: Add justices to SCOTUS right off the bat after President Biden’s inauguration and Democrats are in control of the Senate. No need to wait.
NotMax
@Winston
“We’re going to win so much, you’re going to be so sick and tired of winning, you’re going to come to me and go ‘Please, please, we can’t win anymore.’ “
jl
@Baud: “Is it worse than Nancy Pelosi’s ice cream?”
At least Peolosi seems to have personal ownership of the ice cream, though the way she raved about it, that is very temporary.
The absurdity of this GOP stunt is that Trump regularly flaunts his wealth and high life as part of his pitch that he is a real champion of the common working class person. While any liberal, even obscure social workers and professors who make the news, are ridiculed as hypocrites unless they live naked in holes in the ground and live off of roots and bark. (Edit: which means Baud XXXX!! a hypocrite too since he adds stale beer to that lifestyle)
I can’t fathom how the country and the corporate media has reached such depths of stupid.
Baud
@Percysowner: Agree.
Kay
Klobuchar is on CNN already.I have some faith in her. She’s tough.
dmsilev
@Amir Khalid: John Kerry was attacked for his choice of cheese on a sandwich. Obama was criticized for his mustard preferences. It’s not about money, it’s about tagging people as “elitists” who “think they’re better than you are and look down on the things you like”. Meanwhile, man-of-the-people Trump is …not exactly restrained in his home decorating choices.
Patricia Kayden
@Winston: But Trump beat COVID-19 or so the White House is claiming. Plus, at every super spreader rally, Trump keeps yelling about turning the corner on the pandemic. What’s a girl to believe? /s
Frank Wilhoit
Blaming the parents for the sins of the children is absolutely central to the peasant mindset.
And whereas roughly half of Americans identify with the Republican Party, and roughly half identify with the Democratic Party, roughly all think like peasants. Those who don’t have (again, roughly) all self-sorted into affiliation with the Democratic Party, but that leaves a vast number of loyal Democrats who have the peasant mindset. This leads to immense confusion and is a major reason why We Can’t Have Nice Things.
Ksmiami
Been donating like a fiend… question to you all how can we post election help the Democratic party codify norms and rebalance powers in the branches of government. Basically at this point the Presidency has way too much authority and needs to be reigned in on everything from launching nukes to executive orders. I’m happy to help financially set up a PAC to do this and maybe help this brilliant blog evolve in a small way.
WaterGirl
How can they get away with changing the rules of the game in the middle of a fucking election? When people can follow the written instructions that came with their ballot and can have their vote thrown out?
jl
@Percysowner: I agree. But I think even what you suggest is a temporary stopgap. Any legislature with enough honest people needs to be pushed to pass those laws asap.
But, legislatures cannot bind future legislation, and we don’t know how long the rationale that kind of provides some consistency to SCOTUS rulings will last. So over longer term, need stronger measures, though I’m not sure what they are.
wenchacha
@Percysowner: I have thought the same. They don’t care if he relapses, or worse. They don’t care that Joe and Hunter Biden have already lost too many loved ones. If there are tragic consequences as a result of this campaign, well, I am sure they take no responsibility.
Amir Khalid
@Winston:
Yikes.
debbie
@Amir Khalid:
Next you’ll be telling me Vanity Fair made Donald Trump pose suggestively with his young daughter Ivanka. //
Kay
@WaterGirl:
I think they can in this case because there’s no time for voters to get a hearing, which was, of course, deliberate.
Redshift
@Josie: The thin thread they were trying to claim connected this to Joe Biden was that one of the initial extremely questionable emails had Hunter talking about trying to get some Ukrainian a meeting with Biden.
Which if you’re a Fox-head apparently means that it happened, which means that the Biden family is engaged in all kinds of corruption, right?
It really is that stupid. There was no effort made to do anything more than get Hunter, Joe, and Ukraine in the same sentence.
WaterGirl
@Kay: This is really fucked up beyond belief.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@trollhattan:
Olivia Coleman is so good in Fleabag, which is so damn good all around, and in The Favourite, and Gillian Anderson was so good in Bleak House and The Fall, that I”m tempted to try to catch up with the Crown.
and all this reminds me: I think I paid money to watch a video of PWB’s stage version of Fleabag, some fund-raiser for London theatres, and never did. I wonder if it’s still available.
WaterGirl
@Kay: I don’t understand. Whatever happened to “it’s too close to an election to change the rules”. We’re in the middle of an election.
Kay
Lawsuits are fine but we all know any lawsuit protecting voters fails in the Trump Supreme Court, so what I would like to do is make this backfire for them politically. They have 5 days to continue to try to throw out our votes and hand this to Donald Trump but we have 5 days to make it backfire on them politically.
raven
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Olivia Coleman is very good in Broadchurch.
trollhattan
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
ZOMG, Gillian Anderson as Maggie Thatcher? I’m there.
trollhattan
@dmsilev:
John Kerry–actual war hero–was recast as an effete sissy by draft dodger George W Bush. That was and remains a fucking crime.
WaterGirl
@Kay:
How would we do that?
raven
@trollhattan: War hero is a bit of a stretch, combat vet covers it quite well
eta I’m sure his Silver Star will be cited so I won’t argue except to say there was a good bit of medal inflation going on.
Kay
@WaterGirl:
That’s “the reliance interest”- voters relied on the rules staying the same so to change them is unfair:
Winston
@Amir Khalid: Fauci said a couple months ago it would be 100,000 by Christmas. Fucking science.
Kay
@WaterGirl:
Sorry- here’s the link.
I think you make it backfire politically exactly like Klobachur just did on CNN- you say that it’s unfair to voters.
Not unfair to Joe Biden. To voters. Because that’s what it is.
Mary G
@Winston: We’re Number One!
Winston
@WaterGirl: I read somewhere today, that some counties in Iowa don’t have enough poll workers to open all the precincts. So the big Republican plan to overwhelm on election day, may meet a problem. That would be being hoisted by their own petards.
Aleta
I bet Hunter Biden won’t interfere with FEMA, the FDA, HHS and USAID in order to control the supply of ventilators and protective gear that hospitals and nursing home workers need, so that Kushner’s chosen profiteers can benefit to the max while people get sick and die.
cain
@Kay:
The only thing that might give them pause if it worked out that they fucked themselvse and threw out mostly Republican votes. I thought in NC they shot themselves in the foot and wanted a a do-over. Morons.
MisterForkbeard
@trollhattan: Fleabag is really good. The second season in particular I just REALLY loved.
The show has the characters go through actual growth, and the actors are all outstanding and funny. Would recommend to most people.
Matt McIrvin
@dmsilev:
That’s up there with “Worthwhile Canadian Initiative.”
cain
@LongHairedWeirdo:
If they get thrown out – they will come back – crazier than ever and will be even more hell bent on stealing elections and what not. There will be no tactic that isn’t shameless and I think they might even go more criminal and resort to murder.
dmsilev
Election analyst Charlie Cook summarizes the race:
TS (the original)
@Kay:
Why are federal judges interfering in state controlled elections? This is utterly amazing for an outsider to see.
cain
@CaseyL:
I think it just comes from their depiction on Jurassic Park – somewhat cute looking, but very clever predators.
I wasn’t aware I was not the only one calling them velociraptors. But for some reason the name fits.
Lapassionara
@Kay: I think it is interesting that Trump singled out Minnesota as a state he would win this cycle. He has known this was in the works.
Kay
@cain:
I disagree with this. I think we can make this a bad political issue for them. Forget about GOP pols and judges. Lost cause.
We have to get voters mad that these people want to throw out their votes. All voters.
I mean Jesus Christ i we can win an entire midterm based on the fact that they’re trying to take away preexisting conditions coverage we can surely make the fact that they’re trying to throw out peoples votes radioactive.
WaterGirl
@Winston: Small favors.
WaterGirl
@dmsilev: Well, that calms me down a bit.
frosty
Agreed. There’s been quite a bit of “thank you for your service” and similar inflation for quite a few years.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@dmsilev:
But we here at Balloon Juice know the truth, the mustard is a myth.
Matt McIrvin
@dmsilev: He’s nuts. The only way there’s not a contested election is if Trump wins outright. He will never accept a loss under any circumstances. Cook seems to think “landslide” and “contested election” are mutually exclusive.
Kay
@Lapassionara:
Well, he absolutely did know it was in the works because the lawsuit was brought by two GOP electors.
I think we have been approaching this wrong. Don’t make it about Trump. Make it about the Republican Party stopping people from voting. Not Trump’s interests or Biden’s interests. The voters interest. Joe Biden’s not the harmed party. Voters are.
David ?Booooooo!? Koch
81.1 million votes have been cast
6 million people voted today
8.5 million people have voted in Texas, which is 1/2 million more than their entire 2008 and 2012 tally and just 1/2 million short of their 2016 total
Kamala campaigns in 3 different Texas cities on Friday
Act Blue raised $27 million in last 24 hours
Two A+ rated pollsters released separate polls today showing Biden up by 4 in Florida
jl
@dmsilev: Thanks for that. Our side needs to avoid complacency, but avoid total rampaging yips and panic about a repeat of 2016. Need a balance of caution and optimism needed to keep working and contributing, and voting.
Nice to see that four different approaches to forecasting range from comfortable D win to D rampaging a path of electoral destruction through the GOP.
The model that forecasts a GOP wipeout was posted by a commenter who I can’t remember in a comment I can’t find now.
Evan Scrimshaw
@EScrimshaw
https://twitter.com/EScrimshaw
Leantossup
https://leantossup.ca/
So, yes, a worthwhile Canadian initiative, except with curse words. Even if people don’t like the model, Scrimshaw’s detailed analysis of polling organization quality is interesting. Makes me think there are a lot of crooked spam GOP polling outfits that swoop in right before an election. Makes me wonder if 538 and Economist models suffer from a GIGO problem.
Scrimshaw describes the cheap polling tricks in detail.
Matt McIrvin
@TS (the original): Because they’re authoritarians doing the bidding of a tyrant.
Gin & Tonic
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Oh, man, I just put two and two together here … it’s deeper than we thought …
?BillinGlendaleCA
@raven: Remember the purple Band-Aids?
TS (the original)
@WaterGirl:
I’m still wondering what happened to
it’s too close to an election to confirm someone to the SCOTUS
jl
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
” But we here at Balloon Juice know the truth, the mustard is a myth. ”
Hunter Biden’s stole Cole’s mustard jar? Next we’ll learn that the Biden crime family was behind Rosie and Tunch’s plot to kill Cole and eat his dead body.
Edit: or are you saying that Cole lied about the mustard because he is IN the Biden crime family? Smells sinister and runs deep, very deep. Too bad the package that revealed all was lost on the way to Fox News.
JPL
GA power is saying by the end of the day on Nov one my power will be restored. BTW that really sucks cuz it’s supposed to get cold
Kay
@WaterGirl:
37 D + 28 I = 65%
Republicans want to suppress the votes of 65% of Minnesotans. That’s not a niche political issue. That’s something you can get 65% of people pissed off about.
NotMax
@trollhattan
If you’ve never tried it, might sample Mozart in the Jungle. First two seasons, at any rate. Numbers three and four too frequently hit and miss, IMHO.
Not technically what one would label a comedy, more tongue-buried-deep-in cheek deliciously stygian burlesque, both seasons of the Prime original series Patriot remain high on the personal list; it only gets better and better as it goes along.
WaterGirl
@Kay: One article I found said that it was likely that their vote for PRESIDENT wouldn’t be counted, but their votes for senate and local elections etc WOUlD count.
In what world does that make sense?
Redshift
@Ksmiami:
Get involved with a local Indivisible group and get other people involved. Their whole thing is helping people organize to apply pressure on their representatives. That’s a big part of what we’ll need post-election: make sure our reps know their constituents demand action, and that we’ll have their backs if they stand strong against wingnut opposition.
David ?Booooooo!? Koch
Hoppie
@Amir Khalid: Corbyn was never going to win a British election. Tony Blair showed Labour how to win. Staying leftier than thou may feel good, but it doesn’t win.
I am reminded of Gov. Stevensons’s rejoinder: “Yes, sir, but we need a majority.”
Sm*t Cl*de
@cain
UPS lost the image.
Kattails
@Kay: Ideas? I’ve already voted and sent my letter to the editor. Or do you mean collectively via the candidates’ ads?
jl
@WaterGirl:
” One article I found said that it was likely that their vote for PRESIDENT wouldn’t be counted, but their votes for senate and local elections etc WOUlD count. ”
If SCOTUS is applying their supposed interpretation of Article I 4 to states for the presidential election, but not for senate, that would seem to IANAL me to make no damn sense. Either the article you read is confused, or SCOTUS rationale is a bogus hash?
NotMax
@Sm*t Cl*de
Tip:
Do not attempt belly rubs on a velociraptor.
jl
@NotMax: So, we should pass on $150 full contact velociraptor experiences in some random dude’s backyard? Disappointing. Especially in a pandemic when we yearn for authentic exciting experiences.
MisterForkbeard
@jl: IANAL, but I can foresee something totally ridiculous like “SCOTUS is federal and we only have jurisdiction over federal votes, not for state offices. therefore we declare all these votes for President to be null, but the local, House and Senate races have to be counted because those are conducted e entirely within a single state” or somesuch other huge nonsense.
WaterGirl
@jl: Un-fucking-believable.
https://bringmethenews.com/elections-2020/appeals-court-rules-minnesota-ballots-must-be-in-by-8-p-m-on-election-day
Kattails
@Kay: I mentioned that bit in my letter to the editor; that McConnell holding up the bills passed by a bipartisan House meant that he was invalidating the work of every voter’s Representative. Not sure if people will get it; probably the independents will be more inclined to do so. Trumpers may be so stupid…..nah, not gonna bother.
NotMax
@jl
Although there might be one or two for whom you’d be willing to shell out in order to give them a gift certificate for the experience.
;)
@WaterGirl
Halloweeny media thread Friday maybe?
Mousebumples
@jl: concur that LeanTossup and Evan Schrimshaw are good. I know I’ve linked them here before but I’m not sure if i found them here previously?
Anyhow, as always, my thanks to everyone here for being a place i can come to, to vent to learn, and to commiserate. (and to get revenge!)
cain
@WaterGirl:
That is just naked partisanship right there. What bullshit is that?
I think there is enough there for the SoS to just ignore the ruling and count the votes. It makes no sense to only count the local and not the federal. This is moronic.
Uncle Cosmo
@Amir Khalid: The “ice cream thing” is simple: “Overeducated” white folks who eat ice cream more expensive than the $3/half-gallon store brands, order their steaks rare & don’t slather them with ketchup or A-1 Steak Sauce, drink wine at more than $20 a bottle ml or beers more expensive than Bud or Coors – we’re the Trumpistas’ real enemy. Why? Because we’re traitors to our own race. We lord it over them, shove our education and science and laws in their faces, tell them what they’re supposed to think & how they’re supposed to act. We mock them for their tastes (or lack thereof). When we have control of the government, we tax them and fine them into the poorhouse and deny them their “American dream**” while we give money away to people who don’t deserve it – i.e., people who don’t look like them, talk like them, live like them, love like them, worship like them, etc. We were supposed to protect their “white privilege” and instead we take it away.
Honestly, Amir, the Trumpistas hate us white progressives more than they hate AAs and Latinx and immigrants put together. At least they can understand those groups pushing to better their lot – that’s what their ancestors did. We sold them out.
If a Trumpista had a gun with two bullets left and he faced one unarmed white liberal and a black guy with a knife, he’d put both bullets into the liberal just to make sure he was dead. That’s how much they hate us. Capeesh?
(ETA: Backtrack to #83 and read the comment. Frank Wilhot says out loud what they’re absolutely certain we think of them: they’re peasants. Peasants who will happily carve folks like him and me up with their chainsaws and feed us to woodchippers (“serve yuh raat f’r disrespeckin’ me an’ mah kin!”))
** The famous George Carlin quote (“They cal it ‘the American dream’ because you have to be asleep to believe it”) is too flippant by half. Their Earthly Paradise is a return to 1945-75, when US white men didn’t even need a HS diploma to make good enough money in the factories to buy a house and a car and support a family – because every other industrialized nation on the planet was still digging itself out of the rubble. Those days are never coming back.
jl
@MisterForkbeard: @WaterGirl: Thanks. IANAL, but seems to me almost identical language grants authority to regulate elections to the state legislatures in Article I or Congress, and Article II for President. In fact, language for sole legislative authority is stronger in Article II, President, than in Article I.
So, that quote WaterGirl posted seems very odd to me. Edit: meaning, if current rationale for SCOTUS approach is not bogus, no way to separate out that approach to Presidental versus Congressional elections.
Where are the BJ lawyers? Help!
Ksmiami
@Redshift: thank you can you share a link. I’m in tx
cain
@Hoppie:
We can thank Tony Blair for opening up the can of worms that is Brexit.
cain
@TS (the original):
We are playing by Sith rules.
“I have altered the deal, pray I don’t alter it any further”
Kay
?BillinGlendaleCA
@jl: The Constitution Article 2, Section 1:
Every state legislature in the country has decided to select the electors based on the winner of the popular vote. They have done this by law, they can’t change it because they don’t like who’s the winner of the popular vote.
Aleta
Matt McIrvin
Just blocked a so-called anarchist on Twitter who was gleefully mocking Americans for voting because Trump was just going to mount a coup and have us all shot anyway.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Matt McIrvin: If that happens, let’s just say the US will be a much smaller and poorer country.
Kay
What amazes me about Republicans going on and on about how Barrett is a purely political actor is how doing this discredits HER.
It’s incredibly insulting. They’re telling us over and over that she’s a political hack. And this is the people who supposedly support her!
No one survives contact with these people unscathed. They exact a real high price for membership in this cult. She’ll be as discredited as Trump is within a year.
Aleta
@Kay: She’s just a playing piece to them. As you point out, they don’t even respect her.
WaterGirl
@NotMax: Yeah, 8 meant to mention that when I saw your number here this evening. The timing hasn’t matched the mood here since we first talked, but I was thinking tomorrow night may be better in terms of that.
Aleta
The Moar You Know
@Kay: But she will still be serving after I’m dead, most likely. And I’m in my fifties.
Hoppie
@cain: Showing how to win was important. Brexit has been bad. When Britain crawls back to the EC I doubt they will get Maggie’s terms. Sorry if I show an American’s blinkers, but I did live in Italy four years in the seventies, paying attention.
jl
@Aleta:
County map of recent case counts in US:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.html#states
From a quick look around, many (though not all) of recent hot spots are in rural areas of swing states.
I’d be interested if someone could link to a good analysis, but in some places, election day turnout could be a problem. Might be bad if a major political party banked on that for a win.
SectionH
@Kay: No, that’s just the power-obsessed bastard Mitch actually is. He’s got the power, and he revels in it. And that is all that counts. It has zero to do with how Covid Barrett is – she’s a total pawn. Rubbing it in using Hillary is just added satisfaction to him because she has challenged him in the past – more than many.
eta, I guess that’s not inconsistent with what you said, but your focus on Covid-B is to me so not the point re Mitch.
Ken
Article I, Section 4: The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of chusing Senators.
Now granted the Court still might make such a declaration…
dmsilev
@Aleta: The animation in that article, showing the virus ebb and flow among all of the counties of the country, is absolutely horrifying. Especially with the way it ends (so far) with a huge swath of the country basically under siege.
James E Powell
@Kay:
She should be relentlessly attacked and mercilessly ridiculed.
Injustice Barrett. The fraud justice. The partisan hack. There is no need to treat shameless lying political actors as if they were God’s Own Justices.
dmsilev
@jl: The Post had an analysis of that sort, but I can’t seem to find it. Bottom line is that right now, the majority of the new covid cases are in counties that voted for Trump in 2016, and the distribution is becoming increasingly tilted. It’s even worse if you switch from raw number of cases to cases per 100,000 people, since the red counties tend to be rural and lower-population.
Aleta
@jl: ‘Vote early before you contract the coronavirus’ — could have been included with all the election advice.
Matt McIrvin
@Kay:
They think that’s awesome! If she’s “discredited”, all that means is that the libs are pissed off, and owning the libs is what they’re here for. The more illegitimate their power is, the more it makes liberals cry and therefore the better it is. Power is only delicious if it can hurt.
NotMax
@WaterGirl
Understandable (and wasn’t trying to be a noodge about it) – if ever the terrain called for islets of respite…
Overture to a weekend is good.
;)
Kay
Gov. Gary Herbert
@GovHerbert
Our hospitals cannot keep up with Utah’s infection rate. You deserve to understand the dire situation we face.
I didn’t know Utah was so bad off with Covid.
Goku (Amerikan Baka)
@Matt McIrvin:
Don’t they ever think,”Huh, maybe those libs will stop “crying” and start getting even some day?”
As in maybe mass violence might be directed at them?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Kay: time is a blur, of course, but there were very recent reports about rationed care in SLC. The mayor of Denver is talking about stay-at-home orders. Brian Williams just did a report about overwhelmed medical staff in Billings, MT. North Dakota’s gov is pleading with people to wear masks. So Dak’s is probably gonna lead a halloween conga line in and out of every bar in Pierre.
Kay
I think it’s true that a lot of Republicans are voting for Biden- it’s true where I live – but I wonder if some of them are getting a taste of what it feels like to have an entire political Party – including the judicial members of that Party- working as hard as they can to throw out your vote.
How’s it feel, Never Trumpers? Sucks, doesn’t it? Imagine living in a country where you could just go vote, safely and conveniently, and not have to hire a team of lawyers just to get the fucking thing counted.
LongHairedWeirdo
@TS (the original): For the same reason dogs lick their genitals. “Because they can.”
Aleta
The inter cept’s response to G’s resignation is withering. He’s intentionally taken the attention away from the editors, who say they held him to accuracy. He then smeared them. He has a way of smearing people who upset him and making his story the story. Even here he’s dominated the story to the exclusion of the editors’ role.
Goku (Amerikan Baka)
@Kay:
Here’s my thing with that: what’s stopping the SOS of MN, PA, etc from just ignoring these rulings, counting the ballots anyway, and if the GOP legislators appoint electors based on the illegitimate results, then the House of Reps can just refuse to certify the election until the state legs appoint the correct electors based on the true popular vote
Kay
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
People seem stunned here that the schools are closing again. They’re not even angry about the masks or any of that anymore- I’m watching them finally, finally get it. It’s a horrible feeling. It’s like talking with one of my defiant, argumentative juveniles and seeing it dawn on them that they’re really in serious trouble, that nothing is “going away” or “getting better”. I hate that moment.
Odie Hugh Manatee
@NotMax:
I have one of those velociraptors of the floppy-eared, many-toed, Siamese variety that loves belly rubs. He also likes to play fetch with small pine cones, comes to me when I call him and goes inside when I tell him to do so. Fer’ realz.
I call him puppykitty.
Kay
@Goku (Amerikan Baka):
I’ve seen you ask this before and courts don’t have armies so “nothing” is stopping them other than that they follow lawful orders. I mean, not to get too dramatic but what you’re saying is they should defy a court order which of course they can DO but be aware that’s a disaster. That’s “all bets are off”.
That’s not a solution. What that means is the entire system has collapsed.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Kay:
Agreed, but so is not counting legally cast votes.
Goku (Amerikan Baka)
@Kay:
If it’s a partisan court order handed down by authoritarian hacks with nonsensical legal reasoning, then yes, I think it’s a solution. Not an ideal one, but a solution. It’s do or die at this point. If it collapses, it collapses. We can’t endure another 4 years of Trump. The US WILL collapse if he retains power. We might have to play some hardball just as the GOP has done
And while I realize it’s not the same thing, the US didn’t collapse when Andrew Jackson ignored the Supreme Court’s ruling for the Seminoles (?).
Kay
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
The other things juveniles do when they hit bottom, when they realize nothing is going away and they’e in serious trouble, is they start to work with you to save themselves.
I think that will happen if Biden wins. If he gives people a plan and some direction they’ll want to get out of this and they’ll do it. They’ll probably be relieved to have some direction. They’re going to be whipped and their “plan”, such as it is, isn’t working. They’ll follow his.
Sally
@James E Powell: I agree. To me she’s always Aunt Amy.
jl
@Kay: Biden has, I think more than any other national level politician, the ability and willingness to make a good plan everyone’s plan, that everyone feels that they can take some credit for and feel some pride of accomplishment as it makes progress towards success. That will help enormously if he is elected.
different-church-lady
GLENN
GREENWALD
IS
A
PROFESSIONAL
TROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLL.
He’s never been anything else. It’s just that he’s only now gotten so obvious about it that you’ve finally noticed.
Craig
Thanks John. When you decide to write on your blog you’re a hellava clear, concise, and impactful writer. I’m so glad you got this place organized, and running. I just lurk here reading old threads, but this site is much more informative than almost all of expensive journalism. Thanks again.
evodevo
@Goku (Amerikan Baka): Cherokees…the entire Cherokee nation…
artem1soo
@raven:
he was wounded multiple times. arguing metal inflation is pretty much like saying water boarding isn’t all that bad and not torture because it doesn’t kill anyone. the silver star was awarded to more than one of the crew involved in the incident, not just Kerry. was that inflation too? he has shrapnel in his leg to this day. in a war that some people avoided by doing self harm, he volunteered for and stayed after being injured multiple times. at least one of them could have been his ticket home or to a desk job. think about that and then haggle over whether there was metal inflation. his reputation and the reputation of all vets of that war was damaged by haggling over his metals. that’s criminal and continuing it puts the accusers in the same camp as Trump calling vets suckers.
it wasn’t about the fucking metals, it was about the courage of a kid who didn’t have to be there and who came home and testified before congress about what a waste of life that war was. he deserves a metal just for that, IMO. none of the other Bush cartel draft dodgers or GOP had enough courage to stand up and say, “Kerry went and I didn’t, let’s give him some respect and drop this farce”. Their respect for the military extends to parades and flag waving and nothing more. they don’t even have the decency to respect those who are keeping their own kids from being suckers.
droog
@cain:
All forms of Brexit are f*cked up. It’s nothing to do with Corbyn.