Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

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

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.

They spent the last eight months firing professionals and replacing them with ideologues.

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

Petty moves from a petty man.

Bad people in a position to do bad things will do bad things because they are bad people. End of story.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

You passed on an opportunity to be offended? What are you even doing here?

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

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

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

Hey hey, RFK, how many kids did you kill today?

Hell hath no fury like a farmer bankrupted.

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

How any woman could possibly vote for this smug smarmy piece of misogynistic crap is beyond understanding.

I’m starting to think Jesus may have made a mistake saving people with no questions asked.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the gop

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

No Kings: Americans standing in the way of bad history saying “Oh, Fuck No!”

That meeting sounds like a shotgun wedding between a shitshow and a clusterfuck.

The media handbook says “controversial” is the most negative description that can be used for a Republican.

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Archives for 2020

COVID-19 Update – Thursday / Friday

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Thanks to commentor (and nursing student) Goku for the following link. (The tweets I’d seen over the previous day or two were all alarmist / sketchily sourced, presumably because the Iranian government has a fairly effective Twitter clampdown… and there’s a parlimentary election today.) From Univ-Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy:

… Following a report yesterday of its first two cases, both fatal, Iran’s health ministry today reported three more. Two are in Qom, the same city where the first two cases were confirmed, and one is in Arak, located about 92 miles southwest of that city.

All three patients are Iranian citizens, and the ministry’s machine-translated statement said the patient in Arak is a doctor. It said health officials have proposed limiting visits to Qom’s holy shrine and other pilgrimage sites. Among other measures, the health ministry has also advised canceling seminars and conferences in Qom.

A health official was quoted in Iran’s state news agency as saying the patients whose illnesses and deaths were announced yesterday had not had any contact with foreigners or people who had traveled to China, Al Jazeera reported today. It added that an advisor to Iran’s health ministry said testing is under way on suspected cases in several other cities, and that the state news agency reported that two people with suspected infections have been quarantined in Babol, located in northern Iran…

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Late Night Horrorshow Open Thread: Another Benefit to Last Night’s Debate…

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It pretty well drowned out ‘news’ of the Oval Office Squatter’s latest round of California gold-digging. Himself is very upset about this slight! The never-very-secure hinges, they are slipping!

Trump — and worse, Trump Jr. — video clips below the fold. Can’t say you weren’t warned…

Also, I’m afraid Junior — d/b/a as ‘the Heir Apparent’ (according to his Fox-News-trained side piece) — is back on the sauce.

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Far-Right Terrorist Murders Ten People in Germany

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Maybe it was just bad timing — too much domestic news here. Suspect committed suicide, after killing his mother:

Authorities Thursday confirmed the suspect behind two shootings in the central German city of Hanau, which left nine people dead and six more injured, showed signs of a “deeply racist mentality.”

Germany’s attorney general, Peter Frank, said a video and manifesto posted on the suspect’s website expressed “not only crazy thoughts and convoluted conspiracy theories, but also a deeply racist mentality.” He cited this as the reason for the attorney general’s office to take over the investigation.

Prosecutors must now “find out, if there were any other supporters or accomplices in the Hanau attacks.” Frank said prosecutors would look into the suspect’s environment and known connections, both in Germany and in other countries.

A 43-year-old German man is the prime suspect in the attacks, which took place Wednesday night at two hookah bars. His body and that of his mother were found by police in his home, bringing the total death toll to 11. A weapon was found beside the two. Police encoutered the suspect’s father uninjured, the attorney general’s office said in a statement.

Federal prosecutors soon took over the investigation due to the severity of the case, as this prosecutorial level primarily handles cases of crimes against the state…

In talking with eyewitnesses on the ground in Hanau, DW’s Rebecca Staudenmaier said the hookah bar where the first shooting took place was focal points for a local tight-knit Kurdish community, as well as a popular hangout for young people of all backgrounds.

Police have revealed few details about the victims. However, Yanki Pürsün, a lawmaker in the Hesse state parliament, told DW’s Turkish service that three of the victims were of Turkish descent and five had a North African background…

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Twitter Disinfo Open Thread: “We’re WORKING On It, Okay?”

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Chorus from users: But STILL no edit button, Jack…

… Twitter confirmed that the leaked demo, which was accessible on a publicly available site, is one possible iteration of a new policy to target misinformation. The company does not currently have a date for a rollout of any new misinformation features.

In this version, disinformation or misleading information posted by public figures will be corrected directly beneath the tweet by fact-checkers and journalists who are verified on the platform, and possibly other users who will participate in a new “community reports” feature, which the demo claims is “like Wikipedia.”…

The leaked demo also shows an example of medical misinformation, including an example about the coronavirus by a verified Twitter account.

The impending policy rollout comes as the 2020 election season is ramping up, with Twitter playing a central role in some of the daily give-and-take between the candidates. On Thursday, former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s campaign posted an edited video that made it seem as if there had been a long pause when he asked during Wednesday’s Democratic debate if the other candidates had ever started a business…

Some other websites have successfully used community moderation to regulate their platforms. Information on Wikipedia has been moderated by anonymous users since its inception in 2001. It is frequently vandalized in breaking news situations by political actors, which can sometimes lead more powerful moderators to temporarily lock down pages…

CORRECTION (Feb. 20, 2020, 5:16 p.m. ET): A previous version of this article misstated when Twitter will release new features to counter misinformation. There is currently no timeline; it is not scheduled to roll out on March 5.

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The Limitations of a Never Trumper

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I think Jennifer Rubin has been right about a lot of things in the Trump era, but she’s pretty wrong on this one. Her post-debate column barely mentions Warren, naming Biden (!?!) and Buttigieg (!?!) as the winners. Were she and I watching the same debate?

As we go forward, a bunch of never-Trumpers who have DC sinecures are going to lecture Democrats on who can win, why they can win, how they can win and so forth. We would be stupid to listen to them. Even if their advice is given sincerely (and I think in Rubin’s case, it is), their feelers are tuned to feel what an ever-shrinking group of moderate Republicans feel. In the real world, a lot of those moderate Republicans are already going to pull the lever for Trump because they can’t stomach voting for a Democrat. Some of them are going to vote for whichever Democrat makes the ticket (James Joyner at OTB is a good example). The rest of them may or may not vote. Rubin, Rick Wilson, David Frum and others like them just don’t represent a big enough constituency to be bothered about what they say. They’re great at criticizing Trump, but not so good on helping Democrats pick a candidate to beat him.

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Election Year Open Thread: ICYMI

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Bloomberg wasn’t the only elderly white guy had a bad night, last night…


(A $600K ‘summer camp’, incidentally — we’re not talking outhouse & oil lamp level, people.)

Look! Over there! A new poll!

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Respite Open Thread: Penelope In A Pretty Scarf

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You guys do like to spoil my critters! MomSense sent me three beautiful scarves, colored especially for each duck. I may have video of putting them on, I haven’t looked at it yet, it may be just a blur of feather, wings and yarn.

Respite Open Thread: Penelope In A Pretty Scarf 1

They removed them very quickly :

Respite Open Thread: Penelope In A Pretty Scarf
Mabel removing her scarf

When I have a bit more time, I’ll do one scarf/one duck and take photos. It kind of stresses them out, but I bribed them with romaine lettuce and they have mostly forgiven me.

Okay here is the big reveal, Penelope Pearl in her pretty red scarf:

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