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You are here: Home / Foreign Affairs / Sunday Evening Open Thread: Hall of *All* the Mirrors

Sunday Evening Open Thread: Hall of *All* the Mirrors

by Anne Laurie|  September 19, 20217:18 pm| 141 Comments

This post is in: Foreign Affairs, Open Threads

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Maria Butina, Running For Russian Parliament, Is Accused Of Being US Agent https://t.co/uQjKurfO3H via @TPM

— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) September 18, 2021

Russia is wrapping up its national elections, about which I have not posted because, frankly, there’s enough depressing news on my remit already.

So here’s a space for y’all to vent, about that or anything else.

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Reader Interactions

141Comments

  1. 1.

    Baud

    September 19, 2021 at 7:25 pm

    I wonder if Putin will win.

  2. 2.

    Chetan Murthy

    September 19, 2021 at 7:26 pm

    @Baud: ROFL!

  3. 3.

    mdblanche

    September 19, 2021 at 7:28 pm

    @Baud: I suppose there’s a chance.

  4. 4.

    VOR

    September 19, 2021 at 7:28 pm

    The idea that Butina is now a US agent is definitely a reflection in a fun house mirror.

  5. 5.

    banditqueen

    September 19, 2021 at 7:30 pm

    WaPo reports that Putin’s party will maintain its death grip. Also, Google and Apple declare another victory for Putin with zero precincts reporting and no opponents running against Putin this time. barf emoji

  6. 6.

    Starfish

    September 19, 2021 at 7:30 pm

    If she and Elizabeth Holmes were only born ten years later and could have chosen “influencer” as a career over “aspire to greatness through criminality.”

  7. 7.

    trollhattan

    September 19, 2021 at 7:31 pm

    This seems on point.

    TAPPER: Governor, if Mississippi were a country, you would have the 2nd worst per capita death toll in the world. And I’m saying, are you going to do anything to try to change that?

    TATE REEVES: Deaths unfortunately are a lagging indicator.

    “Laggards!” They should try harder.

  8. 8.

    prostratedragon

    September 19, 2021 at 7:31 pm

    Back and forth, back and forth.

    “Frantic Moment,” Eddie Hazel

  9. 9.

    Ken

    September 19, 2021 at 7:33 pm

    @VOR: Maybe it’s an attempt to rehabilitate her reputation so that she can resume her attempts to influence American conservatives.

    To which some might respond, “They’d have to be idiots to — oh.”

  10. 10.

    MomSense

    September 19, 2021 at 7:33 pm

    @trollhattan:

    Wait what?  That was his answer?  Did Tapper follow up or did he just leave it there?

  11. 11.

    Baud

    September 19, 2021 at 7:34 pm

    @trollhattan:

    Who has the 1st?

  12. 12.

    Chetan Murthy

    September 19, 2021 at 7:35 pm

    @Ken: IIUC, the reason she was judged to be a “foreign agent” was that she got donations (heh) from the Overstock CEO guy.  And had some foreign investments.  If anything, it’s a reason to think that the Overstock CEO guy is a Russkie stooge.

  13. 13.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    September 19, 2021 at 7:35 pm

    @trollhattan: “Unfortunately”? Does he mean that MS would be first but the death are lagging?

  14. 14.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    September 19, 2021 at 7:39 pm

    @trollhattan: I think Molly Ivins used to propose as the state motto of Texas, ‘At least we’re not Mississippi!’. Maybe Tater can campaign on “Better Than Alabama!”

    Bianna Golodryga @biannagolodryga 7h
    “For the first time in Alabama’s known history, the state had more deaths than births in 2020… Such a gap had never been recorded, not even during World War I, World War II and the flu pandemic of 1918,”

    “Our state literally shrunk in 2020,” Dr. Scott Harris, Alabama’s state health officer, said at a news conference on Friday. There were 64,714 total deaths in the state last year, compared to 57,641 births, Dr. Harris said. …

    Alabama’s rate of full vaccination is on a par with Idaho’s, tied as the third-lowest rate in the country. The two that rank lower are Wyoming and West Virginia.
    Alabama’s governor, Kay Ivey, has urged the people of her state to get Covid vaccinations, but like many other Republicans, she objected when President Biden recently announced vaccine mandates, calling them “outrageous” and “overreaching.”

  15. 15.

    debbie

    September 19, 2021 at 7:39 pm

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    Meaning that no matter the number of deaths, Biden forcing vaccines on Americans is far more heinous. //

  16. 16.

    Ken

    September 19, 2021 at 7:39 pm

    @Baud: According to the NYT interactive pages, Peru at 612 per 100K population. statista.com agrees, but that may only mean they’re running from the same data.

  17. 17.

    hells littlest angel

    September 19, 2021 at 7:42 pm

    @MomSense: Tapper followed up repeatedly until he gave up in undisguised disgust. He did TateR no favors.

     

     

    Butina won her election — to a district hundreds of miles from her home. Now she can fight for gun rights for Russians!

  18. 18.

    Ken

    September 19, 2021 at 7:42 pm

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: I think the governor means that cases have started going down, but deaths lag cases by a couple of weeks.

    Someone should have told him that six weeks ago, when cases started going up.  (Narrator: Someone did.)

  19. 19.

    Chetan Murthy

    September 19, 2021 at 7:43 pm

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: I had two thoughts:

    1. it’s just bafflegab: he’s trying to get past Tapper’s question, so he responds with something that *sounds* like an answer, but is really just likely-sounding mouth noises.
    2. [now, trying to impute some sense to his words, ] maybe he meant that “our case rates are dropping, but gee whiz, deaths are a lagging indicator, so they don’t show up in the death rate yet.

    I don’t give him credit for thinking up #2, but even if he did, it doesn’t really answer the question of why they allowed the situation to get so awful in the first place.

    Honestly, I think it’s all #1.  bafflegab and bullshit.

  20. 20.

    VOR

    September 19, 2021 at 7:44 pm

    @Ken: Wikipedia points to an AP article saying her Republican target got a pardon from Trump on his way out the door. Hadn’t known that.

  21. 21.

    scav

    September 19, 2021 at 7:45 pm

    @trollhattan: Finally, Mississippi finds its event where it shines international GOLD! If it just wasn’t for those meddlesome lagging statistics, it’d already be on that podium . . . .

  22. 22.

    Omnes Omnibus

    September 19, 2021 at 7:48 pm

    @Starfish: People on the cutting edge seldom get the credit.

  23. 23.

    dr. bloor

    September 19, 2021 at 7:48 pm

    I wonder if Butina is familiar with Al Stewart’s “Road to Moscow?”

  24. 24.

    Baud

    September 19, 2021 at 7:49 pm

    I posted this LGM link below, but it fits here since we’re talking about low vax rates.

  25. 25.

    Mike S (Now with a Democratic Congressperson!)

    September 19, 2021 at 7:49 pm

    For those like me who need a daily lava fix, here is the volcano report for today:

    Volcano on La Palma, in the Canary Islands is erupting for the first time in 50 years. Live stream web cam

    Iceland volcano paused or stopped again, but here is spectacular drone footage of the canyon the lava flow left behind from Traveller in the whole world.

  26. 26.

    zhena gogolia

    September 19, 2021 at 7:51 pm

    Using up another of my Guardian hits to post this. Liberal candidate in St. Petersburg gets two rivals who have changed their names to his, and also changed their appearances to look like him.
    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/sep/06/three-near-identical-boris-vishnevskys-on-st-petersburg-election-ballot

  27. 27.

    WaterGirl

    September 19, 2021 at 7:51 pm

    @MomSense: My money is on no followup from Jake Tapper.

    @hells littlest angel: Wow, color me surprised!

  28. 28.

    zhena gogolia

    September 19, 2021 at 7:52 pm

    @banditqueen: Nice of Apple to help Putin by removing Navalny’s app.

  29. 29.

    zhena gogolia

    September 19, 2021 at 7:53 pm

    @Baud: I don’t think he’s on the ballot this time.

  30. 30.

    WaterGirl

    September 19, 2021 at 7:54 pm

    @zhena gogolia: I don’t expect much from Google anymore, but I do expect better than that from Apple.  What the fuck are they thinking?

  31. 31.

    Mike in NC

    September 19, 2021 at 7:54 pm

    It was Putin who inspired our very own Kremlin stooge to try to install himself as unelected dictator-for-life. Putin is obviously not like Trump in the lazy, stupid, and incompetent department.

  32. 32.

    VOR

    September 19, 2021 at 7:54 pm

    @Mike S (Now with a Democratic Congressperson!): there is a theory that volcano is unstable and half of it could just slide into the ocean. The resulting tsunami would hit the US East coast as a 50 meter wall of water. So the eruption bears watching.

  33. 33.

    Starfish

    September 19, 2021 at 7:54 pm

    @Baud: The preamble for this was so close and so far away. Every time anyone tries to unionize anything in the South, some company pours salt into the wound of the racial resentment that is never discussed openly between the races.

    All of these states are also right to work states so all of the union busting will happen.

    I hope that the Amazon union thing in Bessemer, AL gets voted on again even though I am not optimistic.

  34. 34.

    Ruckus

    September 19, 2021 at 7:56 pm

    @VOR: 
    Let’s see, trump is protecting his Russian assets, the ones from Russia who actual worked for Russia.
    Does that make him a Russian asset? I think it might. Not that this would bother any of his supporters…

  35. 35.

    Brachiator

    September 19, 2021 at 7:57 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: 

    Alabama’s governor, Kay Ivey, has urged the people of her state to get Covid vaccinations, but like many other Republicans, she objected when President Biden recently announced vaccine mandates, calling them “outrageous” and “overreaching.”

    Certain types of conservatives are mentally “stuck.” They insist on holding onto an extreme belief in “individual liberty” and “personal responsibility” even if it leads to disaster for other people, or even themselves.

    People like the Kochs, Murdoch, Trump, etc, helped set this madness in motion, but they can’t stop the madness or redirect it.

  36. 36.

    Brachiator

    September 19, 2021 at 8:00 pm

    @zhena gogolia:

    Nice of Apple to help Putin by removing Navalny’s app.

    The government threatened to imprison Apple employees. What was Apple supposed to do?

  37. 37.

    Mike S (Now with a Democratic Congressperson!)

    September 19, 2021 at 8:02 pm

    @VOR:  I knew about the Azores potentially casing an Atlantic tsunami, but I didn’t know this one had the potential too.

  38. 38.

    zhena gogolia

    September 19, 2021 at 8:06 pm

    @Brachiator:

    They claim they can resist government pressure. Apparently not.
    https://www.vox.com/recode/22680010/russia-apple-app-store-smart-voting-monopoly

  39. 39.

    Another Scott

    September 19, 2021 at 8:09 pm

    @Brachiator: They could let people “side-load” apps that are banned in certain places, by letting people bypass the AppStore.  But they want complete control (for good and bad reasons) so they get tarred (for some good reasons) when they take actions that help repressive regimes.

    Apple could change their policies anytime they want…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  40. 40.

    karen marie

    September 19, 2021 at 8:12 pm

    @trollhattan: I’ve got no fucks to give for Tapper.  What was the point of having Reese on?  It certainly wasn’t to better inform the public.  The only reason for that bullshit performance was clickbait.

    Tapper can get stuffed along with Chuck Todd

    @Chetan Murthy: Which is why Tapper had him on as a guest.  Tapper isn’t doing anyone any favors here.

  41. 41.

    Starfish

    September 19, 2021 at 8:12 pm

    @Brachiator: “Individual liberty” unless you want to unionize or have an abortion. Then, the answer is “no.”

  42. 42.

    Baud

    September 19, 2021 at 8:16 pm

    @Another Scott:

    Google got tarred more and they allow side loading.

  43. 43.

    Brachiator

    September 19, 2021 at 8:19 pm

    @Another Scott:

    They could let people “side-load” apps that are banned in certain places, by letting people bypass the AppStore.

    I doubt it is that simple.

    And the government could take the next step and outlaw all Apple products.

  44. 44.

    sdhays

    September 19, 2021 at 8:20 pm

    @VOR: They’re saying it will collapse in the next few thousand years. Not likely in the next few weeks, at least according to the BBC:

    The collapse of the western flank of the Cumbre Vieja volcano, on the southern half of La Palma, is not going to happen tomorrow or next week. Tourists should not cancel their holidays to the Canary Islands, or to the east coast of the United States or the Caribbean.

    What scientists are predicting is that the collapse is likely to happen any time within the next few thousand years. Scientists also know that a collapse will not happen without any warning. They will be able to alert people to possible danger several weeks in advance.

  45. 45.

    prostratedragon

    September 19, 2021 at 8:23 pm

    @zhena gogolia:  People are really no good, are they?

  46. 46.

    Starfish

    September 19, 2021 at 8:25 pm

    @Brachiator: It really is that simple.

    Apple’s app store is locked down tight. The legitimate part of this is that apps go through a review process to make sure they are not dangerous. The illegitimate part of this is that the app store that Apple has created is a monopoly where they get a significant chunk of any money made through the sale of an app or through any in-app sales.

    Okay, some judge said they were not a monopoly, but any business that makes its money selling an app can easily be blown up by Apple saying “Hey, your app can’t be in the app store anymore.”

  47. 47.

    zhena gogolia

    September 19, 2021 at 8:27 pm

    @prostratedragon: Really not much.

  48. 48.

    Sure Lurkalot

    September 19, 2021 at 8:27 pm

    @karen marie: Correctamundo. I haven’t watched the Sunday shows in over a decade but I think it was Aron Rupar’s Twitter feed that noted that Fuck Turd had all Republicans on AGAIN this week. And I’m with you, what’s the point? Weeks of throwing softballs to these jokers and one or two instances of a real interview for which they expect and unfortunately get lavish praise.

  49. 49.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    September 19, 2021 at 8:29 pm

    @zhena gogolia:

    I saw that this morning. Crazy!

  50. 50.

    NotMax

    September 19, 2021 at 8:30 pm

    How did I miss this until just the other day?

    ;)

  51. 51.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    September 19, 2021 at 8:32 pm

    @Ruckus:

    Now that Russia is identified as a white Christian nation ? it’s all good. Better than the godless Demoncrats!

  52. 52.

    eddie blake

    September 19, 2021 at 8:34 pm

    this bullshit framing had me seething. posted two days before insurrection 2: q-anon boogaloo.

    it’s the democrats escalating attacks on the poor, helpless gop snowflakes who tried to (checks notes) overthrow the government a mere nine months ago.

    i mean, FFS.

    do BETTER, wapo.

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/democrats-recall-strategy/2021/09/15/22115ef4-1634-11ec-a5e5-ceecb895922f_story.html

  53. 53.

    zhena gogolia

    September 19, 2021 at 8:34 pm

    Okay, the mountain has moved. I’m halfway through a bullshit story in the NYT in which Briahna Joy Gray is given a platform to criticize Ocasio-Cortez for going to the Met Gala but also for her betrayal of the socialist cause.

    Viva Ocasio-Cortez! F–k Briahna Joy Gray!

  54. 54.

    Mike in NC

    September 19, 2021 at 8:34 pm

    @dr. bloor: I’m very happy to have had a sudden craving for vintage Al Stewart and asking Alexa to play some.

  55. 55.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    September 19, 2021 at 8:35 pm

    @Brachiator:

    On TV Kay Ivey looks like Aunt Bee on meth.

  56. 56.

    zhena gogolia

    September 19, 2021 at 8:35 pm

    @eddie blake: WaPo is going downhill fast.

  57. 57.

    schrodingers_cat

    September 19, 2021 at 8:39 pm

    @zhena gogolia: Is it possible to not like both? and NYT too?

  58. 58.

    Booger

    September 19, 2021 at 8:40 pm

  59. 59.

    White & Gold Purgatorian

    September 19, 2021 at 8:42 pm

    @Steeplejack (phone):  In person Kay Ivey looks like Aunt Bee on cheap vodka.

  60. 60.

    zhena gogolia

    September 19, 2021 at 8:42 pm

    @schrodingers_cat: The article criticizes Ocasio-Cortez precisely for doing the things we think she should be doing — getting with the Dems’ program. So in this case, I’ll take her side.

  61. 61.

    eddie blake

    September 19, 2021 at 8:43 pm

    @zhena gogolia: SERIOUSLY.

  62. 62.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    September 19, 2021 at 8:43 pm

    @zhena gogolia:

    Welcome to the revolution, comrade sister! (Or should that be sister comrade?)

  63. 63.

    NotMax

    September 19, 2021 at 8:46 pm

    @Steeplejack

    Pfui. Common gossip that Aunt Bee was partial to the special nerve tonic she got from Floyd the barber.

    Also too, a rerun re: Mayberry.

    :)

  64. 64.

    zhena gogolia

    September 19, 2021 at 8:49 pm

    @NotMax: Nice fugue!

  65. 65.

    schrodingers_cat

    September 19, 2021 at 8:50 pm

    @zhena gogolia: Ah I see. I don’t read the NYT. Thanks for the explanation. Cheese Cheese is ridiculous.

  66. 66.

    zhena gogolia

    September 19, 2021 at 8:52 pm

    @schrodingers_cat: Who is Cheese Cheese?

  67. 67.

    Another Scott

    September 19, 2021 at 8:54 pm

    Meanwhile, …

    Thread.

    Hi @DanaKennedyLive, my name is Aleisha Gray. You know, the daughter of a co owner of Gray’s Paradise. Remember, the one you recently “grabbed a bite from between hearings”. pic.twitter.com/GYd4SOhob7

    — Aleisha (@CookieG23) September 17, 2021

    Kennedy is “investigative reporter for the NY Post”. And, apparently, a bald-faced liar.

    (via BettyBowers)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  68. 68.

    schrodingers_cat

    September 19, 2021 at 8:57 pm

    @zhena gogolia: Briahna Joy Gray, her Twitter handle is @briebriejoy

  69. 69.

    mrmoshpotato

    September 19, 2021 at 8:59 pm

    Is Accused Of Being US Agent

    Must be a translation error because that definitely isn’t “Was a Russky spy in the US”

  70. 70.

    prostratedragon

    September 19, 2021 at 9:01 pm

    @NotMax:  Someone should catalog the musical genres in which this theme has been expounded. I’d heard this one, an in addition I know of opera, gospel blues, and the show tunes of the inimitable Randy Rainbow –all styles well-suited to people who have reached and surpassed their limit. We need some heavy metal and some free jazz.

  71. 71.

    Brachiator

    September 19, 2021 at 9:01 pm

    I just listened to a radio commercial that began,

    “History shows that America rises to every challenge it faces…”

    After more patriotic palaver, it turns out the ad is for Kaufman Funeral Homes. Some heavy irony happening here.

  72. 72.

    Another Scott

    September 19, 2021 at 9:04 pm

    @Baud: Yup.

    APK Mirror.

    Навальный 2.2
    By Alexey. Navalny

    NOTE – I haven’t tried it myself.  Caveat emptor.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  73. 73.

    Matt McIrvin

    September 19, 2021 at 9:06 pm

    @VOR: Probably not:

    https://en.as.com/en/2021/09/19/latest_news/1632069096_343081.html

    https://blogs.agu.org/landslideblog/2017/07/14/la-palma-part-2/

  74. 74.

    Jay

    September 19, 2021 at 9:08 pm

    @Brachiator:

    if it’s the one I am thinking of, they have a truck wandering around with a big “Do not get vaccinated, we need the business” signs on it.

  75. 75.

    NotMax

    September 19, 2021 at 9:09 pm

    Dialogue just now overheard during a medical program set in the 1890s:

    Doctor: “Please remove the dressing.”

    Nurse (removing spare blanket covering the wounded area): “I already have, Doctor.”

    Doctor (admonishing): “I spent an hour yesterday dressing that wound and you cover it with a dirty blanket.”

    Nurse (huffily): “The blankets are washed every month.”

    Those were the days, my foot.

  76. 76.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    September 19, 2021 at 9:13 pm

    @NotMax:

    Checks out.

  77. 77.

    Villago Delenda Est

    September 19, 2021 at 9:14 pm

    Maria Butina, Running For Russian Parliament, Is Accused Of Being US Agent

    The Russians are the world champs of paranoia.  Have been for centuries.

  78. 78.

    Villago Delenda Est

    September 19, 2021 at 9:15 pm

    @Another Scott: ​
    The “investigative reporter from The New York Post” thing is rock solid proof that he’s a liar.

  79. 79.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    September 19, 2021 at 9:22 pm

    If you have any questions about what the Cole household was like when John was growing up…

  80. 80.

    Geminid

    September 19, 2021 at 9:22 pm

    @Starfish: The Teamsters have made organizing Amazon a top priority, calling it a matter of long term survival. They recently began this effort at nine of Amazon’s Canadian facilities. The union’s plan is to get buy in from Amazon’s U.S. employees once they see the union succeed across the border.

    Unionizing Amazon is a very heavy lift, but at 1.3 million members in North America, the Teamsters may have what it takes. Amazon drivers are already familiar with their Teamster counterparts at UPS, and know they have a much better deal.

    With only 60,000 members, the Retail Worker and Department Store Union that’s trying to organize Amazon’s Bessemer facility is a very small David to be taking on Goliath. And the RWDSU’s decision to bring in Bernie Sanders to try to close the deal at their final rally had some people scratching their heads. Sanders may have a fervent following nationally, but he never made an especially strong showing in Alabama primaries.

    Personally, I think Jeff Bezos and other Amazon owners would be better off in the long run if the company was unionized, so long as their competitors were in the same boat. A thriving working class would make for a more prosperous middle class, and then everyone would have more money to buy stuff from Amazon. But for some reason, Bezos has yet to ask for my opinion.

  81. 81.

    Suzanne

    September 19, 2021 at 9:28 pm

    @NotMax: It always makes me laugh/horrified to see modern TV shows depict hospitals with shared patient rooms. We haven’t built hospitals like that for twenty years. Most infectious thing ever.

  82. 82.

    Dan B

    September 19, 2021 at 9:30 pm

    @Mike S (Now with a Democratic Congressperson!): There’s a documentary on the La Palma volcano.  At one point a geologist walls along a crack in the earth that makes it very apparent that the volcano is splitting in half.  The crack is tens of feet wide and deep and extends a great distance.  Spookey visual.

  83. 83.

    Starfish

    September 19, 2021 at 9:30 pm

    @Geminid: Thank you for explaining the details of the unionization battle to me.

    The fight I kept getting into repeatedly with some Southern folks around Bernie Sanders was “Hey, you can’t talk just like a Republican and expect to win on ‘true progressivism.'”

    The Southerners who were Bernie fans were tearing down Democrats with the same enthusiasm as Republicans. You can’t really do that where the a) party is not even organized or b) the party consists of a very small group of black folks who do not trust you at all. If you want anything remotely liberal to happen, you have to build up that second party in a two party system.

  84. 84.

    geg6

    September 19, 2021 at 9:32 pm

    @Brachiator:

    So what?  Is that really going to hurt Apple’s bottom line all that much?  I don’t think so. Fuck Apple and I say that as a devotee of my various iPhones over the years.

  85. 85.

    raven

    September 19, 2021 at 9:39 pm

    Don’t miss the Burns “ALI”.

  86. 86.

    Mike in NC

    September 19, 2021 at 9:41 pm

    The tale of Maria Butina proves that the Russians have deeply embedded themselves in the NRA, Wall Street, evangelical churches and schools, and all of the other organs of the GOP ecosystem.

  87. 87.

    Ken

    September 19, 2021 at 9:43 pm

    @Dan B: There’s a documentary on the La Palma volcano.

    I google to find the documentary, and the top hits are because the volcano started erupting earlier today!

  88. 88.

    NotMax

    September 19, 2021 at 9:45 pm

    BTW, speaking of medical dramas, mentioning in passing for any who might be looking for something bingeable to pass the time which is not too stressful that all eight seasons of The Royal are currently available on Brtitbox, IMDb TV, Tubi TV, the Roku Channel and the FilmRise channel.

    Follows a not quite struggling but far from flush small hospital in Yorkshire. Set in the 1960s, a pleasant surprise is the accompanying and often unexpected music scattered throughout (they do play a bit fast and loose with the music being exactly from each year depicted, but that’s a minor quibble). Large cast of characters, all as it progresses becoming realistically fleshed out individuals (the sole exception being one who on occasion slips back and forth into caricature).

    Not TV to shout to the rafters about, it’s more akin to putting on a favorite pair of comfy slippers.

  89. 89.

    Bill Arnold

    September 19, 2021 at 9:49 pm

    @WaterGirl:

    I don’t expect much from Google anymore,

    Google actually had mysterious armed men camped out in their office. Moscow does not fuck around with its “elections”.

    Paywalled FT piece (Open in “private window” or other [technical means]); Apple and Google drop Navalny app after Kremlin piles on pressure – Tech groups report legal threats and visit from armed men as Moscow demands app is removed from online stores

    The person close to the situation also said Google employees had received public and private threats of criminal prosecution if the company did not comply with the Kremlin request to remove the app from the store and search engines.
    They said armed men, thought by staff to be police officers, spent several hours in Google’s Moscow offices on Monday. Russia’s bailiff service said on Tuesday its officers had visited to demand the company comply with a Moscow court ruling to remove the app from search results.

  90. 90.

    debbie

    September 19, 2021 at 9:51 pm

    @raven:

    How is it?

  91. 91.

    Another Scott

    September 19, 2021 at 9:52 pm

    Meanwhile, over at FTFNYT, …

    Here are thousands of deeply reported words on how a scientist was assassinated by an AI-assisted, remote-control killer robot without even a nod toward the legality or illegality of assassinating scientists with AI-assisted, remote-control killer robots. https://t.co/NUeeO07uAS

    — Matt Duss (@mattduss) September 19, 2021

    I’m shocked, shocked.

    (via dsquareddigest)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  92. 92.

    Dan B

    September 19, 2021 at 9:53 pm

    @Suzanne: I was in shared hospital rooms several times as a kid.  One “roommate” had a broken kneecap.  The football we tossed around landed directly on that kneecap.  The poor guy was hustled off to x-ray.  The football was 86’d.

    It’s not just sharing germs.

  93. 93.

    Villago Delenda Est

    September 19, 2021 at 9:54 pm

    @Bill Arnold: “Police officers”, “hired goons”.  Like there’s any real difference between the two in Russia.

  94. 94.

    raven

    September 19, 2021 at 9:57 pm

    @debbie: It sooooo good, the footage is great and the lengthy coverage of the Nation of Islam, Malcolm and Ali is awesome. Ali has always been my favorite and, is far, this is the best I’ve seen.

  95. 95.

    Edmund Dantes

    September 19, 2021 at 10:01 pm

    Time to fire the parliamentarian.

    ruled can’t include immigration  in reconciliation even though it’s been included before in reconciliation under other presidents.

  96. 96.

    sab

    September 19, 2021 at 10:07 pm

    @Suzanne: The shared room hospitals are still in use. Friend of ours just escaped from one yesterday. And now he is on chemo. Cleveland Clinic run hospital,

  97. 97.

    Another Scott

    September 19, 2021 at 10:08 pm

    @Edmund Dantes: Made me look. RollCall:

    The consequences of putting millions of people on a path to citizenship would go far beyond the narrow scope of the nation’s budget, MacDonough said.

    Lawful permanent resident “status would give these persons freedom to work, freedom to travel, freedom to live openly in our society in any state in the nation, and to reunite with their families and it would make them eligible, in time, to apply for citizenship – things for which there is no federal fiscal equivalent,” she said. “Changing the law to clear the way to LPR status is tremendous and enduring policy change that dwarfs its budgetary impact.”

    Under what’s known as the “Byrd rule,” measures included in a reconciliation bill — which can pass with a simple majority — must directly affect the federal budget. Democrats made their initial pitch that the immigration changes had budgetary impact to MacDonough on Sept. 10.

    However, the parliamentarian’s decision likely won’t end Democrats’ efforts to pass some sort of immigration relief through reconciliation, but rather will send them back to the drawing board.

    Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer said as much in a statement, saying he was “deeply disappointed” by McDonough’s decision but “the fight to provide lawful status for immigrants in budget reconciliation continues.”

    “Senate Democrats have prepared alternate proposals and will be holding additional meetings with the Senate parliamentarian in the coming days,” he said. “The American people understand that fixing our broken immigration system is a moral and economic imperative.”

    Sens. Richard J. Durbin, D-Ill., and Alex Padilla, D-Calif., who have been spearheading their party’s efforts to include immigration provisions in the plan, said they were “deeply disappointed in the Parliamentarian’s decision, but the fight for immigration reform will continue.”

    We’ll see.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  98. 98.

    James E Powell

    September 19, 2021 at 10:09 pm

    @hells littlest angel:

    Tapper followed up repeatedly until he gave up in undisguised disgust. He did TateR no favors.

    Tapper didn’t do anyone any favors. How is giving that asshole a platform a good thing for anyone?

  99. 99.

    Ksmiami

    September 19, 2021 at 10:12 pm

    @Edmund Dantes: the Dems need to buck up and start using their power goddamit or they will lose it

  100. 100.

    phdesmond

    September 19, 2021 at 10:13 pm

    Just saw the Burns “Ali.”

    i’ve been looking forward to it since i saw “One Night in Miami,” free on Prime.

  101. 101.

    James E Powell

    September 19, 2021 at 10:15 pm

    @Brachiator:

    People like the Kochs, Murdoch, Trump, etc, helped set this madness in motion, but they can’t stop the madness or redirect it.

    They don’t want to stop it. They don’t need to redirect it. Their money & bought judges will keep them from any harm.

  102. 102.

    piratedan

    September 19, 2021 at 10:15 pm

    @sab: I think Suzanne indicated that they’re not building them that way anymore… for all of those still in existence… yeah, many of them won’t be replaced anytime soon.  The point is, what used to be a fairly forgotten part of hospital departments (Infection Control) is now brought in to consult because of all things COVID.  Time change, Hospitals used to be just as critical on rehab post illness or surgery and with COVID all things have changed.

  103. 103.

    debbie

    September 19, 2021 at 10:15 pm

    @raven:

    Thanks. It repeats tomorrow, so I’ll still have a chance to see the first episode.

    By the way, how’s attendance been at your football games? Here, they are freaking out because only 75,000 attended vs. the usual 110,000.

  104. 104.

    gwangung

    September 19, 2021 at 10:17 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est: Or certain parts of America?

  105. 105.

    Brachiator

    September 19, 2021 at 10:21 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    The Russians are the world champs of paranoia.  Have been for centuries.

    North Korea: hold my empty cup of beer.

  106. 106.

    Bill Arnold

    September 19, 2021 at 10:22 pm

    @Another Scott:
    Not to mention further de-facto normalization of extra-national assassination as a political tool.
    Yossi Cohen drove a lot of that, but with Netanyahu’s explicit approval. Also, as that piece said, the Israelis asked the Americans for approval of the Mohsen Fakhrizadeh assassination, which was given, by D.J. Trump.
    These three men are now out of power, much to DJT’s and BN’s surprise, though all three maintain political ambitions, so they all continue to be a threat to Iran and by their own rules are legitimate assassination targets, including by remote control assassination robots. (Netanyahu has said that he would be OK with himself, or Yossi Cohen or Ron Dermer ruling Israel, so the target list is narrow.)

  107. 107.

    phdesmond

    September 19, 2021 at 10:27 pm

    @raven:

    caught that.

  108. 108.

    Anya

    September 19, 2021 at 10:34 pm

    @zhena gogolia: Bri Bri is ridiculous. She’s Bernie’s Trump level low quality hire. Her tweets show up on my TL every now and then (despite muting her mentions) and I see her snarking with GG over how awful Dems are. What an asshole.

  109. 109.

    Layer8Problem

    September 19, 2021 at 10:36 pm

    I and my better half have just wasted another 45 minutes or so watching another episode of Netflix’ Clickbait, only because a friend has a small role. The script is lame, the characters are mostly cardboard, the twists are obvious, with a “ripped straight from tomorrow’s headlines” presentation. The writers must have spent entire minutes researching articles on how Teh Interwebz and our shallow news media are “pandering to our worst impulses, with no one safe. Have we Gone Too Far?” Yeh, thanks for the heads-up guys.

    We’ll tough it out, for our friend, but I’m not getting these hours back. Anyway, It’s a good idea to occasionally see a bad show or read a bad book so one can recollect the true value of the good stuff.

    So, off to watch more Bordertown for a palate cleanser.

  110. 110.

    Anya

    September 19, 2021 at 10:41 pm

    @Layer8Problem: I’ve been meaning to watch it since someone I know was raving about it but for some reason I couldn’t bring myself to watch it.

  111. 111.

    phdesmond

    September 19, 2021 at 10:50 pm

    @raven:

    i concur.

  112. 112.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    September 19, 2021 at 10:58 pm

    @Brachiator: There is a conspiracy theory that Putin is in fact group of clones made from some Red Army solider in the 1930s and periodically these clones go bad, are liquidated and replaced with a new clone.

    Can North Korea match that?

  113. 113.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

    September 19, 2021 at 10:59 pm

    I’m voting for Anna Chapman (photo)

  114. 114.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    September 19, 2021 at 11:00 pm

    @Another Scott: Huh, shades of Jewish Space Lasers.

  115. 115.

    Layer8Problem

    September 19, 2021 at 11:02 pm

    @Anya:

    but for some reason I couldn’t bring myself to watch it.

    I’d say your good judgement.  :-)

  116. 116.

    Ken

    September 19, 2021 at 11:07 pm

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: Rather than science-fiction, North Korea’s ruling family seems to have taken their inspiration from soap operas.

  117. 117.

    Poe Larity

    September 19, 2021 at 11:13 pm

    So here’s a space for y’all to vent, about that or anything else.

    So visiting fam is intertubes working and needs more time before watching Wu-Tang show and said “go find someone on the internet who is wrong for a few minites”

    So I searched, but there isn’t an app for finding who is wrong on BJ and will only take a few minutes. Why doesn’t a top 10000 blog have a wrongness filter?

  118. 118.

    Ken

    September 19, 2021 at 11:19 pm

    @Poe Larity: The blog does have a pie filter, so if you’ve ever used that you can scroll through old articles until you find pie. Though I guess you’d have to remove the filter if the relatives insist on seeing why the person is wrong.

  119. 119.

    Chetan Murthy

    September 19, 2021 at 11:24 pm

    @Poe Larity:

    go find someone on the internet who is wrong for a few minites

    uh, uh, …. twitter.com ?

  120. 120.

    mrmoshpotato

    September 19, 2021 at 11:26 pm

    @Poe Larity:

    So visiting fam is intertubes working and needs more time before watching Wu-Tang show and said “go find someone on the internet who is wrong for a few minites” 

    Hahaha.  “Surf the web some more” didn’t occur to them?

    Or, find something else to watch for a minute?

  121. 121.

    Another Scott

    September 19, 2021 at 11:27 pm

    Brett Kavanaugh lied egregiously in his original Senate hearing to be a federal appeals court judge.

    Anyone who commits perjury like that should definitely not be on the Supreme Court. https://t.co/GZAkVgDEuK pic.twitter.com/UCjAuTd8dN

    — Steven Greenhouse (@greenhousenyt) September 19, 2021

    The FBI, and Kavanaugh, have a lot of explaining to do, about this and lots of other things. The FBI has been incompetent in far too many investigations for far too long. The Senate needs to be competent before confirmation votes as well.

    (via LOLGOP)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  122. 122.

    mrmoshpotato

    September 19, 2021 at 11:28 pm

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: What the…?  Oh, fuck it!

  123. 123.

    Another Scott

    September 19, 2021 at 11:29 pm

    Fun story: a group of academics who study upper-class opinion couldn’t raise funding for a rigorous national survey. It’s like they don’t want us to know.

    — Doug Henwood (@DougHenwood) September 19, 2021

    That’s just crazy talk.

    (via dsquareddigest)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  124. 124.

    NotMax

    September 19, 2021 at 11:38 pm

    @Layer8Problem

    Netflix? Palate cleanser? If you don’t mind subtitles –

    No car chases, no explosions, no zombies, no stone-faced detectives, just a refreshingly entertaining watch is the Spanish film Toc Toc.

  125. 125.

    Brachiator

    September 19, 2021 at 11:48 pm

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques:

    Can North Korea match that?

    Every Kim in North Korea is an android.

  126. 126.

    SFAW

    September 19, 2021 at 11:58 pm

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques:

    There is a conspiracy theory that Putin is in fact group of clones made from some Red Army solider in the 1930s and periodically these clones go bad, are liquidated and replaced with a new clone.

    I was wondering what Weyoun was up to these days, thanks for clearing that up.

  127. 127.

    Yutsano

    September 20, 2021 at 12:17 am

    @SFAW: Leave Jeffrey Combs alone!!!
    Seriously though. He’s slated to do a voice on Lower Decks and there’s a rumour he’ll show up on Discovery in season 4. I swear he’s going for the most franchises in Star Trek. The man is a fricking genius.​

  128. 128.

    Layer8Problem

    September 20, 2021 at 12:46 am

    @NotMax: Hah, I’m all about the subtitles, I get all the car chases I want right outside my window in my peaceful outer borough, I’ve never had a yen for zombies, my last explosion was when I found out my favored ale was out of the lineup at the pub, and stone-faced?  Leave DI Sorjonen and DCS Foyle out of this; I’ll have you know they’ve been known to curl half a lip sardonically!  Occasionally.

    Toc Toc?  I will check that out, and thanks.  Your screen recommendations have looked pretty intriguing.

  129. 129.

    Benw

    September 20, 2021 at 12:58 am

    @zhena gogolia: yay AOC!

  130. 130.

    Winston

    September 20, 2021 at 1:01 am

    @VOR: Whew! At 400 feet above sea level, here in Lakeland.

  131. 131.

    Ruckus

    September 20, 2021 at 1:09 am

    @Steeplejack (phone):

    I wouldn’t mind if all those white christian republicans would actually go live in Russia. They might find that their choice of leadership, monetary starvation, bogus religion, likely doesn’t fit in there as well as they think it might.

  132. 132.

    Ruckus

    September 20, 2021 at 1:11 am

    @eddie blake:

    do BETTER, wapo.

    I’m not sure they can. OK, that’s not true, I’m pretty sure they can’t.

  133. 133.

    Winston

    September 20, 2021 at 1:19 am

    @Winston: One of the reasons I moved from San Jose, was the projected collapse of Mona Lua creating a 1500 foot tidal wave on the west coast. Then I was 30 feet above sea level.

  134. 134.

    eddie blake

    September 20, 2021 at 1:22 am

    @Ruckus: “democracy dies in derpness.”

  135. 135.

    Winston

    September 20, 2021 at 1:27 am

    @Winston: Of course, Bermuda sits on the rim of a volcano. If that one erupts who knows?

  136. 136.

    Ruckus

    September 20, 2021 at 1:34 am

    @Suzanne:

    Yeah those were not all that great. Someone to talk to isn’t always the best plan. I was 7, in the hospital and they brought in a kid about my age who was getting a circumcision. His parents lied their asses off telling him how great this was going to be. And at 7, without the awareness that he was going to acquire by going through this, I knew lying to him was not going to make it better. After my tonsillectomy was a breeze compared to his after experience. I hope for their sake they apologized to him for the rest of his life. And think how much better my life would have been if I’d never had to be in that room with him.

  137. 137.

    Ruckus

    September 20, 2021 at 1:34 am

    @eddie blake:

    Yep.

  138. 138.

    trollhattan

    September 20, 2021 at 1:36 am

    Sometimes, behaviors are as simple to explain as you first think. Joe Manchin, everybody.

    September 19, 2021 at 9:11 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard
    “Joe Manchin, the powerful West Virginia Democrat who chairs the Senate energy panel and earned half a million dollars last year from coal production, is preparing to remake President Biden’s climate legislation in a way that tosses a lifeline to the fossil fuel industry — despite urgent calls from scientists that countries need to quickly pivot away from coal, gas and oil to avoid a climate catastrophe,” the New York Times reports.
    “Mr. Manchin has already emerged as the crucial up-or-down vote in a sharply divided Senate when it comes to Mr. Biden’s push to pass a $3.5 trillion budget bill that could reshape the nation’s social welfare network. But Mr. Biden also wants the bill to include an aggressive climate policy that would compel utilities to stop burning fossil fuels and switch to wind, solar or nuclear energy, sources that do not emit the greenhouse gases that are heating the planet.”

    Joe Manchin, climate plan, go together like anthrax and tire rims.​
    ​
    ​

  139. 139.

    Ruckus

    September 20, 2021 at 1:39 am

    @trollhattan:

    Joe Manchin, climate plan, go together like anthrax and tire rims.

    Yep.

  140. 140.

    Winston

    September 20, 2021 at 1:42 am

    @trollhattan: So grant him that for now in exchange for voting rights. We can catch up.

  141. 141.

    Winston

    September 20, 2021 at 1:59 am

    @Winston: He’s a drug store truck driven man, head of the Klu Klux Klan. We have to get from him what we can and then discard the SOB.

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