Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

When do the post office & the dmv weigh in on the wuhan virus?

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

The words do not have to be perfect.

The revolution will be supervised.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

No one could have predicted…

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

We still have time to mess this up!

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

Infrastructure week. at last.

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

The republican caucus is already covering themselves with something, and it’s not glory.

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Saturday Morning Open Thread: Diversions

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Metaphor for me searching the web:

Elsewhere….

… The U.S.-Taliban agreement of 2020, which was negotiated by the Trump administration, demanded the Taliban break ties with terrorist groups and guarantee Afghanistan would not again harbor terrorists who could attack the United States and its allies.

It seems certain the two sides will discuss in the weekend talks how to tackle the growing threat. The Taliban have said they do not want U.S. anti-terrorism assistance and have warned Washington against any so-called “over-the -horizon” strikes on Afghan territory from outside the country’s borders.

The United States, meanwhile, would seek to hold Taliban leaders to commitments that they would allow Americans and other foreign nationals to leave Afghanistan, along with Afghans who once worked for the U.S. military or government and other Afghan allies, a U.S. official said…

Reader Interactions

262Comments

  3. 3.

    Immanentize

    @OzarkHillbilly: We should propose some farm medicine cure for Monday Blech.

    Meanwhile, I am in the Triple Cities area (Binghamton, Endicott and Johnson City) for my Mom’s birthday. I had trouble getting a hotel in Binghamton?! It ends up this weekend is Spiedies Fest and Ballin Rally! Usually in the Spring, but COVID.

    What’s is a spiedie you ask?

  8. 8.

    Betty Cracker

    The mister and I have a wager on today’s UF vs. Vanderbilt game. (He adopted Vandy as “his” team in the SEC years ago to irritate me.) I spotted him 21 points when we made the bet, which was right after Florida narrowly lost to Bama. I think the Gators will cover the spread because they’re so pissed off and ashamed about losing to Kentucky last week. But maybe I’m wrong, in which case I’ll lose $1.75.

  13. 13.

    Immanentize

    @Spanky: some fall colors starting to happen in the hills north of here, but the leaf changing is gonna obviously be very late this year

  16. 16.

    Procopius

    Actually, this sounds kind of hopeful. Some of the provisions in the Trump Agreement are unrealistic but necessary for PR reasons. It’s too bad the media are failing/refusing to report on the negotiations in Afghanistan as the Taliban try to establish an inclusive government (or are they?).

  20. 20.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Immanentize: We already have a fair amount of color here in the understory but my shagbark hickories have already turned as well. The shellbark hickories are just beginning and so are the black walnuts. It will be a couple more weeks before the maples turn.

  22. 22.

    Immanentize

    @Ken: Of course it should be Balloon, one of the top hot air balloon events in the country.  But I reverted to my teenage/childish name of the festival.

  28. 28.

    raven

    The house rebuild is coming along. The subfloors are in, new configuration of the kitchen, pantry and bath framed including a pocket door (I always wondered how they did that!) Next up is insulation, plumbing, sheetrock and paint. The flooring is in the house but it will be the last thing done. We’re going with LVP in the bathroom otherwise red oak.  We can’t refi until it’s done so we’re probably looking at December now!

  29. 29.

    Betty Cracker

    @Immanentize: I began making comically low wagers a while back to cure myself of the bad habit of making $100 the default sum. I lost a couple of those to my sister and had to pay up!

  31. 31.

    Chief Oshkosh

    Normal people: President Biden is warm and genuine. And he knows how to work a yo-yo!

    RWNJs: Sleepy Joe is reduced to being a tour guide for children. And he’s a yo-yo!

  33. 33.

    Immanentize

    @OzarkHillbilly: They are so so good. The real spiedies are ONLY:

    LAMB, PORK and CHICKEN.
    VENISON is also acceptable. People hunt up here….
    And it should just be meat on bread (preferable good Italian bread — soft inside, good crust out).

    Even the idea of a beef spiedie is against nature

  34. 34.

    Betty Cracker

    About bloody time! (WaPo):

    President Biden is not a big fan. Former Democratic National Committee chair Tom Perez is openly opposed. And elsewhere in the Democratic inner sanctum, disdain for Iowa’s first-in-the-nation presidential caucus has been rising for years.

    Now the day of reckoning for Iowa Democrats is fast approaching, as the national party starts to create a new calendar for the 2024 presidential nomination that could remove Iowa from its privileged position for the first time since 1972, when candidates started flocking to the state for an early jump on the race to the White House.

    The caucuses’ reputation has been damaged by high barriers to participation, a dearth of racial diversity, the rightward drift in the state’s electorate and a leftward drift in the Democratic participants. The state party’s inability to count the results in 2020 only deepened dismay in the party.

  37. 37.

    Immanentize

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: It is a beautiful area — and I was first going to ask if she is in the AF, because that is about all they have there. I guess Syracuse to the west and not too far from Cooperstown if they love Baseball.

    I would retire to the Adirondacks, but retirement is not in the near term cards.

  39. 39.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @Betty Cracker: I think changing Iowa’s First in the Nation status is a good idea. I couldn’t go until I quit teaching because it was always on a Tuesday night and I was always in Ames rather than in the town where I was registered. But I have to admit, participating in the 2008 caucus and nominating Obama was a thrilling event. There’s something about raising your hand as your neighbors raise theirs that feels stronger than voting.

    At one point, we were waiting around for a non-viable group to make up their minds about what they were going to do, and I was standing next to an AA woman who said her husband hadn’t wanted to come that night (it was below zero) and she said, “Baby, you gotta come. It’s history.” You can’t beat that.

  40. 40.

    Geminid

    @Betty Cracker: Yesterday’s Washington Post had two Florida articles. One was about a DeSantis dilemna regarding anti-abortion legislation: avoiding alienating pro-choice Republican and Independent women whose votes he needs for reelection, while keeping Texas Governor Abbott from outflanking him in the 2024 presidential race.

    The second article was about an escalating fight between the State Board of Education, local school boards, and the federal Department of Education. The state board is cutting off salaries for local school officials using mask mandates to suppress covid in schools, and the federal government is restoring the salaries under the Supporting America’s Families and Educators (SAFE) Act. The SAFE grants, says Florida Education Commissioner Corcoran, are “one of the most  egregious violations of the 10th Amendment to our Constitution and Florida sovereignty in our lifetimes.”

  42. 42.

    Ken

    @Immanentize: Of course it should be Balloon, one of the top hot air balloon events in the country.

    That’s even more interesting. And Balloon Juice has an observer on-hand for the Spiedie Fest and Balloon Rally — truly what we’ve come to expect from this full-service blog.

  43. 43.

    Quinerly

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): right back at you.

    Wonderful long brunch yesterday with Cheryl Rofer and another SF area BJer. Cheryl’s doing exciting things! So brilliant and interesting.

    5 weeks into this extended trip. One week with an actual roof over our heads. I think JoJo las Orejas feels a bit more secure now that we have a big bed and he has a neighborhood walking routine.

    Have a great day everyone!

  46. 46.

    NeenerNeener

    @Immanentize: Lupo’s web site for ordering the marinade:

    https://www.spiedies.com/

    One year I sent bottles to all my Binghamton-ex-pat relatives for Christmas.

    I can actually find it occasionally in the Hegedorn’s IGA here in Almost Canada.

    I thought the Balloon Rally was usually the 1st weekend in August. Anyway, it’s definitely late if they’re just getting around to having it this weekend.

  48. 48.

    Steeplejack

    I’m flinging my gauntlet into the face of death today by going to a cookout at Sighthound Hall this afternoon. Celebration of several birthdays: niece turns 7 on Monday, Bro’ Man’s birthday is next Friday, and I think there is a friend whose birthday is sometime around now. Plus another good friend from out of town will be in attendance. It’ll be outside, and there are no anti-vaxers among the entourage, that I know of, but I will be wary.

    Enthusiasm level: low. I’m just getting over a stretch of back pain (caused by I don’t know what), and Tuesday I had an abscessed tooth removed. Still feeling the effects of that. I am back to (mostly) normal food now, as long as I remember to take small bites and chew on the opposite side.

    I will get my first look at the completed Sighthound Hall renovation, although I believe there are still some loose ends dangling. The kitchen/​family room area was not well laid out before, and I think the new setup will be much better.

    Kind of soggy/autumnal here in NoVA today—cloudy, 65°, humidity 90%. But no rain until tonight, so the cookout should be all right.

  51. 51.

    Immanentize

    @NeenerNeener: Lupo’s is the best commercial marinade available, I think. Run from Salamida’s State Fair marinade.

    When I am in the area, I go to Lupo’s Char Pit on Main in Endicott and buy marinade there. This is a family offshoot place. To me, best marinade. True fact, my Uncle Bob Lucas was a Lupo cousin and worked in the original Lupo Deli in Endicott as a kid.

  53. 53.

    Betty

    @MagdaInBlack:  It brought me to tears as I thought about the way Biden continues to be demonized by the right and disrepected by the media while Trump floats along without accountability for his attitudes and behavior.

  56. 56.

    Geminid

     

     

    @Immanentize: I got to see that part of New York last year when I spent two working vacations in Cortland County. That is some of the most beautiful country I have seen, and Ithaca seemed like a really nice town. But the winters, my friends told me, are long, cold, snowy, cold, and long. The first winter after they moved from the City was especially brutal, and they wondered what they had done. Now they are used to it.

  57. 57.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Betty Cracker: Oh no!  Lilly-ass white Iowa won’t be first in the primaries anymore!  “Oops” Perry will have to shove corn dogs into his face in another state!

  59. 59.

    EmbraceYourInnerCrone

    @Immanentize: ah that’s why I had such trouble finding a hotel room for my visit to my daughter today. She lives in Binghamton area. Got one but was spendy!

  61. 61.

    SiubhanDuinne

    The Met Opera Live in HD performances resume again today after being dark since March 2020. Once again I’m the liaison between the Met, the local cinema, and the audience, and really looking forward to the new season. Today’s opera is Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov.

    A few days ago, I got a box full of season flyers and bookmarks to distribute, along with some swag for me: a beautiful oversized book of the entire season, a shiny new lapel pin identifying me as a Met HD Ambassador, and a nifty mask with the Met logo and adjustable ear loops.

  62. 62.

    Immanentize

    @EmbraceYourInnerCrone: Im out in Owego (Oh we all go to Owego!) for just that reason. I’m here not for the Fest (which I wasn’t told was happening) but for my Mom’s 91st b-day. Is your daughter at SUNY B?  My alma mater.

  65. 65.

    Jo Jo las Orejas

    @Baud: Estamos haciendo muchas cosas divertidas en mi tierra natal. Duermo la siesta por la tarde contra muros de adobe. Mi mamá deja la puerta abierta para vigilarme. Creo que dejamos entrar un ratón. Escuché algo anoche. Quiero perseguirlo.

  67. 67.

    Immanentize

    @MomSense: Did I tell you the Immp and I are finally taking our long delayed cruise this December? Athens to Rome to Istanbul. Stop in Heracleion and also on the way back from Rome at Xania (favorite Crete City).

  72. 72.

    Immanentize

    @MomSense: I’ve been at the Acropolis, but never at such a great moment.  Of course, I have also been to Nashville….

    ETA I did previously offer to meet you in Athens to help you fix up your apt. There is this fabulous vegetarian restaurant with the best savory pies I went to….

  73. 73.

    MomSense

    @Immanentize:

    They used to (not sure if they still do) open up the acropolis on the night of the full moon for a few months in the summer.  Somewhere in my photos I have pictures of the full moon take through the columns of the Parthenon.  The energy of all the people is electric.  We could hear the music from the theater below.

  74. 74.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @Immanentize: Yes! All year, I save the clothes that I’d wear one or two more times. That’s the shirt with the frayed cuff or the small stain, the underwear with the loose elastic, the sock with a tiny hole in the heel, the gym shoes that have lost their cushion, etc. Then I take that stuff and throw it away after wearing.

  75. 75.

    Jo Jo las Orejas

    @Baud:
    Es natural para mí tener un gran impulso de presa. Los expertos dicen. Este es el mes de mi cumpleaños. Quiero celebrar todo el mes. Tendré 2 años. Me tengo que ir. Gran caminata. Luego mamá irá a ver bailar a algunos tribales. Realmente no lo entiendo.

  76. 76.

    MomSense

    @Immanentize:

    I would love that.
    The apartments are actually rented which means the University must be offering classes again.  There was a period of time when they were empty because the university class offerings were greatly reduced and my cousins were saying that the neighborhood was close to the protests.  They think the neighborhood is beneath them anyway.

  77. 77.

    MagdaInBlack

    @Betty: Yes, I thought for a second about how some of the clown-show on the right will portray this. But you know what? Fuck them.

  80. 80.

    EmbraceYourInnerCrone

    @Immanentize: my daughter just bought a house in Kirkwood but she and her husband got it as a fixer upper so there’s no place for me and my husband to sleep this visit. They don’t have much furniture yet ?  she works in Binghamton but she went to SUNY ESF up in Syracuse.  Small world!

  81. 81.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @Immanentize: Exactly. Also, once stuff has been worn, it seems to expand in the suitcase, so discarding other stuff helps with that.

    I once dumped tomato juice on myself on the flight to Europe. Luckily I was wearing a one-way shirt (that flight is made for clothes you want to throw away afterwards). When we landed, I went into the ladies room with my carry-on, changed shirts, and threw the tomato-y one in the trash.

  91. 91.

    Ken

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:  well, why would I do that on purpose?

    So you would have an excuse to change your outfit and leave the stained shirt in the airport trash can, where the other agent could pick it up and retrieve the microchip sewn in the lining.

    At least, that’s the opening scene for the movie I’m writing.  I’m afraid it might be too derivative of Gilman’s Mrs. Pollifax books.

  94. 94.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @germy: Fuck around and find out.  Also, fwiw, this an example of people fighting back and the courts working properly.

  95. 95.

    BC in Illinois

    @Jo Jo las Orejas:

    @Baud:

    When I was in high school, I had a friend who, like me, was taking French III. He was at Montgomery Blair HS, I went to Wheaton HS, but we had both used the same classroom dialogues for French I & II.

    So, at a party, we could make ourselves annoying by carrying on a conversation in (High School) French. [I specifically remember a conversation about the newest Rolling Stones album.]

    But we had an out. Whenever — and it didn’t take long — we reached the end of our vocabulary, we would switch to French I, dialogue 2, from the ALM blue books. It was the signal for the pose to come to an end.

    [(French, French, French) …(pause) …]
    Vous connaissez ma sœur, n’est-ce pas ?
    Comment s’appelle-t-elle ?
    Elle s’appelle Jeanne.
    …

    [The same guy would occasionally answer the phone with a French accent, saying, ” ‘ello, zees iss ze French Embassy . . .”   And, in the Washington area, it COULD be.]

    Good times.

  97. 97.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: ​
     

    why would I do that on purpose?

    Based your years of commenting here, it’s just the kind thing you would do.*

    *Please note: I just got up and all my faculties may not yet be functioning at full capacity.

  102. 102.

    CaseyL

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: That is an excellent idea, and maybe I’ll try it sometime.  If I ever do a 3+ week trip, because, yeah, I usually wind up hating the clothes I brought by then.

    I’m just not sure I ever will do a trip like that again, though.  It seems my tolerance for being away-from-home has narrowed to 2 weeks max.  I start getting homesick by the end of the first week, and by the end of Week 2, all I want is to go home.  Even if I’m having a great time!

    I wonder if this makes me a better or worse candidate for full-time RVing after retirement. On the one hand, I’d have my home with me wherever I went.  OTOH, it could turn out my “home” needs to be geographically fixed, not portable.  This is not something one wants to find out AFTER making the change!

  106. 106.

    CaseyL

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: I think I’d be a lousy candidate because I’m always doing things like picking up new hobbies that require a lot of stuff.  Also:  books.  Many, many books.

    Speaking of fall foliage, I am fresh back from road tripping through Maine, from Portland up to Lubec and back again.  The leaves were just starting to change.  More inland than by the coast, but still nowhere near the Riot O’ Color stage.  Seems to be a bit tardy this year…

  107. 107.

    MagdaInBlack

    @CaseyL: I’m that way. I’m only good for about a week, then I want my own bed. I think I might be able to do the RV thing, because that would be MY home space and bed

    Eta: with room for books and hobbies.

  110. 110.

    Jay C

    President Biden brought these kids of White House military aides who were promoted today on board Marine One for a quick tour before he departed for a weekend in Delaware.

    Yet another report I cannot even imagine the press airing about Dolt 45: I can’t even imagine that cretin even knowing the names of his WH military aides, much less caring about their kids, or letting anyone near Marine One lest it delay him getting away to make a tee time….

    @Chief Oshkosh: 

    Yeah: I’m sure the RWNJ media will be motivated to find something nasty to say about this: but I’m guessing that that “normal people” reaction is going to be the typical one.

  113. 113.

    Miss Bianca

    @Quinerly: I miss beautiful Santa Fe! When my late great sister used to live in Pecos, I loved to visit her down there. She worked at the Indian School. Probably the only city hereabouts that I would drop everything to move to, given the chance.  Go visit that drinking chocolate cafe around the corner from the government buildings for me!

  116. 116.

    surfk9

    I am sitting in my Airstream parked at Emigrant Gap. The cool part is that it is my home while I am in it. It has my bed, my kitchen stuff and food, and my bathroom and no bed bugs.

    It is cold as hell outside though. Will head out later to enjoy the beginnings of fall colors here in the Sierras.

  120. 120.

    germy

    @schrodingers_cat:

    The movies rarely get science right.

    I’m guessing he’s more interested in the man than in the work.  The work will consist of the character scribbling sometimes on a blackboard.

  130. 130.

    Kay

    This is a good article about the threat to electoral systems and democratic governance posed by the anti-democratic Right, and what a workable plan to subvert an election would look like under existing law.

    It’s in the Washington Post and it relies on analysis by mainstream election and process experts who are genuinely concerned, so the claim here that everyone who is concerned is actually just screaming to demand Garland “arrest everyone” is (increasingly) divorced from reality and ignores everything that is being written about this, none of which is demands that Garland arrest everyone.

    Not being concerned is the outlier position. The mainstream position is there’s a real threat that must be addressed. It will be or it won’t be, but there’s not much real debate anymore over whether it’s a threat.

  132. 132.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Baud: Nah he will be mouthing Sanskrit shlokas looking directly at the camera in a grave tone.

    Nolan completely whitewashed Dunkirk. Inception was an illogical mess. Interstellar was okay until Matt Damon showed up. My hopes for the movie are not very high.

  133. 133.

    Kay

    No one who looks at this seriously ever envisioned it would be tanks rolling into DC or armed militias. That’s a caricature of what they’re saying designed to dismiss what they’re saying. They understand that it wouldn’t require any of that – they’d just use existing law and process, which was not designed to handle this situation, can be gamed, and will be insufficient.

  134. 134.

    J R in WV

    @germy: ​

    Sidney Powell complains she doesn’t have the ‘tiniest fraction’ of money needed to pay off all of the lawsuits against her. ? https://t.co/nWIkosJ7sZ

    — Jon Cooper ?? (@joncoopertweets) October 8, 2021

    Poor Sidney, she should have thought of that BEFORE she committed all those torts, huh?? Had a fender bender, insurance person interfacing with the body shop was named Sidney, and I felt sorry for her.

  135. 135.

    sab

    My pitbull brought her giant dog biscuit upstairs and then didn’t eat it. Instead she took a nap. Dobby her little cat brother found it, and was sliding it around. The other cats got involved. Everyone was fascinated. Then the pitbull woke up. She jumped in to get her biscuit back. Her cat bro snarled. I shrieked to prevent mayhem. Pitbull ate the biscuit and the cats (all still alive and intact) are furious with me. Can’t win for losing.

  139. 139.

    sab

    Why the fuck is Mike DeWine on the Mexican border? Ohio is, if anywhere, on the Canadian border. Republicans have absolutely lost their minds.

    I don’t talk to my Republican brother anymore. I may also need to get a new family lawyer because he seems to be following Republican talking points instead of my directions and actual tax law.

  141. 141.

    Geminid

    @sab: DeWine is looking over his shoulder at his primary challenger, former Congressman Jim Renacci. He wants to build up some MAGA crud.

    I mean, “cred.”

  145. 145.

    docNC

    So great to scroll through all these posts and read friendliness.  Everybody have a great day.

  146. 146.

    eddie blake

    @Geminid:  pretty much every winter in upstate ny is brutal once you get past, say poughkeepsie. i spent a few years in bufallo and oswego when in college, and in oswego (right on the shores of lake ontario) it felt like it started snowing in october and didn’t quit until may.

  147. 147.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    @Starfish:

    How many right-wing radio hosts is that now?

    N + 0. Pete Coulson was a “coach and counselor for children.” His death was announced by a right-wing radio host.

  148. 148.

    JoyceH

    Just read a news article that Allen West’s wife, who’s vaccinated, has tested positive for COVID. He, neither vaxxed nor tested, has symptoms. But he assures his followers that he is taking “hydroxychloroquin and ivermectin protocols”. I get a kick out of how they try to make their quackery sound all scientific by calling them “protocols”. Also? West had a packed fundraiser two days ago. More and more I’m starting to think that the way we beat these bastards is just by outliving them.

  150. 150.

    Geminid

    @sab: Renacci sounds like a real asshole. Which tells me that he has a good shot at knocking DeWine out in the primary. This will be a hard fight that I hope leaves a lot of hard feelings among Ohio Republicans. Same with their Senate primary. State Senator Matt Dolan has entered that one. He might have the moderate conservative lane to himself, but that may not be worth much anymore.

  151. 151.

    sab

    I have renters who love Renacci. Friends of my husband since forever. Also haven’t paid rent since Covid. If Renacci wins I swear to God I will evict them. There is renters help available but they are too purely fucking Republican to avail themselves. Meanwhile I have $100,000 property sitting around running up costs and bringing in nothing.

  152. 152.

    trollhattan

    @germy:

    Uhhhhh. Pass? (I suppose that’s what the doctor was doing.)

    Had a Canada goose wing graze my face while bicycling (me doing the bicycling, goose suddenly deciding to fly past my face) and while my potential for bad outcomes were probably more dire, I’ll still take that over the toilet bat butt-massage.

  153. 153.

    trollhattan

    @germy: Hah. Trump ghosted the hell out of her and now poor Sidney is poor. Who can guess who’s version of poor, but isn’t this the eventual fate of virtually everybody who does business for Trump?

    What was that chorus, “When will they ever learn?”

  154. 154.

    Villago Delenda Est

    OHJB is soooo much better than TFG could ever hope to be at being a human President.  Love him to pieces.

  157. 157.

    Nelle

    The Iowa Republican party is lining up solidly with Trump for the rally in Des Moines tonight.  Apparently 91% of Iowa R’s support Trump.  Gov. Reynolds, Senators Grassley and Ernst, Reps Hinson and Miller-Meeks, as well as the state party chair will all be there.  I have the urge to get across any state border, but will instead, go a bit in the opposite direction and take a bike ride.  In the 80’s here.

    And, like Dorothy Winsor, I liked the caucus and even more, the chance to be in the room with politicians in the lead up to the caucuses (just can’t let my credit card be in the same room as Katie Porter.  My credit card is very attracted to Katie Porter).  However, I think the first in the nation should  be rotated among states.  Or maybe three states at a time, for a simultaneous first in nation, one in each region.

  159. 159.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    An old article about Trump’s relationship with DeutscheBank was going around again and so I’m reading it again and I’m not going to look for it but I swear I posted this when the article first came out and I’m posting it again because I laughed just as hard the second time.
    pic.twitter.com/46R4D4tss8

    — Sen. Lemon Gogurt (R – MS) (@Ugarles) October 8, 2021

    “Officials also were impressed that Mr. Trump did not have much debt, according to people who reviewed his finances. Aside from his history of defaults, he was an attractive borrower.”

    Comments are funny.

  160. 160.

    Another Scott

    @sab: Our mutt Sophie would take large milk bones deep in the back of her jaw and then wander around the house until she found a good place – often in the pot of a large houseplant – to hide it.

    When J was little she had a dog that would hide bits of hot dog in the couch cushions.

    I thought that stuff only happened in the cartoons, but apparently it’s a real thing.  :-)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  161. 161.

    Geminid

    @sab: I have heard criticisms of the federal Covid aid program, that it directs the aid to renters and not landlords. Some explain this as a matter of political optics, but it seems very impractical and inefficient. Landlords generally are more organized, and the point is to put the money in their hands anyway.

  163. 163.

    Another Scott

    @Kay: From Greg’s piece:

    Democratic voters in those states should focus on this as well. Wikler points to early positive signs, noting that the issue is “already galvanizing volunteers and activists in a way I wouldn’t have thought possible in a midterm.”

    That’s the answer.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  166. 166.

    sdhays

    @sab:

    Friends of my husband since forever.

    It sounds like your husband values their friendship more than they value his.

  167. 167.

    Geminid

    @sab: You may not need a great candidate for Governor, just a good one. Tim Ryan will run a strong campaign for the Senate, and his voters will vote for the rest of the ticket. A unified Republican party might beat either Democrat, but Republicans may not be singing “Kumbaya” when their primaries are over.

  168. 168.

    debbie

    @sab:

    If they won’t even have applied for help, you really should have started eviction by now. Maybe I’ve been in this state too long, but you’re getting played.

  170. 170.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Kay:  I am sorry, Kay, but you are building a strawman.  No one here is arguing that people shouldn’t be concerned or that the right is trying to subvert the election process.  That is one of the reasons many of us are supporting voting rights groups who are fighting that very thing.

    Speaking only for myself, my concern has been, and continues to be, that to focus solely on the dangers creates a falsely negative picture of our situation.  I concur with the arguments that Another Scott was making last night.  Doing things the right way is not fast, and, while I sympathize with the people who want everything to go faster, I can’t join them.  I think that, if we cut corners, we are risking becoming a left wing version of the the GOP and I cannot accept that.

    I stayed out of the late night argument last night because I thought that my involvement would not aid the discourse.  I hesitated to join in today, but I really do not care to have the more positive viewpoint characterized as suggesting that everything is fine.

  171. 171.

    sab

    @Geminid: I would love if they were getting relief. They are too stupid for that. Just passing up (my)  money for political purity.

    I probably should tell husband how angry I am. I own the property but they send rent checks to spouse.I can’t even cash them if he doesnt sign. Moot point since they don’t even send them.

  172. 172.

    debbie

    @Geminid:

    There’s a small sniff of scandal about DeWine at the moment. He and his ever-present wife have traveled to the southern border to, as he says, find out more about the fentanyl situation.

    His supporters deflect the questions about using the trip to pander to the RWNJs and say it’s fun Mike and Fran are always together. Non-supporters are complaining about the cost of the trip, especially when redistricting is going so poorly. I agree with that, but I  am also questioning Fran DeWine’s constant presence. She’s always at his side, watching him, her lips moving along with the words he’s saying. Tell me what that’s about!

  174. 174.

    sab

    @sab: That will be a test in our marriage,  but a test we need to make.

    I really dont want to be funding random assholes he likes.

  176. 176.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @sab: It’s not really about being a lawyer, it is trying to get a full picture.  For example, yesterday the President decided not to assert executive privilege over a bunch of subpoenaed documents.  What to did people focus on?  The fact that Bannon was defying his subpoena.  At least two of the others were engaged in discussions with the Committee about complying.  All in all, it wasn’t a bad day on that front.

    FWIW I think the contempt process should be started against Bannon and I think it will.  We currently have a DOJ that is interested in compliance with the law.   But, yesterday, the focus was on Bannon and anger.

  177. 177.

    MomSense

    @Kay:
    FYWP because I can’t do block quotes with my wicked smaht phone, but reading your description I cannot think of one single commenter here who dismisses election concerns in the way you describe.
    I don’t want the Democrats to go rogue and extra legal to do it because that way madness lies.
    We need to restore democracy not break it.

  178. 178.

    Geminid

    @debbie: I feel kind sorry for DeWine as a human. If I hit 74 with the kind of money he’s got coming, I would hope that I found something better to do than try to be Governor another four years. Even if it was just living in Myrtle Beach and playing a different miniature golf course every morning.

    But I remember someone saying that a politician is a sick man who wants to get well by being elected, and that aphorism may apply in this case.

  180. 180.

    Another Scott

    @germy: I don’t imagine there are too many practicing billionaire lawyers…

    Kinda relatedly to FAAFO, GovExec: (from October 5)

    The Biden administration told federal agencies on Monday that although the president’s mandate that all federal employees be vaccinated against COVID-19 allows for some religious and medical exemptions, agencies may still fire employees with otherwise valid exemptions if the employees are in certain types of jobs where no other safety protocol would be sufficient.

    The news comes in updated guidance from the White House Safer Federal Workforce Task Force, which provides more detailed information about what qualifies as a valid medical exemption and safety requirements for employees who successfully obtain an exemption from the vaccine mandate.

    The task force wrote that while in most cases, unvaccinated employees would need to wear masks, continue to maintain a physical distance from coworkers and submit to regular testing, agencies may require additional measures in certain cases.

    “There may be circumstances in which an agency determines that the nature of an employee’s job responsibilities requires heightened safety protocols if they are provided with a legally required exception,” the guidance states. “In some cases, the nature of the employee’s job may be such that an agency determines that no safety protocol other than vaccination is adequate. In such circumstances, the agency may deny the requested accommodation.”

    […]

    “Your Mumia Church of the NoVaxx sweatshirt won’t get you into heaven any more.”

    They’re not messing around, because the virus doesn’t care. People will have to get vaccinated. The government clearly has the ability to set science-based health and safety standards for employees, so these nuisance lawsuits are going nowhere. And the “I’ll get rich with a GoFundMe, a book deal, and a TV show on OANN” crowd will find that maybe 1 person can do that for a few weeks – 1,000 can’t. Landlords and banks and grocery stores don’t care.

    The clock is ticking because all federal employees must be 2 weeks past their final shot by November 22, 2021.

    Deadlines:

    Moderna #1 – October 11, Moderna #2 – November 8
    Pfizer #1 – October 18, Pfizer #2 – November 8
    J&J – November 8

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  181. 181.

    Burnspbesq

    I was born upstate, lived there until age nine, and got my undergrad degree there.

    You couldn’t get me back there if you promised me a truckload of Freihofer’s chocolate chip cookies.

  183. 183.

    Burnspbesq

    @germy:

    I’ll be curious to hear her explain why COVID is different from all the other vaccines the troops are required to get.

  184. 184.

    Another Scott

    @Omnes Omnibus: We’ll know very soon. RollCall (from yesterday):

    Former Trump White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and Kashyap Patel, a former Defense Department official, are “engaging” with the Jan. 6 select committee, but Stephen Bannon, a former Trump adviser, is not complying with requests for documents and testimony, a move that may result in the panel sending a criminal contempt of Congress referral to the Department of Justice.

    Dan Scavino, the former White House deputy chief of staff for communications, was not mentioned in the committee’s statement Friday, which comes the day after an Oct. 7 deadline for the four Trump allies to produce records.

    All four were included in the first round of subpoenas sent by the committee in September. Bannon and Patel are directed to testify at depositions on Oct. 14, while Scavino and Meadows are instructed to be deposed on Oct. 15.

    Bannon, the committee says, has indicated he could invoke executive privilege relating to former President Donald Trump.

    “While Mr. Meadows and Mr. Patel are, so far, engaging with the Select Committee, Mr. Bannon has indicated that he will try to hide behind vague references to privileges of the former President,” a joint statement from Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., and Vice Chair Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., said. “The Select Committee fully expects all of these witnesses to comply with our demands for both documents and deposition testimony.”

    The select committee said it is prepared to quickly advance a criminal contempt of Congress referral to the Department of Justice, which would go to the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia to decide whether a criminal charge should be filed.

    “Though the Select Committee welcomes good-faith engagement with witnesses seeking to cooperate with our investigation, we will not allow any witness to defy a lawful subpoena or attempt to run out the clock, and we will swiftly consider advancing a criminal contempt of Congress referral,” Thompson and Cheney said.

    In addition to the subpoenas sent to the four Trump allies, 14 subpoenas have been sent in past weeks to others involved in the planning and organizing of events before and on the day of the insurrection, including members of Women for America First, the group that organized the Jan. 6 rally at the Ellipse. On Thursday, the panel sent subpoenas for records and testimony from Ali Alexander and Nathan Martin, two people who organized the Stop the Steal rally. Stop the Steal LLC was also issued a subpoena.

    […]

    They’re moving. We should recall that the first Select Committee meeting was only on July 27.

    The Senate Judiciary majority staff has already had an important interim report, also too.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  185. 185.

    James E Powell

    @Chief Oshkosh:

    Normal people: President Biden is warm and genuine. And he knows how to work a yo-yo!

    RWNJs: Sleepy Joe is reduced to being a tour guide for children. And he’s a yo-yo!

    Political press/media: We are really starting to hate this guy.

  186. 186.

    Kay

    @MomSense:

    Again, no one serious about this says they should “go rogue” and constantly depicting any debate of this as “people screaming for Garland to arrest everyone” effectively blocks any discussion of it.

    John and some others (including me) had a very simple question/demand. Why can’t subpeonas be enforced? It’s a fair question! We all watched as subpeonas were ignored from 2016 to 2020. That was immediately turned into “John wants to break the law”. That’s not what he said. It’s not what anyone who agreed with him  said. I’m wary of a response like that, where the question is shut down by turning it into a straw man. I wonder about why that keeps happening here.

    If the answer is “subpeonas can’t be enforced” then that’s the answer to the question. It’s also most likely true. It’s as if we’re loathe to admit that many of the existing processes and procedures are proving insufficient to this challenge. My view is we have to admit that to address the problem.

  188. 188.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Kay: Why weren’t subpoenas enforced for those years – actually 2017-21 – and why might it be different now?

  189. 189.

    James E Powell

    @Geminid:

    Matt Dolan’s brother changed the name of the Cleveland Indians to Guardians. I doubt that is going to go down well with the typical Republican voter.

  190. 190.

    Burnspbesq

    @CaseyL:

    Cant get past the depression of living in a place where the economy went in the shitter in the 1960s, never came back, and isn’t ever coming back.

    Everybody who thinks it’s pretty should start at the main gate of my alma mater, go south on Nott Terrace until you hit State Street (NY Route 5), turn right, and stay on it until you get to Utica. It’s every bit as sad as eastern Kentucky.

  191. 191.

    MomSense

    @Kay:

    Why do you think subpoenas won’t be enforced now?  I think we all know why subpoenas weren’t enforced between 2017 and 2020.

  192. 192.

    Ken

    @James E Powell: What’s not to like about giant robots disguised as statues and activated by the secret members of Guardian Cleveland Super Traffic Robot Force Seven to defend the city from kaiju attack? Especially when the robots combine into Mega Guardian Prime and wield all seven spectral elements as one.

    Or have I confused them with Voltron…

  196. 196.

    BC in Illinois

    @Nelle:

    On liking the Iowa Caucus:  My son and DIL attended their local caucus in 2008. They were happy to be able to put Obama on top. I don’t know how big their caucus was, but they separated the supporters for each candidate, by people going to different corners of the room. The Biden campaign enticed people to their corner by offering brownies.

  197. 197.

    Kay

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    I understand the process. I read up on it the last 3 times subpeonas were ignored. It ends with a lawsuit.

    For this reason, in modern times Congress has opted for a third and final approach to enforcing a contempt finding: getting its lawyers to bring a civil lawsuit asking a judge to rule that compliance is required.

    Insufficient to the problem at hand. I’d go in a different direction and shore up the federal process for certification of an election. Write a new law and pass it as quickly as possible. They only have three years, less than that if they lose a chamber and one or two state elections officials or governors. That’s the direction the process/election experts and historians are suggesting. No one contemplated that we would be facing a political party that no longer accepts the outcomes of elections when the process was put in place. We’re no longer relying on process in any real way- we’re relying on having enough individuals in key spots at crucial times who will refuse orders from the Party. That’s not a process guarantee at all. It’s a wish.

  198. 198.

    Baud

    Biden declares October 11 Indigenous Peoples’ Day and says restoring national monuments is the ‘easiest thing I’ve ever done so far as President’

  200. 200.

    Kay

    @MomSense:

    This is how congressional subpeonas are enforced. I don’t say this to make anyone “despair”- I don’t think I’m actually in charge of whether people despair or not, I’m fairly confident I don’t have that much massive power, I say it because in my view there should be a free ranging debate on possibilities instead of this almost magical incantation of “trust the process”. This is not a real robust process, this congressional committee mechanism. It’s barely creaking along and it sputters out with a civil lawsuit.

    They need two tracks. The committee continues fact finding (such as they can) and they pass some new democracy laws.

  201. 201.

    James E Powell

    @Ken:

    I must confess that while I wanted the Indians name dumped, the Guardians name does not thrill me. I prefer predatory animals, though realize most of the good ones have been taken.

    The giant statues do provide some graphic & video opportunities. I am looking forward to what they do with them.

  202. 202.

    trollhattan

    Am titling this “Sinema wants your kids dead.”

    October 9, 2021 at 8:11 am EDT By Taegan Goddard

    Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), “who began her political career with the Green Party and who has voiced alarm over the warming planet, wants to cut at least $100 billion from climate programs in major legislation pending on Capitol Hill,” the New York Times reports.

    “The people familiar with her request, who asked to speak anonymously because they were not authorized to speak on the record, said that she had asked for a cut to the climate program as part of a larger effort by Democrats to hunt for ways to lower the price tag of the broader spending legislation.”

  203. 203.

    Kay

    @MomSense:

    There’s another problem with “the difference between 2017 and 2021 is Democrats”. What they’re asking is (essentially) “are we still operating under the rule of law?”

    If the answer to that is “as long as Democrats have 50 senate seats, we are!” then you’ve answered the question and the answer is “no, we’re not”. It’s not supposed to be dependent on “turnout”. If it is, that’s a pretty dire situation. Saying “it depends on the political party in power” is an admission of the gravity of the situation.

  204. 204.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Kay: The process can be done differently with the current DOJ.  Congress couldn’t use the DOJ during the Trump administration because it was the Trump administration.  Why would this DOJ not act to enforce the subpoenas?

  205. 205.

    Burnspbesq

    @CaseyL:

    Tim Leyden, who is from my dad’s hometown of Whitehall, wrote a brilliant article for Sports Illustrated a few years back about how high school football was the only thing keeping the town alive.

    I remember it as a hopping little place with a couple of factories and a lock on the barge canal that connects the Hudson River to Lake Champlain. My grandfather made enough money selling insurance to send my dad and my uncle to private colleges.

    That’s all gone now. The biggest employer is the nearby maximum security state prison. The silk mill is long gone. GE is long gone from Hudson Falls, taking thousands of jobs and leaving an insoluble toxic waste problem. It’s basically just a wide place in the road, 20 miles off the Northway, where Route 4 turns east to go toward Vermont.

    plenty of cheap farmland. Maybe after another 20 years of climate change you’ll be able to grow avocados there.

  207. 207.

    Kay

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    I don’t think they will- I think they have a profoundly misguided idea about what buttresses or “restores” integrity where they confuse protecting the institution with protecting what the institution is supposed to stand for, but I suppose they could. But if that’s the hope then it is up to Garland, so they’re completely correct in putting it on him. I’m looking in a different direction.

  209. 209.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Kay: And I think that they will.  Bannon hasn’t even technically failed to comply yet.  If he does not comply, any request for contempt charges will go to the US Attorney for the District.  We will see what happens.​

  212. 212.

    laura

    @trollhattan: Roadie Brother the younger is just back home from touring and we’re hoping to ride his coattails there tomorrow- and there’s bicycle parking….

  213. 213.

    trollhattan

    @laura: Sometimes I forget it’s on and try to ride the trail through Discovery Park, to varying degrees of success. They caught a break on the weather this year.

  214. 214.

    Another Scott

    @Kay: 1) There’s a good Lawfare article from 2019 (repost) on how the process works.  Humans in power have the ability to slow-roll processes and norms, or take them seriously and act expeditiously.  Co-equal branches and division of power in government slows things down, but Garland isn’t Barr and Biden isn’t TFG.

    Either house of Congress can vote to hold in contempt a witness who refuses to provide testimony or produce requested documents pursuant to a congressionally authorized subpoena. As set out in 2 U.S.C. § 194, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia has the “duty [] to bring the matter before the grand jury for its action.” Contempt of Congress, which is a federal misdemeanor, is punishable by a maximum $100,000 fine and a maximum one-year sentence in federal prison. […] Congress can also file a lawsuit asking a judge to order the witness to provide the information, raising the additional possibility of imprisonment for contempt of court.

    Biden has rejected TFG’s EP claim. Bannon has none and will get slapped down. Yes, it will take time to address all of this, but it will get addressed.

    2) You seem to mostly be complaining about the pace of activity.  Freedom To Vote Act has Manchin as a co-sponsor and it is working its way through the legislature:

    The legislation protects millions of Americans’ access to the ballot box and will make it easier for citizens to cast a ballot in a secure but convenient way. Every state would be required to have automatic voter registration. Election Day would become a federal holiday. Every eligible citizen could request a mail ballot and drop it off at a secure drop box if they so desire.

    The Freedom to Vote Act also advances civil rights and racial justice. It restores federal voting rights to returning citizens who have been released from prison after serving their sentences. The bill includes targeted protections to ensure underserved and vulnerable communities, such as those with disabilities and Native Americans, aren’t disenfranchised through no fault of their own.

    It addresses the flood of undisclosed “dark money” into the electoral process and creates the option for matching funds for House candidates when states opt in, modernizing and expanding federal campaign finance reforms passed in previous decades.

    And — perhaps most time-sensitive of them all — as states begin to draw their voting maps for the next decade, the legislation bans partisan gerrymandering and makes it easier for judges to strike down maps that unfairly entrench one political party in power and deny communities of color fair representation.

    I proudly stood with my colleagues today to introduce the new John Lewis Voting Advancement Act in the Senate.

    It'd restore critical safeguards of the Voting Rights Act gutted by the Supreme Court and help fight suppressive voting laws.

    The Senate will vote on this vital bill.

    — Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) October 5, 2021

    Things are happening. We won’t get everything we want and objectively need, but progress will be made.

    Democratic leadership was in the building on January 6. They remember what happened to Obama’s agenda and in the 2010 midterms. They want to be re-elected and build their majority as much as we do. They’ll get the job done and get as much as they can given all the real-world constraints.

    My $0.02.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  215. 215.

    Sure Lurkalot

    @trollhattan: Screw her lazy ass. She wants to cut $100 billion? Be specific. What exactly.

    Manchin wants a choice between child tax credits, family leave and day care? How about a choice between carried interest, favorable capital gains treatment, social security caps, shady offshore tax havens?

  216. 216.

    Jerzy Russian

    @Burnspbesq:

     

    You couldn’t get me back there if you promised me a truckload of Freihofer’s chocolate chip cookies.

    Everybody has their price. What about two truckloads of Freihofer’s chocolate chip cookies?

  217. 217.

    trollhattan

    “Violatin’ mah first-amendment rahts to get you sick and kill’t–Newsom!!!!”

    Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law Friday that makes it a misdemeanor in California for protesters to physically interfere with vaccination efforts or harass and intimidate those attending clinics administering shots, including COVID-19 vaccines. State Sen. Richard Pan, D-Sacramento, wrote Senate Bill 742 in response to protesters briefly shutting down Dodger Stadium in January while it was serving as a mass COVID-19 vaccination site. Pan, a pediatrician and the author of California’s tough vaccine laws that limit who can skip immunizations in schools, said SB 742 was a necessary bill to shield those who wanted to be inoculated against the deadly virus from anti-vaccine activists. The new law applies to all vaccine clinics, not just those administering COVID-19 shots. Because the bill carried an “urgency clause,” it takes effect immediately. The new law now sets limits on how close protesters can get to and engage with those at vaccination sites. A demonstrator couldn’t approach within 30 feet anyone who is within 100 feet of an entrance to a vaccine site, if the intention is to obstruct, harass, intimidate, injure or interfere. The restrictions extend to those in their cars at a drive-through clinic.

    https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article254595807.html#storylink=cpy

    Senator Pan (mah senator!) also wrote the legislation making public school vaccinations mandatory and later necessary legislation eliminating the religious exemption. He’s a damn hero.

  219. 219.

    brantl

    @Kay: I think that one of the best pre-emptive strikes that democrats could make is to have ballot initiatives for voter ID that is cheap, relatively easy to get (a birth document, documents that show that you pay bills under this name, witnesses to your identity, medical records, etc.) so that we can pull the teeth out of punitive, cumbersome, voter ID laws. What do you think? I think this should happen in every state where they are trying cumbersome voter ID bills.

  221. 221.

    Ksmiami

    @Immanentize: originally Turkish- they were called pide and it was a form of a stuffed pizza in the shape of a boat topped with mixed spiced meats…the covered breading came later

  222. 222.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @brantl: I’ve long been in favor of a national ID card, we have a de facto one in the Social Security Card, but it is easy to forge and wouldn’t work for voter ID since it doesn’t have a picture.

  224. 224.

    mrmoshpotato

    @laura:

    Roadie Brother the younger is just back home from touring and we’re hoping to ride his coattails there tomorrow- and there’s bicycle parking…. 

    1. Wear earplugs – seriously.
    2. Rock the fuck out to Metallica for me. :)
  228. 228.

    NeenerNeener

    For those of you who grew up in the Binghamton area…somebody restarted the Drakes bakeries and you can get Ring Dings at Amazon now if you don’t mind paying a ridiculous price for them. I have a freezer full of them right now.

    Wegmans carries the Devil Dogs and coffee cakes, but I have yet to score a box of Ring Dings there.

  230. 230.

    Kay

    @brantl:

    Hmm. Needs to be much bigger :)

    I think we need to expand how we think about it. People are already doing it!

    IDENTIFYING AND MINIMIZING THE RISK OF ELECTION SUBVERSION AND STOLEN ELECTIONS IN THE CONTEMPORARY UNITED STATES
    Richard L. Hasen

    Rick Hasen would not have written this even five years ago. It’s a response to what has happened in the last 5 years. It begins:

    Until recently, it would have been absurd to raise the possibility of such election subversion or a stolen election in the United States.

    It’s a new situation which calls for new thinking, IMO.

  231. 231.

    jimmiraybob

    @mrmoshpotato: 

    “Since when did Kentucky become Texas?”

    There’s a certain peculiar institutional connection.

    Speaking of the peculiar institution, I’m reading “Forget the Alamo: The Rise and Fall of an American Myth.” It’s almost like contemporary narrative.

  232. 232.

    stinger

    Spent the day attending Stoicon 2021, now about to wrap up. Looks like BJ also spent the day on one blog post. Hope to read the comments soon!

  239. 239.

    Just Chuck

    I’ll believe Iowa is out when they actually do it.  Every election they make noises about ending the farce, and every election they go and bow and scrape and abase before the corn god regardless.

  248. 248.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @Elizabelle: I’m not in hardware, I’m a delivery associate

    “We got to install microwave ovens, custom kitchen deliveries
    We got to move these refrigerators, we gotta move these color TVs*”

    We do not carry TV’s, however we do carry boxes to pack TV’s.

  249. 249.

    J R in WV

    @Burnspbesq:

    I’ll be curious to hear her [ Sidney Powell ]  explain why COVID is different from all the other vaccines the troops are required to get.

    I was in Navy boot camp starting March 1970 during the little Vietnam conflict. We walked down the shot line getting hit in and no idea what was being injected. For some doses they used a pneumatic gun that used high pressure to shoot the vaccine your through your skin.

    We all had blood drooling down our arms, some of us had blood dripping off our elbows.

    I have no patience with these guys “refusing” an approved vaccine.  And these people are all volunteers, I was about to be drafted and joined the Navy rather than be pressed into the Army or Marines. Yes, they were drafting young men into the Marines.

    They should all get kicked out with bad papers, no benefits. Refusing a legal order is a f’in crime.

    ETA: Burns, you were more succinct, well done. I don’t want to take time to make it shorter…

  253. 253.

    sab

    @J R in WV: My dad got hepatitis from his shots in Korea. Not a pneumatic. An actual giant syringe, and everyone in line behind the guy with hepatitis got hepatitis.

  258. 258.

    J R in WV

    @Kay:

    No one contemplated that we would be facing a political party that no longer accepts the outcomes of elections when the process was put in place. We’re no longer relying on process in any real way- we’re relying on having enough individuals in key spots at crucial times who will refuse orders from the Party. That’s not a process guarantee at all. It’s a wish.

    I wish to point out the fraudulent Supreme Court, “not a precedent” decision stopping the Florida vote count and naming G W Bush President, regardless of his awol status in the military service he volunteered for.

    Plus Justice O’Conner openly declared her desire for a Republican winner ON ELECTION DAY in order to retire to care for her dementia-stricken husband. I can relate to that desire to care for a beloved spouse, but there’s an honorable way and a not-so-honorable way to retire.​
     

    ETA: Anyway, we’ve known the Republicans won’t adhere to election law at least since Bush was declared President in spite of the vote count ongoing in FL.

  259. 259.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @mrmoshpotato: My group starts work a hour before the store opens and our coverage ends two hours after the store closes.  One of the first nights I closed, I had an order for one of those iron tubs, it was just me handling deliveries, so I had to move that sucker on to a cart and haul it out to the delivery area.  I thought I’d never have to do that again by myself.  15 minutes later an order came in for 2 of those damn things.

  260. 260.

    J R in WV

    @brantl:

    Many (most?) states have no ballot initiatives, expecting the legislature to be honest brokers and protectors of Democracy. Yeh, I know, absurd today, isn’t it?

Comments are closed.