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Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

A norm that restrains only one side really is not a norm – it is a trap.

Trumpflation is an intolerable hardship for every American, and it’s Trump’s fault.

Let there be snark.

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Relentless negativity is not a sign that you are more realistic.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

Michigan is a great lesson for Dems everywhere: when you have power…use it!

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

Stop using mental illness to avoid talking about armed white supremacy.

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

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

We still have time to mess this up!

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

Come on, man.

It is possible to do the right thing without the promise of a cookie.

Dear Washington Post, you are the darkness now.

GOP baffled that ‘we don’t care if you die’ is not a winning slogan.

It’s a good piece. click on over. but then come back!!

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Trump’s cabinet: like a magic 8 ball that only gives wrong answers.

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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Excellent Links / Saturday Morning Open Thread: Brava!

Saturday Morning Open Thread: Brava!

by Anne Laurie|  February 5, 20228:21 am| 114 Comments

This post is in: Excellent Links, NANCY SMASH!, Open Threads, Women's Rights Are Human Rights

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US textile artists Alison Chambers and Emily Robbins, “Strong Tradition” quilt #WomensArt pic.twitter.com/OjL3B9rXBr

— #WOMENSART (@womensart1) January 26, 2022

Petula Dvorak, in the Washington Post — “An ode to those women who say what we’re thinking”:

There is something gratifying about the no-nonsense, fed up women who just let ’em have it.

This week has brought us two extraordinary examples. One called herself “Black Jesus” on Amtrak. The other is now trending on Twitter for her punchline to Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin: #readtheroombuddy…

Thursday was when Stacey Patton, a.k.a. Black Jesus, made an appearance on the Northeast Regional headed to Trenton.

Patton, a journalism professor at Howard University, book author and frequent contributor to The Washington Post, was in business class on an Amtrak train from D.C. when she decided she’d had enough of The Guy.

You’ve seen him. Manspreading, maskless, perhaps, voice booming through the quiet of a train, Metro, bus, space…

“I’m about 8 rows behind him. He’s been on his cellphone since we boarded. He’s talking loud, as if he’s in his home office. Everyone else in the train car seems unbothered. But I’m annoyed…

“GIMME A SEC. GOT ANOTHER CALL COMIN’ THROUGH. YELLL-OOOO?”

I whisper. “Hello, this is Black Jesus calling. I’m riding on Northeast bound train 176. I hope y’all find the right interns for your search. You will make it to New Brunswick in time for that teams meeting. I also think your pitch for the new project, with some minor adjustments, will be well received by the rest of the team. And I recommend either the Frog and the Peach or Steakhouse 85 for dinner tonight. But for right now, Imma need you to lower your voice while riding this train. In my name, Amen.”

Click.

Dude actually stood up and looked around frantically. I kept looking at my computer like I’m not Black Jesus.”…

For the video of Ms. #ReadTheRoom, see the tweet at the top of my Coronavirus Update post, immediately below this one. But there’s more — you should definitely read the whole thing!

Speaker Pelosi had a huge role in the #BidenBoom as well. pic.twitter.com/t2sMz1v0gO

— Scott Dworkin (@funder) February 4, 2022

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Previous Post: « COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Friday / Saturday, Feb. 4-5
Next Post: Readership Capture Open Thread: Weedle, Wardle, Wordle »

Reader Interactions

114Comments

  1. 1.

    debbie

    February 5, 2022 at 8:23 am

    Reposting because it fills me with joy:

    @Amir Khalid:

    It is truly, truly good to see your name!

  2. 2.

    debbie

    February 5, 2022 at 8:25 am

    For the Twitter-adverse, the last word on that quilt is “Fight.”

  3. 3.

    Baud

    February 5, 2022 at 8:26 am

    @debbie:

    I had guessed “Fuck” but “Fight” works too.

  4. 4.

    debbie

    February 5, 2022 at 8:27 am

    @Baud:

    Don’t make me pull my pussy hat out of the closet…

  5. 5.

    sab

    February 5, 2022 at 8:28 am

    I love the Black Jesus intrusively loud cell phone response.

  6. 6.

    Barbara

    February 5, 2022 at 8:31 am

    @sab: I sat in the not quiet car on Amtrak pre-pandemic and heard two loud conversations in sufficient detail that I was able to trace two of the speakers and family members on the Internet and then find their social media accounts.

    I don’t understand how anybody could think their work related conversations would be private.  Just crazy.

  7. 7.

    mrmoshpotato

    February 5, 2022 at 8:31 am

    @sab: I take it that the slapdick loudly gave out his number.  The bonehead…

  8. 8.

    mrmoshpotato

    February 5, 2022 at 8:34 am

    @Barbara: During the nicer months, some of my neighbors have loud, personal phone calls on the back porches.

    Glad you have a doctor’s appointment.  Is it for your loud mouth-itis?

  9. 9.

    Benw

    February 5, 2022 at 8:37 am

    @sab: it’s so awesome

  10. 10.

    Baud

    February 5, 2022 at 8:39 am

    Black Jesus hushed the multitude.

  11. 11.

    Gin & Tonic

    February 5, 2022 at 8:43 am

    @sab: How did she know his number?

  12. 12.

    Spanky

    February 5, 2022 at 8:43 am

    @Baud: If only.

  13. 13.

    Baud

    February 5, 2022 at 8:46 am

    @Gin & Tonic:

    He spoke it out loud on the train.

  14. 14.

    sab

    February 5, 2022 at 8:46 am

    @mrmoshpotato: They often do

    Back pre-Covid we used to hear a lot of loud business calls at baseball games. Pay attention, guy! There are balls coming into the stands!

  15. 15.

    Spanky

    February 5, 2022 at 8:46 am

    @Barbara: Too much to hope they made some credit card purchases?

  16. 16.

    Geminid

    February 5, 2022 at 8:49 am

    A bright sunny day in Amicus. Windy too.

  17. 17.

    JMG

    February 5, 2022 at 8:49 am

    @Barbara: In the summer of 2019 I was taking a 7 subway train to the US Open in Flushing Meadows and heard an extended phone conversation by a Mets scout on his way to nearby Citi Field in which their minor league pitchers were evaluated, loudly. The kind of operational security to be expected from that franchise, but really, even for baseball that’s dumb.

  18. 18.

    Another Scott

    February 5, 2022 at 8:51 am

    AL thanks for the WaPo story.  It’s good.  I hope that #ReadTheRoomBuddy woman gets visibility too if she wants it (the story says she’s known for other good things).

    Cheers,

    Scott.

  19. 19.

    Spanky

    February 5, 2022 at 9:02 am

    In other news, it looks like the Shootings Fairy is revisiting some old haunts:

    One person killed and 2 wounded in shooting inside a church in Aurora, Colorado, police say

     

    1 killed, 4 others injured in shooting at a hookah lounge near Virginia Tech’s main campus, police say

    Both via CNN.

  20. 20.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    February 5, 2022 at 9:03 am

    Love the Black Jesus story! Love it!

    Also, Amir is in another thread? I’ll take a look

  21. 21.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    February 5, 2022 at 9:08 am

    In less happy news, a judge temporarily stopped Gov. Pritzker’s mask mandate for schools. My teacher DIL is going to be distraught. She already has kindergarteners out sick with covid, one of them quite sick. And she herself is immuno compromised. I assume she’ll keep wearing her mask, but this is not good.

  22. 22.

    sab

    February 5, 2022 at 9:12 am

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: He popped up first in the very late night mask thread

    ETA #12

  23. 23.

    Starfish

    February 5, 2022 at 9:17 am

    @sab: She was much more elegant than I was. I had a loud talker behind me on a bus, and I just told her about how obnoxious she was being and how we did not all want to hear her conversation.

  24. 24.

    p.a.

    February 5, 2022 at 9:37 am

    The Venn diagram of the “900,000+ American dead, no big whoop, mah freedumbs” people  and the  “let’s commit genocide because 7 drunks somewhere burned an American flag” people is 2 100% overlapping circles.

  25. 25.

    germy

    February 5, 2022 at 9:41 am

    If you see someone shoplifting, stop them. If the police won’t stop them, you should. Don’t tolerate disorder, chaos, and evil in your neighborhood pic.twitter.com/uAFBLuNC9m

    — Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) February 1, 2022

    Tackling a shoplifter so that Alice Walton can get away with her 7th pedestrian fatality DUI

    — NOT Sean P McCarthy (@NOTSeanMcCarthy) February 4, 2022

    honestly this is what most america conservatism boils down to, do anything u can to protect walmart https://t.co/rN1MVjvZ4V

    — Richard Juul (@YSufferer) February 4, 2022

  26. 26.

    zhena gogolia

    February 5, 2022 at 9:44 am

    @debbie: Great news!

  27. 27.

    Ben Cisco, MSCIS Padawan

    February 5, 2022 at 9:48 am

    Good to see Amir back.

    On the home front, covid test 2 came back negative – yay! Just the “regular” sinus shenanigans.

    Remember, anti-CRT flailing means they know they’re LOSING.

  28. 28.

    SiubhanDuinne

    February 5, 2022 at 9:49 am

    @Ben Cisco, MSCIS Padawan:

    Good news!

  29. 29.

    randy khan

    February 5, 2022 at 9:52 am

    @Barbara:

    I sat behind someone who is in my field on an Amtrak train to New York once, and he spent big chunks of the trip doing work calls.  We happened to be on the same team (so to speak) on the issues he was talking about, but if we weren’t it could have been a big problem for him.  (At least it wasn’t the quiet car.)

    It’s remarkable how many people don’t realize that they can be heard in public spaces.

  30. 30.

    Ben Cisco, MSCIS Padawan

    February 5, 2022 at 9:54 am

    @SiubhanDuinne: I’ve never been so happy to have my nose turn into a fire hydrant.

  31. 31.

    Professor Bigfoot

    February 5, 2022 at 9:56 am

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: One would think your DIL could insist on masking at least in her own classroom just under “reasonable accomodation” for her immunocompromised condition.

  32. 32.

    Amir Khalid

    February 5, 2022 at 9:58 am

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    I can be here too, if you like.

  33. 33.

    Baud

    February 5, 2022 at 9:58 am

    @germy:

    I save my citizens arrests for when I see someone trying to overthrow the government.

  34. 34.

    Ken

    February 5, 2022 at 9:59 am

    @randy khan: It’s remarkable how many people don’t realize that they can be heard in public spaces.

    I vaguely remember a psychological study that indicated when people are on a phone call, they blank out their surroundings; it’s as if they were alone in a room with the person on the other end. Which is one of the reasons that using the phone while driving is so dangerous.

  35. 35.

    randy khan

    February 5, 2022 at 10:00 am

    I suspect that Youngkin thinks he won that encounter.  As a cuddly moderate Republican (*cough*), he can’t wear a mask anywhere because it would enrage the base, so he’s probably hoping he will come off as a brave truth-teller.

    But what I think he doesn’t get is that he won the election, in part, because he convinced a fraction of the voters in northern Virginia that he actually would be a cuddly moderate.  Stuff like this (including the anti-masks-in-schools executive order he issued his first day in office) hurts him because it tells them that he was lying during the campaign.  He can’t be unelected, and he can’t run for reelection, but it makes it harder for him to push his agenda and risks turning the 2023 legislative elections into a referendum on him that he will lose.  And since the awful Republican gerrymander from the 2010 census is going to be gone, those elections may be an uphill battle already.

  36. 36.

    Betty Cracker

    February 5, 2022 at 10:02 am

    One of the few joys left to me in post-Trump American politics is schadenfreude when Trump spurns a pol who is an imitator. And the more simpering and obsequious the imitator, the greater the schadenfreude when the orange fart rejects or ignores them. According to the Daily Beast, that is the fate so far of U.S. senate candidate from Ohio Josh Mandel:

    There are a few key reasons why the twice-impeached former president hasn’t yet endorsed Mandel or anybody else in that race. One reason for the hold-up is that Trump—who has long been addicted to dishing tabloid-style gossip and dirt—has for months told people close to him that he thinks Mandel is a charisma-free weirdo and dork, according to three sources who’ve spoken to Trump about Mandel and the Ohio contest since last year.

    In recent months, these sources said, the onetime leader of the free world has even spent an inordinate amount of time gossiping with a large array of advisers and close associates about unconfirmed details of Mandel’s sex life. Trump has privately regurgitated, often in disgust, a wide range of unverified, often completely unvetted, and lurid rumors about the MAGA candidate.

    The salacious gossip has frequently found its way to Mar-a-Lago, and wherever else Trump and his political orbit roam, because Republicans opposed to Mandel have actively pushed rumors to Trump, Ohio political circles, and reporters at major news outlets, the sources independently said.

    “The [former] president has used the term ‘fucking weird’ to describe Josh Mandel more than once, when I have spoken to him about” Mandel, one of the people said. “He has talked about [Mandel] and sex in the same sentence more times than I would have liked to hear.”

    Emphasis mine. I think more Republicans should feed Trump gossipy rumors about rival MAGAs. Ideally, a squishy dope who wants to take out a more powerful potential rival, say Marco Rubio vs. Ron DeSantis, will concoct salacious rumors that play on Trump’s most hysterical anti-kink impulses.

  37. 37.

    germy

    February 5, 2022 at 10:03 am

    Some political cartoons have very short shelf lives.

    try as you might you will never create anything that ages quite this badly pic.twitter.com/4wwTTr4Olg

    — kilgore trout, cryptopolice chief (@KT_So_It_Goes) February 4, 2022

  38. 38.

    Josie

    February 5, 2022 at 10:11 am

    @Amir Khalid: So happy and relieved to see you back.

  39. 39.

    different-church-lady

    February 5, 2022 at 10:12 am

    Loud, obnoxious cell phone calls in public are so last decade. Now it’s loud, obnoxious Zoom meetings in public.

  40. 40.

    OzarkHillbilly

    February 5, 2022 at 10:13 am

    @Betty Cracker: I always wonder about people who become obsessed with the sex lives of others. It always seems to indicate envy or desire, more often than not, both.

  41. 41.

    Heidi Mom

    February 5, 2022 at 10:17 am

    @Amir Khalid: Welcome back, Amir!  So glad to hear from you.

  42. 42.

    M31

    February 5, 2022 at 10:19 am

    had a great time in the ‘quiet’ Amtrak car once, a guy was calling all his friends and work acquaintances to apologize for all his drunk phone calls late the night before

    “hey man, uh, sorry about that, uh, must have had a few too many, know what I mean, uh”

    lol a guy like that all his exes already have him blocked

  43. 43.

    Gin & Tonic

    February 5, 2022 at 10:20 am

    @Betty Cracker:

    the onetime leader of the free world has even spent an inordinate amount of time gossiping with a large array of advisers and close associates about unconfirmed details of Mandel’s sex life

    Frankly, I didn’t think Angela Merkel cared that much.

  44. 44.

    MagdaInBlack

    February 5, 2022 at 10:20 am

    @Amir Khalid: So glad to see you back ?

  45. 45.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    February 5, 2022 at 10:20 am

    @Professor Bigfoot: That sounds reasonable, but we left “reasonable” a while back

    @Amir Khalid: That would be lovely. :-)

    Someone told me about a murder mystery writer on a train, talking to his agent about how he planned to kill a character. Other riders were so concerned that police met him at the next stop.

  46. 46.

    Another Scott

    February 5, 2022 at 10:22 am

    @germy:

    Popehat had his number very early on.

    sup @MichaelAvenatti pic.twitter.com/NzHBbqtONo

    — LegitimatePoliticalDiscourseHat (@Popehat) February 4, 2022

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  47. 47.

    AliceBlue

    February 5, 2022 at 10:27 am

    @Amir Khalid: Hey Amir!

  48. 48.

    There go two miscreants

    February 5, 2022 at 10:30 am

    Happy to add my voice to those welcoming you back, Amir! I hope that whatever kept you away did not leave any lingering negative consequences.

  49. 49.

    Bex

    February 5, 2022 at 10:31 am

    @Amir Khalid: Joining the long line of Jackals happy to see you back!

  50. 50.

    germy

    February 5, 2022 at 10:33 am

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnar_mhCTbg

    Jackals were screaming, yelling and howling.

  51. 51.

    Betty Cracker

    February 5, 2022 at 10:33 am

    @Gin & Tonic: Ha! The phrase has long grated on me. It was always arrogant (even when arguably true), but Trump made it ridiculous. Good excuse to retire it forever.

  52. 52.

    Gin & Tonic

    February 5, 2022 at 10:36 am

    Your day wasn’t as bad as you thought pic.twitter.com/D5BSnuiTfs
    — Dave Lee (@DaveLeeFT) February 5, 2022

  53. 53.

    sab

    February 5, 2022 at 10:37 am

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Spoiler! There might have been a few of his readers on that train.

  54. 54.

    geg6

    February 5, 2022 at 10:40 am

    More bridge news from Pittsburgh.  The Saw Mill Run Bridge, major artery for commuters from Mount Washington and the South Hills to the city by busway and light rail, has been closed by the Port Authority because engineers inspecting it found it had shifted.  Another 79s era bridge falling apart.  How many of the hundreds of bridges in the city have these issues?

  55. 55.

    Bex

    February 5, 2022 at 10:40 am

    @Gin & Tonic: Sounds like yesterday when Faux Noise hyperventilated about a disastrous jobs report before it came out.

  56. 56.

    schrodingers_cat

    February 5, 2022 at 10:40 am

    Latest from BJP ruled dystopia that is Karnataka (Bangalore now Bengaluru is the capital of this state) Hijab wearing Muslim students are being prohibited from attending class.

  57. 57.

    realbtl

    February 5, 2022 at 10:41 am

    @Amir Khalid: C’mon Amir end the suspense.  Les Paul,  335, JazzMaster?  GAS!

  58. 58.

    Sure Lurkalot

    February 5, 2022 at 10:44 am

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    Someone told me about a murder mystery writer on a train, talking to his agent about how he planned to kill a character. Other riders were so concerned that police met him at the next stop.

    That sounds like a beginning to a good murder mystery.

  59. 59.

    A Ghost to Most

    February 5, 2022 at 10:45 am

    Sorry to intrude, but a remarkable thing is happening in the WaPo comments. Something I have not seen in nearly five years of almost daily commenting there. The right wing commenters have gone almost silent. This means something.

    Carry on.

  60. 60.

    Baud

    February 5, 2022 at 10:46 am

    @Gin & Tonic: That makes me feel better on a number of levels.

  61. 61.

    frosty

    February 5, 2022 at 10:48 am

    @realbtl: He said earlier it was an amp. So … Fender Twin, Marshall Stack, or a Quilter (lightweight for us older players)?

  62. 62.

    rosalind

    February 5, 2022 at 10:52 am

    Flashing back to jury duty downtown L.A.: walked over to Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels to grab lunch at the cafe. Sat down on a quiet bench in their very quiet garden. Enter man talking loudly on his cell. Sat next to me, and I realized with increasing horror he was conducting a counseling session. From his side of the conversation he revealed deeply private things about the woman on the other end. He ignored my looks of disbelief, and I finally got up and left I was so uncomfortable.

  63. 63.

    Baud

    February 5, 2022 at 10:56 am

    @A Ghost to Most: Rapture? Covid taking out the rest of the antivaxxers?

  64. 64.

    NotMax

    February 5, 2022 at 11:01 am

    @Amir Khalid

    Upon seeing your appellation, this.

    ;)

  65. 65.

    Yarrow

    February 5, 2022 at 11:01 am

    @Betty Cracker:

    One of the few joys left to me in post-Trump American politics is schadenfreude when Trump spurns a pol who is an imitator

    Agree with this. It’s one of the few entertaining things left to watch. Wondering what those rumors are about Mandel that the orange traitor finds so weird. Does he not fuck enough strippers or something?

  66. 66.

    cain

    February 5, 2022 at 11:03 am

    @Barbara: My (ex) sister-in-law told me a story about how they were on an amtrak and a bunch of Indians were playing  Antakshari quite loudly. When someone tried to tell them they were being loud they pulled the race card on them.

    They were lucky I was not there, as I would have told them to shut the fuck up, and that pulling a race card is an insult to actual racism that is out there. They can’t pull the race card on me.

  67. 67.

    zhena gogolia

    February 5, 2022 at 11:03 am

    Cauvin does DJT the DJ:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5gsByvLqe0

  68. 68.

    rikyrah

    February 5, 2022 at 11:04 am

    Good Morning Everyone ???

  69. 69.

    Baud

    February 5, 2022 at 11:07 am

    @rikyrah: Good morning.

  70. 70.

    NotMax

    February 5, 2022 at 11:08 am

    Brava!

    Other side of the coin: when the reviews are, um, less than laudatory.

    “It’s remarkably oily,” said Kelly. “It’s gross. It tastes like drinking fat. It, like, slid down my throat. It felt like it went down in one solid glop.” Others agreed.

    “That doesn’t disappoint, in terms of what I was expecting,” he added.

    I can’t say I’ve ever heard anyone describe vodka as having a “gloppy” texture, but he wasn’t wrong.…
    [snip]
    After we tipped our shot glasses, Shure noted the shocking difference between the two vodkas. This one, unlike the first, wasn’t sugary or “gloppy.”
    [snip]
    “And it’s a little less grotesque,” Kelly said. “Like, [it doesn’t have] this-is-what-the-orcs-drink-in-Mordor vibes to it.”… Source

    :)

  71. 71.

    frosty

    February 5, 2022 at 11:09 am

    @rikyrah: Good morning! (You’re late enough that I can say it in real time.)

  72. 72.

    Amir Khalid

    February 5, 2022 at 11:09 am

    @realbtl:

    You’ll all know soon enough. ? ?

  73. 73.

    Mike E

    February 5, 2022 at 11:13 am

    @Gin & Tonic: Dewey Defeats Russia, heh (though tbh it’s Covid keeping things from escalating)

  74. 74.

    Sure Lurkalot

    February 5, 2022 at 11:13 am

    @frosty: I wish you pickers and strummers would put together a guitar hero zoom, Balloon Juice style.

  75. 75.

    jnfr

    February 5, 2022 at 11:16 am

    Speaking of women speaking truth to power, this is Nekima Levy Armstrong.

    Hamish too. @AbolishNz

    Minneapolis Police lose control of white-washing press conference after murdering Amir Locke. [Embedded video]

    8:06 PM · Feb 3, 2022·Twitter for Android

    https://twitter.com/AbolishNz/status/1489435090023510019

  76. 76.

    Sure Lurkalot

    February 5, 2022 at 11:18 am

    @Betty Cracker: So, you pay a couple of hundred grand to join a club to listen to an elderly wide body in makeup shoot the shit about some dweeb’s sex life?

  77. 77.

    frosty

    February 5, 2022 at 11:20 am

    @Sure Lurkalot: Interesting idea. From what I’ve seen there are some good players among the jackaltariat. Open mic maybe?

  78. 78.

    cain

    February 5, 2022 at 11:20 am

    @jnfr:

    That was epic. Glad to have seen that. What happened there was complete bullshit. A man lost his life for doing nothing more than sleeping on a couch. Sneaking into the room all silent and stuff. Assholes.

  79. 79.

    debbie

    February 5, 2022 at 11:20 am

    @Betty Cracker:

    he thinks Mandel is a charisma-free weirdo and dork

    Oh, even worse. He knows he’s a Jew.

    Trump apparently favors Mike Gibbons and has convinced Bernie Moreno (“I’m the right kind of immigrant!”) to drop out of the race.

    Yay for Ohio. ?

  80. 80.

    danielx

    February 5, 2022 at 11:22 am

    It’s a bright sunshiny day, and it’s…nine degrees.

    Welcome back, Amir!

  81. 81.

    jeffreyw

    February 5, 2022 at 11:24 am

    @Amir Khalid: If it’s not a tik tok of you doing Jumping Jack Flash I’m  a declaring pre-dissappoint.

  82. 82.

    Ken

    February 5, 2022 at 11:26 am

    @A Ghost to Most: The right wing commenters have gone almost silent. This means something.

    The Ministry of Truth has recalled their scripts about the disastrous Biden jobs report, and the new talking points haven’t been sent out yet?

  83. 83.

    Miss Bianca

    February 5, 2022 at 11:26 am

    @A Ghost to Most:

    The right wing commenters have gone almost silent. This means something.

     

    But what?

  84. 84.

    SiubhanDuinne

    February 5, 2022 at 11:26 am

    @germy:

    I love Mike Luckovich but obviously even he can get it dead wrong occasionally.

  85. 85.

    Betty Cracker

    February 5, 2022 at 11:31 am

    @debbie: Not my state so I haven’t followed the race closely and have never heard of Gibbons, but I was thinking it might be good for Dems if Mandel is the GOP nominee. He seems horrible enough to lose. Maybe Gibbons is just as bad?

  86. 86.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    February 5, 2022 at 11:34 am

    I love the Amtrak story. I’ve shared a train car with That Guy way too many times.

  87. 87.

    germy

    February 5, 2022 at 11:34 am

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    Luckovich is brilliant as a caricaturist.  Lots of political cartoonists don’t have that skill.   He’s great usually, but every time someone famous dies he invariably does an “arriving at the pearly gates” cartoon.

  88. 88.

    Jeffro

    February 5, 2022 at 11:34 am

    @Betty Cracker: trumpov called someone a charisma-free weirdo?

    oh my

  89. 89.

    debbie

    February 5, 2022 at 11:35 am

    @Betty Cracker:

    I think he is as bad. He’s an ex-pro footballer and businessman, and his tagline at the end of his latest campaign ad excoriating Dems for the pandemic and China is “Let’s get them back.”

    Bet that’s what attracted TFG’s attention.

  90. 90.

    germy

    February 5, 2022 at 11:35 am

    @Miss Bianca:

    Either they’ve ramped up their comments to the point of being banned, or they’re too busy cleaning their guns to leave comments.

  91. 91.

    The Moar You Know

    February 5, 2022 at 11:37 am

    If you see someone shoplifting, stop them. If the police won’t stop them, you should. Don’t tolerate disorder, chaos, and evil in your neighborhood

    @germy: I used to work retail, 20 years ago.  This runs directly counter to the VERY specific instructions employees and management are given at every retail chain in America, as doing so is the number one way that employees end up getting shot, stabbed, or beaten to death.  Same goes for bystanders.  Just don’t do it.

  92. 92.

    Mike E

    February 5, 2022 at 11:39 am

    @Amir Khalid: Cheers for Amir! If you haven’t already, check out Chris Buck on YouTube and his Friday Fretworks (if it’s available in your region) this young man puts in the work evaluating lots of gear and is quite the gifted player

  93. 93.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    February 5, 2022 at 11:40 am

    @NotMax: ​
     “Like, [it doesn’t have] this-is-what-the-orcs-drink-in-Mordor vibes to it.”

    I’ll take “words you don’t expect in a food review” for $500, Alex.

  94. 94.

    germy

    February 5, 2022 at 11:42 am

    @The Moar You Know:

    I’d love to see a video of Charlie Kirk trying to stop a shoplifter.

    I never will because it’d never happen.

  95. 95.

    Elizabelle

    February 5, 2022 at 11:45 am

    @The Moar You Know:   Says that Charlie Kirk never worked a retail job, no?  Or maybe he paid as little advice to best practices there.

  96. 96.

    jnfr

    February 5, 2022 at 11:48 am

    @cain:

    I can’t bring myself to watch the video, but even the descriptions make it clear this young man was flat out murdered.

  97. 97.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    February 5, 2022 at 11:48 am

    @A Ghost to Most:

    Which story? Or in general?

  98. 98.

    Geminid

    February 5, 2022 at 11:51 am

    @debbie: One factor affecting Trump’s endorsements is that he’s afraid of endorsing a loser. Reports are that he has even considered hedging his bets by endorsing two candidates in a race. Another problem is that lot of his henchman are on the payrolls of opposing campaigns, and he doesn’t know who to trust. Trump is too lazy to do extensive research on his own.

    How potent a Trump endorsement can be is an open question. North Carolina ex-Governor Pat McCrory is still leading Trump-endorsed Ted Budd in the Senate primary race (Budd is also backed by the Club for Growth). And so far Georgia Governor is leading David Perdue, Trump’s endorsee, in the primary race there.

  99. 99.

    brantl

    February 5, 2022 at 11:52 am

    @Amir Khalid: Good to hear from you.

  100. 100.

    debbie

    February 5, 2022 at 12:01 pm

    @Geminid:

    I forgot to mention Rand Paul also starred in another campaign ad for Gibbons, endorsing him and promising that together, they would make sure Fauci was fired.

    I’m thinking the election will definitely go to Gibbons.

  101. 101.

    H.E.Wolf

    February 5, 2022 at 12:02 pm

    @Amir Khalid: So glad to see you! Hoping you’re on the mend.

  102. 102.

    Brachiator

    February 5, 2022 at 12:12 pm

    @cain:

    My (ex) sister-in-law told me a story about how they were on an amtrak and a bunch of Indians were playing  Antakshari quite loudly.

    Back when I had a long commute, there was always a car of the MetroLink train that was designated as a Quiet Car.

    But elsewhere it is always a pain when people want to treat public spaces as though they are at home.

  103. 103.

    Brachiator

    February 5, 2022 at 12:19 pm

    @Geminid:

    Trump is too lazy to do extensive research on his own.

    “Extensive research.” That’s funny. Trump is too lazy to read anything much longer than a Twitter message.

    I wonder how literate he really is. His primary method of research seems to be watching TV, especially Fox News.

  104. 104.

    Mel

    February 5, 2022 at 12:21 pm

    @Amir Khalid: So thankful to see that you are back. You have been very much missed!

  105. 105.

    Ramalama

    February 5, 2022 at 12:47 pm

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: My sister (and family) caught Covid teaching in an IL school.

  106. 106.

    Another Scott

    February 5, 2022 at 12:52 pm

    @Brachiator: What’s this “read” you speak of??

    NPR.org:

    [TFG] has boasted of his religious credentials, but there have been some missteps along the way. Last year, he told an Iowa evangelical gathering he had never asked God for forgiveness — a central tenet of the Christian faith — and he repeated that Sunday on CNN. He’s declined to cite his favorite Bible verse or even his favorite testament. And the Presbyterian church he says he attends in Manhattan has said he’s not an active member.

    Those discrepancies haven’t mattered yet to many evangelicals, and also didn’t seem to faze many Liberty students either.

    They don’t care. Nothing but tribalism and power matters to the RWNJs. We shouldn’t take what they profess seriously, either.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  107. 107.

    lowtechcyclist

    February 5, 2022 at 12:55 pm

    @germy: ​
     

    This Fox News screen grab from 2/27/2020 (the one from this morning’s Covid thread) has aged rather badly too.

  108. 108.

    Brachiator

    February 5, 2022 at 1:02 pm

    @Another Scott:

    [TFG] has boasted of his religious credentials, but there have been some missteps along the way. Last year, he told an Iowa evangelical gathering he had never asked God for forgiveness

    However, Trump has been known to call God a loser for failing to include a golf course and a Trump Tower in the Garden of Eden.

    Those discrepancies haven’t mattered yet to many evangelicals, and also didn’t seem to faze many Liberty students either.

    There was some recent GOP gathering where everyone continued to praise Trump despite his sedition and disdain for supposed core conservative principles.

    It is almost comical to see how tribal support for Trump has become.

  109. 109.

    mrmoshpotato

    February 5, 2022 at 1:21 pm

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: I still can’t believe people are taking the side of the virus.

    Hope your DiL’s school district isn’t in a numbskull, “But mah freedumb!” part of the state.

  110. 110.

    Kathleen

    February 5, 2022 at 1:24 pm

     

    @debbie: He’s certainly mastered Trumpian outside voice. He may well win the primary.

  111. 111.

    lowtechcyclist

    February 5, 2022 at 1:34 pm

    @Baud: ​
     

    @A Ghost to Most: Rapture? Covid taking out the rest of the antivaxxers?

    Either one would work for me. I’ve long held that if everyone who believes in the Rapture were to get Raptured, America would instantly be a much better and happier place.

    “But those were going to be my followers!” cries a disappointed Antichrist.

  112. 112.

    artem1s

    February 5, 2022 at 1:36 pm

    @Brachiator:

    Those discrepancies haven’t mattered yet to many evangelicals, and also didn’t seem to faze many Liberty students either.

    yea, not true. another bit of NPR misinformation to send the Liberty students’ protest against TFG down the memory hole. There were a lot of LU students who made waves over Falwell, Jr. playing footsie with TFG. The board and CEO were the ones who weren’t fazed. $$$$ means more to televangelists than the state of their souls.

  113. 113.

    Brachiator

    February 5, 2022 at 1:55 pm

    @artem1s:

    yea, not true. another bit of NPR misinformation to send the Liberty students’ protest against TFG down the memory hole. There were a lot of LU students who made waves over Falwell, Jr. playing footsie with TFG.

    I was quoting another commenter, but good point.

    I wonder how many voting students actually abandoned Trump.

  114. 114.

    Geminid

    February 5, 2022 at 2:25 pm

    @Brachiator: Trump mainly relies on other people’s advocacy. That can be problematic in cases like the Pennsylvania Senate race, where Hope Hicks and Steven Miller work for hedge fund manager David McCormick, while Sean Hannity is a supporter of celebrity Doctor Oz. Between Hicks, Miller and Hannity, who are you gonna believe?

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