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Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier for them to cheat.

The desire to stay informed is directly at odds with the need to not be constantly enraged.

Dear media: perhaps we ought to let Donald Trump speak for himself!

Fight for a just cause, love your fellow man, live a good life.

You’re just a puppy masquerading as an old coot.

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

Text STOP to opt out of updates on war plans.

So many bastards, so little time.

Republicans cannot even be trusted with their own money.

We can show the world that autocracy can be defeated.

All hail the time of the bunny!

I’m more christian than these people and i’m an atheist.

When we show up, we win.

Sometimes the world just tells you your cat is here.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

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

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

The Supreme Court cannot be allowed to become the ultimate, unaccountable arbiter of everything.

Republican speaker of the house Mike Johnson is the bland and smiling face of evil.

You are either for trump or for democracy. Pick one.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

Museums are not America’s attic for its racist shit.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

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You are here: Home / Politics / Biden Administration in Action / Sunday Morning Open Thread: Snippets

Sunday Morning Open Thread: Snippets

by Anne Laurie|  April 10, 20228:50 am| 283 Comments

This post is in: Biden Administration in Action, Republican Venality, War in Ukraine, Our Failed Media Experiment

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Every single day, the New York Times reminds readers what a despicable, purposeful hitjob they pulled by running “But her emails…” stories on A1 while burying evidence of sedition on A15. https://t.co/Nxuxvb0vPv

— The Hoarse Whisperer (@TheRealHoarse) April 9, 2022


.@GovAbbott appears to be intentionally slowing down the supply chain while Republicans blame Joe Biden for supply chain problems.

Trucks are “at a stand-still” because Abbott’s actions. https://t.co/kDoksK9qp5

— Joaquin Castro (@JoaquinCastrotx) April 9, 2022

“There are some things you can’t rush.”

Some Dems are frustrated w/ the slow-moving Jan 6 probe, but @petestrzok says the hardest part of an investigation is proving intent & that the person who committed the crime knew it was wrong. pic.twitter.com/E4FbTvzEKP

— The Katie Phang Show (@katiephangshow) April 9, 2022

You literally voted against sending military aid to Ukraine 4 weeks ago. https://t.co/810VUbg9bV

— Brian Tyler Cohen (@briantylercohen) April 9, 2022

Another Putin triumph!

NATO plans permanent military presence at border, says Stoltenberg https://t.co/PjEG0Je0pd pic.twitter.com/D4ihHx4FAo

— Reuters (@Reuters) April 10, 2022

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Previous Post: « Sunday Morning Garden Chat: Choosing the Right Tools
Next Post: BJ Hive Mind: Random Tech Questions & More (Open Thread) »

Reader Interactions

283Comments

  1. 1.

    NotMax

    April 10, 2022 at 9:05 am

    Easy listening for a lazy Sunday.

    AFAIK he never recorded for the concern, nonetheless in the radio station where once I worked we (internally) referred to him as The Maestro of Muzak.

    ;)

  2. 2.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    April 10, 2022 at 9:16 am

    Holy shit. What have I done? Ads for Jim Jordan are appearing in my Facebook feed.

    My editor says I have to be on FB, or I’d have been long gone.

  3. 3.

    sdhays

    April 10, 2022 at 9:17 am

    I really don’t understand the point of laws which have a strong component have “the perpetrator must be aware it was wrong”. It creates an incentive to be totally ignorant of applicable laws.

  4. 4.

    sdhays

    April 10, 2022 at 9:18 am

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Just be thankful that his campaign is being charged for every useless view that gets sent to you.

  5. 5.

    debbie

    April 10, 2022 at 9:22 am

    We’re Off to See the Wizard

    Because of the medical things he does, Donald the Dove is endorsing Dr. Oz. Should we pay attention to the man behind the curtain? Or just ask Toto, “What’s the matter with Kansas?” Now, if Joe only had a brain.

    by Maureen Dowd
    — New York Times Pitchbot (@DougJBalloon) April 10, 2022

  6. 6.

    Starfish

    April 10, 2022 at 9:24 am

    What Abbott is doing to the supply chain is exactly what every governor who refused to do Medicaid expansion did to Obamacare. They refused to do a thing correctly, and then they blamed Obama for any increasing costs experienced by the people in their state.

  7. 7.

    West of the Cascades

    April 10, 2022 at 9:26 am

    @sdhays: Ignorance of the law is still not an excuse – “intent” in criminal law goes more to the need to prove that the defendant intended a particular result that falls within the definition of a crime. Good explainer at https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/mens_rea – a couple of snippets:

    Mens Rea refers to criminal intent. The literal translation from Latin is “guilty mind.” . . .

    The mens rea requirement is premised upon the idea that one must possess a guilty state of mind and be aware of his or her misconduct; however, a defendant need not know that their conduct is illegal to be guilty of a crime. Rather, the defendant must be conscious of the “facts that make his conduct fit the definition of the offense.” . . .

    Most states use the Model Penal Code’s [MPC] classification for various mentes reae. The MPC organizes and defines culpable states of mind into four hierarchical categories:

    1. acting purposely – the defendant had an underlying conscious object to act
    2. acting knowingly – the defendant is practically certain that the conduct will cause a particular result
    3. acting recklessly – The defendant consciously disregarded a substantial and unjustified risk
    4. acting negligently – The defendant was not aware of the risk, but should have been aware of the risk

    Thus, a crime committed purposefully would carry a more severe punishment than if the offender acted knowingly, recklessly, or negligently.

  8. 8.

    Kristine

    April 10, 2022 at 9:26 am

    Comment deleted because WotC answered my question.

  9. 9.

    Betty Cracker

    April 10, 2022 at 9:27 am

    @debbie: The real opening paragraphs of Dowd’s current column:

    WASHINGTON — Please, Kim Kardashian, don’t elope with Pete Davidson.

    We’re already distracted by the wonder of Ketanji Brown Jackson and the blunder of Will Smith, the arrival of dreamy spring days and the return of dreaded mask rules.

    If we get one more shiny object to contemplate, I fear our support for Ukraine might waver. Do we have the attention span to stay focused on the Russian descent into pure evil?

    Honest to Christ, I don’t know how Doug keeps up.

  10. 10.

    Geminid

    April 10, 2022 at 9:29 am

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Are you seeing any Marie Newman or Sean Casten ads? Both Representatives are squaring in the Illinois 6th Congressional District primary.

    This is one of two Democrat v. Democrat congressional primaries. The other is in a suburban seat north of Atlanta. Representatives McBath and Bordeaux are competing for the GA-7th(?) District nomination.

  11. 11.

    WaterGirl

    April 10, 2022 at 9:29 am

    @sdhays:

    I really don’t understand the point of laws which have a strong component have “the perpetrator must be aware it was wrong”. It creates an incentive to be totally ignorant of applicable laws.

    The only laws that require that are for white collar crimes.  That’s the whole point.

  12. 12.

    NotMax

    April 10, 2022 at 9:32 am

    @Betty Cracker

    Dowd’s sell-by date expired approximately 10 months before birth.

    //

  13. 13.

    geg6

    April 10, 2022 at 9:32 am

    @Betty Cracker:

    I’m not leaving the boat, but just from that snippet…WTAF?!?!?

  14. 14.

    sdhays

    April 10, 2022 at 9:38 am

    @Betty Cracker: Wait, for real? DougJ now does MoDo better than the real MoDo!

  15. 15.

    OzarkHillbilly

    April 10, 2022 at 9:38 am

    the hardest part of an investigation is proving intent & that the person who committed the crime knew it was wrong.

    And here I thought ignorance of the law was no excuse.

  16. 16.

    OzarkHillbilly

    April 10, 2022 at 9:40 am

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Does s/he also say you have to partake of it? I mean, maybe that’s their job.

  17. 17.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    April 10, 2022 at 9:41 am

    @Geminid: I’m not seeing ads for that race yet. Casten is my current rep. I like him. He seems to be good on environmental issues. I gather his opponent is even more liberal, so it’s kind of a win-win for me.

  18. 18.

    Betty Cracker

    April 10, 2022 at 9:43 am

    @geg6: WTF indeed. The topic Dowd is addressing — whether the citizens of this country are capable of focusing long enough to address complex issues — is worthy of a column. But she crams that topic into her 1990s-model Celebrity-Adjacent Ditzifyer, and voila, poops out another stinky chunk of formulaic drivel.

  19. 19.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    April 10, 2022 at 9:43 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: I’m supposed to maintain a social media “presence.” Usually I don’t mind FB too much. My former grad students are on there, and I like to see how they’re doing. But Jim Jordan? Run, run like the wind!

  20. 20.

    debbie

    April 10, 2022 at 9:44 am

    @Betty Cracker:

    What a jerk she’s become.

  21. 21.

    OzarkHillbilly

    April 10, 2022 at 9:45 am

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Hmmmm… Have you considered retiring?

  22. 22.

    Sure Lurkalot

    April 10, 2022 at 9:47 am

    @Betty Cracker:

    Honest to Christ, I don’t know how Doug keeps up.

    Surely Zeus should have struck Maureen Dowd with a thunderbolt by now? Her writing is as bad as her takes.

  23. 23.

    debbie

    April 10, 2022 at 9:49 am

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    If you click on the three little dots in the upper righthand corner of the post, there’s an option to hide ads from that source. I can’t give you the exact wording because my FB’s been a bit hinky lately.

    There’s also this to adjust your overall FB settings (from FB):
    To hide ads from an advertiser:

    1. Tap in the top right of Facebook.
    2. Scroll down and tap Settings.
    3. Scroll down and tap Ad Preferences.
    4. Below Advertisers You’ve Seen Most Recently, you’ll see a list of advertisers. Click Hide Ads for any advertisers you’d like to not see ads from.
  24. 24.

    The Moar You Know

    April 10, 2022 at 9:50 am

    Crimes somehow require “proof of intent” for the rich and powerful, but nobody else.  Wilhoit’s axiom is true, every word of it.

  25. 25.

    OzarkHillbilly

    April 10, 2022 at 9:53 am

    This looks good: Prayers for the Stolen – extraordinary tale of fear and friendship in Mexican drug country

    Ana (played by Ana Cristina Ordóñez González as a child and by Marya Membreño as an adolescent) has been trained by her mother to map out the sounds of the night – the film’s busy soundscape takes in crickets, barking dogs, a cow without an owner – in order to identify the one danger the villagers prefer not to talk about. The locals call them “those people”, as if to name them is to give them power: they are cartel foot soldiers, equipped with jeeps and automatic weapons, who tear through the community, snatching young girls from their families to be trafficked.

  26. 26.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    April 10, 2022 at 9:56 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: Every time I finish a book, I consider not doing that again. And yet, I always relapse.

    @debbie: Ooh. Thank you!

  27. 27.

    OzarkHillbilly

    April 10, 2022 at 9:56 am

    @The Moar You Know: Proof of intent is the “Get Out of Jail Free” card of white collar crime.

  28. 28.

    Frankensteinbeck

    April 10, 2022 at 9:56 am

    @The Moar You Know:

    Crimes somehow require “proof of intent” for the rich and powerful, but nobody else.

    No one here wants to be prosecuted for a crime if a lurker stabs Alito with a rusty pitchfork.  ‘Intent’ is very necessary with crimes of inciting action in others.  Unfortunately, the flipside is that it is very easy to skate with “I didn’t think they would do it!”  I personally prefer a law that lets criminals escape to one that punishes the innocent, if I’m stuck with those choices.

    EDIT – Added, ‘intent’ makes a big, big difference in how crimes of violence are prosecuted as well.  They’re a big reason why, for example, there are different legal levels of murder.

  29. 29.

    OzarkHillbilly

    April 10, 2022 at 9:57 am

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: You’re compulsion to write sounds like my compulsion to garden. I need a t-shirt that says, “Stop me before I plant again!”

  30. 30.

    NotMax

    April 10, 2022 at 9:59 am

    @OzarkHillbilly

    Sedition is not a white collar crime.

    ;)

  31. 31.

    Omnes Omnibus

    April 10, 2022 at 10:12 am

    @The Moar You Know: That’s really weird.  I mean, law school was a long time ago, but I recall that one of the elements of every crime was always intent.

  32. 32.

    NotMax

    April 10, 2022 at 10:14 am

    @Omnes Omnibus

    Yeah, Willie Sutton was pretty upfront about it.

    ;)

  33. 33.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    April 10, 2022 at 10:14 am

    @Betty Cracker:

    her 1990s-model Celebrity-Adjacent Ditzifyer, and voila, poops out another stinky chunk of formulaic drivel.

    Ha! the remarkable thing about Dowd is how un-viral she is as the media become more viral. She was the Prom Queen of Beltway High in the aughts. Aside from her incredibly dishonest– journalistically unethical IMHO– column about traveling to a then-exotic Colorado pot store (not that long ago!), I can’t remember the last time she got wide attention for a column.

  34. 34.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    April 10, 2022 at 10:16 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: I’ll bet that shirt would sell like crazy!

  35. 35.

    SFAW

    April 10, 2022 at 10:16 am

    @Betty Cracker:

    Honest to Christ, I don’t know how Doug keeps up.

    Hmmm … after seeing the FTFTFNYT screen shot, I was worried that DougJ might be despondent, because the FTFTFNYT seems to be out-Pitchbotting him. And after reading the few splunges from MoDodo, I’m wondering if we should have someone do a wellness check on him. Isn’t mistermix in that general area?

    [For a flatlander like me, Westchester county is in the “general area” of Rochester, so … (Not saying mistermix is in Westchester, just using it as a geographical touchstone)]

  36. 36.

    AWOL

    April 10, 2022 at 10:17 am

    @debbie: Winfrey has many, many things to answer for in her brainless pursuit of attention, money, and power.

  37. 37.

    SFAW

    April 10, 2022 at 10:20 am

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    I’m supposed to maintain a social media “presence.”

    Just tell them you’re a beloved and very active commenter on an almost-Top-10,000 blog; that should mollify them. And if it doesn’t — just remember efgoldman’s standard response

  38. 38.

    Steeplejack

    April 10, 2022 at 10:21 am

    Last night I was listening to some songs that I had heard earlier in the car, and I found out that Timmy Thomas died on March 11, aged 77. He had a long career in music, but his one hit was “Why Can’t We Live Together,” from 1973. Later covered by Sade and others. A balm for these times.

  39. 39.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    April 10, 2022 at 10:23 am

    @SFAW: I have carefully hidden my BJ activity from my editor. No offense to anyone here, of course.

  40. 40.

    NotMax

    April 10, 2022 at 10:24 am

    @SFAW

    Heh. About the same distance as San Francisco is from Los Angeles.

  41. 41.

    kalakal

    April 10, 2022 at 10:24 am

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: I’d buy one!

  42. 42.

    Omnes Omnibus

    April 10, 2022 at 10:26 am

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: This was probably wise.

  43. 43.

    OzarkHillbilly

    April 10, 2022 at 10:26 am

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Them’s braggin’ rights for me!

  44. 44.

    WaterGirl

    April 10, 2022 at 10:28 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: How does a writer retire from writing?

  45. 45.

    Betty Cracker

    April 10, 2022 at 10:28 am

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: My mom’s cousin was a fairly well-known and prolific mystery novelist. She had plenty of complaints about the industry, the solitude required, etc. When she was diagnosed with terminal cancer, she said she was going to stop writing and spend more time with family, check some items off her bucket list, etc. That lasted about two weeks, and she was right back to writing. She explained, “It’s what I do.”

    Sounds like it’s what you do too!

  46. 46.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    April 10, 2022 at 10:29 am

    @Betty Cracker: It’s really hard to resist when an idea comes along.

  47. 47.

    ian

    April 10, 2022 at 10:30 am

    @Betty Cracker: I wonder if the DougJ Pitchbot is like calling Lindsey Graham a racist.  The more DougJ does it, the more asinine the NYT columnists feel they have to write

  48. 48.

    rikyrah

    April 10, 2022 at 10:30 am

    Good Morning, Everyone???

  49. 49.

    NotMax

    April 10, 2022 at 10:31 am

    @WaterGirl

    Don’t have an inkling.

    :)

  50. 50.

    WaterGirl

    April 10, 2022 at 10:32 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: I have often thought – at the end of gardening season each year – of writing myself a letter about what i want to do differently next year.  And giving it to a friend to mail to me in March.

    Dear Me,

    I planted way too many tomato plants this year.  Do not do this again!

    I planted a ridiculous amount of spicy pepper plants and I had more than I could possibly eat or share. Please resist the urge to plant this again!

    I’m begging you.

    and so on.

  51. 51.

    WaterGirl

    April 10, 2022 at 10:33 am

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: You don’t think they caught on when he have featured your books here?  :-)

  52. 52.

    Spanky

    April 10, 2022 at 10:33 am

    Well, down another Youtube rabbit hole.

    If, like me, you’re looking for some video muzak to easy your troubled mind, check out “a/v/geeks” on Youtube. All of those films you saw in elementary school are there, like comfort food. For starters, check out “Service Station” from 1957. Unlike a lot of the others, this one is actually in color!

  53. 53.

    Geminid

    April 10, 2022 at 10:35 am

    I was hunting up French election news on France 24 and found that Australian Prime Minster Scott Morrison has called an election for his country, for May 21.

  54. 54.

    SFAW

    April 10, 2022 at 10:35 am

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    I have carefully hidden my BJ activity from my editor. No offense to anyone here, of course.

    HARUMPH!!!!!! Strong letter to follow!!!!

  55. 55.

    Baud

    April 10, 2022 at 10:35 am

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    We would be offended if you didn’t keep us a secret.

  56. 56.

    SFAW

    April 10, 2022 at 10:36 am

    @NotMax:

    Heh. About the same distance as San Francisco is from Los Angeles.

    So, not far at all?

  57. 57.

    stinger

    April 10, 2022 at 10:37 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: Noooooo, don’t suggest such a thing even in fun! The world needs more books from Dorothy!

    She can take a European vacation, however.

  58. 58.

    SFAW

    April 10, 2022 at 10:38 am

    @WaterGirl:

    You don’t think they caught on when he have featured your books here?

    Well, we didn’t use her real name, did we? So how would they know?

  59. 59.

    danielx

    April 10, 2022 at 10:38 am

    @Betty Cracker:

    I read those lines and could hear the screams of brain cells dying.

  60. 60.

    Steeplejack

    April 10, 2022 at 10:39 am

    @rikyrah:

    Good morning! ?

  61. 61.

    Geminid

    April 10, 2022 at 10:40 am

    @WaterGirl: Growing peppers is tough to abstain from. The plants are pretty, especially the compact Habeneros. They also are fairly bug and disease resistant. One solution to excess production is to grow Anaheim types. They make a real good stew that is not hot but warm.

  62. 62.

    zhena gogolia

    April 10, 2022 at 10:45 am

    @Spanky: Oh, curse you! But where are Tom Servo and Crow?

  63. 63.

    Steeplejack

    April 10, 2022 at 10:47 am

    Sometimes my reading here and on Twitter runs together in my mind, so apologies if this has already been mentioned.

    Photo: Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas staying impartial and remaining above the political fray—by hosting GQP Senate candidate Herschel Walker for a grip ’n’ grin in a Supreme Court anteroom six months before the election.

  64. 64.

    OzarkHillbilly

    April 10, 2022 at 10:47 am

    @WaterGirl: Stop selling.

  65. 65.

    Betty Cracker

    April 10, 2022 at 10:49 am

    So, the story about the shady duo who impersonated DHS agents, rented pricey DC apartments and plied Secret Service agents with free lodgings and expensive presents keeps getting weirder. It now turns out that the two rented the units when the recently completed building was empty, so it probably wasn’t all a ruse to influence agents who lived there as there were none at the time. Also, after signing the rental contracts, they never paid rent again, and the landlord has been trying to evict them for many months. That means it wasn’t necessarily as expensive an operation as we first assumed. Hmmm.

  66. 66.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    April 10, 2022 at 10:50 am

    @WaterGirl: I think they’re too busy to google me. Unless something goes deeply wrong of course.

  67. 67.

    Omnes Omnibus

    April 10, 2022 at 10:53 am

    @Steeplejack: He is just thrilled to meet a football hero.  I recall he was just as happy when he met Whizzer White.

  68. 68.

    OzarkHillbilly

    April 10, 2022 at 10:54 am

    @WaterGirl:  I cut back this year, all the way to 28/30 tomato plants. My problem is I like so many different types and I’m always afraid if I sow just one seed it won’t germinate, and I always want at least 2 plants so I start 4. Then all 4 grow, but I can’t possibly throw one out, it’s my baby. I brought it up from just a tiny little seed, so I plant all four and the next thing you know I have 48 plants going in the ground.

    I also cut back on my peppers, both sweet and hot. I think together they are at 32.

    sigh…

  69. 69.

    Betty Cracker

    April 10, 2022 at 10:55 am

    @Spanky: That was before my time, but I do remember when there were full-service gas stations (extinct before I got my driver’s license, alas). I went to Oregon for the first time last summer — rented a car in Seattle and drove down. The first time I stopped to fill up in Oregon, a service attendant approached, and I went into fight-or-flight mode because the concept is so alien to me.

  70. 70.

    Geminid

    April 10, 2022 at 10:55 am

    @Betty Cracker: The two are considered flight risks and are being held without bail for now.

    A strange story. CNBC’s article told of a witness the two men were recruiting. The witness said he let himself be shot with an air rifle to prove his will power and pain tolerance.

  71. 71.

    Sure Lurkalot

    April 10, 2022 at 10:57 am

    @Geminid: One thing I envy about other countries is their short electoral seasons, even if in times of turmoil, a lot of elections occur.

    We are always in some election cycle or other and I don’t see the good it does.

  72. 72.

    NotMax

    April 10, 2022 at 10:59 am

    @Spanky

    Those were the days, eh?

    :)

  73. 73.

    Kristine

    April 10, 2022 at 11:04 am

    @Betty Cracker:

    But she crams that topic into her 1990s-model Celebrity-Adjacent Ditzifyer, and voila, poops out another stinky chunk of formulaic drivel.

    You really need to be earning cash money for this.

  74. 74.

    Jeffro

    April 10, 2022 at 11:05 am

    @debbie: the MoDo ones are DougJ’s absolute best!

  75. 75.

    OzarkHillbilly

    April 10, 2022 at 11:06 am

    @Kristine: She writes for Balloon Juice, Cole pays her the big bucks.

  76. 76.

    Kristine

    April 10, 2022 at 11:07 am

    @debbie: Thank you for that list. When I hunt through FB FAQs I feel as though I’ve stepped through a portal into a Douglas Adams bureaucratic hellscape of ‘is this the answer to the question I asked?’

  77. 77.

    Steeplejack

    April 10, 2022 at 11:07 am

    Skunks!

  78. 78.

    Jeffro

    April 10, 2022 at 11:10 am

    @Geminid:CNBC’s article told of a witness the two men were recruiting. The witness said he let himself be shot with an air rifle to prove his will power and pain tolerance.

    Somewhere down in hell, G. Gordon Liddy and his ‘candle trick’-scarred hand are chuckling.  “oooo…shot with a BB gun…ooo”

  79. 79.

    oldgold

    April 10, 2022 at 11:10 am

    Julian Lennon long ago vowed to “never perform ‘Imagine’ – not until the end of the world.”  Well, yesterday for the Global Citizen’s Stand Up For Ukraine Initiative he did – beautifully.

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NicWjYMPDG0

     

  80. 80.

    Steeplejack

    April 10, 2022 at 11:12 am

    @Betty Cracker:

    Still to be explained is how/why Secret Service agents apparently went along with all  of this, like “Hey, no big deal?” I think I read one place that a couple of them have been suspended or “put on leave” or something.

    Twitter is coalescing around the idea that all federal law-enforcement activities should be left to the Postal Service inspectors, apparently the baddest of the bad-asses.

  81. 81.

    James E Powell

    April 10, 2022 at 11:12 am

    Every single day, the New York Times reminds readers what a despicable, purposeful hitjob they pulled by running “But her emails…” stories on A1 while burying evidence of sedition on A15.

    They did it because they hate Hillary Clinton for reasons that have never been explained. They did it and they are glad they did it and they don’t give a shit about the resulting damage to the nation, democracy, or ordinary people.

    This is why I am unmoved by “but their coverage of . . .” arguments for continuing to subscribe. We needed to hurt them for what they did and we didn’t and now they know they can continue to promote & protect the radical right wingers without worrying about their income stream.

  82. 82.

    Kristine

    April 10, 2022 at 11:15 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Then all 4 grow, but I can’t possibly throw one out, it’s my baby. I brought it up from just a tiny little seed,

    Story of my gardening life. Thinning shoots feels like murder.

  83. 83.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    April 10, 2022 at 11:17 am

    I am of the opinion it will be almost impossible convict the Trump because he is such a lazy idiot.
    Anyone seriously think there is a transcript of a two hour meeting were Trump reviewed the whole Coup plan, like any sane leader would have?  They had to trick Trump into paying attention to his daily briefings by using a hot blonde to give them. You can tell it was planned out by a committee of random dumbasses because it was “Kill the all the Republicans Congress-members the afterwords dead Republican Congress votes to  over turn election” and there was no planning for a counter coup by the National Guard, which predictably happened or control the media. They didn’t even have the Security of Defense on board.

  84. 84.

    OzarkHillbilly

    April 10, 2022 at 11:18 am

    @Kristine: It’s infanticide!

  85. 85.

    oldgold

    April 10, 2022 at 11:19 am

    MoDo is a cynic’s cynic. Oscar Wilde described her kind perfectly: “Fools who know the price of everything and the value of nothing.”

  86. 86.

    Geminid

    April 10, 2022 at 11:21 am

    @Steeplejack: I think I read that all four Secret Service agents are suspended. I expect them to be fired after some process, and plead guilty to, or be tried on, criminal charges. The Secret Service and prosecutors need to make an example of these four and I think they will.

  87. 87.

    zhena gogolia

    April 10, 2022 at 11:22 am

    @oldgold: That’s very beautiful, and I’m in tears. Still, the lines about “imagine there’s no countries . . . nothing to kill or die for” don’t really ring true in the present situation. The people of Ukraine seem to consider their country worth fighting and dying for.

  88. 88.

    NotMax

    April 10, 2022 at 11:24 am

    @OzarkHillbilly

    Not only that, results in getting stink eye from the bunnies.

    “Hey! That was my lunch!”

    ;)

  89. 89.

    Geminid

    April 10, 2022 at 11:25 am

    @Steeplejack: Virginia 7th District Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger worked as a Postal Service inspector for a couple years until she got the  security clearance required by the CIA.

  90. 90.

    sdhays

    April 10, 2022 at 11:27 am

    @Geminid: The witness said he let himself be shot with an air rifle to prove his will power and pain tolerance.

    He proved something, alright, although I don’t know about his will power and pain tolerance.

  91. 91.

    sdhays

    April 10, 2022 at 11:35 am

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: I’m reminded of the video of some of the insurrectionists getting ahold of Ted Cruz’s written speech after they breeched the Senate chamber and had such low reading comprehension that they thought Ted Cruz had sold them out.

    “Umm, Darrell, you know how we gutted Gym Jordan for selling us out because you read his speech? Well, if you turn the page, it turns out he was with us. Consarnit, Darrell!”

  92. 92.

    CaseyL

    April 10, 2022 at 11:35 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: There is a whole category on etsy of gardening-theme apparel.  So many cute designs!  You might find a suitable t-shirt there.

  93. 93.

    MagdaInBlack

    April 10, 2022 at 11:42 am

    @CaseyL:   I suggest one of the ” I’ll be in my office” offerings for Ozark.

  94. 94.

    SiubhanDuinne

    April 10, 2022 at 11:42 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    It’s infanticide!

    It’s inplanticide!

  95. 95.

    prostratedragon

    April 10, 2022 at 11:43 am

    @Spanky:  You don’t know what you’ve done.

  96. 96.

    CaseyL

    April 10, 2022 at 11:44 am

    @MagdaInBlack:

    I liked the “Just One More!” shirt.

  97. 97.

    opiejeanne

    April 10, 2022 at 11:45 am

    @WaterGirl: When we started gardening in  Washington state, I guessed at some of what I could grow here, vegetable and fruit-wise, and bought a notebook to use as a garden journal. The back of each page is a graph sheet, so I can draw out each raised bed, and the facing sheet has lines for notes. I use it to keep track of what I planted where and when, but also how things performed. Some carrots are more worthy of a repeat than others,

    I know that Super Fantastic tomato does brilliantly here, as long as we don’t have another massive heat wave in June, like last year, and that Brandywine is a so-so performer. Mr opiejeanne similarly insists on planting Early Girl, both of us influenced by the memory of how good they were in California

    tl,dr: Keep a garden journal.

  98. 98.

    CaseyL

    April 10, 2022 at 11:47 am

    @Betty Cracker: It’s not just you.  I go down to Oregon once in a while, and I always forget they do the pumping, and an attendant always hurries out the instant I open my door.

    I’m sure they check license plates as people pull in, and get ready to dash outside when they see a non-Oregonian.

  99. 99.

    PJ

    April 10, 2022 at 11:51 am

    @zhena gogolia: I have a lot of problems with that song.  Lennon asks us to imagine a world without the things that people say are the reason they do terrible things, rather than asking people not to do terrible things.  We all know that if you took away religion, or countries, or possessions, people would still do terrible things.

  100. 100.

    debbie

    April 10, 2022 at 11:51 am

    @oldgold:

    Very nice version. I cry every time I hear this song.

  101. 101.

    RSA

    April 10, 2022 at 11:52 am

    @debbie: I’ve always thought it’s funny (meaning “stupid”) that Facebook asks you why you don’t want to see an ad, and they don’t give you the option of “Uninterested” or “Don’t care.”  Instead, the appropriate option is labeled “Irrelevant,” as if there’s a context in which a relevant ad might appear in my newsfeed.  Sorry, t-shirts and exercise equipment ads are never going to be relevant in my conversations with friends.

  102. 102.

    prostratedragon

    April 10, 2022 at 11:53 am

    @Betty Cracker:  I think they got lucky on the nonpayment of rent because of the covid moratorium on eviction, or we’d either have seen more about their money or that part of the scheme would have fallen apart sooner.  But yeah,  every aspect of this story is as weird as can be, maybe especially the willing federal agents aspect.

  103. 103.

    debbie

    April 10, 2022 at 11:53 am

    @RSA:

    I always click “irrelevant.” Have you noticed the position of the word changes every time? Like that’s gonna fool me, FB!

  104. 104.

    Betty Cracker

    April 10, 2022 at 11:54 am

    @Kristine: & @OzarkHillbilly: My husband is the gardener around here, and he is absolutely RUTHLESS! If a plant doesn’t perform to his expectations, he’ll rip that sucker out of the ground and throw it on the compost pile so fast it’ll make your head spin, and he raised them all from seeds! Luckily he’s more tender-hearted as a husband and father!

  105. 105.

    zhena gogolia

    April 10, 2022 at 11:56 am

    @prostratedragon: inorite? I’m learning about careers in the hotel and motel industry right now.

  106. 106.

    zhena gogolia

    April 10, 2022 at 11:57 am

    @PJ: Yeah. It’s also not very melodically interesting. Not his best song by a very long shot. Still it was extremely moving the way Julian L. sang it.

  107. 107.

    opiejeanne

    April 10, 2022 at 11:58 am

    @Steeplejack: That was adorable.

    When we lived in Riverside, CA, we used to for walks on summer evenings, when it had cooled down below 85, and we’d stand on the sidewalk and watch mama and baby skunks playing on neighbors’ lawns, chasing moths. The whole neighborhood did it, and if mama skunk decided we were too close to her babies and ran over to warn us off, everyone would back up into the street.

  108. 108.

    opiejeanne

    April 10, 2022 at 11:58 am

    @Steeplejack: That was adorable.

    When we lived in Riverside, CA, we used to for walks on summer evenings, when it had cooled down below 85, and we’d stand on the sidewalk and watch mama and baby skunks playing on neighbors’ lawns, chasing moths. The whole neighborhood did it, and if mama skunk decided we were too close to her babies and ran over to warn us off, everyone would back up into the street.

  109. 109.

    James E Powell

    April 10, 2022 at 12:00 pm

    @PJ:

    It’s okay to ask listeners to imagine what our lives would be like without the things we use to separate us from each other. My problem with “Imagine” is that it’s pablum. I would be fine if I never heard it again. But many people are moved by the song – moved in a good direction – so I say, go ahead play it.

  110. 110.

    Ken

    April 10, 2022 at 12:02 pm

    @Betty Cracker: Also, after signing the rental contracts, they never paid rent again, and the landlord has been trying to evict them for many months.

    So, all the hallmarks of a Trump-planned operation.

  111. 111.

    Formerly disgruntled in Oregon

    April 10, 2022 at 12:02 pm

    “Imagine” is a beautiful fantasy, not a serious examination of human nature or a practical political solution.

  112. 112.

    prostratedragon

    April 10, 2022 at 12:04 pm

    @zhena gogolia:  On my phone at the moment. but I might have to check out  How to Read a Newspaper.

    (Come to think, small  and lo-res could be better.  Ever see something like a Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoon on a big movie screen?)

  113. 113.

    RSA

    April 10, 2022 at 12:08 pm

    @debbie: Have you noticed the position of the word changes every time?

    Yes! WTF is going on with that? It violates longstanding, well-known user interface conventions.

  114. 114.

    Ken

    April 10, 2022 at 12:10 pm

    @Steeplejack: It occurs to me that the Constitution doesn’t say that judges have to be impeached to be removed. It says “The Judges, both of the supreme and inferior Courts, shall hold their Offices during good Behaviour”. Seems to me that Congress could pass laws defining what ” good Behaviour”, and requiring immediate removal from office for violations.

    Maybe a judicial code of ethics, with requirements for recusal, is too high to aim for immediately. But the way people talk, you’d think a Supreme Court justice could murder someone, and unless half the house and two-thirds of the Senate agreed, they wouldn’t lose their office.

  115. 115.

    debbie

    April 10, 2022 at 12:10 pm

    @zhena gogolia:

    That song was always about the words for me. I can’t even dream of reaching the song’s octave.

  116. 116.

    Ken

    April 10, 2022 at 12:13 pm

    @RSA: It violates longstanding, well-known user interface conventions.

    We are talking about Facebook, right?

    Moving the word makes it fractionally more difficult for the human to find, which would deprive The Algorithm of its data. And we wouldn’t want The Algorithm to get unhappy, would we?

  117. 117.

    prostratedragon

    April 10, 2022 at 12:14 pm

    @James E Powell:  With the Hillary hate, I’ve long, i.e. from the beginning, thought that a solid core of it must go back to Wellesley days and be so petty that the instigators would accomplish the rare feat damaging their reputations if it came out.

  118. 118.

    smith

    April 10, 2022 at 12:25 pm

    @prostratedragon: Hillary hate has always been straight-up misogyny. She was the first woman to come along who clearly had the potential become president, given her obvious competence and ambition, combined with her national exposure as First Lady. There were, and are, a huge number of opinion-makers in this country who are convinced that their peckers will fall off if a woman takes the presidency. So they tried to hobble her at every step, from Arkansas to DC, and amazingly she just strode through it all, and did in fact win the majority of votes for president. I don’t always agree with her politics, but it’s hard to gainsay her skill and grit. And of course, now the usual suspects are trying to do the same to Kamala Harris, with the extra spice of racism thrown in.

  119. 119.

    Kathleen

    April 10, 2022 at 12:31 pm

    @sdhays: DougR NY Times better than NYT on all fronts. It’s to the point where half the time I can’t tell if his tweet is a real article or a parody.

  120. 120.

    Kathleen

    April 10, 2022 at 12:39 pm

    @smith: I think her long time advocacy of equal rights and equal justice for Black people has fueled the animus to eleventy. That same animus is fueling hateful and spiteful media coverage of Biden/Harris and Democrats.

  121. 121.

    prostratedragon

    April 10, 2022 at 12:53 pm

    @smith:  That too. But they’ve used the other thing as an advance guard and camouflage, until Benghazi became something they could trump up, and gathering interest in Karl Rove’s RNC email server morphed into Butter Emails.

  122. 122.

    JoyceH

    April 10, 2022 at 12:57 pm

    @sdhays: actually, Facebook ads charge per click. So if you want to make the campaign pay for shoving their ad in your face, click on it. Make them waste a buck.

  123. 123.

    JoyceH

    April 10, 2022 at 1:00 pm

    @Ken: kind of what I was thinking. A foreign intelligence service would have the budget and the smarts to pay the rent. Makes me think this is homegrown terrorists.

  124. 124.

    Ruckus

    April 10, 2022 at 1:01 pm

    @Betty Cracker:

    I was just going to say “She’s a putz, deluxe version.

    Mine is succinct, your’s conveys a far more complete and better picture of her idiocy.

  125. 125.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    April 10, 2022 at 1:04 pm

    @JoyceH: good point.

    From what I know about Pakistani intelligence, mostly from watching Homeland, they are not dumb

  126. 126.

    RSA

    April 10, 2022 at 1:05 pm

    @Ken: We are talking about Facebook, right?

    Thanks for bringing me back to reality there.

  127. 127.

    Ruckus

    April 10, 2022 at 1:11 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Isn’t the legal concept of intent different than actually knowing the law and language of that law?

    Isn’t legal intent that you know that doing something, like breaking and entering, is not normal/is wrong. And you do it anyway.

    Normally we know someone locks a building so that not everyone can enter. We lock our own living quarters for this reason. I don’t have to know the law verse for verse to know that breaking in is wrong, the breaking in part tells me that.

    (I know you know all this, but not everyone does.)

  128. 128.

    VOR

    April 10, 2022 at 1:12 pm

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: My Youtube feed keeps doing similar things with various channels. It was recommending Ben Shapiro, then Jordan Peterson, most recently the Joe Rogan experience. It recommends a lot of channels with unrevealing names where you have to watch a video before you realize it’s some Limbaugh wanna-be. I’m convinced the algorithms have a bias toward introducing right-wing content.

  129. 129.

    prostratedragon

    April 10, 2022 at 1:15 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:  I’m reminded of the case from 2003 or so when a bunch of CIA agents snatched the imam Abu Omar off the streets of Milan and shipped him off somewhere.  They were so sloppy at craft that at first it was hard to believe they really were CIA. The particulars are at the wikipedia article on the case.

    Turns out that the agents thought they had a green light from the Italians.

  130. 130.

    Ruckus

    April 10, 2022 at 1:24 pm

    @Baud:

    Yes.

    For example my name actually isn’t Ruckus. Surprise!

  131. 131.

    Ruckus

    April 10, 2022 at 1:28 pm

    @Betty Cracker:

    Well, they were doing something at least seemingly illegal so what’s one more thing – not paying rent. In for a dime, in for a dollar…..

  132. 132.

    oldgold

    April 10, 2022 at 1:31 pm

    @zhena gogolia

    “Yeah. It’s also not very melodically interesting. Not his best song by a very long shot.“

    Some would disagree with your assessment of “ Imagine.” Rolling Stone selected it has 19th greatest popular song of all time. In so doing, it said, in relevant part:

    “The elementary beauty of his melody, the warm composure in his voice, and the poetic touch of co-producer Phil Spector — who bathed Lennon’s performance in gentle strings and summer-breeze echo — emphasized the song’s fundamental humanity. Lennon knew he had written something special. In one of his last interviews, he declared “Imagine” to be as good as anything he had written with the Beatles.“

    :

  133. 133.

    Matt McIrvin

    April 10, 2022 at 1:34 pm

    @smith: Back in the 90s it was really explicit. From the “baking cookies” incident on, there was this idea that Hillary Clinton was a woman who did not know a woman’s place and was somehow a threat to traditional gender relations.

    It was only a short time since Mondale had put Geraldine Ferraro on the ticket and there was fretting in the mainstream news media about whether it was safe to have someone who might have periods a heartbeat away from the presidency.

  134. 134.

    Ruckus

    April 10, 2022 at 1:35 pm

    @Betty Cracker:

    I’ll show my age. I worked in a full service station first semester of senior year high school. Closed up 3 nights a week and opened on Sunday. If I remember correctly gas was around $.30/gal, about half of the customers paid cash and few people had the station credit card. Visa/MC may have existed, few had a card, let alone several. Now I extremely rarely use cash. Or even an actual card. That phone thing is far easier.

  135. 135.

    zhena gogolia

    April 10, 2022 at 1:38 pm

    @oldgold: I know many would disagree with my assessment. It’s my assessment, nonetheless.

  136. 136.

    Villago Delenda Est

    April 10, 2022 at 2:03 pm

    The utter scum that is Dean Baquet should not enjoy a peaceful retirement.

  137. 137.

    StringOnAStick

    April 10, 2022 at 2:12 pm

    @Betty Cracker: We moved to Oregon 1.5 years ago and having full service gas still feels exotic to me.  Sadly, there’s a push to make it optional now.  I like that it provides jobs and OR has some persistent deep poverty plus it’s a leg up for people who might need it because of mistakes they’ve made.  I will admit to being a bit spooked by the gas guy who mentioned he failed the psych exam, otherwise he’d be in the army!

  138. 138.

    Renie

    April 10, 2022 at 2:24 pm

    It is so scary that Putin-endorsed LePen is now in the run-off against Marcon

  139. 139.

    Kay

    April 10, 2022 at 2:28 pm

    Brandon Friedman
    @BFriedmanDC
    · 48m
    Murder charges against the 26-year-old Texas woman for a self-induced abortion have now been dropped

    Ooof. Boy did they fuck up. I’d love to know which fanatical Right winger was stage-managing this disaster. How did it get so far that they picked her up and charged her with murder?

  140. 140.

    WaterGirl

    April 10, 2022 at 2:32 pm

    @SFAW: You mean like this as the title of the post? :-)

    Dorothy A. Winsor – Tales of Rinland!

  141. 141.

    WaterGirl

    April 10, 2022 at 2:33 pm

    @Geminid: I grow about 8 different kinds of spicy peppers.  That’s part of my problem.  And then I always want at least 2 plants of my favorites – because what if one of the plants has a problem then I won’t have X pepper at all!

  142. 142.

    WaterGirl

    April 10, 2022 at 2:35 pm

    @OzarkHillbilly: Ha!  I just wrote my comment below about having to have 2 of every pepper plant for that very reason.

  143. 143.

    stinger

    April 10, 2022 at 2:41 pm

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    My problem is I like so many different types and I’m always afraid if I sow just one seed it won’t germinate, and I always want at least 2 plants so I start 4. Then all 4 grow, but I can’t possibly throw one out, it’s my baby. I brought it up from just a tiny little seed, so I plant all four and the next thing you know I have 48 plants going in the ground.

    This is me, every year.

  144. 144.

    Betty Cracker

    April 10, 2022 at 2:42 pm

    @Kay: Was just reading about that. I wonder if she can sue those motherfuckers. I hope she bankrupts that jurisdiction.

  145. 145.

    Kay

    April 10, 2022 at 3:06 pm

    @Betty Cracker:

    I love the complete gibberish paragraph in the prosecutor’s statement, about how this “has been very difficult for her family” – well, yeah! It’s like he’s addressing a crime victim except he’s the perpetrator.

  146. 146.

    Another Scott

    April 10, 2022 at 3:11 pm

    @Kay: A comment in that thread.

    Lizelle was not merely arrested and charged, she was indicted by a grand jury. Evidence was presented to a grand jury by state prosecutors & the grand jury agreed there was a crime. This is insane & a clear and present danger to the freedom and lives of all women in our nation.

    — Pima County Democratic Party (@PimaDems) April 10, 2022

    Yup. This wasn’t just some cops acting up.

    Grr…,
    Scott.

  147. 147.

    opiejeanne

    April 10, 2022 at 3:21 pm

    @WaterGirl: Tales of… my family? That’s almost my last name, just needs one letter more in the right place.

  148. 148.

    opiejeanne

    April 10, 2022 at 3:22 pm

    @Another Scott: Jesus!

  149. 149.

    Kay

    April 10, 2022 at 3:23 pm

    @Another Scott:

    We don’t know enough to say. We don’t know if she was acting for herself or for another, for one thing. Did she bring someone else to the hospital? There are initials in the complaint identifying someone who is not her.

    Abortion rights coverage is not a priority for US media. They barely cover it. Not interested. Now if she were somehow connected to a famous or powerful MAN, a politician or a movie director or a comic or an actor, they’d cover it but this is just ordinary women.

  150. 150.

    Kay

    April 10, 2022 at 3:34 pm

    @Another Scott:

    Roe is already overurned because these laws are in effect. But for some reason all of media is more comfortable waiting and pretending that this isn’t true. It’s an oddly (and excessively) legalistic view of the world that turns “laws” into a fucking joke. Who the fuck can operate in a country where we have rights that are  technically on the books but completely ignored? We’re all going to go along with this fiction the far Right court has created where laws can go in banning abortion while they insist they didn’t ban abortion?

    When they get the stamp of approval from the far Right court they’ll start reporting on what is actually happening. Until then it’s important all of us live in this fantasy world.

  151. 151.

    WaterGirl

    April 10, 2022 at 3:36 pm

    @Kay: @Betty Cracker:

    That statement from the prosecutor reads like “please please don’t sue the hell out of us, please”.

    I hope someone sues them to hell and back, and the hospital, too.

    The right is always screaming about HIPAA, but some right-wing employee goes to the fucking police about a woman having an abortion, and they are just fine with that?????

    edit: Oh, and she damn well is the victim here.  I hope she has high quality pro bono attorneys lining up at her door, asking to take her case.

  152. 152.

    Geminid

    April 10, 2022 at 3:37 pm

    @Geminid: I see that there is another Democratic “Rep on Rep” primary contest this year besides Casten versus Newman in Illinois and McBath versus Bordeaux in Georgia. Michigan Representatives Andy Levin and Haley Stevens will face each other in a primary for the 11th District nomination

    A Republican contest in central Illinois looks kind of fun. Congressman Rodney Davis and Congresswoman Mary Miller are fighting it out in a largely rural district stretching across the center of the state.

  153. 153.

    Kay

    April 10, 2022 at 3:53 pm

    @Another Scott:

    If I were the Democratic Party of Pima I would hang back a bit. We don’t know what happened and people have complicated lives. They would at least need to know if the affected person was the named (indicted) person or someone else.

  154. 154.

    Kay

    April 10, 2022 at 3:55 pm

    @WaterGirl:

    I don’t know. I can’t tell from what’s been released. The hospital patient could be another person entirely.

  155. 155.

    Kay

    April 10, 2022 at 4:18 pm

    I think the shadow docket is a political strategy by the far Right court. They don’t overturn Roe or gut the Clean Water Act or the Voting Rights Act- they just allow states or entities to ignore them. That way there’s no profound and immediate political reaction to what they’re doing.

    Now these laws are just no longer “in effect” and will remain that way for months or even years. People will gradually stop relying on the laws or rights and quietly adapt to the new normal, so when they finally officially “overturn” any political backlash will be muted or mitigated, thereby benefiting the political Right.

    I don’t think people should go along with their political strategy. I don’t think I have an obligation to help them by covering for them. Do we have abortion rights as far as ordinary people in these states are concerned? No, we do not. That should be the measure. Reality.

  156. 156.

    brantl

    April 10, 2022 at 6:21 pm

    @PJ: You really weren’t paying attention, were you?

  157. 157.

    different-church-lady

    July 17, 2022 at 8:09 am

    Are their taxes even lower?

  158. 158.

    zhena gogolia

    July 17, 2022 at 8:17 am

    @different-church-lady: Would be interested to know.

    What was the context for Buttigieg’s remark?

    Nate Silver is RIGHT! Break out the champagne.

    I don’t care if it’s staged, that kitty is fucking fast.

  159. 159.

    mrmoshpotato

    July 17, 2022 at 8:19 am

    @zhena gogolia: Nate Silver is RIGHT! Break out the champagne.

    Stopped clock… :)

  160. 160.

    rikyrah

    July 17, 2022 at 8:20 am

    Good Morning, Everyone

  161. 161.

    OzarkHillbilly

    July 17, 2022 at 8:22 am

    @zhena gogolia: Context.

    And that quote isn’t exact, even better when you hear it.

  162. 162.

    catclub

    July 17, 2022 at 8:22 am

    @different-church-lady: Are their taxes even lower?

     

    Well, somebody’s taxes are lower.

  163. 163.

    zhena gogolia

    July 17, 2022 at 8:24 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: Okay, I thought I’d heard it before — it’s from 2020. I just didn’t know why Buttigieg was trash talking TFG right now in his capacity as Secry of Trans.

  164. 164.

    NotMax

    July 17, 2022 at 8:27 am

    Caution, rabbit hole ahead.

    But oh what an entertaining bunny burrow it is. Primarily focused on the good, the bad and the fugly of personal audio devices, this guy (previously unbeknownst to yours truly*) is a hoot and a half.

    Handy hint: If playing a drinking game while enjoying, choose “nugget.”

    *NotMax, congenitally late to the party.

  165. 165.

    Shalimar

    July 17, 2022 at 8:33 am

    @mrmoshpotato: Nate Silver is a brilliant mathematician.  I’m not sure why anyone pays him to talk about anything other than math.  He knows what he knows, and it isn’t politics.

  166. 166.

    OzarkHillbilly

    July 17, 2022 at 8:33 am

    @zhena gogolia: I hadn’t heard it before, so it was even better than I had thought it might be.

  167. 167.

    different-church-lady

    July 17, 2022 at 8:35 am

    @catclub: Well, I know I ain’t somebody.

  168. 168.

    germy shoemangler

    July 17, 2022 at 8:42 am

    True story about our cat:

    One night a big moth got into our living room. Fluttered all around and caught our cat’s attention. She went into “hunt” mode and tried to catch the thing. Chased it all over the room. The moth fled up to the ceiling.

    My wife and I watched in amazement while our cat flicked on a wall light switch that powered a table lamp. The moth flew to the lamp and our cat grabbed the moth with one paw and swiped it into her mouth. Lots of chewing and then she took a satisfied nap.

  169. 169.

    different-church-lady

    July 17, 2022 at 8:42 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: The huge number of “reply deleted from suspended account” on that Tweet is both telling and disconcerting.

  170. 170.

    OzarkHillbilly

    July 17, 2022 at 8:46 am

    @germy shoemangler: That is one cool cat.

  171. 171.

    satby

    July 17, 2022 at 8:47 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:  I honestly remember him saying a version of that first on Colbert so I went looking. Didn’t find it, but so enjoyed listening to him on this segment I thought I’d share it. From 2019, before he won in Iowa, and what he said then is even more relevant today.
    He’s a good guy.

  172. 172.

    OzarkHillbilly

    July 17, 2022 at 8:47 am

    @different-church-lady: The homophobes had their shackles removed when trump ran.

  173. 173.

    germy shoemangler

    July 17, 2022 at 8:48 am

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Our theory is that she noticed the moth flying towards various lights.  My cat was acquainted with the light switch and reasoned it would attract the moth.

  174. 174.

    OzarkHillbilly

    July 17, 2022 at 8:49 am

    @satby: One of the best. He shines brightest in those situations I would be stunned to silence by.

  175. 175.

    OzarkHillbilly

    July 17, 2022 at 8:51 am

    @germy shoemangler: I suspect she had been hunting them around lights before, like a “watering hole” for moths.

  176. 176.

    eclare

    July 17, 2022 at 8:51 am

    @germy shoemangler:   Awesome.

  177. 177.

    nevsky42

    July 17, 2022 at 8:51 am

    I’m sorry but what in the holy hell is up with that apostrophe in the first tweet?  I know I’m missing the point but I can’t be the only one triggered by this.

  178. 178.

    evap

    July 17, 2022 at 8:52 am

    @Shalimar:  Just to be picky, Nate Silver is a brilliant statistician.  Speaking as a mathematician.

  179. 179.

    Elizabelle

    July 17, 2022 at 8:53 am

    @different-church-lady:   Yeah.  That is fascinating.

  180. 180.

    eclare

    July 17, 2022 at 8:55 am

    @satby:   Pete is.  I hope and think he has a long future in politics.

  181. 181.

    germy shoemangler

    July 17, 2022 at 8:55 am

    Are we living in a golden age of Korean cinema?

    I recently saw The Villainess and it might not be everyone’s cup of tea here (It’s a graphically violent story of a female assassin) but it was a first-rate production. Astonishing camera work and performances.

  182. 182.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    July 17, 2022 at 8:56 am

    @nevsky42: I feel ya!

  183. 183.

    germy shoemangler

    July 17, 2022 at 8:56 am

    @eclare:

    You can tell the ones republican operatives are most frightened of, because they’re the ones who get the most mockery.  Pete, Harris, Biden, etc.

  184. 184.

    satby

    July 17, 2022 at 9:00 am

    @germy shoemangler: and Hillary Clinton, for 50 years.

  185. 185.

    mrmoshpotato

    July 17, 2022 at 9:01 am

    @Shalimar:

    Nate Silver is a brilliant mathematician. I’m not sure why anyone pays him to talk about anything other than math. He knows what he knows, and it isn’t politics. 

    Agreed.

  186. 186.

    mrmoshpotato

    July 17, 2022 at 9:03 am

    @germy shoemangler: Impressive!  Bravo, kitty!

  187. 187.

    Shalimar

    July 17, 2022 at 9:03 am

    @evap: Noted, and thank you.

  188. 188.

    Amir Khalid

    July 17, 2022 at 9:04 am

    @nevsky42:

    reflexe’s

    Gaah!

  189. 189.

    mrmoshpotato

    July 17, 2022 at 9:06 am

    @satby: Ain’t that the truth!

  190. 190.

    different-church-lady

    July 17, 2022 at 9:07 am

    @nevsky42: Sorry, I need to reserve all my outrage for “could care less.”

  191. 191.

    mrmoshpotato

    July 17, 2022 at 9:10 am

    @different-church-lady: Hahaha.  I should of seen that coming.

  192. 192.

    Jeffro

    July 17, 2022 at 9:17 am

    About that Ari Fleischer tweet in the late-night open thread…he thinks he’s soooo clever, but it’s pretty obvious that the Republican Establishment is terrified at the thought that trumpov will declare his candidacy before the mid-term election.  (Almost as terrified as they are of stories like that poor 10-year-old catching national attention and helping point out the Rs’ anti-reproductive-rights insanity).

    They’ve already just about blown their chances of retaking the Senate thanks to trumpov’s stellar picks like Dr. Oz and Herschel Walker.  Put the orange clown in the mix to boost Dem turnout in the midterms – along with more anti-choice horror stories – and we just might pull this thing out, peeps!  (oh and EAT IT, Ari)

  193. 193.

    satby

    July 17, 2022 at 9:30 am

    @Jeffro: The orange clown is a double-edged sword. I want to see him indicted, not running or nominated. The nation has suffered enough.

  194. 194.

    Benw

    July 17, 2022 at 9:32 am

    @different-church-lady: keeping with the spirit of the comments so far, maybe the question is “are their taxes even fewer?”

  195. 195.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    July 17, 2022 at 9:33 am

    I don’t see how running for president would keep TFG from being prosecuted. Lyndon Larouche was arrested and I think actually jailed while running. If running would protect you from the law, any criminal could just declare he was running

  196. 196.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    July 17, 2022 at 9:34 am

    @Benw: Depends on whether you’re talking about the amount they pay in taxes (less) or the number of taxes they pay (fewer)

  197. 197.

    O. Felix Culpa

    July 17, 2022 at 9:34 am

    @satby:

    The nation has suffered enough.

    True, although the Supreme 6 and the RWNJ mob are hellbent on ramping up the suffering…of others.

  198. 198.

    NotMax

    July 17, 2022 at 9:36 am

    ‘@Amir Khalid

    Happy birthday!

  199. 199.

    Ken

    July 17, 2022 at 9:37 am

    @nevsky42: It i’s called the greengrocers apo’strophe, becau’se it i’s traditionally u’sed to adverti’se tomato’s and zucchini’s.

  200. 200.

    satby

    July 17, 2022 at 9:39 am

    OT: For a retired person, I’m still doing it all wrong. Today is the 9th day in a row I’ll have worked at one or the other of my jobs. But we’ve been able to hire two lovely young women at the doctor’s office, with a third who we’ll also hire who just applied (she’s worked for me at the farmer’s market and she’s great). Plus, two are black women, which makes me extra happy because I’ve been trying to attract diverse candidates; what they learn at the office can lead to solid, well paid career. And I’m inching closer to really retiring

  201. 201.

    narya

    July 17, 2022 at 9:39 am

    Right before the 2016 election, Silver said that TFG’s chances were the same as a pro football player missing a field goal from [some close distance, like 30 yards]. I had just witnessed that the previous weekend, in a game that Friend was watching; that’s when I thought TFG might win. So, yes, good at statistics, but his political analysis is annoying AF.

    Beer 5k out in the burbs today . . .

  202. 202.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    July 17, 2022 at 9:41 am

    @satby: Sounds like you have good candidates for the doc’s office anyway. But you are doing retirement wrong

  203. 203.

    satby

    July 17, 2022 at 9:41 am

    @Amir Khalid: Oh! Happy Birthday Amir!

  204. 204.

    satby

    July 17, 2022 at 9:42 am

    @Ken: I blame autocorrect.

  205. 205.

    Betty Cracker

    July 17, 2022 at 9:42 am

    @satby: Possible best-case scenario: Trump declares his candidacy before the mid-terms, and when moderate voters hear the crazy-ass conspiracy bullshit he babbles full time now, they are horrified, which sandbags Republicans so that the Dems hold the House and make gains in the Senate that render Sinemanchin utterly irrelevant.

    Trump, DeSantis, Chris Cristie, etc., have an epic, bruising primary battle in 2024 that causes lots of hard feelings and splinters the GOP. They all race to the bottom on extremism to claim the extremist base, alienating regular voters. Trump ekes out a narrow primary victory and gets clobbered in the general election. Then, in January 2025, he gets indicted.

  206. 206.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    July 17, 2022 at 9:43 am

    @Betty Cracker: I’d buy that book

  207. 207.

    Benw

    July 17, 2022 at 9:46 am

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: I’m more of a “taxes half full” kinda person :)

    ETA: @Betty Cracker: I need a smoke after reading that!

  208. 208.

    eclare

    July 17, 2022 at 9:47 am

    @Amir Khalid:   Happy birthday!

  209. 209.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    July 17, 2022 at 9:47 am

    @Benw: Or perhaps “tax’s”?

  210. 210.

    eclare

    July 17, 2022 at 9:49 am

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:   Gaaahhhhh!!!!

  211. 211.

    zhena gogolia

    July 17, 2022 at 9:50 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: He’s brilliant.

  212. 212.

    Geminid

    July 17, 2022 at 9:50 am

    @evap: Nate Silver is a poll aggregator whose TV exposure provided a kind of credibility on larger topics. But I’m glad he’s stating this point even though it’s an obvious one.

  213. 213.

    Benw

    July 17, 2022 at 9:51 am

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: “tax’s” got an actual LOL out’ta me!

  214. 214.

    Miss Bianca

    July 17, 2022 at 9:51 am

    @Betty Cracker: Make it so, Number One!

    (Yes, I have been binging on all things Star Trek lately, why do you ask?)

  215. 215.

    zhena gogolia

    July 17, 2022 at 9:51 am

    @Amir Khalid: It is bad, it is very bad. Cute video, though.

  216. 216.

    different-church-lady

    July 17, 2022 at 9:52 am

    @narya: The problem is when he went from statistical analysis to opinion-having. But he was the only one who saw the momentum shift to Trump.

    I wonder if Sam Wang ever did eat that bug.

  217. 217.

    zhena gogolia

    July 17, 2022 at 9:53 am

    @Betty Cracker: I believe this scenario is not outlandishly improbable. :)

  218. 218.

    zhena gogolia

    July 17, 2022 at 9:54 am

    @different-church-lady: Yeah, fuck that guy.

  219. 219.

    Baud

    July 17, 2022 at 9:56 am

    @rikyrah:

    Good morning.

  220. 220.

    satby

    July 17, 2022 at 9:56 am

    @Betty Cracker: omigod, you write fanfic too?

  221. 221.

    different-church-lady

    July 17, 2022 at 9:56 am

    @narya: ZOT! It just occured to me… we’re framing this probability entirely the wrong way. It’s not “Trump has a five percent chance of winning.” It’s “There’s a five percent chance all our polling is wrong.”

  222. 222.

    Baud

    July 17, 2022 at 9:58 am

    @Betty Cracker:

  223. 223.

    different-church-lady

    July 17, 2022 at 9:59 am

    @Betty Cracker: I like it . Now which dem wins the general?

  224. 224.

    Baud

    July 17, 2022 at 10:01 am

    @different-church-lady:

    Baud!

  225. 225.

    Geminid

    July 17, 2022 at 10:02 am

    @Betty Cracker: An even better best case scenario is trump throwing a spoke into the wheels of Desantis’ campaign for Governor.

    I think that trump might actually like Charlie Crist, who could be the Democratic nominee. I remember reports of trump telling his circle that Crist “is a killer.” That was a description of Crist I had not heard before.

  226. 226.

    FelonyGovt

    July 17, 2022 at 10:03 am

    @Amir Khalid: Happy birthday!

  227. 227.

    Baud

    July 17, 2022 at 10:05 am

    @Amir Khalid:

  228. 228.

    different-church-lady

    July 17, 2022 at 10:10 am

    OT: Loomis is now officially a Republican mole:

    Here’s the thing about calling your senators: they don’t care and it doesn’t matter.

    Okay Eric, we’ll all just lie down and die now.

  229. 229.

    Baud

    July 17, 2022 at 10:11 am

    @different-church-lady:

    But he was the only one who saw the momentum shift to Trump.

     
    The Comey effect.

  230. 230.

    zhena gogolia

    July 17, 2022 at 10:12 am

    @different-church-lady: He is so full of shit.

    WHAT REPUBLICAN WOULD EVER SAY SOMETHING LIKE THAT?

  231. 231.

    Baud

    July 17, 2022 at 10:13 am

    @different-church-lady:

    Then why do Republicans do it? Aren’t we supposed to emulate them in all things?

    Or maybe he’s saying that it doesn’t matter because our side does not reward good behavior by voting for it.

  232. 232.

    different-church-lady

    July 17, 2022 at 10:14 am

    @Baud: ​
      Right. He saw it and everyone else went, “Don’t pay attention to Nate, he’s just being hysterical.”

  233. 233.

    different-church-lady

    July 17, 2022 at 10:15 am

    @Baud: ​
      I think what he’s saying is, “Everything sucks, and I’m going to cope with that by trying to look like I’m savvier than everyone else.”

  234. 234.

    zhena gogolia

    July 17, 2022 at 10:15 am

    Val Demings thread up top.

  235. 235.

    Baud

    July 17, 2022 at 10:17 am

    @different-church-lady:

    I’m sure he’d be cool with people saying how protesting and direct action don’t work either.  Oh, and labor organizing. Just being savvy, right?

  236. 236.

    Evap

    July 17, 2022 at 10:19 am

    @Geminid: before he got into politics, he did statistical analysis for baseball.  My understanding is that he was quite brilliant at it, but who knows.

  237. 237.

    different-church-lady

    July 17, 2022 at 10:19 am

    @Baud: ​
      Well, if someone else suggested those things work he’d probably pivot to being totally dismissive.

  238. 238.

    Geminid

    July 17, 2022 at 10:19 am

    @different-church-lady: I think you misspelled Eric Gloomis’ last name.

  239. 239.

    Layer8Problem

    July 17, 2022 at 10:21 am

    @different-church-lady:  Loomis is such a bright ray of sunshine.  It warms my heart to think of his happy, carefree skip through a brand-new cemetery to visit an unphotographed American Grave.

  240. 240.

    Amir Khalid

    July 17, 2022 at 10:21 am

    @NotMax:

    Terima kasih.

  241. 241.

    germy shoemangler

    July 17, 2022 at 10:24 am

    What matters is more Dems, not calling your senator.
    — Erik Loomis (@ErikLoomis) July 17, 2022

    Isn’t he suggesting that voting in more democrats is more important than calling the existing ones? I agree with him if that’s what he’s saying. I lurk sometimes at LGM but I sometimes find the pomposity of the frontpagers off-putting. I think Loomis is wrong about calls, emails and letters to representatives. If we stop, then politicians will only hear from the religious fanatics and libertarians.

  242. 242.

    Baud

    July 17, 2022 at 10:25 am

    @germy shoemangler:

    Ok, that’s less bad.  But he’s comparing two non-mutually exclusive things.

  243. 243.

    Geminid

    July 17, 2022 at 10:29 am

    @Evap: Siverman may have ridden the wave of derivative baseball statistics denoted by acronyms like WHIP, OBPS, AWRISP, etc. I’m surprised they dont have an RSVP. Now TV network crews bombard viewers with these numbers during lulls. That’s one reason I like listening to baseball on radio.

  244. 244.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    July 17, 2022 at 10:33 am

    atrick Radden Keefe @praddenkeefe

    Thinking today, as I often do, of the prominent journalist who mocked me over beers one night in the fall of 2016 for suggesting there would be any meaningful policy differences between a Clinton administration and a Trump administration.

    People in the replies are already telling him to burn the fucker. I doubt he will.

  245. 245.

    different-church-lady

    July 17, 2022 at 10:41 am

    @Geminid: ​
      I’ve been watching baseball for 50 years, and I have never once given a crap about exit velocity. But now that we can measure it some people find it thrilling.

  246. 246.

    Bad

    July 17, 2022 at 10:51 am

  247. 247.

    Baud

    July 17, 2022 at 10:51 am

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I’ll go with Peter Baker.

  248. 248.

    Geminid

    July 17, 2022 at 10:52 am

    @different-church-lady: Baseball TV crews feel they have to occupy the viewer’s mind every second. Radio announcers don’t, and convey a more relaxing experience that I think is one of baseball’s virtues. I believe we live in an age of impatience and anxiety, and baseball can provide a break from this ethos. Radio broadcast ball games are laid back and allow me to do other things while I listen.

  249. 249.

    germy shoemangler

    July 17, 2022 at 10:59 am

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

     

    The day the world ends the New York Times will be like "in a blow to progressives' ambitious agenda in Washington, we're all gonna die."

    — Evan Greer (@evan_greer) July 15, 2022

  250. 250.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    July 17, 2022 at 10:59 am

    @Baud: just thinking PRK has taken on the IRA, Big Pharma and organized crime (My sister is obsessed with Say Nothing, and I keep meaning to pick up a copy), but the Beltway code of well-mannered omertà that covers up bias and incompetence is a bridge too far

  251. 251.

    different-church-lady

    July 17, 2022 at 11:17 am

    @Geminid: yeah, It’s kinda weird, but sometimes I like to just have the radio on an out of town game that I’m not even really listening to.

  252. 252.

    Just One More Canuck

    July 17, 2022 at 11:18 am

    @zhena gogolia: if it’s staged, it’s even more impressive

  253. 253.

    satby

    July 17, 2022 at 11:20 am

    @Bad: well stated.

  254. 254.

    Spanky

    July 17, 2022 at 11:26 am

    @satby: Is Baud Bad?

  255. 255.

    different-church-lady

    July 17, 2022 at 11:31 am

    @Spanky: So bad he’s good.

  256. 256.

    dnfree

    July 17, 2022 at 11:33 am

    @nevsky42: I had to share your graphic.  Really.  I had to share it.

  257. 257.

    J R in WV

    July 17, 2022 at 11:49 am

    @germy shoemangler: ​
     

    True story about our cat:

    I also have a good cat story about hunting.

    Long time ago we had a cat we named Timidthy, because the older cat tormented him when he was a kitten, and even after he grew up to be much larger than the black cat he was afraid of her. Tim was really smart, tho.

    He realized that if he took a small rodent into the bathtub and let it go, he could then play with/hunt that little rodent as long as he wanted. Daily small rodents from yard were released in the bathtub. I would put on a glove and rescue many of them.

    Then one day Tim caught a tiny sparrow, and was so, so dismayed when it escaped the bathtub in just an instant — and of course rescuing a flying birb in the house is a lot more work than picking a tiny terrified mouse up in the tub.

    He was a beautiful plush gray kitty, and lived to move onto the farm with us, where there is an unlimited number of tiny rodents to catch.

  258. 258.

    zhena gogolia

    July 17, 2022 at 11:52 am

    @J R in WV: It’s funny that in Russian folklore, cats are always called Timothy (Timofei).

  259. 259.

    J R in WV

    July 17, 2022 at 12:00 pm

    @nevsky42:

    what in the holy hell is up with that apostrophe in the first tweet?

    Some people call that the grocer’s apostrophe, since so many grocery signs have excess ‘ ‘ ‘ ‘  s ~!~

  260. 260.

    J R in WV

    July 17, 2022 at 12:02 pm

    @zhena gogolia:

    Thanks, that’s a good bit of trivia. He was a really nice cat, gone since around ’84 IIRC. WE got him from parent’s neighbors in the mid ’70s.

  261. 261.

    Kropacetic

    July 17, 2022 at 12:30 pm

    @Geminid: I remember reports of trump telling his circle that Crist “is a killer.” That was a description of Crist I had not heard before.

    Interesting idea. Took me a minute to get in the mindset where “killer” is a positive descriptor

  262. 262.

    Betty Cracker

    July 17, 2022 at 12:38 pm

    @Kropacetic: It’s hard to imagine someone describing Crist that way in any context. The only thing he seems really good at killing is his career and Democratic hopes. (I’m steeling myself to support the sumbitch because he’ll almost certainly win the primary, but I’m not looking forward to that!)

  263. 263.

    Kropacetic

    July 17, 2022 at 12:58 pm

    @Betty Cracker: I haven’t seen the man in action from halfway across the country.

    I know he’s a former Republican. That speaks to a killer instinct, but not much inherently positive. I do know he lost some crucial elections for the Democrats and can’t fathom why he’s the one people are rallying to.

  264. 264.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    July 17, 2022 at 1:25 pm

    mini thread on FL politics, with some data at the link. Short version: De Santis is perhaps not as popular as his press might have you believe

    Magdi Semrau @magi_jay 1h

    The media’s depiction of Ron DeSantis as some kind of culture-warrior-extraordinaire is not based in evidence. DeSantis’s approval on the economy is strongish (50%), meanwhile more Floridians *disapprove* than approve on “race relations,” climate change, & “unifying Floridians”

    In fact, DeSantis’s approval across all categories has either fallen or remained steady since April, according to polling by the University of South Florida. His disapproval has risen, including on the economy/jobs, suggesting that perhaps his war w/ Disney wasn’t so masterful af

    Of course, 50% on the economy in these times of general malaise is pretty strong

  265. 265.

    Geminid

    July 17, 2022 at 1:26 pm

    @Kropacetic: The context was trump warning that Crist would be a formidable opponent to SeSantis. Possibly it was wishful thinking.

    I just laughed when read it, because Crist seems so bland. I could just see Crist bounding on stage with Queen singing “h-e-e’s a Killer!” as his walk on music and the crowd golf-clapping.

     

    @Betty Cracker:

  266. 266.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    July 17, 2022 at 1:27 pm

    also, I look at twitter through Safari. The last week or so I’ve gotten blocked by a “create an account” pop-up. I broke down clicked on it and it said I could log on with my apple ID, which works, but I still get that blocking message all the time and have to sign in again. Are they gonna keep at me till I make an account? I don’t want to post, just read other people’s tweets. (Yes, I guess I am a twitter addict)

  267. 267.

    Geminid

    July 17, 2022 at 1:33 pm

    @Kropacetic: Since Crist lost those elections he flipped a red Congressional seat and held it, so he’s not completely hapless electorally.

    I’m a little surprised that Ag Commisioner Nikki Fried hasn’t gotten more traction, though. She seems brash, and people might look at that as “brassy.” But it may take a brazen hussy to beat a flaming asshole.

  268. 268.

    Geminid

    July 17, 2022 at 1:37 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Yeah, Twitter did that to me and I finally broke down a few months ago and signed up. Gave them a false birthdate so I could feel noncompliant.

  269. 269.

    Yutsano

    July 17, 2022 at 1:50 pm

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: ​…

    Are you intentionally trying to trigger a few folks on this blog? :P

  270. 270.

    Geminid

    July 17, 2022 at 1:59 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I think one of Ms. Semrau’s strengths is her solid social science background. She likes to see data.

    Semrau also has experience as an elementary school teacher. Both these strains came out a couple months ago when she critiqued a Jerkobin article on working class political views. The article was based on polling analysis with a methodology that Semrau thought was appalling:

       I feel like I just found a child eating crayons.

  271. 271.

    mrmoshpotato

    July 17, 2022 at 2:03 pm

    @Betty Cracker: Yes please!

  272. 272.

    mrmoshpotato

    July 17, 2022 at 2:04 pm

    @satby:

    For a retired person, I’m still doing it all wrong. Today is the 9th day in a row I’ll have worked at one or the other of my jobs. 

    I hope they’re paying you.

  273. 273.

    Miss Bianca

    July 17, 2022 at 2:57 pm

    @Betty Cracker: What I don’t understand is why the fucker seems prepared to throw away a House seat we can ill afford to lose for a likely doomed run at Governor. Has anyone actually asked him this?

  274. 274.

    Another Scott

    July 17, 2022 at 2:57 pm

    In other news, … Phys.org:

    Scientists announced Tuesday they had found the crater from which the oldest known Martian meteorite was originally blasted towards Earth, a discovery that could provide clues into how our own planet was formed.

    The meteorite NWA 7034, nicknamed Black Beauty, has fascinated geologists since it was discovered in the Sahara Desert in 2011.

    It fits easily in the hand, weighing just over 300 grams (10.6 ounces), and contains a mix of materials including zircons, which date back nearly 4.5 billion years.

    “That makes it one of the oldest rocks studied in the history of geology,” Sylvain Bouley, a planetary scientist at France’s Paris-Saclay University, told AFP.

    Its journey dates back to the solar system’s infancy, “about 80 million years after the planets began forming”, said Bouley, who co-authored a new study on the meteorite.

    […]

    It’s just astounding to me that:

    1) They found this rock and knew it was interesting enough to study.
    2) Figured out that it came from somewhere outside of Earth.
    3) Figured out it was previously on Mars.
    4) Figured out that it was at one location and moved to another location on Mars.
    5) Figured out when it moved.
    6) Figured out what the location on Mars that it came from.

    Just astounding.

    Well worth a click.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  275. 275.

    Geminid

    July 17, 2022 at 3:16 pm

    @Miss Bianca: I think Crist figured that Republicans in Tallahassee were going to gerrymander him out of that seat, so it was up or out.

    Also, he may think that he’s got the best chance to beat DeSantis. Florida Democrats may agree. Electability seems to be the only big issue between Crist and Fried.

  276. 276.

    Miss Bianca

    July 17, 2022 at 3:49 pm

    @Geminid: Well, ok, when you put it like that…

    As always, I bow to your keen grasp of electoral politicking ’round the country.

  277. 277.

    Geminid

    July 17, 2022 at 3:59 pm

    @Miss Bianca: Well, Florida Democrats may not make the right choice. One of Crist or Fried might do two points better against DeSantis than the other, and that could make the difference in a close race. But which one?

    Missouri’s Senate primary race between Lucas Kunce and Trudy Busch Valentine presents that state’s Democrats with a similar choice. Two good candidates with different potential strengths..

  278. 278.

    Geminid

    July 17, 2022 at 4:13 pm

    @Miss Bianca: How are things looking in your new congressional district? It can be tougher to win an open seat.

    I’m in a new district too. In this case, Democrat Abigail Spanberger is the incumbent. My county is the southwest corner of the VA 7th CD, but the bulk of the district’s voters are to the east along the I-95 cotrridor. Republicans picked who I thought was a weak candidate, in a low turnout primary. Spanberger should have the inside track in this race.

  279. 279.

    Geminid

    July 17, 2022 at 4:19 pm

    @Miss Bianca:

     

    @Geminid: Missouri Senate candidate Lucas Kunce drives around in a beat up Taurus. Opponent Trudy Busch Valentine has her own herd of bison.

  280. 280.

    Miss Bianca

    July 17, 2022 at 4:44 pm

    @Geminid: I really wish Ed Perlmutter hadn’t chosen to retire this year. Brittany Pedersen looks like a decent candidate, but I’m a little alarmed that the state Republicans seem to be advancing a slightly less bug-eyed nutso lantern-jawed Aryan type up against her. Who knows. Hoping CD3 stays Democratic.

  281. 281.

    Geminid

    July 17, 2022 at 5:18 pm

    @Miss Bianca: Thanks. Good luck out there!

  282. 282.

    Bill Arnold

    July 17, 2022 at 7:13 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    The last week or so I’ve gotten blocked by a “create an account” pop-up.

    You may want to try deleting the twitter cookies. This appears to give respite for a while or has in the past if one is not logged in.
    For Firefox family browsers and Chrome family browser (including Brave), an plugin/extension called “Cookie Remover” makes this easy. (Just click on the cookie when on a web site and that site’s cookies get deleted.

  283. 283.

    Another Scott

    July 17, 2022 at 7:47 pm

    @Bill Arnold: Thanks for the pointer.

    CookieRemover apparently won’t let me install it on Brave on Android (only gives an option to install it on the desktop).

    I followed some pointer on reddit to clear Twitter cookies, but it still doesn’t help with the full-screen “Sign up!!11ONE” screen after viewing about a screen of Popehat’s musings.  The hassle just isn’t worth it for me anymore.

    Their loss, I’m sure.  ;-)

    Thanks again.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

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