I don’t think anybody has posted about the swift demise of Chris Jacobs (R-NY-27) and the resulting candidacy of Carl Paladino, and boy is that an oversight.
First, Jacobs: he’s a member of the Buffalo-based Jacobs clan, owners of Delaware North and the Boston Bruins. Jacobs pulled himself up by his golden bootstraps to make a political career via some sweetheart appointments (such as being appointed Secretary of State by George Pataki). Then, he was elected to the New York State Senate. After Chris Collins resigned after being convicted of insider trading (don’t worry, he was later pardoned by Trump), Jacobs won the special election for the remainder of his term, beating Nate McMurray. He also beat McMurray in the general.
In the aftermath of the Buffalo Tops mass murder, Jacobs made the unpardonable error of saying that he would vote to ban AR-15-type weapons. He withdrew his re-election bid a few days later, after realizing that the gun humpers who populate his red, rural R+12 district don’t want to be separated from their preferred fetish object.
Enter Carl Paladino – tanned (well, sallow), rested and ready. Carl ran against Andrew Cuomo for governor in 2010 and only carried the rural Buffalo, Adirondack and Southern Tier counties. During that race, an independent media outlet dug up racist and equine pornographic emails that he had sent around. After his loss, Carl spent a stint on the Buffalo public school board, which ended after he voiced his hopes that President Obama would die of mad cow disease acquired from fucking a cow. (You don’t have to be a deep scholar of the human psyche to see a pattern here.)
Carl was endorsed by Elise Stefanik, who called him a friend. Unlike Chris Jacobs, Carl thinks that the Buffalo Tops slaughter was a false flag attack, and he also thinks that Hitler is the kind of leader we need today.
One of the complications of Carl’s run is that New York is going through redistricting, but the new map shows that the new NY-23, which includes more of the Southern Tier than NY-27 does now, is still pretty red. Tom Reed, who represented the current NY-23, resigned last month after being accused of groping a female lobbyist. Carl will still have primary opponents, and redistricting might move Republican Claudia Tenney from NY-22 to NY-23, so he might get beaten in the primary. If Carl prevails, hope springs eternal that some energetic Democrat can win, but Nate McMurray was a pretty energetic candidate in NY-27, and he lost three times. Still, having an equine and bovine porn afficionado on the ticket might just be a bridge too far for some Republicans. But, looking at Elise Stefanik’s journey from “reasonable” Republican to MTG-clone, I have to believe that those who still call themselves Republicans in New York don’t really care what their candidate believes as long as they have a “R” after their name.
feebog
Baud
“I vote the person, not the party.”
RedDirtGirl
Rockefeller republican, he ain’t!
Ken
Definitely in the “accusation as confession” territory.
NotMax
Scansion is 100%…
♫ “Mister, we could use a man like Adolf Hitler again.”
//
germy shoemangler
Kattails
Just breaking in here, completely OT, but I need to brag that I have a fledgling cardinal hanging out on an overturned pot getting tended by the parents. Was wondering what that fuzzy brown thing was just outside the kitchen window, until I got out the binoculars. The first year I’ve had cardinals, before this it had been phoebes and robins. So cool!! Wasn’t sure it was even a cardinal, just a dumpy brown bird.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Kattails: That is cool! I hope the fledgling makes it. Life is tough for baby birds
oldgold
There is no end to Fox’s putrid bad faith conduct that is poisoning our politics.
Jesse Waters Co- Host of the Five on Fox said this on last night’s show concerning the gunman stalking Kavanaugh:
“He says he was furious over Roe v. Wade possibly being overturned — remember the leak? — and was looking for purpose in his life,” Watters continues, as Media Matters reported. “So he found that purpose by going out and trying to kill a Supreme Court Justice. Do you think that idea just popped into his head? Or did the orders come all the way from the top?”
sab
@Kattails: What state are you living in? Cardinals around here (state bird) are ” another frigging cardinal” but I like them. Pretty and pleasant birds. I liked robins until I realized they were those annoying birds that chirp loudly at 4 a.m.
Baud
@oldgold:
Projection.
Kattails
@Dorothy A. Winsor: It just flew from the low spot to the top of my car :-) I was planning on grocery shopping later..
NotMax
‘@oldgold
How many of the rubes will interpret that as coming straight from Jesus?
//
Kattails
@sab: New Hampshire. A lot of woods around but I keep my yard a good mix of open/low brush/trees, don’t mow a lot, and don’t spray for anything.
Absolutely love the Phoebes, they are the most amazing acrobats. They’ve been nesting just under my eaves, on top of the window trim, for about 20 years, so it must be more than one generation. Those fledglings have to take a steep dive almost straight down and then tend to land on the laundry line, swinging like crazy.
sab
@Kattails: I love phoebes. Rare around here.
sab
Didn’t show, then a duplicate. My Nook is getting old.
trollhattan
Lovely people.
Delaware North are the assholes who acquired the concession contract for Yosemite NP and while running it took out trademarks on various park names. When the contract was up they said the government henceforth had to pay for use of such names as the Ahwahnee Hotel. The park had to scramble and rename all the trademarked features and I think ultimately give a big payout to restore their use.
IOW fuck those guys avec rusty chainsaw.
trollhattan
@Kattails:
Have had a male black phoebe hang out in our yard the last few years–pleasant and amusing company–but this year was surprised when he found a mate and they nested under the eave next door. For a couple weeks they relentlessly pursued bugs in our yard (anchored by the koi pond) and are very brave about it, alighting on any possible perch and even the ground to feed the little ones. Got some telephoto pics of dad and the fledglings last Thursday then poof, everybody’s gone on Friday.
Have seen dad a couple times since but mom and the little ones are nowhere to be found. They really put a dent in the bug population while active.
StringOnAStick
I made some nominally round birdhouses out of willow wands, weaving them into something that looks pretty good I think; I saw how to do it earlier this season on Gardeners World. The first one was much bigger than I expected it to be, but I wove in enough to make the entrance hole small to attract smaller birds. Anyone have any bird housing experiences they care to share about this sort of house? I put a cone of plastic inside the smaller one to make is as waterproof as possible, and I think such a house might be better than a solid wood one because there is better ventilation obviously so it won’t become a hotbox, but other than that this is all new to me.
zhena gogolia
I just peeked at that goddamned David Brooks column. Well, not the column but the “Readers’ Picks” comments. They’re just as outraged as we are. Why aren’t the Times writers as smart as the Times readers?
Elizabelle
@trollhattan:
Yes! Disgusted w Delaware North. I remember how predatory they were with Yosemite. That’s the kind of PR a shyster company never gets past.
Baud
@zhena gogolia:
Smart writers don’t get engagement.
Cameron
@oldgold: He was on a mission from God?
zhena gogolia
@Baud: over 2600 comments
Cameron
Carl Paladino’s new show on Fox, “The Horse Wankerer.”
Kattails
@trollhattan: Mine will frequently do a second round, it’s common to see them disappear and then come back in when the new ones are ready to hatch, so you might see more activity. They are the best bug catchers, one very good reason to love them around here. Have fun! I need a telephoto, could have had some great pics.
Baud
@zhena gogolia:
The Moar You Know
Never thought I’d see the day:
That this is a public position of any member of a mainstream political party. Which just shows I have a dearth of imagination.
O. Felix Culpa
@zhena gogolia: Similar thought as Baud, slightly different angle: Brooks and the others are not paid to be smart. They’re doing exactly what they were hired to do, namely comfort the comfortable and afflict the afflicted.
Calouste
Did someone ask Chris Jacob if he withdrew his re-election bid because he thought he was not going to get re-elected, or because he thought he was going to get shot?
Old School
@oldgold:
Why would Tucker Carlson want to assassinate Kavanaugh?
Kattails
OK I just got over my bird excitement to read the actual post. JHC on a pogo stick. Equine porn? Wasn’t there a (ahem several) R’s complaining that gun violence is caused by pornography? Love to get these guys in the same room and ask the question.
Re:orders coming from the top, fuck Fox news sideways. I pretty much agree with several commenters the other night on Adam’s not-Ukraine post about Kavanaugh; if the school kids in this country must be on constant alert for mass shooters, I have zero trouble with the Supreme Court having to master similar conditions.
Kay
RedDirtGirl
@germy shoemangler:
Kinda surprised that he thought he had to walk it back, actually.
Scott
What? Are the sheep feeling neglected or offended?
NotMax
‘@Cameron
On today’s program, “Silver or Scout? The Debate Continues.”
;)
Leto
I linked to the Imgur page on this so people don’t have to do Twitter. Feel like it’s something we’ve known for a while, but still nice to see it voiced/put out there. If I didn’t know better, I’d say this person is a BJ regular.
Spanky
Unless you float the idea of banning their fetish objects. Then you’re instantly in the out group.
frosty
@Kattails: Cardinals are the Gateway Bird that gets people into birdwatching.
Spanky
And in other news from the country’s Northern Tier (sorta):
So, did his election prospects just go down? Or up?
Kropacetic
While appalling, I maintain that Paladino’s penchant for animal fornication is far more acceptable than an average line item on the Republican party agenda.
prostratedragon
Oddly enough, just before bopping over here to BJ I ran into a story about Paladino’s rhapsodic evocation of Hitler’s capacity to move people to action, and it inspired me to find this brief excerpt from Brazil, Sam’s first day at Information Retrieval. The closed captions for this part of the scene are an additional delight.
Kattails
@frosty: “gateway bird” love it. Also, if you are doing commercial licensing of artwork, cardinals are almost a necessity for Christmas designs. Like monarch butterflies; they (art directors) don’t really care about phoebes or red admirals. Kind of frustrating.
Kropacetic
Republicans often argue, obviously in bad faith, that we just don’t listen to them. But it’s obvious here that at least this one guy has been listening to Republicans and took their argument regarding the purpose of the 2nd amendment to heart.
trollhattan
Your answer to “why is she even doing this?” is supplied by the very last sentence.
Horrified. What, nothing in the previous four years pushed your buttons, Betsy, but that day finally did? Too busy picking yacht-of-the-day to notice.
Captain C
@oldgold:
If he was at all honest (yeah, I know), he would have continued: “That’s the way it works for us, except it’s morally okay when Conservatives commit felonies against Democrats and liberals in general.”
Dorothy A. Winsor
@trollhattan: These grifters NEVER go away
Ruckus
@zhena gogolia:
Why aren’t the Times writers as smart as the Times readers?
Because they get paid not to be?
Because they get chosen not to be?
C, both of the above…..
Captain C
@NotMax:
That may be enough to cause their brains to break. “Well, Kavanaugh is one of us against the evil libs, but Jesus said to assassinate him? Help! Jesus usually only wants us to assassinate liberals! The bible says so, right in the Book of the Second Amendment, right?!”
Captain C
@Ruckus:
In a moment of (probably drunken) candor: “Well, I know it’s bullshit, but that’s what I get paid for. Besides, the Leopard won’t eat my face, right?”
Ruckus
@Leto:
Sometimes people do wake up and shake off the programing.
JCJ
@Cameron:
I didn’t know he was one of the Blues Brothers!
Captain C
@trollhattan: Maybe she was just horrified at the messy incompetence? A quiet coup that kept her and her boss in power and shoveled more money towards her family enterprises would have been just fine with her, I bet.
Ruckus
@trollhattan:
Not in any way trying to support Betsy or anything she stands/stood for but for some people it takes time to shake off the programing, the endless, repetitive, droning of the message. And then one day they reach their limit and that actual thought light switch flicks from OFF to on. At that point the questions can start and the answers actually found. It sounds like bullshit but it’s how some people’s brains work. The more they hear the more they believe, until the light switch is flicked and it’s a drip by drip or a wide open Niagara Falls deluge of reality. No one knows what will trip anyone’s light switch and not everyone will get caught in a deluge of bullshit, or have their switch flipped, and why they got stuck in hell or why the light went on is really an unknown. We know it happens, humans get programed and humans can sometimes see the programing and change it.
Omnes Omnibus
@Captain C: I was often doubly horrified by the Trump admin. Once, by what they wanted to do? And then by the incompetence with which they tried to do it.
Urban Suburbanite
The guy arrested outside Judge Kegerator’s home looks more like someone having an episode, in my opinion. But it’s interesting that Fox’s idiot pair of eyebrows (I remember when producers cut him off because his segments were too racist even for Fox) is doing the handwringing over Justice Boof being in danger. Is this because political violence may stop being the exclusive domain of Republicans?
Cameron
@Kattails: Horses don’t kill people – people kill people. Pwned again, libtard!
NotMax
‘@Omnes Omnibus
Obliquely reminded of Prof. Shickele’s description of P.D.Q. Bach (a href=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZaQQkdf_dY”>source).
“His plagiarism was limited only by his faulty technique.”
:)
JaySinWA
@Spanky: Another J6 arrest today nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/dc-chiropractor-stormed-capitol-arrested-jan-6-charges-rcna32679
Two Texas brothers were arrested Tuesday. https://www.kltv.com/2022/06/08/texas-brothers-arrested-allegedly-assaulting-law-officers-during-storming-us-capitol/
NotMax
Oopsie. Fix for #58. Coffee slow to kick in today.
@Omnes Omnibus
Obliquely reminded of Prof. Shickele’s description of P.D.Q. Bach (source).
“His plagiarism was limited only by his faulty technique.”
Cameron
@Omnes Omnibus: The lack of style, of panache, of je-ne-sais-quoi, of Grey Poupon….I hear you.
Gravenstone
@oldgold: The correct response is to cue the hours long montage of Trump blathering on about “second amendment solutions” to his many grievances. Then to cordially invite Watters to fuck himself anally with a rusty, running chainsaw.
Gravenstone
@zhena gogolia: The writers are paid to be useful idiots. The commenters can then give full vent to their spleens for free. All the paper cares about is the resulting engagement metrics.
Barbara
@Gravenstone: I stopped engaging a long time ago. I just don’t comment at NYT anymore.
jonas
As a New Yorker, let me just say GODDAMMIT! This asshole again? And may Elise Stefanik burn in hell for multiple eternities for foisting this horseporn-loving, race-baiting Trumpist troll on us again. Everyone loathed Andrew Cuomo with the heat of a thousand burning suns, even Democrats, and he still creamed Paladino in his last gubernatorial race something like 70-30. *That’s* how horrible Paladino is.
TheTruffle
@jonas: Who is running on the Dem side in that district?
Ohio Mom
@zhena gogolia: Very late for this comment but back in the day the NYT’s letters to the editor always had a few rebutting the most recent David Brooks’ column.
I didn’t have the vocabulary then but I understood his role as getting people angry enough to argue back — he was a troll.
Ken
@Captain C: @Ruckus: Or maybe someone forwarded her a list, and she found thereupon it her name was prick’d?
janesays
@NotMax:
Zero, given that the not particularly subtle implication Watters was making was that Joe Biden (the person at the top) had ordered a hit on Brett Kavanaugh.
Brachiator
@Ohio Mom:
I don’t buy the supposed value of trolling. Years ago I got a letter published in the Los Angeles Times in response to an op-ed piece by Cal Thomas. He had tried to justify some political point by saying that his belief was confirmed by evolution, a claim that was factually incorrect and easily refuted.
I suppose that I had been angered by the column, but I also concluded that reading stuff by Thomas was a waste of time and so ceased paying attention to him.
The Brooks piece may have generated a lot of responses. But I wonder how many more people don’t bother with his nonsense in the first place?
I used to love some of the letters in the New York Review of Books. Some were clearly personal feuds fought out in public. But I valued the letters which laid out why a review or even the book itself under discussion was full of errors or a waste of time.
Scuffletuffle
@Ruckus: Slowly, I turned, step by step, inch by inch…
jonas
@TheTruffle: I’m not sure, but it doesn’t matter. It’s a flaming red district. A Dem has virtually no chance. It appears, however, that NY GOP chair Nick Langworthy has thrown his hat in the ring to force Paladino into a primary. Langworthy is a slimy Trumpite, but with ostensibly fewer recorded interviews where he expresses admiration for Hitler.
jonas
@Brachiator: Ah, Cal Thomas. Whatever happened to that crank? A few years ago a widely-cited political science paper actually ranked a couple of dozen columnists and pundits according to the accuracy of their various prognostications about this or that issue or policy. IIRC, Thomas held the honor of being in dead last place. He was literally never right about anything. Ever.
KenK
@germy shoemangler: it seems like Carl’Ride a Pale Horse’ Paladino experiences a lot of media accidents.
That was part of the problem with Chris Jacobs; he is a Wall Street Republican, his constituents are…not.