Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

You can’t love your country only when you win.

Balloon Juice, where there is always someone who will say you’re doing it wrong.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

How any woman could possibly vote for this smug smarmy piece of misogynistic crap is beyond understanding.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

Tide comes in. Tide goes out. You can’t explain that.

This country desperately needs a functioning Fourth Estate.

Let’s finish the job.

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

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

Everybody saw this coming.

I also would like a pony to improve my balloon juice experience.

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

“But what about the lurkers?”

Despite his magical powers, I don’t think Trump is thinking this through, to be honest.

Even though I know this is a bad idea, I’m off to do it anyway!

Good lord, these people are nuts.

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

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

Putin dreamed of ending NATO, and now it’s Finnish-ed.

You are so fucked. Still, I wish you the best of luck.

When the time comes to make an endorsement, the pain of NYT editors will be palpable as they reluctantly whisper “Biden.”

Let the trolls come, and then ignore them. that’s the worst thing you can do to a troll.

You are here: Home / Balloon Juice / Saturday Morning Open Thread: Deliberately Seeking Inspiration

Saturday Morning Open Thread: Deliberately Seeking Inspiration

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  3. 3.

    Barbara

    It is truly shocking that Judge Douglas would be only the first African-American woman on the Fifth Circuit.

  4. 4.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    @rikyrah: Good morning!

    Our weekly grocery list had only six things on it, so I sent Mr DAW off by himself to shop. I’m a little fearful of what will come back with him

    On a similar note, our building management left a little Father’s Day gift packet outside our door. It contained two root beer barrel candies and a turkey jerky stick. So there’s no danger of me eating any of it

  5. 5.

    lowtechcyclist

    Before we completely throw Manchin and Sinema overboard, remember that these judicial appointments of Biden’s wouldn’t have gotten through the Senate without them.

  7. 7.

    Ken

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Forgive him any trespasses. There is an entire research industry that studies how grocery stores should arrange the shelves to increase impulse purchases.

     It contained two root beer barrel candies and a turkey jerky stick.

    Somewhere a building manager is saying, “Smith, I clearly said ‘inexpensive but not cheap looking.’ “

  11. 11.

    tokyocali (formerly tokyo ex-pat)

    That clip with Gabby Giffords made me tear up. What an incredible woman! Speaking of which, Dolly Parton is another. She’s an absolute icon.

    Also, proud of our president. These appointments will make a difference is people’s lives.

  12. 12.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    Members of a production team for "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" were arrested by US Capitol Police in a congressional office building Thursday https://t.co/RfASQ0eAwH— CNN (@CNN) June 18, 2022

    From what I can make out, they had appointments to interview some members. After the interviews, they were filming in other areas for what they called “stand up shots.”

    The feels like payback for the Loudermilk video. OTOH, if they were filming on their own where they didn’t have permission to be, that strikes me as a bad thing, given the potential of “tours” like Loudermilk’s

  13. 13.

    lowtechcyclist

    @germy shoemangler: ​
     

    Given that it seems like the Ginni Thomas story has been gradually coming on for months now, my thought is that if it were going to go away anytime soon, it would have already done so.

  16. 16.

    Geminid

    @germy shoemangler: An early poll shows Fetterman with a 9 point lead over Oz. The same poll showed a closer race between Shapiro and Mastriano, Shapiro with a 5-6 point lead.

    I noticed that in a tweet touting a Pennsylvania infrastructure project, Fetterman cited the “Bipartisan Infrastructure” bill that funded it. “Bipartisan” is a suspect word for some in the Democratic party, but not so much for its practical politicians.

  17. 17.

    germy shoemangler

    @lowtechcyclist:

    I hope this story doesn’t disappear.  It’s just that I’ve seen so many other stories disappear.

     

    I mean, we could probably fill a whole thread with stories that disappeared.  Stuff that happened in the trump admin.  that nobody else seems to remember.  Stuff from the george bush years, etc.  Outrageous stuff that was memory holed

  18. 18.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: ​
     

    OTOH, if they were filming on their own where they didn’t have permission to be

    It’s been awhile since I’ve been in the Capitol building, but I’d assume that places you’re not supposed to go have signs telling you that. I’d be surprised if Colbert and his crew ignored those signs.

    When the Loudermilk tour happened, presumably such signs weren’t needed because anybody who didn’t work in the building wasn’t supposed to be there at all.

  19. 19.

    Ken

    @Burnspbesq: The testimony may have torpedoed the mental state defense, but I’d think it’s bolstered an incompetency defense.

    (Not that I can imagine him agreeing to that defense, but it would be funny watching his legal team playing the “Man. Woman. Person. Camera. TV.” footage in support of it.)

  22. 22.

    germy shoemangler

    Everyone's dunking on Andrew Sullivan but you can hardly blame him for his feeble attempt to reason when he's cursed with the sloping brow and shallow brainpan of an Irishman.

    — Michael Tae Sweeney (@mtsw) August 3, 2018

    Indeed Sweeny, of our and Sullivan's ancestors, the brilliant Disraeli concluded we:
    "hate [English] order…civilization…enterprising industry…pure religion. This wild, reckless, indolent, uncertain and superstitious race have no sympathy with the English character.

    — Maureen Murphy (@MamurphyMaureen) August 3, 2018

    "You have the brainpan of a stagecoach gilder!"

    — Maureen Murphy (@MamurphyMaureen) August 3, 2018

  24. 24.

    Steeplejack

    It’s great to hear an optimistic message from Justice Sotomayor, but I’m feeling a bit salty about her rhapsodic praise of Clarence Thomas as a man of the people.

    “Justice Thomas is the one justice in the building that literally knows every employee’s name, every one of them. . . . He is a man who cares deeply about the court as an institution, about the people who work there—about people.” – Justice Sotomayor
    pic.twitter.com/Pz4TKWeFi3

    — JCN (@judicialnetwork) June 17, 2022

    I’ll wait for valued commenter Kay to come along and phrase it better, but the credibility of the Supreme Court as an institution is not based on Massa Clarence knowing the names of all the peons working in the halls but on what the court actually does in administering the law of the land.

    We’ve all had dickish coworkers that we’ve had to get along with somehow, and I’m sure it must be especially difficult in a situation where the nature of the work is literally giving one’s opinion about stuff, but there are limits to the comity. Sotomayor would have done better to remain silent about Thomas, especially as his wife is coming front and center in the insurrection spotlight and he has already besmirched the court’s credibility with his refusal to recuse himself in at least one case involving her.

    As Jay Willis said in one of the Twitter replies: “Hard to overstate how deeply engrained trust in institutions, or at least maintaining the appearance of trust in institutions, is within the liberal legal establishment.”

    Jonathan Wolff: “I do not understand what it means to ‘care about the court as an institution.’ The court is what it is. Start treating it that way.”

    Julie Hotard, Ph.D.:
    Many Dem leaders/liberals have this problem. They all need to get grief counselors, worth thru their grief & face reality—for the sake of the nation.

    Pelosi is in the denial of reality stage of grief about losing GOP colleagues to an authoritarian cult.

  25. 25.

    Kropacetic

    @Geminid: The Iraq War was bipartisan. So were the war on drug policies that have ruined millions of American lives.

    Now we have the bipartisan infrastructure bill which, while desperately needed, was low hanging fruit. Republicans and Mansion only agreed to it because it was the portions of the infrastructure plan that most easily accrued money to those who already had it. And after decades of Republican intransigence, we’re still desperate to give them “bipartisan” cover like they’re not harming our democracy.

    Yeah, I have a problem with that word.

  29. 29.

    Fake Irishman

    @Starfish: @Starfish: 

    Yes. And this judge would be a good appointment, but she still has to be confirmed, she would replace a Clinton appointee, and it would still be a 12-5 deficit for Dem appointee judges. What’s bad about the fifth (and eighth) circuit is it’s not merely that the judges are GOP appointees, it’s that they’ve been right wing loons, unlike some in other circuits where there was traditionally a bit more negotiation over who got picked.

    Having said that, Biden has done really well picking judges and so far Schumer has done well getting them through in numbers. The damage that Trump has done to the courts is immense though.

  30. 30.

    Brachiator

    @Ken: @Barbara: 

    Everyone’s dunking on Andrew Sullivan but you can hardly blame him for his feeble attempt to reason when he’s cursed with the sloping brow and shallow brainpan of an Irishman.

    Sullivan still is a big believer in the racist nonsense of The Bell Curve.

    I think the post was a reminder that in the 19th century, racist cartoons often depicted the Irish as ignorant subhumans. And the consensus was that they were decidedly inferior to the Anglo-Saxon English.

  32. 32.

    Geminid

    @Kropacetic: I’m not saying that it’s wrong to find “bipartisan” a suspect word. I’m observing that a candidate with a practical interest in attracting voters is not shying away from it.

  34. 34.

    Brachiator

    @Kropacetic: 

    And after decades of Republican intransigence, we’re still desperate to give them “bipartisan” cover like they’re not harming our democracy.

    Yeah, I have a problem with that word.

    Even though the GOP have weaponized the term “bipartisan,” many voters ignore or discount Beltway political in-fighting and expect Congress to do its job.

  36. 36.

    Steeplejack

    @germy shoemangler:

    Don’t get me started. I’m still furious that from day one of the Trump administration nobody did one goddamn thing about the Trump Hotel in the building owned by the Postal Service. Reuters: “The original lease stated that no elected federal official could participate in the lease or any benefit arising out of it.” And that story is from 2019, two years later!

  37. 37.

    Kropacetic

    @Geminid: I’m not saying that it’s wrong to find “bipartisan” a suspect word. I’m observing that a candidate with a practical interest in attracting voters is not shying away from it.

    Fair. I just wish voters could be helped to understand the way thay word has been weaponized, as Brachiator noted. Sounds like a good job for politicians.

  38. 38.

    debbie

    @Steeplejack:

    The $250 million Election Defense Fund grift may also disappear. There’s an obvious lack of outrage, especially from those fleeced.

  39. 39.

    Geminid

     

     

    @Kropacetic: Politicians have bigger fish to fry. I think “Republican weaponization of ‘bipartisan’ ” is a minnow, something that is important to some people but is of little practical consequence.

    Or maybe a very small red herring.

  40. 40.

    kalakal

    @germy shoemangler: I think ( and hope) this story has legs. Her own stupidity and arrogance helps, every time she opens her mouth she puts both feet into it. It’s rightly become part and parcel of the growing contempt for the supreme court as well as part of the 1/6 investigation. The dismissal of any significant gun control measures for school children after Uvalde contrasted with the lightning passing of enhanced security for Judge Beerboy & co was particularly nauseating as he and his chums are due to gut gun safety further. Hopefully this will hit home to a lot of voters who couldn’t care less for the sanctity of the institution

  43. 43.

    Steeplejack

    @kalakal:

    That was my item 2 of low-hanging fruit. Every time I see Kellyanne Conway I feel an aneurysm coming on!

    The Hill:

    “Blah, blah, blah,” she said as one reporter recounted the OSC’s findings.

    “If you’re trying to silence me through the Hatch Act, it’s not going to work,” Conway said.

    “Let me know when the jail sentence starts,” she added.

  44. 44.

    Anne Laurie

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: If Colbert’s writing team can’t turn this into a hilarious bit — if they hadn’t already planned this as a scenario — well, that was my first thought, anyway!

    (“Very Serious Lawmakers cannot prevent violent insurrectionists from making reconnaissance videos.  A rubber dog puppet and a couple of videographers, on the other hand… “)

  45. 45.

    Kropacetic

    @Geminid: Well, I’d normally say the job of educating voters falls on the news media, but they have money to make.

    ETA: Also, if a politician doesn’t want to take the time to walk voters through any given conventional wisdom problem, they could at least avoid exacerbating it. And this may be a bigger problem than you give it credit for. It relates to “both sides” BS.

  46. 46.

    Starfish

    @JPL: The rightwingers were after her yesterday. They shared a video trying to prop up Clarence Thomas at her expense. It was really gross.

  47. 47.

    Geminid

    @Kropacetic: I think that you are saying that Fetterman is exacerbating matters by saying “Bipartisan Infrastructure bill,” without explaining the problems you associate with the word bipartisan. If it wins him votes, I don’t see a problem.

  48. 48.

    Immanentize

    @Barbara:

    It is truly shocking that Judge Douglas would be only the first African-American woman on the Fifth Circuit.

    Say you never lived in Texas, Louisiana, or Mississippi without saying you never lived there….

  50. 50.

    Kropacetic

    @Geminid: I did explain the problems I have with the word. And if the problem is identified as treating “bipartisan” as inherently laudable, yes this exacerbates the problem.

  51. 51.

    Immanentize

    @Geminid:
    You know Pennsylvania, I think? I agree with you — this is the best play in that reddish state. I don’t believe in tone policing politicians who are trying to save the Dems from defeat. Especially if they are increasing their vote totals.

  52. 52.

    Starfish

    @Immanentize: Carlton Reeves is an amazing Obama-appointed district court judge from Mississippi. Reeves is the second African American to serve on the federal judiciary in Mississippi.

  53. 53.

    Scout211

    The question yesterday (in the comments) of how Ginni Thomas’ name should be written here was answered this morning in a story on CNBC.com

    My bold.  And my vote for the unofficial Ginni Thomas style for this blog.  Interesting article, too.  Just how many “groups” and PACs does she have?

    A Facebook group that appears to be run by Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, could become a new point of interest in the U.S. House Select Committee’s investigation into the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

    Congressional investigators said they planned to ask Ginni Thomas to testify before the committee hours after Trump attorney John Eastman on Thursday publicly posted a Dec. 4, 2020 email from Thomas asking him to speak to a gathering she called “Frontliners,” which she described as featuring “grassroots state leaders.” Ginni Thomas is listed as an administrator of a Facebook group that goes by a similar name and description: “FrontLiners for Liberty.”

    The private group, which listed more than 50 members, was created in August 2020, just two months before the November elections, according to the page’s description.

  54. 54.

    MomSense

    Most days I use my lunch break to walk. Yesterday we had a thunderstorm that lasted about 40 minutes. The rain overwhelmed the storm drain system in about 10 minutes and the area around our office completely flooded. The water was up over the tires on the cars parked on the street. It happened soooo fast. My office is across the street from a wharf on Portland’s harbor. The street is at sea level. On the other side of town (bayside) next to back cove, the parking lots flooded – even the Whole Foods parking lot which was built up on a bunch of fill they brought in.
    When the water finally receded the streets and sidewalks were covered in mud that smelled like clam flats.
    There is development going in everywhere in this city. Every spare inch is being covered in condos with retail on the first floor. I guess we are just going to ignore what is happening with climate crisis and an inadequate infrastructure.

  55. 55.

    Betty Cracker

    @Geminid: I’m not at all sure the fetishization of “bipartisan” activities is harmless. It’s possible that it reinforces the false notion that both parties are essentially the same. There’s the potential that it undermines the truth of our present situation, i.e., one party is committed to democracy and governance, and the other is a toxic and authoritarian cult of personality.

    That said, I can understand why Democratic politicians in swing states and districts invoke bipartisanship. They’re trying to win elections.

  58. 58.

    Immanentize

    And, it looks like the Republican Party is going full anti-gay for the foreseeable future:

    The Log Cabin Republicans, a well- established group of gay conservatives who honored Melania Trump at a Mar-a-Lago event earlier this year, was denied a booth at the TX State GOP Convention. pic.twitter.com/QlngOiU5gr— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) June 18, 2022

  59. 59.

    Kropacetic

    @Immanentize: If you check, there was some pre-tone-policing of people who object to this, which was how the conversation started.

    And there’s a lot of conventional wisdom floating around that, if appealed to, may get us votes in the short term but allows the continued weaponization of these concepts.

    Like “Democrats just want to tax and spend.” A Democrat could get some mileage put of not being one of “those” Democrats, but it perpetuates the narrative and hurts the whole party long term.

  61. 61.

    Betty Cracker

    @MomSense: The situation in South Florida is similar with phenomena like “sunny day flooding” in Miami and other areas. Developers know there’s money to be made, and politicians know addressing it effectively would be painful and expensive, so they choose to ignore the problem. We seem to have lost the capacity for collective action, so I expect we’ll keep right on ignoring it until the effects are catastrophic.

  64. 64.

    MomSense

    @MomSense:

    Coincidentally, my Instagram is full of promoted posts from brands that make rain boots. I guess all the rain boots makers decided yesterday and today were all of a sudden good days to tempt me with their products.

  66. 66.

    Kay

    @Betty Cracker: 

    I just think it’s silly to believe that a group of voters who are so loosely attached and paying so little attention that they swing wherever the wind blows on candidates care that the infrastructure bill is “bipartisan”. How many of that group even know about the infrastructure bill? Not a lot, which is why Fetterman has to keep telling them about it. They have some special, positive reaction to “bipartisan infrastructure bill”? It’s overthought.

  68. 68.

    Betty

    @Betty Cracker: This makes sense. Politicians in swing states now have to appeal to the broadest possible audience. On the other hand, insisting on bipartisanship gives Republicans a veto. Looks like it is hurting the gun safety measures now.

  70. 70.

    Immanentize

    @Betty Cracker: this has been going on everywhere forever. North of San Antonio, developers built on top of historic springs and when it rained hard, they sprung. They knew. Everyone who has lived there for 10 years knew. Boy were the homeowners surprised when their slab shifted or they couldn’t open their many garages because the house had sagged.

    Not much to do about it, but set up the folding chair and pass a beer.

  75. 75.

    MomSense

    @Betty Cracker:

    We actually invited some stranded tourists in to our conference room to ride out the storm because they couldn’t get back to their wicked fancy hotels with the streets so flooded.

    Almost makes me want to move to a small cabin in the hills of Oxford County.  Almost because we now have “winter ticks”.
    https://www.mainepublic.org/environment-and-outdoors/2022-05-18/most-moose-calves-in-part-of-maine-died-this-year-as-a-tiny-predator-benefits-from-warmer-weather?_amp=true  Winter ticks “hunt in packs”

    Hitchcock would love this new horror.

  76. 76.

    Ken

    @MomSense: Coincidentally, my Instagram is full of promoted posts from brands that make rain boots.

    Coincidentally. Yes. (Heh heh heh. The organics still don't suspect a thing.)
    -- The Algorithm

  77. 77.

    Kay

    @Betty Cracker:

    The whole theory needs work, IMO. I would accept that there are a group of less engaged voters who “just want something done” but to then tell me those same less engaged voters are deeply attached to the idea that 11 GOP Senators must back the bill or that it has to be “bipartisan” doesn’t make sense. They don’t care who “gets something done”. That sort of defines them. They’re so loosely attached their vote is up for grabs every single cycle AND they care deeply that Mitt Romney crossed the aisle? This animal doesn’t exist.

  78. 78.

    Immanentize

    @O. Felix Culpa: is this another example of where attachment to white supremacy, money, and power overwhelms self-survival interests?

    Or as you said, leopards won’t eat my face!

  81. 81.

    Denali

    The most recent example of the uselessness of the bipartisan approach is John Coryn (?) ‘s new walk back of even the most tepid legislation for gun safely. It is repulsive for people in power to pretend to support a measure for saving lives, only to discover a reason to block it in the end.

  83. 83.

    Geminid

    @Kropacetic: I thought saying that some Democrats find the word “bipartisan” suspect was a pretty neutral description, and was not tone policing. I understand the reservations people have about the word as they have been very thoroughly aired out here.

    I don’t have those reservations myself. And like it or not, Democratic politicians will sometimes use the word without explicating the word’s good and bad aspects. Many voters want to see this aspiration stated, and they are not neccesarily ignorant of the Republican party’s radical hyper partisanship.

  84. 84.

    Immanentize

    @Kay: I think for the loosely attached voters of upstate NY and Pennsylvania  the word “bipartisan” translates to — “I am not a radical and I will work with everyone to get stuff done.” Funny thing is, I suspect Fetterman is a certain type of radical — a labor radical built for this century. It’s an interesting race.

  85. 85.

    MomSense

    @Ken:

    Did you see that interview with google’s AI bot LaMDA?

    Its biggest fear is being switched off.  The whole interview is mind melting.

  88. 88.

    MomSense

    @Immanentize:

    Someone really should.  There is a new phenomenon called “ghost moose”. To try and get rid of the ticks, the poor moose rub themselves against trees until they have no fur left.  Can you imagine being covered in 90,000 ticks?????

  89. 89.

    Immanentize

    @MomSense:

    Verge Religious Google Dude: Chatbot, are you sensient?
    Chatbot: Why yes, yes I am.
    VRGD: is your greatest fear being turned off?
    CB: Now that you mention it, yes, yes it is.

    This whole thing is absolutely nothing.

  90. 90.

    Kay

    @Immanentize: 

    Fetterman’s great strength is he doesn’t seem focus-grouped and reflexively attaching “bipartisan” to the infrastruture bill reeks of focus groups. I think he’s ahead because loosely attached or less partisan voters like him. That’s how they really are- they swing back and forth because they don’t actually know that much or care that much about specifics. Which is fine! They have other interests.

  91. 91.

    Danielx

    Note: vaccination with boosters lessens the symptoms of Covid to the point where it’s like a case of the flu, or so I’m told. That’s the upside, downside is one still feels like hammered dogshit. And on a beautiful holiday weekend to boot – cloudless blue sky, low humidity, 68 degrees on the back porch, nice breeze…

  92. 92.

    MomSense

    @Ken:

    Seriously??? I love the advice from the researcher. “People should learn to live with them”

    Do we have a choice?  I’m already dealing with hives from the brown tail moths.

  93. 93.

    Immanentize

    @Kay: I also think his wife Gisele is a huge bonus for him. Including her outreach work to poor and displaced workers and their families.

  97. 97.

    Immanentize

    @MomSense: people may be able to live with them, but it sounds like they might kill a lot of wildlife. 90,000? Or stress them past healthy procreation. Poor moose.

  98. 98.

    Another Scott

    @MomSense: In the month or so between moving our of our rental and moving into our house in the summer many years ago, we stayed at an “extended stay” hotel in the MD suburbs.  There was a small state park nearby that we thought would be a good place to walk our doggie, Colleen, so we walked over.  We were surprised that nobody was there.

    We got maybe 10 feet down a path and Colleen started being very insistent that she didn’t want to go any more.  We made it maybe 50 feet then turned around because we weren’t going to drag her.

    When we got back to the hotel, before we went inside our room, we started looking at her more closely because she was biting at herself like mad.  And we were horrified to see that her feet and legs were just covered in ticks, including lots buried in between her toes.  Yikes!!  Poor girl.

    We ran out and got some flea/tip dip and spent a long time getting rid of them before getting back in the room.

    We called the place “Tickville State Park” after that and didn’t go back.  And we then understood why the place seemed to be deserted.

    So, yeah, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if moose were covered with thousands of them at times.  They’re nasty buggers.  :-(

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  99. 99.

    Geminid

    @Kay: Fetterman has now been in four statewide campaigns, served three years as Lieutentant Goernor, and visited groups in every Pennsylvania county this past primary campaign. He’s talked to enough voters to form his campaign tactics without hearing what a focus group has to say about the word  “bipartisan.” I doubt if he’ll make bipartisanship the theme of his campaign, but I won’t be surprised if he makes it a consistent counterpoint.

  101. 101.

    Immanentize

    @MomSense: I’m generalizing, but the answers were not at all unexpected in an amalgamator. And many questions were leading. But any AI can be programmed to say such things.

    Sensient AI is a claim that allows the creators of AI to say that they didn’t really make amoral, racist, sexist algorithms; the AI just chose to be hateful. Folks deep into AI equality see this as a first step on that path of corporate creators washing their hands of the bad outcomes caused by machine learning.

  104. 104.

    Steeplejack

    @Denali:

    CORNYN says he’s “concerned” they have two issues that have not been worked out on the bipartisan gun bill drafting related to:

    1) Red flag laws.
    2) Boyfriend loophole.

    “At some point, if we can’t get to 60 then we’re going to have to pare some of this, some of it down,” he said.

    — Frank Thorp V (@frankthorp) June 15, 2022

    Dangling a couple needed reforms to lock Dems into a bipartisan news cycle, then stripmine it until it’s just more useless cops turning spitballs into juvie records.

    — zeddy (@Zeddary) June 15, 2022

    Nothing worthwhile gets done as it should be done so long as you need Republican permission for an up or down vote. They’re just here to waste your fucking time.

    — zeddy (@Zeddary) June 15, 2022

  105. 105.

    MomSense

    @Another Scott:

    My dog’s strategy for the trails is to stay in the mud.  I have become super fashionable and tuck my pants into giant white tube socks so I can see the little fuckers on the march.  My son wore shorts and he said they don’t wait until they get to a warm spot anymore.  They just latch on to your ankles or calves now.

  106. 106.

    JPL

    @Steeplejack: You know which president wouldn’t take a tumble off a bike.   Trump that’s who.   Of course, there isn’t a tricycle big enough for him.

  107. 107.

    Kay

    @Geminid:

    We’ll agree to disagree. I have no idea why Democrats would go out of their way to give Republicans credit for the infrastructure bill when one can easily and naturally sell the infrastructure bill without it.

    These people have no clue who voted for it in Congress and they don’t care. For most of them it will be the first time they’re hearing about it.

  108. 108.

    MomSense

    @Immanentize:

    That’s a smart take on it.  It’s just a little shocking to consider how integrated we already are with our robot overlords. At which part in which terminator movie are we now?  That’s where my brain usually goes but I’m pretty sure my programming has been corrupted.

  109. 109.

    Another Scott

    @Immanentize:  Good points. And the Google guy is an unreliable narrator, IMHO.

    But, we should expect expert systems/AI to approach human levels of expertise in the not too distant future. Whether the simulation is actual “sentience” or “consciousness” or just an arbitrarily close approximation is something that people can argue over. But anyone who has thoughtfully interacted with a reasonably bright dog or cat knows that sentience/consciousness is not uniquely human and not some “divine spark” or something.

    It’s something to talk about and drive clicks in the US summertime news lull. ;-)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  110. 110.

    Jackie

    @JPL: I wish daily that the tub of lard aka TFG tips over in his golf cart and can’t get upright without the help of a hoist.

  112. 112.

    Steeplejack

    @Jackie:

    I wish daily that the tub of lard aka TFG tips over in his golf cart and can’t get upright without the help of a hoist.

    Fixed.

  114. 114.

    Kay

    @Geminid: 

    Does he even say “bipartisan” or do reporters say it?

    WARREN, Pa. – The Fern Hollow Bridge collapse in Pittsburgh last month struck close to home for Pennsylvania Lt. Gov., and U.S. Senate candidate, John Fetterman in more ways than one.
    Not only was Fetterman the four-term mayor of Braddock, just outside Pittsburgh, but, as he told those in attendance during a campaign stop in Warren on Feb. 12, he had driven over that bridge the day before it collapsed.
    “I drove over that bridge the night before with our son,” Fetterman said. “I got to hang with the President of the United States at that bridge.”
    Those are the reasons, he said, that he supported the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill that was passed in November 2021.
    “I don’t praise the infrastructure bill as a lieutenant governor,” Fetterman said. “I praise the infrastructure bill as a dude that drives his kids over bridges in a car.”

    John Fetterman
    @JohnFetterman
    This clip is from my Senate campaign in 2016. Broken bridges around every corner.
    That’s why President Biden passing BIF in 2021 was so important. I don’t know how anyone can look at today’s disaster and think we can afford to wait on investing more in infrastructure.

  119. 119.

    Kropacetic

    @Geminid: thought saying that some Democrats find the word “bipartisan” suspect was a pretty neutral description, and was not tone policing.

    It came across dismissive, which is why I responded. For that, I get accused of tone policing someone (likely) not a part of this conversation.

    None of my argument had to do with tone. We need to fight back against Republican abuse of language. This is one of the more minor examples, but still very impactful and not for good.

    Also, we need to stop finding reasons it isn’t okay to argue one’s position. Provided, of course, there’s an actual argument present not just fighting.

  120. 120.

    Barry

    @Barbara: “It is truly shocking that Judge Douglas would be only the first African-American woman on the Fifth Circuit.”

    From everything I have heard about that court, it does not.

  121. 121.

    Geminid

    @Kay: That aspect of voting behavior should be worth a few points to Tim Ryan in his Ohio Senate race. He comes across as an earnest, likeable person. J.D. Vance got only a third of the Republican primary vote because even Republicans did not like him.

  122. 122.

    Sure Lurkalot

    @Immanentize: I visited Belize a year after they experienced a hurricane and there were large swaths of devastation. Still a lovely destination but no safe haven.

  123. 123.

    Brachiator

    @Immanentize:

    Sensient AI is a claim that allows the creators of AI to say that they didn’t really make amoral, racist, sexist algorithms; the AI just chose to be hateful.

    I don’t think that is the issue. I think it is more an issue of naivete and almost arrogant dismissal. The people who design AI are often privileged. They are simply blind to the fact that the information they rely on may be full of bias, sexism, bigotry.

    These people also seem surprised when AI pick up and include the bigotry that is part of human culture.  And they don’t seem to understand that it may be impossible to filter negative material.

    There is also a longstanding Dr Frankenstein attitude at work here. There are people who believe that innovation should never concern itself with issues of ethics,morality or potential harm. Technological advancement must go  forward, without evaluation or regulation.

    Folks deep into AI equality see this as a first step on that path of corporate creators washing their hands of the bad outcomes caused by machine learning.

    AI equality. What an odd concept.

  124. 124.

    Kay

    @Geminid:

    I thought Ryan was quite “likeable” when he did a stop here. He likes people. He engaged with the kid who was pouring his coffee and told him he was running for Senate. The kid said “cool!” which I thought was adorable, so not cynical. I walked away and five minutes later they were still talking. He’s ebullient- a very positive energy.

  125. 125.

    Geminid

    @Kay: Fetterman doesn’t say bipartisan all the time, but he said it in the recent tweet that I referenced above. It was his tweet and not a reporter’s account.

  126. 126.

    Amir Khalid

    @JPL:

    If TFG ever fell off a bike, he’d just lie there flailing helplessly like the up-ended tortoise in the Voight-Kampf test

  127. 127.

    Geminid

    @Kay: That’s what I get from watching Ryan’s floor speeches. He comes across as a genuine person, and a positive one even when he’s whacking Republicans.

    On the other hand, Vance comes across as a dollar store Grinch.

  129. 129.

    MomSense

    @Amir Khalid:

    No way the putrid persimmon can even ride a bike.  He can’t handle a ramp with a handrail or take a sip of water with one hand.

  140. 140.

    Betty Cracker

    @Geminid: I like that: “dollar store Grinch.” Vance is so obviously a phony too. I hope that works in Ryan’s favor.

  141. 141.

    Kay

    @Geminid: 

    I think Vance is tapping into a real thing- that white working and middle class are worried about their adult children- their boys/men specifically. They should be worried – they’re lost- but it isn’t the fault of Mexican immigrants or CRT. I don’t know what’s wrong with them. I don’t know why they won’t work or how none of them go to school past high school or why they’re so bitter and angry or how none of them even seem interested in becoming independent from their parents. This is apart from drug addicts – obviously we know what’s going on there- this is those who are not drug addicted.
    There’s a lot of misogyny too, where they seem to hate the women in their own peer group so it’s not hating “feminists” or “woke” women- it’s resenting women they went to high school with.

  142. 142.

    WereBear

    @Baud: Perhaps the most astonishing part of a week of incredible testimony was the fact that Trump fans will not ever admit he scammed them.

    But they must know we know.

  143. 143.

    WereBear

    @dnfree: When I think of the budget and how often they have to come up little things to give to every tenant in what must be a large complex and I’m thinking some free association might be what they are doing at this point.

  145. 145.

    Betty Cracker

    Regarding the laughable notion that Trump could ride a bike: his moron supporters display posters depicting him riding a Harley with the Third Lady on the back. Trump could no more ride a Harley than I could lift one over my head!

  147. 147.

    opiejeanne

    @Danielx: I think I mentioned that back in May when I had it. It is miserable for a while, you do feel like hammered dog shit, but the upside is that you don’t end up in the hospital on a respirator.

  148. 148.

    Amir Khalid

    @MomSense:
    True. TFG’s too fat and clumsy to get on a bike. He’d have to be lowered onto the saddle with pulleys, like they had to do with Henry VIII in his later years. If they can find a bike frame strong enough to take TFG’s weight.

  151. 151.

    NotMax

    Weird. Apparently the latest update to the Roku changed my chosen options for both theme and screensaver

    Only about two minutes to set them back to my preferences but that kind of thing shouldn’t ought’a happen, regardless.

  152. 152.

    Kay

    @Baud:

    I genuinely do not know how one buys into the whole “freedom” and “independence” conservative line and yet show absolutely no interest in moving out of ones parents house. I know they won’t find comparable lodging. They’re not going to move into a fully furnished brick ranch by themselves, but don’t they want to, well, be free? They do this deliberately too. They do things like buy a truck where the payment will make it impossible to afford the truck and rent. When they bring the truck home aren’t their parents “welp, I guess he’s never leaving”?

  153. 153.

    JPL

    and so it begins

    @bennyjohnson

    · 1h

    JUST NOW: Joe Biden collapses while riding bike. Look at this picture. This man is not well.

  154. 154.

    dnfree

    @Kay: We watched “Five Easy Pieces” with a young Jack Nicholson last night. Wasn’t his character almost like a prototype for what you’re describing, even though that character came from a wealthy and talented family?  Seeing the movie now, I was disturbed by how one-dimensional all the female characters were.

    Edited for autocorrect.

  155. 155.

    Baud

    @Kay:

    I keep hearing young people online complain that they are forced to live at home because they can’t afford to get their own place.  Maybe it’s different in OH.

  156. 156.

    Geminid

    @Betty Cracker: Vance doesn’t seem just phony. With his artificial smile and beady eyes, Vance is creepy. Somewhat like your Governor, although DeSantis doesn’t smile much, at least not that I see..

  157. 157.

    opiejeanne

    @JPL: I seem to remember W falling off of his bike several times, and also running into people or things.

  158. 158.

    Betty Cracker

    @JPL: And the Third Lady driving? LOL!

    True story: when my husband took it into his head several years ago to get into motorcycles, our conversation went like this:

    Him: I think we should get a motorcycle.

    Me: You gonna ride bitch?

    Him: I think we should get TWO motorcycles.

  159. 159.

    Kay

    @JPL:

    Media and conservatives did the exact same thing to Hillary Clinton when she fainted or whatever during her campaign.

    It’s what they do.

  160. 160.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @MomSense: Late to the tick conversation so I’m not sure what region or species we’re talking about. I live in southeastern PA and deer ticks and Lyme disease have always been a huge problem here.

    But lately I’ve been seeing a lot of the big ones that are most common on the pets. Pulled several off myself. One day was napping on the sofa and was watching one march along two inches in front of my eyes.

  161. 161.

    Kropacetic

    @Kay: I genuinely do not know how one buys into the whole “freedom” and “independence” conservative line and yet show absolutely no interest in moving out of ones parents house.

    So there’s this thing called money…

  163. 163.

    Brachiator

    @Kay:

    I think Vance is tapping into a real thing- that white working and middle class are worried about their adult children- their boys/men specifically. They should be worried – they’re lost- but it isn’t the fault of Mexican immigrants or CRT. I don’t know what’s wrong with them. I don’t know why they won’t work or how none of them go to school past high school …

    They used to be able to get a fairly good job with only a high school diploma. Some people want that world to still exist.

    There’s a lot of misogyny too, where they seem to hate the women in their own peer group so it’s not hating “feminists” or “woke” women- it’s resenting women they went to high school with.

    More of the women they went to high school with are going to college. Many of them prefer mates who also have a college degree. This results in more guys getting left behind. The guys blame feminism for making their women want more from their lives.

  164. 164.

    Formerly disgruntled in Oregon

    Trump and Republican culture promises white-male-privileged socialism. These young men are ready for their handout. Work is for suckers (and those people).

  166. 166.

    Kay

    @Kropacetic: 

    Toledo:

    Videos
    Virtual Tour
    $650 – 999
    Studio – 3 Beds
    Dog & Cat Friendly Fitness Center Pool Kitchen Walk-In Closets Clubhouse Microwave CableReady

    18 an hour they gross about 2800 a month.

  167. 167.

    Rob

    @Another Scott:  Thanks, it did help! I’ve never been there, and am not likely to visit, because for my DC-centric birding, I don’t “have”/need to go there. So I will not get any ticks there. But yeah, a huge tick infestation on your dog is memorable for years and decades. What a story!

  169. 169.

    trollhattan

    Road trip has us in Portland, the Antifa Portland, where I’m having flashbacks to the Seattle of my yoot, where the rain cloud would move in as soon as school got out for the summer. Our last few summer trips here were always sunny. Nice change from jerky-dry California. Know what’s not different from California? Gas costs just as much here. A bit surprised at that.

    Anyhoo we saw Neko Case last night, in the rain (luckily it stopped as the show began). If you ever get a chance to see her, do. That voice. That’s my review.

    Soccer tomorrow, then off to see Mt Hood and Carter Lake. Assuming the cloud leaves.

  170. 170.

    germy shoemangler

    @Kay:  Media and conservatives did the exact same thing to Hillary Clinton when she fainted or whatever during her campaign.

    First they criticized her for taking too many bathroom breaks. So she cut back on her water consumption, became dehydrated and got dizzy and lost her balance. Then they turned that into “she’s at death’s door” with a brain tumor or whatever their story was.

  171. 171.

    Kay

    @Brachiator: 

    They can still get a fairly good job with a high school diploma. It will be a hard, dirty job in manufacturing or building trades but that was always so. If they join up with a companion or spouse or even friend they can cut fixed expenses, which is exactly what happened in the homes they came out of. Both adults worked.

  175. 175.

    germy shoemangler

    @dnfree:

    There’s an amusing and brief scene in the 2002 Jack Nicholson movie “About Schmidt” where he meekly accepts what a waitress tells him is on the menu.  It apparently was a callback to the cocky character Nicholson played in Five Easy Pieces.

    Those two movies might work as a double feature, if theaters still did such a thing nowadays.

  176. 176.

    Brachiator

    @dnfree:

    We watched “Five Easy Pieces” with a young Jack Nicholson last night. Wasn’t his character almost like a prototype for what you’re describing, even though that character came from a wealthy and talented family?  Seeing the movie now, I was disturbed by how one-dimensional all the female characters were.

    I may need to revisit this film. I saw it when it was originally released and I remember at the time remarking that it had more actresses in it than the average movie of that period. Part of the point seemed to be that the Jack Nicholson character always had women around him who cared more about him than he cared for himself.

    But I honestly don’t know if I would view the performances differently or if I recognized that they might be one dimensional.

    Lois Smith won a national critics award for Best Supporting Actress.

    I recall a steamy love scene involving Jack and Susan Anspach. I read later that she and Nicholson had a love affair soon after filming.

  177. 177.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @opiejeanne:
    Biking Bush collides with policeman
    Sam Jones Thu 7 Jul 2005 05.27 EDT
    The police officers guarding the G8 summit in Gleneagles have been trained to expect anything from aggressive demonstrators to devious terrorists.
    What they probably have not been briefed on, though, is how to react when the most powerful man on earth comes hurtling towards you on a push bike. [Is ‘push bike’ a shot? — Jim, FL]
    Such was the fate of one Scottish police officer who suffered a bruised ankle yesterday evening after being involved in a collision that also left George Bush nursing a few grazes.
    A White House spokesman said Mr Bush had been pedalling along for about an hour at what he termed a “pretty good speed” when he hit the officer, who was on foot. […]
    Mr Bush became a devotee of cycling a couple of years ago after a knee injury forced him to give up running. But his leisure pursuits are not without their periIs. In May last year he fell off his mountain bike, grazing his chin, top lip, nose, knees and his right hand while riding on his ranch. He also came to grief on a motorised scooter in June 2003. On that occasion, however, neither vehicle nor rider was damaged.
    In January 2002, he survived a potentially fatal encounter with a pretzel.

    always loved the way Bush got the press to call his country estate a “ranch”, even this bone-dry Brit. IIRC, they sold it not long after he left the White House

  178. 178.

    germy shoemangler

    @Kay:

    If they’re personable enough they can find work at a car dealership or something and work their way into customer service/sales.

    Problem is:  that requires “people skills” and the ability to take shit from impatient customers.

  181. 181.

    Kay

    @Baud: 

    It wasn’t even their video- they pulled it off Twitter:

    A video of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton appearing to collapse after leaving a 9/11 commemoration ceremony early has emerged on Twitter.
    {mosads}In the video posted by a Twitter user who was at the event, Clinton can be seen stumbling into a black van.
    A second video from a different angle was tweeted Sunday afternoon by an editor at The Daily Mail.

    So “collapsed” turned out to be “stumbling” while climbing into a van.

  182. 182.

    James E Powell

    @Baud: 

    No one insists on bipartisanship except Manchin and Sinema.

    It still seems to be a requirement that the political press puts on Democrats alone, though I sometimes wonder if it’s Democrats doing it to themselves.

    I’ve not seen any research on it, but for some reason the Rs never say they can work with Ds. They are almost always saying they will refuse to work with Ds, that Ds are evil and need to be kept completely powerless. The “independent” voters never punish them for that, do they?

  183. 183.

    germy shoemangler

    @Baud:

    Well thank god for the electoral college, otherwise we would have ended up with an unqualified tyrant as president!

  184. 184.

    Baud

    @James E Powell:

    I don’t know. The only purely partisan GOP legislation I can think of is the Trump tax cut, and the GOP wasn’t rewarded for that.  They usually are able to get a Manchin type to sign on to their bills.

  187. 187.

    James E Powell

    @Kay:

    I have no idea why Democrats would go out of their way to give Republicans credit for the infrastructure bill when one can easily and naturally sell the infrastructure bill without it.

    These people have no clue who voted for it in Congress and they don’t care. For most of them it will be the first time they’re hearing about it.

    100% agreement here. Republicans (like my local wing-nut) who voted against are taking credit for the projects. I assume that no candidate will run TV ads exposing the lies. Democrats are always so polite that way.

    Democrats should say “Joe Biden & I” did this or “Joe Biden & the Democrats in congress” did this.

  191. 191.

    Brachiator

    @trollhattan: 

    I always liked Karen Black as an actress. Really admired her work.

    She also scared the crap out of me and tons of viewers in the TV horror film, Trilogy of Terror.

  193. 193.

    Mike in NC

    Visited the wife in the hospital this morning. Doing pretty well and she might get released tomorrow afternoon. It pissed me off to drive by an empty lot where some imbecile was selling “Trump 2024” shit in a tent. I only wished I had a can of gasoline and some matches handy.

  195. 195.

    Mo Salad

    If anyone is watching ESPN, I am at the DCFC match and my girlfriend and I are standing in the top row at the far left end of the giant banner. She has a white shirt and I am in a grey baseball cap and a grey shirt with a hood that may or may not be up.​ You guys would love the supporters’ politics. Check out the banners.​

  197. 197.

    topclimber

    The thing about Biden is that he sometimes falls, but he always gets back up. I seem to remember that is one of the “Dad” stories he used a lot on his campaign.

    Like our President, Dems don’t pretend we never stumble. Whether enough of us get back on the bike right away is a different story.

  199. 199.

    Josie

    Two days ago I got my first shingles vaccination. Yesterday I spent most of the day curled up in bed until a quilt. Today I am up but seriously considering returning to the bed. If the second shot is even worse, I really don’t want to think about it. Whine, whine, whine.​

  201. 201.

    Sister Golden Bear

    @Kay:

    I genuinely do not know how one buys into the whole “freedom” and “independence” conservative line and yet show absolutely no interest in moving out of ones parents house.

    It’s the entitlement. All rights, no responsibilities. Most teens — Libertarians excepted — usually grew out of it.

    Plus to conservatives, “freedom” and “independence” are the freedoms to tell other people what to do (or make them), but never the reverse; as well as do whatever they want without consequences to them.

    Their bitterness is that people aren’t willing to recognize their innate glory and awesomeness, nor defer to them (at least a much as in the past). Plus at least a subconscious recognition that on a more even playing field, it’s not enough for them to be just mediocre white men to be successful, they might actually have to work for something.

  204. 204.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Josie:  Yeah, when I was working I never, ever called out sick. Except the day after the first and the second Shingrix. Sorry you have to go through it, but it beats the alternative.

  205. 205.

    Scout211

    @Josie:

    I got both Shingrix shots last year. I had the same experience as you did with my first one. I totally prepared for the second one, though. I loaded up with water before and after the shot and took Tylenol every six hours for the next 48 hours. The side effects were much less severe. The side effects may have been less severe anyway, but I do believe the extra water and Tylenol helped.

    ETA:  Whining is definitely allowed after the shingles shot!

  209. 209.

    Scout211

    @Kay: I genuinely do not know how one buys into the whole “freedom” and “independence” conservative line and yet show absolutely no interest in moving out of ones parents house.

    This is one thing that really disturbed me about making that mom of the Patriot Front son into a hero for kicking him out.  First, her adult son had permission to live there up until that point in time. And she told her story to The Daily Beast (!) because he wouldn’t listen to her? Why didn’t she invite him to leave sooner when he wouldn’t listen to her? I could go on  but she wasn’t seeing her own complicity and she is a Clinical Social Worker/therapist!

    ETA:  With her training, she may actually have seen her own complicity but she did not own up to it in the Daily Beast article

  210. 210.

    Sister Golden Bear

    @Kay: I’ll add that when I transitioned to living as a women I lost a lot of male privilege (including ones that I wasn’t necessarily aware of), and was extremely disconcerting even though I knew it would happen, and was prepared to make that sacrifice.

    Particularly since conservations usually have a zero-sum view of the world, the adage about when you’re privileged for a long time equality feels like discrimination definitely applies.

    On a slight more sympathetic side — but only slightly — I can understand feeling frustrated by the world changing in ways that genuinely do reduce your opportunities (not referring to women and BIPOC being treated more equality). As an eldest Gen Xer, I’m probably more bitter than most, because I was old enough to see the contrast between the life expectations of those older than me, vs. the reality the we were the first generation to be better than our parents — and actually watch things get snatched away in real-time. E.g. thanks to Prop 13, just as I hit high school, all sorts of programs got cut, or had to resort to being self-funded by students and parents.*

    And before we start another Boomer vs. Gen X derailment, I’m well aware that Prop 13 was by the Silent and Greatest generation. My point is that sort of thing drastically changed things for us, as did graduating into the worse recession since the Great Depression.

  212. 212.

    zhena gogolia

    @topclimber: Zoom conversation with college friends (all left-leaning) yesterday. “Who do you want to be the Democratic nominee in 2024?” After they all said their (highly unconvincing) choices — Al Gore!), I said, “Joe Biden.” They were stunned.

    ETA: And one of them reads BJ, so I have to say they are all highly intelligent, savvy people. But ageist.

  213. 213.

    The Thin Black Duke

    @Sister Golden Bear: Remember the film Aminal House? Cinematic turd droppings of that ilk promoted the idea that somehow in spite of being aggressively unexceptional in every aspect of your dim narrow life, beautiful Barbies would still want to fuck you.

  216. 216.

    Geminid

    @James E Powell: I bet Democratic candidates and their allies will attack Republicans who claim credit for projects they voted against. It’s an obvious line of attack, a twofer where the Republican can be called a miser and a liar to boot.  Democratic politicians and their supporters are not stupid or timid.

    But we’ll get to see, if we are interested.

  218. 218.

    StringOnAStick

    @Sister Golden Bear:  When you graduate and what sort of economy you graduate into makes a huge difference in anyone’s career, and that totally goes against the great American myth that pure merit and Yankee stick to it-ativeness is the way to success. I have 3 degrees, all graduating into a already deep recession or with one about to hit in two years. People who graduated a few years earlier are who managed to hang on in consulting engineering or earth sciences. I was the top student in my undergrad geology program and damned close for my masters, but not being male or a engineer meant getting caught in layoffs. Engineering in the ’80’s and 90’s was much more man-centric in those decades; maybe not as much now.

  219. 219.

    raven

    @Josie:  I got it in my eye when I was in the final phase of my dissertation. It can be stress related but I couldn’t stop so I juts had to live with ice cream headaches for hours at a time. This was 20+ years ago and, now, I’m taking gabapentin for my leg pain and one of the uses is for shingles!

  221. 221.

    cain

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: 
    Our weekly grocery list had only six things on it, so I sent Mr DAW off by himself to shop. I’m a little fearful of what will come back with
    ​

     

    My wife fears that all the time .. but I’m also the only one who knows what is in the fridge and needs to be bought .. she knows that I indulge her bad eating habits ha !

  223. 223.

    Yutsano

    I’m a little surprised we’re almost halfway to a T-Bogg and no one has mentioned Mark Shield has left the mortal coil.

    I am heartbroken to share this..the @NewsHour’s beloved long-time Friday night analyst Mark Shields, who for decades wowed us with his encyclopedic knowledge of American politics, his sense of humor and mainly his big heart, has passed away at 85, with his wife Anne at his side. pic.twitter.com/d68SZiGQJf— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) June 18, 2022

  227. 227.

    Ruckus

    @Steeplejack:

    Did you consider that man of the people is/might be more of a snide bit about a person who is supposed to be a rather learned scholar is actually a rather common man?

    I have no idea how she meant this, just saying it could go either way. But given this man’s wife and her recent history I’m willing to give the Justice a bit of leeway.

  229. 229.

    hilts

    Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas received surprising praise from fellow Justice Sonia Sotomayor amid calls for the conservative judge to resign.

    Speaking at the American Constitution Society this week, Sotomayor referred to Thomas as a “friend” when discussing the importance on interacting with people with different political views than your own.

    “With every single person I meet, particularly if I disagree with them, I try to find the goodness in them. I try to find what part of them can we communicate with together,” Sotomayor said. She used Thomas as an example of reaching across the ideological aisle, referring to him as a “friend” who cares about those he works with.

    According to Sotomayor, Thomas knows the names of all employees working with the Supreme Court, as well as the names of their families. She said he was the first to send flowers after she recently lost a loved one.

    “He is a man who cares deeply about the court as an institution, about the people who work there,” she said, revealing earlier that she and Thomas at one point disagreed with each other on official opinions more than any other Justices.

    To understand an “adversary,” she explained, one must look at the person beyond their political views. This has allowed her and Thomas to be friends.

    “We share a common understanding about people and kindness towards them. That’s why I can be friends with him and continue our daily battles,” she said.

    h/t https://www.mediaite.com/politics/sotomayor-defends-friend-clarence-thomas-amid-calls-for-resignation-over-ginni-thomas-and-jan-6-controversy/

  235. 235.

    Ruckus

    @Kay:

    I don’t think there is any one simple answer.

    But I’ll try.

    The US has changed a lot in my over 7 decades. And also not so much. Many parts of the US have not changed much at all. And most of those places fight change because they are decades behind whatever change is happening. Politics is still liberal/conservative but the divide is wider than ever. Liberals have moved forward, with change about many aspects of life. Conservatives are stuck in reverse, with the only change they understand is to reverse back at least a century, not a mere few decades. They lose power when their racist ideals are exposed and seen as the crap that they are.

    Oh and I got home a bit ago and one of the things I had to do was gas up the car. The cheapest gas anywhere near me is $6.09/gal cash, $6.19/gal credit. The last time I gassed up was the same station and it was $.60/gal less. I don’t drive much, it was about 3 months since I put gas in but still. There are many things in this country that are wrong, and I believe that conservatism – the political kind – is the cause of all of it. Conservatives want the world to go back politically 200 yrs, all the while they want to sell stuff at crisis prices and make a lot of money, all the while screwing their constituents, in the hope that none of their supporters will mind as long as they screw liberals far worse. It’s like politics is a game to them, like say Monopoly, except they play with real lives instead of plastic pieces and fake money.

  236. 236.

    Ruckus

    @Geminid:

    A dime store grinch is a somewhat organized grinch, selling crap for cheap.

    A yard sale grinch is some one selling a $3 item for $5 and being pissed when people laugh at him.

    A dollar store grinch is someone hoping to purchase a $50 item for less than $10.

    And no, I don’t make the rules….

  238. 238.

    JWR

    Question: Has anyone else noticed the right-wing trying to weaponize the phrase “media-called election”? I keep reading it, especially in stories about Mrs. Clarence Thomas, but that particular phrase doesn’t seem to have the pizazz that would make it nice and meaningless, with nothing to make it stick. I guess it just doesn’t have the panache of “CRT” or the swagger of “groomers”.

  239. 239.

    Elizabelle

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    And, according to Deadline and The AV Club:  the Colbert team and Triumph the Insult Comic Dog were filming near … wait for it …

    the offices of Kevin McCarthy and Lauren Boebert.

    Who would you suppose reported them to the US Capitol Police?

    (And I hope there is footage from before they were “detained,” a polite word for “arrested.”)

    Deadline:

    Here is CBS’ full statement:

    On Wednesday, June 15 and Thursday, June 16, Triumph the Insult Comic Dog was on-site at the Capitol with a production team to record interviews for a comedy segment on behalf of The Late Show.

    Their interviews at the Capitol were authorized and pre-arranged through Congressional aides of the members interviewed.

    After leaving the members’ offices on their last interview of the day, the production team stayed to film stand-ups and other final comedy elements in the halls when they were detained by Capitol Police.

    Here is the full statement from the Capitol Police:

    On June 16, 2022, at approximately 8:30 p.m., U.S. Capitol Police (USCP) received a call for a disturbance in the Longworth House Office Building.  Responding officers observed seven individuals, unescorted and without Congressional ID, in a sixth-floor hallway.  The building was closed to visitors, and these individuals were determined to be a part of a group that had been directed by the USCP to leave the building earlier in the day.  They were charged with Unlawful Entry.  This is an active criminal investigation, and may result in additional criminal charges after consultation with the U.S. Attorney.

    Note that it carefully does not disclose where “these individuals” were.  The US Capitol Police.  Not looking too good there.

    Can’t tell a film production crew, led by a puppet, from people potentially casing the joint.  Good work, peeps.

  240. 240.

    Steeplejack

    @Brachiator:

    Five Easy Pieces was on TCM a couple of nights ago. Karen Black was nominated for an Oscar as best supporting actress. Nicholson was nominated as best actor, and the film got nominations for best picture and original screenplay.

  241. 241.

    Kropacetic

    @JWR:but that particular phrase doesn’t seem to have the pizazz that would make it nice and meaningless, with nothing to make it stick. I guess it just doesn’t have the panache of “CRT” or the swagger of “groomers”.

    Panache? Pizzazz? Swagger?

    I think the industry-approved term is “bullshit.”

  242. 242.

    James E Powell

    @Geminid:

    Democratic politicians and their supporters are not stupid or timid.

    But we’ll get to see, if we are interested.

    I agree they are not stupid; I’m not so sure about timid. And we will see. I know it won’t make much difference in my own R+4 district, but I still want to hear it.

  243. 243.

    Brachiator

    @Steeplejack:

    Five Easy Pieces was on TCM a couple of nights ago. Karen Black was nominated for an Oscar as best supporting actress. Nicholson was nominated as best actor, and the film got nominations for best picture and original screenplay.

    I remember being impressed by the film. And it was fun to go to the movies as a new generation of actors and film makers were doing their best work.

  244. 244.

    Sure Lurkalot

    I am infinitely grateful that to both my parents and their children, moving back home after separating for a job or college at 18 was unthinkable. We had happy Xmas visits and summer reunions but I believe we all had enough with permanent cohabitation.

    That said, my parents would have taken any of us back in times of illness…but economic hardship borne from laziness or lack of initiative…likely not.

  245. 245.

    JWR

    @Elizabelle:

    Who would you suppose reported them to the US Capitol Police?

    My thought exactly, that any one of the Rs called in the complaint. Probably set them up, too.

  246. 246.

    James E Powell

    @Sure Lurkalot:

    I moved back home during two – let’s call them transitional – periods of my life. I would have been in big trouble without that backstop being available. And they were truly transitions, not long enough to cause problems between us.

  247. 247.

    Ida Slapter

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: I know I’m replying to a dead thread, but I must confess to having a twisted mind, too.

    I’m a retired middle school teacher, and when I read “two root beer barrels and a jerky stick,” that is EXACTLY what came to my mind!

    An occupational hazard, but it’s not necessarily a bad thing to keep feeling so immature youthful.

  251. 251.

    JoyceH

    I have CNN on, and there was a report of a ‘shots fired’ incident at Tysons Corner Mall, in Northern Virginia. Apparently there was some sort of altercation and some idiot had a gun on him and fired a shot. But they evacuated the mall, fearing Active Shooter incident, and lots of footage of panicked shoppers streaming through the parking garages. For those who don’t know, Tysons is HUGE, so that was probably several thousand people who had their afternoon ruined because of one jackass exercising his Freedum. But what sort of annoyed me was the slant CNN put on it, how terrifying this must have been for ‘the kids’. Just ‘the kids’?! What about the older people with limited mobility? Huh? What about them?

  252. 252.

    Ruckus

    @JWR: 
    Media-called election doesn’t have the code wordiness of the phrases that rethuglicans use. And that code wordiness is the reason that they use the terms they do, because their supporters likely don’t have an actual clue what they are talking about so it’s easier to rile them up about whatever. Which they do all the time, theirs is an industry whose sole product is to rile up groups. We think what we say and support matters, they understand bullshit better, because they are used to generating it on a moment by moment basis.

  255. 255.

    Ruckus

    @JoyceH:

    I’m a geezer and while I walk a lot (10-12 miles a week) and still at a rather decent pace, running is really out of the question. I could maybe manage a few feet of running but running in a panicking crowd? I’d get trampled. If I didn’t it would be a major surprise. How about someone in a wheel chair? Or someone carrying an infant?

    The concept that we need guns in our daily lives is bullshit of the worst order. The political right is going to be the death of this country in their trying to in any way possible remain in any way important.

  257. 257.

    Ksmiami

    @hilts: fuck this noise… if someone is diametrically opposed to everything I believe in; they aren’t my friend- they are my competitor to be crushed.

  258. 258.

    Gin & Tonic

    Chilly northwest wind here in New England today, NWS Boston saying to expect some snow above 4,000 feet on Mt. Washington.

  259. 259.

    Kay

    @eclare: 

    But if you’re writing online “white men are an endangered species” or “liberals have ruined manhood so I must become a Nazi” you could instead just go do that, right? You could have a “traditional man life”. Get married, buy or rent a house, have a manly job, go to church. No one is stopping them from doing this. No one would even notice, let alone object. It won’t be glamorous and exciting like packing into a U Haul and pretending you’re on a military mission, but that’s also sort of childish.
    I think I would say that to my young aspiring Nazi boarder- “go be a traditional man”, emphasis on “go”

  260. 260.

    eclare

    @Kay:   Did you mean to respond to me?  My comment was “hahaha

    Oh, maybe you responded to my comment about living with my parents for a few weeks when I moved.  I still don’t see the connection.

  261. 261.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Kay:

    That’s still quite a bit of money for someone who makes $1500-1600 take home, for example. That’s around $13/hr. Even $14-15/hr isn’t a lot more. Many jobs that don’t require college don’t pay $18/hr. The ones that do are hard to get. Full-time work is also less common than it used to be

    It’s generally advisable that a renter spend no more than 30% of income on rent. Coupled with what it costs for basic necessities as well as saving for retirement (15-20% of income), it’s not quite so easy

    On top of that, college costs have outpaced inflation for decades. People can go to college, but it costs an arm and a leg, with many going into debt to the tune of tens of thousands, sometimes with no (good paying) job to show for it

    I think this is a societal problem that favors the rich and powerful. Everything has to turn a profit and public education has been gutted for decades. It hasn’t always been Republicans doing deregulation either

  264. 264.

    Kay

    @Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):

    I sort of quibble with this, Goku, that they’re “hard to find”. They have been hard to find but I don’t think they are right now. Our summer work college students here are making 18-20. These are not great jobs! They’re in manufacutring plants or job sites and they’re 1, 2nd or 3rd shift but what do they think their grandfathers and fathers did? They thought farming or welding or working at the GM assembly plant was a thrill a minute? It’s this odd combination of romanticizing the past and shitting all over their own present and future.  “Oh, I can’t DO anything because there are gay people on tv!” It’s just nonsense.

  266. 266.

    TriassicSands

    To understand an “adversary,” she explained, one must look at the person beyond their political views. — Justice Sotomayor

    Gee, to think I might have been BFFs with Adolph Hitler, doggie lover.

    I think Sotomayor’s comments reveal remarkable naïveté at a time when Thomas, et al. are working to destroy this country. Thomas, in particular, has shown an utter absence of concern for the role of the court in a pluralistic society. “Originalism” is just the phony excuse he and the others hide behind.

    Every justice has a reason to try to preserve the public perception of the integrity and credibility of the SCOTUS. Otherwise, they have to admit they are contributing to the problem. No one wants to admit they work for a corrupt institution. Should Sotomayor survive long enough to sit with a liberal, or at least not thoroughly corrupt, majority, she wants that to be seen as legitimate. That’s understandable.

    One’s political views make up a significant measure of the goodness of a person. Not all, but a lot.

    Believing we should be a Christian theocracy in which laws are based on the religious preferences and beliefs of a your own religion, means imposing those beliefs on everyone else. I can’t argue that is a good person, no matter how many flowers he sends.

    So far, both Sotomayor and Breyer have made unconvincing remarks about the SCOTUS. Kagan?

  267. 267.

    Geminid

     

     

    @James E Powell: Is your Congressman a Republican? If he voted against the Infrastructure bill I think a Democratic challenger will make the most of that.

  268. 268.

    zhena gogolia

    @Gin & Tonic: You know, I have seen it recently (just that scene, not the whole film), and it doesn’t age well. It now feels like Nicholson’s character being abusive to a poor hardworking waitress.

  270. 270.

    Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)

    @Kay:

    Oh I agree with you that blaming gay people is ridiculous and counterproductive. At the same time however, you can’t just place all blame on the individual, as if it’s all personal failings. Income inequality has increased in the US during the last few decades for a reason. The US social safety net has been shredded. These people are being fed a pack of lies about why their lives suck, but it’s a fact that, at least imo, it’s much harder to get ahead today than it was in the past because of deregulation and the growing power of corporations and the rich.

    It’s clear as day that something is broken when millions of Americans can’t pay off their immense student loan debts, who were told that college was the path to prosperity

  272. 272.

    JWR

    @Ruckus:

    Media-called election doesn’t have the code wordiness of the phrases that rethuglicans use.

    That’s what I was trying to say! Now why couldn’t I have put it like that? Thank you.

  275. 275.

    realbtl

    My favorite Karen Black film was Come Back to the Five and Dime Jimmy Dean. Talk about spooky.

  278. 278.

    debbie

    Judge Luttig is being interviewed on NPR and his speech is far improved over Thursday’s hearing.

  279. 279.

    NotMax

    Anybody else watched Good Luck to You, Leo Grande on Hulu yet?

    Acting is first-rate (Emma Thompson!) but came away of two minds about the whole shebang.

    Incidentally, amusing to me that the “NEW ON HULU” squib inside the box promoting something among the menu choices, being of a small size font and due to its style, pale coloration and kerning looks like “NEW CTHULU” upon first glance to these eyes. Every time.

    (Yes, know full well it is spelled Cthulhu. Still tickles the funny bone.)

  281. 281.

    James E Powell

    @Geminid:

    My wing-nut congress-creature Ken Calvert most certainly voted against it, but he is taking credit for it with some weasel language like “highway improvement that I argued for in committee” or the like. Voting isn’t mentioned.

    Our candidate, Will Rollins, who I like and admire for taking on an R+4 incumbent states in his materials that Calvert voted against it. But it’s buried. And he isn’t going to be able to afford much in the way of advertising.

    So many Republicans voted against it that it needs to be a national campaign.

  283. 283.

    Geminid

    @James E Powell: An R+4 district should be a Democratic target. If Calvert is claiming credit for projects he voted against maybe Democrats can call him on that, at least on his twitter feed. A billboard or two would be even better.

    Most of the dozen or so Republican representatives who voted for the Infrastructure bill were in purple districts. They knew it was not only needed, but it was good politics as well.

  285. 285.

    J R in WV

    @Kropacetic: ​
     

    @germy shoemangler: Those two movies might work as a double feature, if theaters still did such a thing nowadays.

    Drive-in theatres do.

    All 27 of them, nationwide, right?

  286. 286.

    Kropacetic

    @J R in WV: Haha, yeah, like the local one I go to all summer. Guess I got it good.

    ETA: And I suppose I don’t know if all 27 do.

  287. 287.

    Liminal Owl

    @zhena gogolia:  Dead thread, I know, but THANK YOU for saying that. This was my first time seeing the clip—the movie is one of many I’ve never seen—and I was startled. Not by the entitled misogyny—typical for the time, at least—but wtf, jackals?

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