The ad below is for the U.S. Senate candidate who was bounced out of the Missouri governorship for allegedly kidnapping and threatening a woman he was having an affair with, plus for corrupt financial dealings. Now he’s acting out a violent home raid and hunt fantasy targeting fellow Republicans.
Presumably the object is to shoot the RINOs since he’s holding a gun. In follow-up tweets, he peddles RINO hunting merch and promises to help oust Mitch McConnell if elected to the Senate.
We are sick and tired of the Republicans in Name Only surrendering to Joe Biden & the radical Left.
Order your RINO Hunting Permit today! pic.twitter.com/XLMdJnAzSK
— Eric Greitens (@EricGreitens) June 20, 2022
Leopards, faces, etc. As irritating as intramural squabbles between Democratic factions are, at least we don’t threaten to shoot each other. (The closest we ever came to that level of stupidity that I can recall was Manchin’s dumb ad in which he shot a fake copy of the cap-and-trade bill with a rifle.)
Meanwhile, the Wingnut Wurlitzer plays on, as Steve M. notes:
This looks totally spontaneous and not coordinated at all. pic.twitter.com/9fMcnyXl92
— Steve M. (@nomoremister) June 20, 2022
It’s bullshit since mainstream media figures often talk about Biden’s age, as do Democrats in casual conversation in my experience. I seem to recall a lot of discussion of Biden’s age right here on this blog during the 2020 primary. If there was a prohibition against references to it after the election, I did not receive the memo.
Speaking of coordinated messaging, Republicans in Florida and national GOP propaganda outlets like Fox News are exploiting every opportunity to smear Mickey Mouse on DeSantis’s behalf. Example: one of the Arpaio-wannabe sheriffs here in FL (Grady Judd of Polk County), a big DeSantis booster, announced arrests in a sting operation to bust creepy men who try to lure teen girls online.
It’s good that they’re targeting creepers, but mini-Arpaio politicized it by announcing that one of the creeps was a bus driver at Disney World. Fox News picked it up and spread it nationally — headlining the Disney connection. Fox News didn’t provide info on where the other creeps scooped up in the sting worked, possibly because they were Republican officials and evangelical Christian clergymen.
I sure hope Disney’s army of lawyers and publicity people are paying attention to what wingnut media outlets are doing to the Disney brand at the behest of the DeSantis regime. The authoritarians have been smearing teachers, queer people, trans kids, etc., all along, and now they’re trying to make an example of Disney World to cow other corporations. They won’t stop until they’re stopped.
Open thread.
Baud
In 2016, people loved to talk about Hilary’s age until Bernie and Trump became her main opponents. Then that conversation mysteriously disappeared.
oatler
If the new religion is Hate The Left there are going to be religious schisms.
Elizabelle
I actually do think the “Biden is too old” shit is the wingnut wurlitzer.
It was the FTF NYTimes’ go to story, just as the J6 hearings landed. I guess it would have been a bad week for them to trawl through midwest diners, since the first hearing was very specific on what happened at the US Capitol.
Got to have some way of running the “Democrats in Disarray” concern trolling, especially when you see them being deadly effective and morally correct.
Baud
The irritating part is that the RINOs will come out for Greitens in the general elections while Dems will pass on their squabbles to their grandchildren.
Betty Cracker
@Baud: Good point. Similarly, if Trump is Biden’s opponent again, there will be little discussion of the age issue, whereas if it’s DeSantis, there will be little discussion of anything else.
Leto
Just a continual amping/normalization of the violent rhetoric until someone acts on it, then they’ll scree, “We never meant for that to happen!“
Leto
So they actually arrested Matt Butthead Gaetz? I kid, I kid… he is Butthead incarnate though.
Baud
Sounds heterosexual. Let’s punish the LGBT!
Danielx
They really are a pack of rabid weasels.
Cervantes
Ronald T. Dump is 76. Are we allowed to talk about that?
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Baud:
I wish there was a way for us to promote more of this squabbling among them so that it damages them
Raoul Paste
This will be a character test for the people of Missouri
Do you really want the party of Brownshirts and violence? Are you so thoroughly conditioned to hate Democrats?
Roger Moore
@Baud:
Of course the RINOs will come out for Greitens. Nobody thinks of themselves as a RINO, so they assume it’s talking about someone else.
West of the Rockies
Here’s my analogy… Democrats and Republicans could at one point function as something of an extended family (that more or less ended with Gingrich–who was begot by Limbaugh and rightwing rage media).
But now Republicans have become a mentally-ill domestic abuser who refuses treatment. There is no living with them. Leaving is dangerous but necessary (leaving abusers IS challenging and dangerous).
And the MSM is sort of like a church counselor urging us to see things from the violent abuser’s perspective and to agree that it’s our fault he is the way he is.
Elizabelle
@Cervantes:
I hope that individual is a convicted felon or so far in the weeds of a criminal prosecution that he is not a candidate.
Other than that, no interest in talking about his age.
Old Man Shadow
You would think at some point, the people these crusaders call RINOs would have a “My God, what have I done?” moment and do something to stop the monster they’ve made and unleashed, but no.
Elizabelle
@West of the Rockies: Good analogy. And yes, re the MSM. Never forget who owns it.
Kay
Really, really sick of this type of analysis. The whole country is not responsible for the actions of conservatives and it is not our duty to someone game out how to keep them out of power.
Conservatives need to take responsibility for the radicalization of their candidates and their voters. The rest of the country are not their babysitters.
Who are we kidding? This ad isn’t even that unusual. 50% of Right wing advertising for candidates is gun and violence porn. The only thing that makes this different is he’s hunting “RINOS”. If he were hunting immigrants it wouldn’t even be in the news.
BellaPea
I am seeing a huge amount of “Associated Press” articles bashing Biden and Dems. Bad polls, a lot of confirming that the midterms are a done deal for Repubs, etc. I looked up the company’s ownership on Wikipedia and it is run by a board of directors. I thought AP was thought to be the gold standard for objective reporting but this stuff is almost like opinion editorials.
Mike in NC
Just read about how Republicans in Texas have gone even farther off the rails. Many of us thought that impossible, seeing how they have one of the worst governors and attorney generals in the entire country. They had a shindig on Saturday where they declared Biden illegitimate, denounced Sen. Coryn for even talking about gun safety, and did a bunch of other insane shit. Rep. Crenshaw is now “Eyepatch McCain” as FOX News called him. They’re all about building the stupid wall again.
When was the last time we ever read about anything good coming out of Texas? Is it possible we can sell it back to Mexico?
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@West of the Rockies:
Great analogy
Chip Daniels
What’s important about the DeSantis abuse of power is how it affects mom and pop businesses who don’t have Disney’s army of attorneys on speed dial.
The message is that opposing the government will get you retaliation.
The Thin Black Duke
I hope that the corporate suits at Disney figure out that bending the knee to these assholes is bad for business. Going back to the Good Old Days where no one with an excess of melanin existed in White America is a dead end leading to bankruptcy. There ain’t enough of these goobers to make up the difference in lost revenue.
Rob
Greitens … he seems nice
Burnspbesq
@Raoul Paste:
I’m betting they fail.
MattF
@Mike in NC: It should be noted that the annual Texas GOP ‘platform’ has been completely bananas for many, many years. I used to look for it just to keep up with the concerns of the ‘over the edge and falling ever faster’ crowd. Probably not a good sign that someone has noticed the crazyness.
J R in WV
@Mike in NC:
SELL ig to Mexico? Dude! we should offer them hundreds of millions of $$ to take it off our hands!!!
Roger Moore
@West of the Rockies:
I think of the MSM as being like a family member who’s afraid of being abused themselves. They aren’t the main target of the abuse, but they know they can become a target if they ever stand up to the abuser, so they urge everyone to placate the abuser in hopes of keeping them quiet. Either way, they’re definitely an enabler.
Steeplejack
Re the Biden “age taboo”: Lemme see, Joe Biden was 78 when he took office. If—dog forbid—TFG wins the 2024 election, by fair means or foul, he will be 78 when he takes office in 2025. But I guess that will be okay, since he’s such a prime physical specimen and not a doddering old geezer like Biden.
Burnspbesq
@Mike in NC:
The Republican platform calls for a referendum on secession. Keep hope alive.
OzarkHillbilly
Obviously, you’ve never been to the great hate state of Misery.
Burnspbesq
Has everyone seen the letter that was sent to Kinzinger’s wife. He tweeted it.
Holy shit.
Ksmiami
@West of the Rockies: I don’t see how this resolves itself without us absolutely crushing these people for their own damn good
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@The Thin Black Duke:
Well, to be honest, it didn’t seem to hurt them when they’ve done it with foreign markets like China and Russia by editing out or severely watering down LGBTQ+ representation scenes in their Marvel movies, for example
We’ll see and I hope they push back against DeathSentence
Kay
@Steeplejack:
I think his fleshiness – the jowels and the big belly- make Trump appear younger. It’s a weird thing- really slender people can look older than overweight people when they’re past a certain age.
The Thin Black Duke
@Burnspbesq: Thing is, marginalized people have been on the receiving end of hate mail since forever. It’s scary that they feel comfortable doing it to white people now.
Kay
@Burnspbesq:
I thought it was serious too. They should worry.
sdhays
@Raoul Paste: But it costs so much to fill up my truck! The fascists keep mentioning it, so I’m sure they have a plan to fix that that Biden won’t implement because he loves them goshdurn treeeees!
Burnspbesq
Polk County is a strange fucking place. I miss my parents, but I’m glad I don’t have to go there any more.
Alison Rose
@Cervantes: Even worse, in human years, he’s 216.
Sister Golden Bear
@Baud:
Honestly, I suspect one reason (aside from drinking the Hater-aid) that conservatives buy into the idea that LGBTQ+ people are sexual predators is because actual sexual predators are so absolutely pervasive in their circles. In other words, more projection than a multi-screen IMAX theater.
Snarki, child of Loki
@J R in WV: “SELL ig to Mexico? Dude! we should offer them hundreds of millions of $$ to take it off our hands!!!”
Plus “no backsies, you take it, you keep it” also, too.
Steeplejack
@Kay:
Yeah, that’s true, in some ways. Old people “wasting away.”
Burnspbesq
@Kay:
Amazingly enough, there are commenters on Twitter saying that it’s not a threat. As I said to one of them, “which part of ‘execute’ are you struggling with.”
Josie
@J R in WV:
I’m a lifelong loyal Texan, but I found this story funny:
After the Mexican-American War, General Sherman surveyed the land between the Nueces River and the Rio Grande and wondered if it had been worth it. He questioned why anyone would fight over the land he saw, saying, “We should go to war again, to make them take it back.”
Roger Moore
@sdhays:
They do have a plan. It involves sucking up to Mohammad bin Salman and Vlad Putin so they sell more oil and bring prices down. This is a crucial part of what’s going on right now. Those foreign leaders have entered into a deal with the Republicans where they help the Republicans with elections and the Republicans stand out of their way and/or help them with their foreign policy wishes.
The Thin Black Duke
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): But, to be fair, the biggest difference between the MCU and DC is that there is a broader palette of representation. And I wouldn’t be dismissive of movies like Soul, Encanto or Coco either.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Snarki, child of Loki:
@J R in WV:
That would be cruel and unusual punishment for Mexico
Burnspbesq
@Snarki, child of Loki:
What makes anyone think that Lopez Obrador is dumb enough to take it back?
Sister Golden Bear
@The Thin Black Duke:
Although maybe, just maybe, cis het white people might start taking it seriously for all of us. Quite an experience to live in fear, isn’t it?
But I kind of doubt it.
VOR
@Mike in NC: My man, the Texas shindig was worse than that. They approved a resolution calling for a referendum on whether Texas ought to secede from the United States and become an independent country. Nothing say patriot like wanting to secede.
Barbara
I am no big fan of Disney but it still seems strange to me how many politicos seem not to understand that the corporate “embrace” of Pride Month and associated signals of LGBTQ acceptance is as much about not alienating people under 35-40 as it is anything else. As in, trying to cultivate future customers, and not just those who self-identify as LGBTQ. You would think having seen what hatred of LGBTQs has done to church attendance for the young adult demographic might have given them a clue, but the derangement seems to be incurable.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Burnspbesq:
eclare
@Sister Golden Bear: Excellent point. Someone sent a tweet to me yesterday somewhat related: I would rather have RuPaul watch my kids than Rand Paul.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@The Thin Black Duke:
You’re right that there is, but they still have to play coy when it comes to LGBTQ+ characters. This is a broader Hollywood problem tho, not just Disney because of the foreign film markets
debbie
@Burnspbesq:
Astounding how the cloak of anonymity promotes the growth of balls of steel. //
dexwood
@Mike in NC: “Poor New Mexico! So far from heaven, so close to Texas!” Manuel Armijo, last Mexican governor of the territory of Nuevo Mexico in the 1840s.
Barbara
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Agreed, and I hate it. I hated the biopic of Alan Turing, for a few reasons, but mostly because of the lack of integrity displayed by having the only romantic action in a movie about a gay man revolve around a woman.
My Beautiful Launderette is the first movie I remember seeing that actually celebrated gay sexuality.
topclimber
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): The Marvel Maven in my family tells me Disney lost China for one movie (the Eternals) because of its politically outspoken Chinese director, who lives in the US.
Also: latest Spiderman and Dr. Strange movies are not in China and/or Middle East because producer Kevin Feige won’t provide gay-free versions.
One part of Disney has shown some guts–probably because they make so much damn money they can. Hopefully corporate Disney recognizes that they need their employees a lot more than they need DeSantis.
matt
The prohibition is against being a mainstream reporter and saying things like ‘Old As Dirt Guy Joe Biden looks really fucking old! Wow!’
Ken
I’m not quite sure how to read Twitter’s disclaimer, “it may be in the public interest for the tweet to remain accessible.” Do they mean encouraging people to shoot Republicans is in the public interest?
The Thin Black Duke
@Barbara: Although the transgender character is played by a male, I really liked Different for Girls.
Roger Moore
@Barbara:
I think you’re missing an even bigger issue: employees. Creative industries are disproportionately LGBTQ, and have been for a really long time. Disney’s response in Florida was driven at least as much by angry employees as by angry customers. They know they’ll be in deep, deep trouble if they scare away their LGBTQ employees, have trouble hiring LGBTQ actors, etc.
cain
@Barbara:
Young people get whiplash from what are church teachings and what is actually done action-wise.
Since the party is going all fascist – I suppose they could require attendance at a place of worship. (as a way to reduce gun violence)
Barbara
@Roger Moore: Good point. I was thinking more of those that have been advertising around Pride Month, which seems to be more proactive than reactive. It’s just one more data point showing we live in two different nations.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@topclimber:
Huh, I didn’t know any of that. Hopefully, Disney continues this trend
Dorothy A. Winsor
Grietens give true meaning to the word “groomer.”
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Barbara:
The one with Benedict Cumberbatch? I remember enjoying it, but yeah you make a good point with it focusing on his relationship with a woman
Omnes Omnibus
That Greitens ad is going to piss off the army. Greitens used footage of 25ID soldiers. One clearly see the unit patch on their uniforms. I feel bad for the PAO of 25ID losing their three day weekend over fuckface.
Princess
As of now, not one single elected Republican has denounced this call to murder Republicans. The only one who has spoken against it is defeated Barbara Comstock.
Benw
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Disney’s still willing to modify other movies for China. However, the MCU seems increasingly disinclined to make changes for the Chinese censors, which is why the last 7 Marvel movies submitted for Chinese release were denied (it’s wild that Shang-Chi and the Ten Rings didn’t get a Chinese release). And it will certainly continue; I don’t see any way Thor: Love and Thunder’s going to pass.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Burnspbesq:
Some of the replies to his tweet are claiming the letter is in his handwriting.
So, fake news, false flag, nothing to see here! /s
Alison Rose
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: JFC
oldgold
“Poll: Women GOP voters support Greitens over other Senate candidates”
https://fox4kc.com/politics/your-local-election-headquarters/poll-women-gop-voters-support-greitens-over-other-senate-candidates/
What in the Hell is going on in this country? This guy:
1} He resigns as Governor over this allegation:
“She says he had “prepared clothes for her to change into,” and once she had changed into them, he led her into his basement, where he “taped her hands to pull-up rings … and then put a blindfold on her.”
She says he then drank water and spit it into her mouth, saying, “Before we start a workout you have to be hydrated.” “I realized he’s trying to kiss me,” she recalled, “but I don’t even want to kiss him. So I just spit it out. He does it and he’s like ‘You’re not going to be a bad girl, are you? Tries to do it again, to which I just let it dribble out, because I didn’t even want to kiss him again.”
Then, she says, Greitens began kissing from her neck down to her chest and ripped open her shirt, once again without consent. He then remarked on a scar on her stomach before continuing to kiss her stomach and pulling down her pants (again, without consent). That’s when she saw the flash of a camera through the blindfold, she said, and she recalls he told her: “You’re not going to mention my name. Don’t even mention my name to anybody at all, because if you do, I’m going to take these pictures, and I’m going to put them everywhere I can. They are going to be everywhere, and then everyone will know what a little whore you are.”
2. Now, his former wife claims:
The abuse claims, made in an affidavit filed March 21, stated that as he faced criminal charges and possible impeachment in 2018, Eric Greitens repeatedly threatened to commit suicide unless she showed “specific public political support” for him. In one incident of child abuse, that she swore in the affidavit occurred in November 2019, one of their sons came home from a visit his father with a swollen face, bleeding gums and loose tooth and said his father had hit him.
And, the GOP women support him? WTH?!?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Loved this response to a (once? didn’t she go from MSNBC to CNN+, which is already spluttering) up-and-coming Broderist
Roger Moore
@Barbara:
I would disagree mildly on this point. A huge reason conservatives are running scared is because we don’t live in two countries. There are LGBTQ+ people in the reddest of red areas, and they’re increasingly willing to be out and proud. Conservatives are doing their best to push LGBTQ+ people back in the closet, but they’re increasingly terrified they can’t do it.
The Thin Black Duke
@oldgold: Racism. This is the problem. A lot of white women voted for Trump. Twice.
J R in WV
@Snarki, child of Loki:
YES~!!!~ This, no backsies whatsoever. Evah!
danielx
@OzarkHillbilly:
From the memory banks (they still work!):
Baud
@danielx:
So you’re saying it’s because of NAFTA.
Baud
@Roger Moore:
James E Powell
@oldgold:
GOP men are so awful that there is a tendency to think GOP women are good.
There is no evidence to support this.
MisterForkbeard
@oldgold: Of course GOP women support him.
First, there’s the whole “GOP no matter what” thing they’ve got going on. Secondly – a lot of the GOP tribal process is about how the bad things rich white men do is never their fault – it’s the women, kids, minorities or democrats who ‘made them’ be criminals, rapists, abusers or racists
EDIT: Also, there are a lot of GOP women who approve of all of the above things too.
J R in WV
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
Well, maybe, but I don’t think the Bill of Rights applies to people who are not only not citizens, but not in the USA at all.
It wouldn’t be a financial fraud, we aren’t taking money from them, just asking them to take back their land we accidentally took lo these many years ago…who knows today how that really happened!
NotMax
‘@Snarki, child of Loki
The Adobe Barn rule?
//
The Quiet One
I want to say if Greiten or any of his campaign staff come to my door I’m well within my rights to shoot on sight. After all, my belief, now, is they are violently hunting RINOS and I’m old and white. Tell me I’m wrong!
danielx
@Baud:
Yeah, that’s it, economic insecurity!
Funny thing, I’ve been economically insecure at several points in my life and nobody ever accosted me in a diner to talk about it.
Baud
@danielx:
Were you wearing a red cap? If not, how would they know to talk to you?
NotMax
‘@danielx
If you order the blue plate special* you’re automatically skipped over.
//
*Young’uns shall have to look it up.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@J R in WV:
It was a joke, my guy. Sorry for the confusion
Mike in NC
Per Mary Trump, her demented uncle was perfectly fine with the mob killing VP Pence, as it would have given him an excuse to declare martial law (as recommended by Flynn and Mr MyPillow). What would happen the next day apparently didn’t occur to him. Not a strategic think, that guy.
Ruckus
@Barbara:
If they weren’t deranged they wouldn’t be them.
50 yrs ago my rep in CA was a John Burch Society member but he actually liked people and was actually a good rep. But now it seems that the only republican politicians who aren’t bought and minimally paid for are the extreme idiots, who do what they do for free. Our politics has changed in my lifetime, in some ways a lot and in some ways not so much, but in either case not for the better.
Elizabelle
@danielx:
In fact, when I’ve been economically insecure, eating in a restaurant — even a diner — is the first expense easily cut out.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
Have the Russian sanctions been effective? I saw some headlines about how the ruble is strong and that Russia has been making a lot of money off oil sale
ETA: about the strength of the Russian ruble:
Super Dave
@The Thin Black Duke: Just spent 4 days in Disneyland a month or so ago, with 6 adults and 2 kids. Spent a ton of money, had a great time. Whole group is as white as a KKK sheet and we were definitely in the minority. I suspect the suits at Disney are paying attention. I hope you’re right and they take some meat with the flesh in Florida.
J R in WV
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
Me too. Mexico would never take those RWNJs back, no F’in way!!!
NotMax
‘@J R in WV
“We have seven days to return it under the Lemon Law, yes?”
//
Dangerman
@Mike in NC: Only problem I see with that theory is Trump didn’t need an excuse for Martial Law (or would just make up some random excuse). Just declare it. Of course, the Military would have told him to go get fucked but …
Not saying he wouldn’t have been happy Pence was dead.
Gin & Tonic
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): They are not, and we’re not meant to be, effective in the short term. They are starting to be felt in some sectors, though – aviation, manufacturing, where lack of access to parts and technology are starting to bite.
Baud
@Gin & Tonic:
I feel like fascists are the only people left who can psychologically handle long thinking.
CaseyL
@MisterForkbeard: There was a photo a few years back, of a woman who had a T-shirt reading “Trump can grab this any time he wants!” with an arrow pointing to her crotch. IIRC, that was before the 2016 election.
I was in some strange spaces during my adolescence, and I can almost – almost – see how, if things had turned out differently than they did, I might be like that.* “Defiantly self-degrading to outrage the normies” sort of thing.
*Prime example: I tried to run away with a guy when I was 16. The attempt failed, but I can very easily envision the life I might have had if it hadn’t failed. Not pretty.
So seeing people like that woman, feeling a horrified recognition when I do, really haunts me.
MazeDancer
Was discussing Mr. Biden’s age just yesterday, remarking on his biking shorts. Saying he had some great looking legs for 79. Actually, some great looking legs for 59, or 49, for that matter.
Baud
@CaseyL:
I’ve often felt like I’m teetering on the brink of craziness.
schrodingers_cat
From the dead thread below.
Second in my garden series
Hyacinth
Baud
@schrodingers_cat:
CaseyL
@Baud: It is a feeling. It is a definite feeling. I liken it to being on the edge of a cliff, with a massive windstorm blowing, and feeling like it would take very little effort to just… step off, and give yourself to the wind.
Ken
Don’t be silly. You interact with dozens of people on this blog every day, and not a one of them would say you’re teetering on the brink.
Gin & Tonic
@Gin & Tonic: Damn, I hate when the phone changes “were” to “we’re.”
Baud
@CaseyL:
@Ken:
Balloon Juice is my anchor.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Gin & Tonic:
Thanks for the info
zhena gogolia
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Most people think the effects will really be felt toward the end of the summer.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Baud:
Would you also say it’s your first love, after campaigning?
CaseyL
@Baud: It’s certainly one of mine!
Citizen Alan
@James E Powell:
I have said for some time that while conservatives are the absolute worst, conservative women are the worst of the worst. Every single one of them latched their yoke to the patriarchy long ago long ago and know that their personal prosperity depends upon destroying not only feminism but every form of equality
Cameron
@eclare: Certainly there would be less chance of them finding a loaded gun lying around.
Baud
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
You can’t really make sweet love to a blog.
Ramona
@J R in WV: Mexico does not have the Electoral College or a rigged Senate. True, the population of Texas at 29M would be 23% of the expanded Mexico but perhaps they could take it in as a territory and allow only municipal elections for about a decade.
Gin & Tonic
I am not (never have been) a fan of Ben Stiller, the actor and purported comedian. But today I learned that he is a really fine human being. Credit where credit is due:
piratedan
@Baud: if only we’re not at sea…..
NotMax
‘@Citizan Alan
Distafflococcus.
//
zhena gogolia
@Gin & Tonic: I had a student, an Iraqi refugee active in refugee affairs, who referred to Stiller as one of his best friends. I believed him.
ian
@Josie:
I question the authenticity of that story. Sherman was in California at the time in question, he makes no mention of a trip to Texas for border surveying in his autobiography
Link to autobiography
Cameron
@MazeDancer: My GF is Biden’s age, and she looks terrific. Of course, she’s being seen through my eyes….
Fancycwabs
How do you justify keeping the tweet of a sexual predator, calling for further violence, up in the name of “public interest?”
Gin & Tonic
I’ve read on Twitter, source of all news (other than B-J,) that Orban has come out in support of EU candidate status for Ukraine.
Dorothy A. Winsor
Cameron
@Fancycwabs: I don’t think I really want to know the answer to that.
Baud
@Gin & Tonic:
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Didn’t Hungary just kick out one of the U.S. right wingers too?
WTF is going on?
ETA
FBI International is based on Budapest. Maybe they want to keep CBS happy.
Baud
@Cameron:
Engagement.
Quiltingfool
@Burnspbesq:
Betting on Missouri Republicans to fail a character test? Sugar, ain’t nobody gonna take that bet! So says a Democratic Missourian.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Baud:
I remember reading the EU was taking a strong stance against Hungary’s rule of law violations, finally. Perhaps that has something to do with it?
Baud
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
I think my CBS theory is more plausible.
Omnes Omnibus
@Baud: It was Austria. But they kicked him out because he had basically used up all his visiting time in Hungary.
Quiltingfool
@OzarkHillbilly:
Testify, fellow Missourian!
Ladyraxterinok
@West of the Rockies:
See Paige Patterson’s and John Piper’s advice to wives to be super submissive to their abusive husbands
In Sovereign Grace Ministries it was revealed some years ago that abused children in the churches were counseled to embrace and forgive their abusers
Baud
@Omnes Omnibus:
Thanks. In his defense, he probably didn’t realize the empire was no more.
Hoodie
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): When reading that, I began to wonder whether it might be a better strategy for the US and Europe to block all imports to Russia and all exports from Russia other than oil, i.e., still keep buying oil and gas from them. The upshot is that them being able to generate revenue from selling more oil does not mean they can find things to buy with it and they would not get to destabilize the West by driving gas prices up unless they decide to turn off the spigot themselves. That creates a better narrative when explaining high gas prices to consumers in the West, it would be entirely Putin’s fault. No one gives a shit whether we sell anything to Russia.
The problem now is that they can actually reduce production and still generate the same revenue, which both preserves the resource and allows them to get by with reduced capacity to produce it. The Russians cannot produce much more than raw products like oil, fertilizer and steel, and even in those heavy industries they rely on stuff like process control equipment from Germany, Japan, Korea and the US. Their other industries, e.g., autos, consumer products, advanced military production, are highly dependent on components and software from western countries. That is the important stuff to embargo.
Wyatt Salamanca
@Mike in NC:
Pence’s actions on Jan 6 were appropriate, but he’s still an evangelical pukestain for enabling Trump for 4 years.
I’d like to know how many individuals Pence consulted besides Dan Quayle and Michael Luttig prior to January 6th. Pence clearly wanted to obey Trump’s orders and I find it hard to believe that he didn’t seek out the advice of others.
“Fuck Mike Pence” should be a Balloon Juice tag.
Ladyraxterinok
@Mike in NC:
In addition to the points in the Texas GOP’s platform recently listed by PZ Myers in his blog Pharingula, they apparently also want to rescind the Voting Rights Act of 1964
Steeplejack
@Baud:
Deep cut.
germy shoemangler
Translation:
Geminid
@Quiltingfool: Greitens’ ad may have several target audiences, and one could be trump. He has not endorsed in this primary yet. The Missouri primary is similar to Ohio’s, with several real contenders, so an endorsement could make the difference like it did in Ohio.
I’ve seen a number of Republicans downrate Greitens’ chances in November. Some say that Greitens is their only candidate who could lose that seat. I think trump endorsed the weaker candidates in Ohio and Pennsylvania, so maybe he will pick Greitens too.
zhena gogolia
@Steeplejack: Hotel Portofino is a no-go. We were hopeful because of the presence of Mark Umbers, whom we love, but his role is terrible. It’s a mashup of Downton, Enchanted April, and the Durrells on Corfu. Handsome young hero is one Oliver Dench. I looked him up on imdb, and it said that Dame Judi is his “aunt or uncle.”
Baud
@germy shoemangler:
Sounds like all radicals suck.
zhena gogolia
@germy shoemangler: I’m afraid you are a big jerk, Lauren.
germy shoemangler
Liminal Owl
If Texas secedes, what plans could be made to ensure a corridor to safety for POC, so that they are not enslaved? LGBTQ+ people, who face jail and possible execution? Women who will die if forced to carry a pregnancy? That might be hyperbole, or might not. I genuinely fear for the disenfranchised who are unable to leave, and whom the “hope for secession” trope seems to be erasing. @Burnspbesq:
Ladyraxterinok
@Barbara:
Since the (Evangelical) churches have yet to believe/accept they are losing young people because of their condemnation of LGBTQ people (and their promotion of Young Earth Creationism versus evolution, among other things), it’s no wonder that the Right doesn’t/can’t see or accept that either.
debbie
This calls for immediate doxxing.
Baud
@germy shoemangler:
At least they had the decency to identify themselves as needing replacement.
Gravenstone
These are Texans we’re talking about here. Can never be too careful…
Omnes Omnibus
@Steeplejack: Especially as it was probably the HRE for which he pined.
gvg
@MisterForkbeard: But there are fewer republican identifying women than men. The ones who see this and are repelled, have already left that party.
Omnes Omnibus
@germy shoemangler: Both are bullshit.
debbie
@Baud:
It’s always the same photo. Has there been only one protest? Reports are worded like they’re multiple ones.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Omnes Omnibus:
Ah, the Holy Roman Empire. Neither Roman or holy
Omnes Omnibus
‘@Liminal Owl: Texas is not going to secede.
Baud
@debbie:
Who knows? Twitter is good for some things but not for others. Especially context and follow ups.
Baud
@Omnes Omnibus:
Not with that attitude.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Baud:
Probably lol
@Baud:
Not with that attitude, you can’t!
Josie
@ian: Not having been around then, I can’t guarantee the authenticity. I read it in Benjamin Heber Johnson’s book, Revolution in Texas. He states that Sherman made the observation thirty years after the war.
debbie
Has the Heritage Foundation been named a terrorist organization yet? Because they should be:
Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg
Well, shit. A damn hawk buzzed my feeders for my songbirds and slammed into the front windows, exciting my most excitable cat, who did his damnedest to pull down the screen to get in on the action.
I don’t want them hunting there, and thought that there were enough obstacles and that it’s close enough to the house to dissuade them.
My finches, chickadees, grackles, cardinals, doves and woodpeckers just wanna be left alone to drop nibbles for squirrels and chipmunks.
Anybody got hints?
Cameron
@Hoodie: Doesn’t help that we’re in the position where Uncle Joe has to glad-hand it with Mr. Bone Saw.
Salty Sam
I gotta say, I’m really sick and tired of this sort of statement. As much as I despise the insane rightwing politics, there’s still plenty to love about my homestate, and I celebrate it.
The political cancer is ALL OVER THE COUNTRY, not just the Lone Star State- you’re from NC? Look in your own backyard. We have to fight this shit everywhere.
Nothing against you personally Mike, but I’ve got no time or patience for lazy, sloppy thinking like this.
zhena gogolia
@Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg: How are you feeling?
Liminal Owl
@CaseyL: I remember that photo too. And I’m very sorry that you were once in such a difficult state of mind.
I’m guessing that, in addition to Rethuglican tribalism, the women who will vote for Greitens are indulging in some wishful thinking/slut-shaming. “He’d never treat a Good Christian Woman(tm) that way! She deserved it for committing adultery!”
lowtechcyclist
@West of the Rockies:
This part of the analogy is perfect.
Josie
‘@Salty Sam:
Thanks. What many people don’t realize is that this is a minority of Texans voting on this ridiculous platform. We have been gerrymandered and voter suppressed to the nth degree since the time of Tom Delay. We still have managed to become sort of purple and many of us hope to take it even further this year. I hope instead of putting us down people might consider cheering us on.
AWOL
@Baud: Hungary kicked out insane Eastern Orthodox manly man Rod Dreher, who is obsessed with gays and why his wife kicked him out. I guess his cruising was too obvious.
Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg
@zhena gogolia:
Thank you for asking – less bad than the hot garbage I felt like Saturday. The antivirals are really working, I can tell, but I really want some productive coughs, though.
Also the lower GI issues have been the opposite of fun.
raven
@Salty Sam: Bob Wills, Willie, Robert Early Keene, Rodney Crowell, Nanci Griffith, Guy Clark, Townes Ban Zandt. . . . .
Liminal Owl
@Ladyraxterinok: And per today’s news, Franklin Graham gave the same counseling to a woman whose husband was finishing up the sentence he was serving for violence against her. (And then Graham asked her uf she had been unfaithful while the husband was incarcerated.)
geg6
@Burnspbesq:
Yes, I saw it. I hope someone is watching over them every minute of every day.
Cameron
@Salty Sam: I hear you. All my siblings live in TX, and their opinions vary considerably – sister in the Dallas area loathes it, sister in Nacogdoches likes it but would rather be in PA, brothers in Austin and Houston seem to like it pretty well. I don’t have any particular opinion about TX, since I live in FL, which has plenty of problems of its own.
raven
Hey, I just bought a bushel (6 lbs) of fresh butterbeans. The dude at the store said blanching was a waste of time, just wash em, dry em and put them in little plastic containers and freeze.????
Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg
@AWOL:
Make sure you add convert from American evangelicalism to that phrase. Yes, there are some nutty Orthodox folks, but none crazier than those coming from that path outside of marrying into it.
Kay
@debbie:
They’ll be imprisoned until they recite the far Right religious doctrine. They’re already doing a version of this in Texas. The new homes for unwed mothers anti-abortion acivists have set up are political and religious indoctrination camps. I don’t think it will “stick” in that case because the women are only subject to it for a year- anti-abortion acivists have no interest in them other than as baby incubators so cut em loose- but an indefinite term pysch commitment? They could really get their hooks into those women.
Kmax
Insane R ads are becoming a thing here in MO.
There’s some playing here calling Vicki Hartzler a Rino in league with Biden and big immigration.
She is actually to the right of Hitler far as I can see.
Liminal Owl
@Omnes Omnibus: No, probably not. Mostly I was trying to send a message to the erasers.
Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg
@raven:
God, I love butter beans, but they don’t love me. I pay for them for days, for some reason, they trigger my diverticulitis.
Alison Rose
@Gin & Tonic: Whoa.
raven
@Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg: They don’t do me, or people around me, any favors but the princess has a spiritual relationship with them!
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
@dexwood: Reminds me of the quote I learned from Stan Delaplane: “Poor Mexico, So far from God, so close to the United States”. It was said by Diaz (thanks Google).
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Kay:
I honestly can’t see any legitimate psychiatric facility or organization going along with this
Geminid
@Cameron: I think that oil supplies are a secondary reason for President Biden’s visit to Saudi Arabia. There is a new security structure being built in that region that is based on an alliance between the Gulf Arab states (Qatar excepted) and Israel. These countries and Israel have had a loose security relationship for well over a decade, but now a stronger alliance is being formed. Biden will put the U.S. stamp of approval on this process.
germy shoemangler
@zhena gogolia:
She’s a jerk for tweeting what young leftists are saying?
If I click the left arrow at the top of this page I’m taken to a balloon-juice thread on Mark Cuban Shark Tank swooping in to help people who can’t afford their medication because the price rose from $24 to $200 a month.
Jay
@Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg:
Crow decoys?
A few months ago, got to watch a Golden Eagle hunt pigeons in the parking lot. Constantly harassed by crows during the hunt, almost constantly foiled, but then managed to get a pigeon, then while flying away with it’s prey, was chased and harassed by the crows for at least 10 blocks.
Has not returned despite a plethora of pigeons. Probably discovered that the Canada Geese at Como Lake are easier prey.
Where I used to work, the parking lot had pigeons, but no crows,( other than the commute back to the roost or out from the roost, so a dawn, or dusk, tens of thousands of crows doing a fly by). A Red Tailed hawk in the area, almost daily got a pigeon, but only during working hours.
zhena gogolia
@germy shoemangler: Young leftists should stop shitting on Obama.
Cameron
@Geminid: I hope you’re wrong. I find that a very depressing future in which we trade all of our traditional “leader of the free world” blather – which was always bullshit anyway – so we can get jiggy with an apartheid state and a bunch of medieval theocracies (and, yes, I grew up in Saudi Arabia).
Betty Cracker
@Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg: Don’t know if this is feasible for you, but I hang my seed feeders under the porch roof overhang to dissuade the hawks. The seed eaters leave sunflower hulls, etc., all over the porch, so it’s a bit of a mess. Positioning them under tree branch or something might also work.
lowtechcyclist
@oldgold:
If Greitens wins the GOP nomination, the Dems should put him in a parody of the Rolling Stones’ “Black and Blue” billboard, and put it on billboards all over the state.
Immanentize
@raven: 100%
The Highwaymen, Marsha Ball, Alejandro Escovedo, Lyle Lovett, etc. and on and on.
James E Powell
@Ladyraxterinok:
Are the fundy churches losing people? I haven’t seen any data on this in a while. I recall seeing an ‘each generation is less religious’ poll, but wasn’t sure if that was a constant (i.e., younger people not going to church) or a trend that continues as each generation ages.
Immanentize
@raven: princess must be happy with that haul!
germy shoemangler
@zhena gogolia:
I agree. The problems with prescription costs, high rents, etc. are real. I hope we can keep enough republicans from winning elections until we can fix those problems. We’ll need more progressive democrats in office, enough to make the manchins in our party irrelevant.
Omnes Omnibus
@germy shoemangler: That “translation” was her words, not those of the young leftists.
Jay
@raven:
Lima beans?
blanch, pop the skin(bitter), add butter, enjoy.
Immanentize
@Gin & Tonic: That is … Surprising? Maybe Orban sees the potential for a third country law system like Poland and Hungary after the crisis ends? Odd.
Kay
@Salty Sam:
My only complaint is how they’re constantly threatening to secede. They should do it. The state government is entirely dominated by Republicans. What’s stopping them? My whole life – “Texas wants to secede!”
I say they do it.
Anyway
@Geminid:
All those countries (Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Russia) hatehatehate elections with a passion and can’t stand that Dem administrations talk to them about the democratic process. All those countries and Israel HATE and are deathly afraid of Islamic brotherhood and the like. That is their “security” concern – making sure free and fair elections are never conducted.
geg6
@raven:
We have just frozen them without blanching many times. The only time we blanch them now is if we’re canning them.
debbie
@raven:
Reading around, it says not blanching causes notable loss of flavor. I’d blanch ’em if I were you.
James E Powell
Financial Times has a “How Disney Lost Florida” article that reminds one of the “How DeSantis Won the Pandemic” headline.
Did Disney really “lose” Florida? My sources tell me the parks are doing fine.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@zhena gogolia: the cult of the presidency is bad for politics and the polity in general, but I think it’s worse for Democrats
see also: twitter
germy shoemangler
@Kay:
If they leave they’ll eventually declare war on the rest of us.
debbie
@germy shoemangler:
Just hand them back to Mexico. //
germy shoemangler
@debbie:
Problem solved.
Josie
@Kay:
What’s stopping them is that legally they can’t do it. It’s an old canard that just isn’t true.
Betty Cracker
@James E Powell: Saw that earlier…
topclimber
@James E Powell: This article is a deep fake by Disney to convince DeSantis he has won and so can now back off.
Just on the off chance I am wrong, I will read the article. My chief question will be, as with you, wtf has Disney actually lost?
Geminid
@Cameron: I don’t see us trading in much. We’ve been allies with Israel and the Gulf states separately for over 70 years; now we’ll be allies more jointly. The Gulf Arab members of CENTCOM assented to Israel being added over a year ago, and now include Israel in some military exercises that CENTCOM organizes.
Rightly or wrongly, the U.S. still considers the Gulf as a crucial security concern. President Biden never said that has changed, despite his condemnation of Saudi crown prince. But we’ll see what this visit is about soon enough.
FelonyGovt
@Immanentize: Freddy Fender, Old 97’s
ealbert
@Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg:
We feed the birds (and squirrels and chipmunks) in our yard and one thing we did was put an old wreath on top of the shepherds hook holding the bird feeder. They seem to like it and is hides them from hawks and other predatory birds.
raven
@Immanentize: I saw Marcia Ball/Freda and the Firedogs at the Broken Spoke in Austin in the early 70’s!
Scout211
deleted
topclimber
@topclimber: Article report: TE/DR. (TE=Too expensive; DR is DR). They want a dollar for a trial subscription.
From the twitter thread I see DS signed a bill to strip Disney World of their special municipal status. That is sure to be the last word, right? No lawyers gonna take that case against glowering Ron.
Cameron
@Geminid: I guess my biggest concern is that we’ll go for the trifecta, and get into combat (directly or via proxy) with China, Iran and Russia all at the same time. Which would sort of be the end of Planet Earth.
raven
@geg6:
@debbie:
I love it!
Immanentize
@raven: never made it to the Broken Spoke (or the Armadillo) — before my time in Tejas. But I nearly lived at Antone’s when I lived in Austin. Truly saw almost all the greatest living blues stars there.
raven
@Immanentize: Indeed!
Cameron
@FelonyGovt: Freddy Fender? I was a big fan of the Texas Tornadoes way back when.
Immanentize
@FelonyGovt: And let us not forget Janis Joplin.
Miki
@Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg: “Well, shit. A damn hawk buzzed my feeders for my songbirds and slammed into the front windows.”
My recently deceased miniature poodle with a strong prey drive routinely disabused the local Cooper’s Hawk’s interest in hunting in my backyard. Unfortunately, they were competitors so the backyard birds weren’t that much better off.
Omnes Omnibus
@Cameron: Why not Brazil, France, and Chad as well?
raven
@Immanentize: You might enjoy this
Cosmic Cowboys and New Hicks: The Countercultural Sounds of Austin’s Progressive Country Music Scene Reprint Edition
by Travis D. Stimeling Ph.D.(Author)
We also saw Michael Martin Murphy at the Armadillo on that trip.
Miki
@Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg: “God, I love butter beans, but they don’t love me. I pay for them for days, for some reason, they trigger my diverticulitis.”
Same here.
Cameron
@Omnes Omnibus: True, although I was thinking more along the lines of Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela
ETA: And Mexico – how dare AMLO be so uppity as to refuse an invite to our conference?
Burnspbesq
@FelonyGovt:
Ornette Coleman, T-Bone Walker, Stevie Ray, Miranda Lambert
Josie
@Immanentize:
What years were you there? I was in school there 1961-1965 and danced many nights away at Charley’s Playhouse.
Cameron
Final foreign affairs post of the day from me. Enjoy.
https://food52.com/recipes/77406-hungarian-sour-cherry-soup-meggyleves
Salty Sam
@raven: Yup!
Geminid
@Cameron: You are right to be concerned about a war with Iran. Israel and Iran have been fighting an undeclared war in Syria for years now. I’m not sure if the defacto alliance between Israel and the Gulf states makes a greater war with Iran more likely or less likely, though.
There is at least one hopeful development in the region. The two month ceasefire in Yemen was extended another two months. There is still some fighting, but those poor people are finally getting a break.
Cameron
@Burnspbesq: I read somewhere that, as young men, Charlie Christian and T-Bone Walker studied guitar together. Don’t know if that’s true or not, but it’s a pretty cool story.
Cameron
@Geminid: That’s one thing that we can for sure 100% agree on.
Old Dan and Little Ann
Speaking of Texas. Just saw this on tweet machine.
NEW: Texas plans to place charging stations for electric cars every 50 miles on most interstates, enough to support one million EVs, per @TexasTribune.
prostratedragon
@raven: Wow, beat me by a decade on Marcia Ball. Saw her in the late 80s at Frog Island (Ypsilanti), sharing a bill with Wayne Toups and Junior Wells. It was a 3way tie.
Salty Sam
Its pretty much the same ones who support the insane RW politics and culture war bullshit. Admittedly there are a LOT of them, but just like the rest of the country, THERE ARE MORE OF US THAN THERE ARE OF THEM!
I grew up here believing the myth that Texas has the right to secede from the union (“It’s in the state constitution!”) (narrator: “No, it’s not “) It’s performative bullshit, no different, and no less tiresome than anything Trump spouts at his hate rallies.
Another Scott
@topclimber: I’m not a subscriber but apparently my cookies let me read it.
A taste:
Aggressively both-sidery, with an extra helping of it’s Disney’s fault for not staying in their lane, it seems to me.
FWIW.
Cheers,
Scott.
Salty Sam
karen marie
While Greitens’ domestic violence is widely considered to be the reason for his resignation, I’ve seen discussion on the twitters that the real reason he resigned is that his (and presumably other Republicans’) “dark money” donors were threatened with exposure. He resigned to avoid further investigation.
From June 26, 2018:
The GOP in Missouri (well, everywhere but …) is a toxic garbage fire.
Go read the whole article. It’s a doozy.
Salty Sam
Soap Creek Saloon or go home…
Salty Sam
@Salty Sam: Y’all missed Doug Sahm!
kalakal
@James E Powell: If Disney announced that they were planning to pull out of Florida in, say, 5 years. Accept zillions in “please, please come here offers” from every other state DeSantis would discover what losing is. It would devastate the economy state wide
Cameron
@Salty Sam: I started with Sir Douglas, move on to Texas Tornadoes….and, then, unfortunately, he was gone.
O. Felix Culpa
@Immanentize:
Buddy Holly!
Salty Sam
@Cameron: My eldest son, millennial hipster that he is, got into collecting old vinyl LPs. He showed up at my house, asked “ Hey Dad, think this is worth anything?”
It was teenaged Doug Sahm, playing his roots, the “West Side (San Antonio) Sound”- powerhouse R&B with a distinctive Chicano twist. Recorded in the late 50’s.
“Son, that’s worth a LOT!”
Another Scott
@kalakal: I honestly don’t think he would care. He would work to give Universal and SeaWorld, and Publix, and hucksters with a Monorail, and anyone else who supports him, tax breaks and a direct line to the state treasury if they play ball with him. Plus, he hopes to be in DC long before then, so it would be Somebody Else’s Problem™.
RWNJs cannot be shamed or reasoned with. They can only be defeated.
Cheers,
Scott.
Cameron
@Salty Sam: That is really, really cool.
kalakal
@O. Felix Culpa: Freddie King, Albert Collins, Lightnin Hopkins, Johnny Winter
Cameron
Dunno what it’s doing elsewhere in FL, but here in south Manatee County the rain is coming down in buckets. No complaint from me – I’ve opened all the windows, turned on the fans, and am enjoying some weather I don’t melt in.
kalakal
@Another Scott: I agree with the DC part but not that Universal etc could take up the load. Disney is the huge international draw, Seaworld etc is the icing on the cake. He’s also turning us into an open carry state, that will have a very bad effect on international tourism, people don’t want to take their families on vacation to be surrounded by gun humping goobers. Fl already has a very high gun death rate, increasing it won’t help tourism. Finally whichever State did get Disney is going to be boasting about all that lovely money just as FL implodes. If he doesn’t get to DC he’s stuffed. I’m surprised Disney et al aren’t seriously thinking about moving anyway, one Cat 5 in the wrong place and tbe place is closed for a season.
kalakal
Cameron
@kalakal: Didn’t Colorado already make them an offer? Although I suppose that might be too close to California. I’ll have to talk to my friend in South Carolina and see if she’s got any ideas on which strings to pull.
Matt McIrvin
@Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg: Better: he went from evangelicalism, to Catholicism, to Eastern Orthodox because being a trad-Cath convert wasn’t doing it for him. If the converts are the most extreme ones, then a double convert must be extra special.
Matt McIrvin
@Another Scott: The left wanted them to go further. It’s not as if they could have satisfied everyone by just shutting up.
There is NO WAY to satisfy everyone because this is a war in which it is necessary to take sides. It could be a shooting war.
Matt McIrvin
@kalakal: Disney can’t just pack up and move. Their Florida operation is vast. It’s like proposing moving a small country.
J R in WV
A good friend who helped me succeed through my BS program invited me to visit him in Austin, where we went to Pinetop Perkins’ 92 birthday show. He did two sets, with a great band backing him up. I saw him in Charleston WV many, many years ago, and for this show I got to shake his hand between sets. What a great performer and all around great guy.
kalakal
@Matt McIrvin: No they can’t do it overnight, what they can do is announce a new park in, say, Colorado to be opening in 5 years time, really pile in the future investment there and then start closing down Orlando. They don’t even have to close Orlando, just hint
Another Scott
@Cameron: Years ago Disney was thinking about putting a park in Manassas, VA. Then another development was later planned on the Potomac in MD at National Harbor.
Both fell through.
Recognizing that was long ago, management has changed, etc., I’m sure they could quickly ramp-up theme park/real-estate development plans again if they want to. (I assume they make most of their money now from their movies, etc.) But local opposition from huge developments can still be an important thing.
Cheers,
Scott.
Ksmiami
@Another Scott: I think companies will soon learn that violent Rt wing crazies are bad for business- unfortunately that means we all suffer in the interim
Soprano2
@danielx: Also being from the MO Ozarks, I 100% endorse this. You can see bumper stickers that say “Liberal hunting permit no limit” on vehicles here. The Greitens ad getting kicked off YouTube will help him. In fact, I suspect they did it deliberately.
Soprano2
@Kmax: I love all the mailers where they call each other liberals. Not a liberal in the bunch!
Soprano2
@karen marie: Oh, without a doubt the threatened exposure of his dark money supporters is why he resigned. He was a TFG-in-training.
Steeplejack
@zhena gogolia:
I wasn’t optimistic, but I’m sorry to hear it.
I missed Endeavour last night, but I checked Passport and saw that all three new episodes are available (as well as previous seasons). I may back up a season or two and do a mini-binge. Need to do the same on Grantchester.
ETA: Funny about gender-fluid Dame Judi!