While Schumer and Manchin wrote the biggest climate bill in history, Nancy Pelosi passed an assault weapons ban & headed to Taiwan, & VP worked with state legislators on abortion, Joe Biden killed the head of al-qaeda.
tell me more about the failed democratic leadership.
— Florida Chris (@chrislongview) August 1, 2022
Schumer says Senate will begin voting on Dems reconciliation package this week.
"Our timeline has not changed, and I expect to bring this legislation to the Senate floor to begin voting this week."
— Jennifer Shutt (@JenniferShutt) August 1, 2022
These are the Democrats in some of the key Senate races we need to win to save voting & reproductive rights:
GA: @ReverendWarnock
WI: @TheOtherMandela
NC: @CheriBeasleyNC
PA: @JohnFetterman
AZ: @CaptMarkKelly
NV: @CortezMasto
FL: @valdemings
OH: @TimRyanAre you following them?
— No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen (@NoLieWithBTC) August 1, 2022
The U.S. accomplished President Biden’s goal of welcoming 100,000 Ukrainians in roughly 5 months, admitting them through the visa process, a new private sponsorship program, Title 42 exemptions along the U.S.-Mexico border and the refugee system.https://t.co/UuQ3U7dYp1
— Camilo Montoya-Galvez (@camiloreports) August 1, 2022
NEW: Biden is nominating Julie Rikelman, the lawyer who represented the Mississippi abortion clinic at the heart of the Supreme Court's decision overturning Roe v. Wade, to be an appeals court judge on the 1st Circuit. She's one of 9 new judicial nominees. https://t.co/0MJCmQz9fP
— Nate Raymond (@nateraymond) July 29, 2022
Breaking…Iowa Democrats will have to wait until AFTER the midterms to learn fate of the caucuses for 2024. Rules and Bylaws Committee had planned to announce decision on which 4 or 5 states would start presidential nominating calendar for 2024 this Saturday during meeting in DC
— Dave Price (@idaveprice) July 30, 2022
And another RIP to a true hero:
Hundreds of Navajos were recruited from the vast Navajo Nation to serve as Code Talkers with the U.S. Marine Corps. Only three are still alive today.https://t.co/2690NAb1OV
— Stars and Stripes (@starsandstripes) July 31, 2022
… The Code Talkers took part in every assault the Marines conducted in the Pacific, sending thousands of messages without error on Japanese troop movements, battlefield tactics and other communications critical to the war’s ultimate outcome. The code, based on the then-unwritten Navajo language, confounded Japanese military cryptologists and is credited with helping the U.S. win the war.
Samuel Sandoval was on Okinawa when got word from another Navajo Code Talker that the Japanese had surrendered and relayed the message to higher-ups. He had a close call on the island, which brought back painful memories that he kept to himself, Malula Sandoval said.
The Navajo men are celebrated annually on Aug. 14. Samuel Sandoval was looking forward to that date and seeing a museum built near the Navajo Nation capital of Window Rock to honor the Code Talkers, she said.
“Sam always said, ‘I wanted my Navajo youngsters to learn, they need to know what we did and how this code was used and how it contributed to the world,'” she said Saturday. “That the Navajo language was powerful and always to continue carrying our legacy.”
Sandoval was born in Nageezi near Chaco Culture National Historical Park in northwestern New Mexico. He enlisted in the Marine Corps after attending a Methodist school where he was discouraged from speaking Navajo. He helped recruit other Navajos from the school to serve as Code Talkers, expanding on words and an alphabet that an original group of 29 Navajos created.
Sandoval served in five combat tours and was honorably discharged in 1946. The Code Talkers had orders not to discuss their roles — not during the war and not until their mission was declassified in 1968.
The roles later became an immense source of pride for Sandoval and his late brother, Merrill Sandoval, who also was a Code Talker. The two became talented speakers who always hailed their fellow Marines still in action as the heroes, not themselves, said Merrill Sandoval’s daughter, Jeannie Sandoval…
Baud
I just learned that our drone missiles now use freaking swords instead of explosives.
germy shoemangler
germy shoemangler
Baud
@germy shoemangler:
Isn’t that why God invented substack?
germy shoemangler
@Baud:
And conservative “think tanks” and “policy institutes“
geg6
@Baud:
I’m fine with them all going to Substack. Then I can ignore them even more!
Jesse
I thought the Wisconsin primary hasn’t happened yet? Or is Mandela Barnes so far ahead that he’s essentially got it wrapped up.
germy shoemangler
Baud
@Jesse:
I think Omnes said everyone else dropped out.
Baud
@germy shoemangler:
Small birds and mice on the menu?
Betty Cracker
@Baud: I just read about that too. Jeebus!
SteveinPHX
@germy shoemangler:
I got my doubts. Any market research done before this venture got launched.
I’m a cat owner, hmmm…
sdhays
@germy shoemangler: Yesterday, Atrios had a couple posts about Nicolas Kristoff coming back to the FTFNYT Op-Ed page – how it was so weird that they were bringing him back and then a very weird and silly interview with him about how people don’t become alcoholics on fancy Pinot Noir like he makes. Not really shocked that this guy moved to Oregon to run for governor without even looking up the basic requirements.
They find such bizarre people, and he’s not even the worst.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@germy shoemangler: That’s terrifying
Elizabelle
@Betty Cracker: Wait, what?
Suzanne
@germy shoemangler:
I know a few people who would be making stir-fry jokes right now if they heard this.
Baud
Still nothing from debbie. It’s been about 3 weeks. Hopefully she’s just on vacation.
geg6
@Baud:
For real? Link please.
Baud
@geg6:
WSJ from 2019. Apparently, they’ve been used for a few years.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/secret-u-s-missile-aims-to-kill-only-terrorists-not-nearby-civilians-11557403411
ETA: paywall. I’ll try to find another link
Eta2. https://gizmodo.com/cia-hellfire-r9x-knife-missile-kill-ayman-al-zawahiri-1849358677
Spanky
@Baud: Epee or saber?
Spanky
@Spanky: Harpoon missiles with actual harpoons?
Betty Cracker
@Elizabelle: Apparently the missiles contain no explosives — they’re giant whirling machetes that chop people up (cars too — the WSJ article Baud linked show the damage to a car).
Spanky
@Betty Cracker: Ah! Saber.
Spanky
@Baud:
You know, it would just be a lot cheaper to classify anyone near a terrorist as not a civilian.
zhena gogolia
@Baud: ortolan!
lowtechcyclist
@Baud: I was reading about that last night. Apparently the R9X missile is informally known as the “flying ginsu.”
Next thing you know, they’ll invent the Lepage glue gun.
JCJ
@Jesse: The primary is August 9. There were 8 people running, but of the top 4 in recent polling three (Alex Lasry, Sarah Godlewski, and Tom Nelson) dropped out and all endorsed Mandela Barnes.
Elizabelle
@Betty Cracker: Very interesting.
A cross between futuristic sci fi and the Roadrunner’s anvil.
Raoul Paste
@Baud: My God, it sounds like something out of Rick and Morty
Baud
@lowtechcyclist:
The best part is that it only costs the DOD 3 easy payments of $19.99 + shipping and handling.
Layer8Problem
@zhena gogolia: Ick! :-)
Spanky
@Baud: Well, it never needs resharpened.
Betty Cracker
Guy Reffitt, the insurrectionist who told his children turning him in would be traitorous and “traitors get shot” and then was turned in to the FBI by his son, was sentenced to more than 7 years yesterday. His daughters had thoughts:
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Betty Cracker: Those kids are right.
But first, TFG has to take down DeSantis
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: World Peace: Priceless. For everything else, there’s Master Card.
Baud
Being Back Bayonets!
Ohio Mom
Apparently, Fancy Feast is marketing cat food based on human food — one of their cat food flavors is “Beef Ragú Recipe With Tomatoes & Pasta in a Savory Sauce” — by serving human food based on the cat food.
So: a human food recipe based on a cat food recipe based on a human food recipe. Full circle.
NotMax
FYI.
I don’t care how silent may be the boast for the fan, doggy ears are much more sensitive and acutely alert to sound so whatever constant whirring there is by anything sitting that close to the head must be nothing short of irritating.
OzarkHillbilly
@Ohio Mom: I get dizzy just thinking about it. Then I get queasy.
Layer8Problem
@Baud: “Order now and we’ll throw in a Javelin light anti-tank launcher, a $200,000 value, absolutely free!“
OzarkHillbilly
@NotMax: Not to mention it won’t do the dog any good. They don’t sweat. So blowing hot air over there bodies is just that: Hot air. No evaporative cooling effect.
Ohio Mom
@Baud: Maybe we should ask a front pager to do a wellness check. Any front pager listening?
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone😊😊😊
Baud
@rikyrah:
Good morning.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@Raoul Paste: I did some work on ballistic missile defense (“Star Wars”) back when there was a lot of BMD money floating around. As I recall, amidst all the high-tech anti-missile weaponry, the most reliable technology was “kinetic energy kill”, which was pretty much just “throw an anvil at it”.
(Admittedly the tough part was the same as for any other technology, calculating the trajectory of the missile and intercepting it in time. i.e. aiming the anvil)
RedDirtGirl
@lowtechcyclist: When I was little I came up with a non-violent way to wage war. All soldiers had to wear suspenders, and all guns shot rays that made the suspenders break. Then when everyone’s pants fell down they would run away in embarrassment. No more soldiers – no more war. The Quaker mind at work.
OzarkHillbilly
Don’t ever change Alabama.
If not for Alabama and Mississippi, we might not know how foul the scrapings from the bottom of the barrel smelled.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@OzarkHillbilly: Might be effective if you combined it with a squirt gun, but I’m not sure the dog would appreciate your efforts.
A cool surface is a much more useful idea, judging by my guy who has a definite preference for wooden floors over his comfy beds when the weather is hot. If you want to get fancy, perhaps invent a wooden or stone bed which is cooled by evaporative cooling.
O. Felix Culpa
@rikyrah: Good morning!
We’re at ten more sleeps until closing on our house sale. And seven more sleeps until the movers whisk (safely, I hope) our stuff to our next home. Plus a “pop-up” garage sale on Saturday. Apart from that, nothing much going on at Chez O.
On topic, the Dems are showing how much they can do with the slimmest of majorities. They’re competent professionals who care about the national good. Imagine that! Then imagine what they can accomplish with a bigger Senate majority. Fingers crossed, donations made, and postcards to be written. After the move.
Spanky
@Layer8Problem:
I see what you did there.
narya
@Baud: And if you order now, you can get a second one for just an additional $19.99 for shipping.
Miss Bianca
@germy shoemangler: “feline-inspired human cuisine”? Uh…
So, does that means we are eating cats, or just eating *like* cats? I dunno, don’t want to know.
(now wondering whether that means Fancy Feast is the can of choice, if I am reduced to eating cat food in my old age.)
Danielx
@RedDirtGirl:
Perfect.
WaterGirl
@germy shoemangler: ugh. that should come with a trigger warning.
sab
@germy shoemangler: Is that why we still can’t get cat food? My cats eat deli meat while New Yorkers eat canned cat food?
SiubhanDuinne
@OzarkHillbilly:
The dress code for female reporters is bizarre enough, but it was harder for me to get past the first paragraph. THREE FUCKING HOURS to find a vein? In order to FUCKING KILL A GUY?
We can be a barbaric species.
O. Felix Culpa
@Miss Bianca:
I’ve always wondered about that: is cat food actually cheaper than buying human food for human sustenance?
O. Felix Culpa
@SiubhanDuinne:
Sadly true. Some days it’s overwhelming, just how awful we alleged humans can be to one another.
OzarkHillbilly
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: Our dogs prefer our tile on concrete floors in the summer.
Miss Bianca
@O. Felix Culpa: Inquiring minds want to know… ; )
Hey, what’s up with the move to the big city? (missing New Mexico something fierce, btw. My sister’s memorial service is later this month – it’s in Baltimore, where my niece lives, but I expect some of her NM friends to be there. Hoping I can get down there for a visit in the winter.)
Raoul Paste
@Ceci n est pas mon nym: Granted, it’s a lot easier to intercept a slow-moving human than a missile. Oddly enough, I also did some Star Wars work back in the day
OzarkHillbilly
@SiubhanDuinne: Persistent too.
Layer8Problem
@Spanky: I wish I had! All credit goes to my tortured subconscious. I gotta get more coffee.
Amir Khalid
@RedDirtGirl:
My own idea for non-lethal war is to ban all weapons more dangerous than pillows. Thus, combat would consist only of pillow fights. And the only permitted type of munition would be the F-bomb.
WaterGirl
@Baud: I just searched from the back end and debbie commented in the Jan 6 hearing on 7/21.
I just sent her an email message, though.
It’s titled “Baud is starting to worry!” :-)
Anyway
@SiubhanDuinne:
Yes, I couldn’t get past that either. THREE hours to find a vein?! Jeeze.
Ken
Do all twitter reporters start every post with “Breaking”? It dilutes the meaning of the word, especially when the main message is “we have no news on this, and won’t for another four months.”
Complaints about presentation aside, I know which way I hope the decision goes. But I don’t live in Iowa — anyone out there from the (google) Hawkeye (really??) state with an opinion?
O. Felix Culpa
@Miss Bianca:
Let me know if you’re in the ‘hood, as defined as within the state, more or less. Our new abode is in ABQ, a mere six-minute drive to Ms. O’s office, as opposed to an hour-plus commute each way.
I’m so sorry about your sister. She sounds like she was a really interesting person. I imagine there will be some good stories shared at her memorial. Condolences to you and all who loved her.
Ken
@Baud: They always get you on the shipping + handling. I suspect that’s why so many of the ads offer “a second gizmo free, just pay additional shipping + handling.”
Barbara
@NotMax: Fans won’t work for dogs the way they do for people. We feel cooler because of the action of blowing air on sweaty pores. I spent a long unairconditioned summer in an apartment in Baltimore, and the two things I did to cool my dog was, when I was away, I put him in my tiled bathroom — the tile was much cooler than the air, and when I was home, I would run a cool bath and let him soak for a while. That and the air conditioned ATM vestibule down the street.
mrmoshpotato
No, but I would trust Joshua Weissman and Sam The Cooking Guy.
Betty Cracker
Speaking of fancy pet foods, I started feeding my dogs fresh chilled dog food instead of canned/kibble, and now mealtimes are fraught because if one dog finishes his first, he’ll go after the other’s remaining food, so I have to stand guard to keep the peace. It’s a giant pain in the ass, and I’m not sure how to get them to understand that this isn’t acceptable behavior. Any tips?
Soprano2
@Spanky: I suspect they’re reluctant to classify children as “terrorists”, and since these people often have their children living with them it’s a real concern.
O. Felix Culpa
So glad to have National Treasure ™ Alexandra Petri back. Excerpts from today’s essay on the Forward [sic] Party [sic].
Our third party is not a party of ideas! It is the idea of a party! (WaPo):
[snip]
[snip]
Spanky
@Soprano2: it’s called “grooming”, or so I’ve been told.
Miss Bianca
@Betty Cracker: I found that putting up a barrier between the bowls – really, just a sheet of black plastic garbage bags between two short poles, nothing fancy – helped my doggoes focus on their own bowls at meal times.
@O. Felix Culpa: Thank you.
Baud
@WaterGirl:
Thanks. The last comment I had found was July 11.
Ken
@Betty Cracker: Back during season 1 of The J6 Committee, I suggested that they should allow Bannon to testify like he wanted, provided he was wearing an electric shock collar. But that seems too inhumane to use on a dog. So maybe feed them in separate rooms?
SFAW
@Baud:
From somewhere beyond this mortal coil, Ron Popeil is saying “Shit! Why didn’t I do weapons instead of consumer goods?”
mrmoshpotato
@Ken: I don’t think allowed her doggos to testify is going to solve Betty C’s doggo feeding issue.
I mean, I could be wrong.
Kropacetic
@O. Felix Culpa: What I learned from the Black Panthers in “Judas and the Black Messiah,” if you want to build a party, get involved. Do good deeds in your community. Establish yourself in a region and build.
This top-down shit is exactly ass-backwards.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@Betty Cracker:
My daughter and husband have this issue with one of their two cats. They are very high-tech. They have a camera they can use to monitor feeding and some sort of water-squirting setup they can fire remotely via internet. Seems to work out well, as cats hate being squirted.
I think squirting also works with dogs. A hand held squirt bottle is one of the main crowd-control devices at the kennel our guy goes to for boarding and daycare. Every time I pick him up and feel there’s water on his shoulders I know he got a little too rambunctious.
Soprano2
TFG endorsing “Eric” in the MO Senate primary, when two of the leading candidates are both named Eric, is a *chef’s kiss* of idiocy. We got robocall phone messages from both candidates claiming the endorsement!
lamh36
Good Morning BJ
Guess who’s 7 years old today…my niece ZOE!!
We traveled to NYC trip last week as part of her birthday celebration, but today she is officially 7 years old!
Lordt time never stops! I still remember her as that baby in front of my laptop that John once posted in BJ years ago!
Now that baby is going to be a 2nd grader!! 🥹
https://twitter.com/psddluva4evah/status/1554464948130136064?s=21&t=09YYBKtRXZFs67b7fkswkg
Betty Cracker
@Miss Bianca: I moved their chow and water bowls to different rooms. We always have kibble down for grazing purposes, and when it’s just kibble present, they’ll eat from either bowl with no trouble. It’s just the fancy pet food that’s worth a conflict, I guess.
Kropacetic
@Soprano2: Clearly he meant his own son. And what are last names?
O. Felix Culpa
@lamh36:
Woot! Happy 7th to Zoe! The birthday girl is looking so very grown-up and cool in her shades. Time does fly, as they say. Great to see you here too.
Jinchi
I’m pretty sure thats Russian doctrine.
WaterGirl
@lamh36: Holy cow, all grown up!!! I wouldn’t use the word “adorable” like I did last time around, lest she track me down and cut me. :-) I like her style, with the shades and the hat!
You can tell that she is one special kid.
WaterGirl
@Betty Cracker: No good deed goes unpunished.
O. Felix Culpa
@Kropacetic:
You are right, which suggests the obvious: this latest Andrew Yang and co. special is not intended to accomplish anything apart from lining the pockets of Andrew Yang and co., with the lagniappe of undermining democracy by undermining Democrats.
The Moar You Know
@Betty Cracker: get good at standing guard because that’s how it’s going to be for quite some time.
My dog DELIGHTS in stealing food, especially if it’s from another dog that we are babysitting. The normal cure for fixing dog behaviors is to give them something they find more interesting, but for most dogs, there is nothing more interesting than someone else’s food.
Miss Bianca
@lamh36: Woot, she looks so grown-up and stylin’ in her shades! Has it really been 7 years already?! – Happy birthday, Zoe!
Ken
@Soprano2: I’m left wondering if that’s because TFG got out “I endorse Eric” and went blank on the last name, or if it’s deliberate so he can claim a win if either of them gets the nomination.
Betty Cracker
@Ken: Politico has a story that claims it was deliberate. Trump supposedly called both Erics and said he was endorsing them without telling them he’d endorsed the rival Eric. What a clown.
zhena gogolia
@lamh36: Happy Birthday, Zoe! 🎂
Jeffro
@O. Felix Culpa: that’s awesome! She packs so many references (usually literary ones) into her work. =)
Betty Cracker
More good news for Fetterman:
Here’s hoping Trump’s idiotic endorsements cost the GOP their shot at the senate and make the two obstructionist Dems irrelevant.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Betty Cracker: I was just reading that, between the lines, it was Kimberly Guilfoyle’s idea
Ken
@Betty Cracker: Maybe we’ll get a follow-up story when one or the other Eric stops their check, since they thought they were buying an exclusive endorsement.
prostratedragon
@Ohio Mom: Would have been wasted effort on any cat I ever had. They loved to share morsels of fresh liver, seafood, or hamburger with me, but were indifferent to prepared food (I’m at least a decent cook, sometimes better than merely that).
Barbara
@Kropacetic: I don’t really know what Andrew Yang did before he went all in on politics, but top down reasoning versus ground up organization is usually what separates CEOs from politicians. The CEO gives orders — their underlings carry them out and are judged by how well they execute. Whereas, politicians are engaged endlessly in persuasion and debate in an effort to get people to see how their interests are sufficiently aligned to vote the same way. It’s not a knock on CEOs to say that most of them find this to be exhausting and alien to the way they carry out their mission.
Ben Cisco
@germy shoemangler: Yeah, NO WAY is that going to end badly 😏
Betty Cracker
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: LOL! I hope this blows up in their faces so hard that the resulting crater can be seen from space.
Kropacetic
@Barbara: Therefore politics should be run more like a business. QED.
Barbara
@Kropacetic: Even the best run business in the world needs consumers to buy the product they are selling. Oops.
SiubhanDuinne
@lamh36:
Zoe is one sharp-looking lady! Happy birthday, Z!
Soprano2
@Ken: This is probably exactly right! What a moron.
prostratedragon
@Miss Bianca:
So, does that means we are eating cats, or just eating *like* cats?
It took me a moment to admit that I was anxious enough about this very question that I needed to glance at the article. It’s the latter.
Ben Cisco
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: You’re not going to believe this, but there are actually THREE Erics in the race:
Kropacetic
@Barbara: Don’t be silly. You can simply buy, trade, and dismantle entire businesses. Having a product to sell is for noobs.
Barbara
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Greitens lured a woman to the basement of his house where he lives with his wife and restrained her apparently against her will to satisfy his sexual fantasies. All the tactical maneuvering in the world can’t change the fact that this is not a guy who deserves to continue in office.
Geminid
@Betty Cracker: I thought David McCormick would have made a better candidate than Oz. Fetterman’s a formidable opponent, but at least McCormick’s a veteran of the U.S. Army and not Turkey’s.He has very little public record and could have run like Youngkin, being all things to all people. I think Fetterman would beat McCormick but McCormick would have had a chance and I don’t think Oz has any.
O. Felix Culpa
@Geminid:
I love the smell of Republican disarray in the morning.
kindness
‘Ross Douthat and Maureen Dowd trying to milk a
cowsteer.’Be a better fit for them.
Suzanne
@Ohio Mom:
So Chef Boyardee.
Which I will admit is a comfort food. Because my upbringing looked like “Stranger Things”, minus the Upside Down. It accurately captures the Rightside Up, though.
Soprano2
@Ben Cisco: There are over 20 candidates on the Republican side, so of course there’s another Eric!
O. Felix Culpa
@Suzanne:
I LOVED Beefaroni as a kid. Mega-carbs and sodium and artificial flavorings! What’s not to like?
I tried it again once as an adult. Blech. Same with Twinkies. Double-blech.
Elizabelle
@lamh36: Love that photo. Both of you are styling.
Seven years grown. A charmer, to be sure.
prostratedragon
@O. Felix Culpa: So, they’re using the nft model.
Geminid
@Barbara: Greitens’ wife’s divorce filings are every bit as devastating as that story, if not more so. National Republicans keep saying that Greitens is the only primary candidate who could lose that seat. They’ve put a lot of money into anti-Greitens ads to head him off.
Heidi Mom
The mention of the Navajo Code Talker’s passing brought to mind, yet again, my reason for disliking the otherwise-not-bad movie Windtalker, starring Adam Beach and Nicolas Cage: It implied that the Navajo Marines were taught the code by their white officers. No–they developed it! Talk about missing the point
stinger
@lamh36: That girl is rocking the brim and the shades! Happy birthday to her!
frosty
@Geminid:
Fetterman has done a masterful job of defining Oz (with his trolling) before Oz got a chance to introduce himself as a candidate. I expect everyone in PA knows Oz is a Jersey boy at this point.
And the trolling has been really funny, too. I love Snooki and Stevie Van Zandt’s endorsements.
Elizabelle
WRT the ginsu from the sky weapon:
that could be extremely helpful in taking out major narco lords. I wonder if they will try it. Those folks are destabilizing their own societies/countries. You also have the issue of poorly paid police who are working for … who?
Anything that could help central (and South) America recover their opportunities.
lowtechcyclist
I agree with that part of what they said.
The part that got me was when one of them said that their parents raised them to be freethinkers. Yet her dad got caught up in a violent cult. Good job of freethinking, dude.
Soprano2
@Geminid: You should see and hear the TV ads a PAC is running against Greitens. They have a woman reading stuff from his wife’s court filings, the allegations that he restrained her, took her phone, and hit their son. I don’t know how anyone could vote for him after hearing that, but some of TFG’s supporters will. It feels gross to be rooting for him to win the Republican primary, but that’s the best hope the Democrats have to be competitive for the seat.
prostratedragon
@lamh36: Oh, to be able to wear a hat that well! I think I remember when she was born. Happy Birthday to her.
Elizabelle
Litlbritdifrnt sighting in the thread ahead.
Now, if only Debbie would show up too.
Elizabelle
@lowtechcyclist: Yeah. You could see the daughter pausing as that occurred to her, too.
lowtechcyclist
Where’s the best place to look up who needs money, and who’s already got a shit-ton?
Ksmiami
@Baud: But can it slice through a tomato?
MinuteMan
Add getting the hell out of Afghanistan to the list of Peppy Joe’s accomplishments. An end to a the twenty years war.
Ken
@Soprano2: Oh, that Eric. The one with the domestic abuse. I thought it was the Eric with the woman tied up in the basement.
Oh, wait, they’re the same guy.
(Which makes it kind of creepy that Guilfoyle was advocating for him.)
Baud
@MinuteMan:
👍
Bill Arnold
@Baud:
“Rocket Swords”:
Ben Cisco
@Soprano2: What a cluster.
Geminid
@lowtechcyclist: OpenSecrets does a good job reporting campaign finance in detail.
If you look up “news” on individual races you’ll find state and local media reporting on donations too. They will report on PAC funding as well. The Vance and Oz campaigns are raising little money so PAC support for them will be the biggest factor in their races.
Barbara
@Geminid: I haven’t followed Greitens since he resigned, but I guess his wife’s professed plea for privacy had more in common with a hostage statement than a true desire for marital reconciliation. It’s just completely crazy to me — not that Greitens wanted to live out his fantasies but that he thought he could do so without any blowback for his desire to be an elected public official. He basically kidnapped someone. Really, he should have at least had to plea bargain his way out of a long jail term. Instead, he is running for office.
Steeplejack
@germy shoemangler:
Geminid
@Barbara: The saying, “A politician is a sick man who gets well by being elected” applies to Greitens more than most others.
Jinchi
Leave it to Trump to figure out a way to screw over two people while still getting them to grovel before him.
Geminid
@Jinchi: trump’s advisors are third rate. The disparity between Eric Greitens’ and Eric Schmitt’s chances in November is so great this decision would have been a no-brainer for even second rate advisors.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@Betty Cracker:
Better and better! Every time I hear a poll about this race the margin gets more comfortable.
Especially satisfying because this race is to replace the execrable Pat Toomey (R-ptooie) who often manages to be the Worst Person in the Senate on many issues. I understand he’s largely responsible for the Republican turnaround on the “burn pit” bill. And it sounds like he’s managed to turn a lot of their voters against the party as a result, which is also <chef’s kiss>.
The Warnock-Walker race in GA, on the other hand, still sounds annoyingly close. Walker is a moron, but Republicans seem to like their politicians to be morons.
Elizabelle
@Steeplejack: So true.
SiubhanDuinne
@Steeplejack:
I am perpetually amused and impressed by the ease with which PopeHat, on a near-daily basis, comes up with new Twitter handles that are both clever and topical.
Soprano2
@Ken: I said from the beginning that Greitens was a Trump-in-training – he had the same sneering contempt for most people and the same penchant for secrecy in government, the same disdain for the laws (those pesky things don’t apply to me!), and so on. If he hadn’t resigned in 2018 he’d be giving DeSantis a run for his money as the most “Trumpie” governor.
CaseyL
@Baud: That’s…certainly different. A giant exploding Swiss Army knife.
O. Felix Culpa
@SiubhanDuinne: Same.
J R in WV
@lamh36:
Great to see you, and you and niece Z are both cute as buttons.
Come around more often, we miss you!!
J R in WV
@Ceci n est pas mon nym:
While Walker is not smart, his biggest problem is that he is diagnosed with a mental illness, and refuses to take the medications prescribed to help him be more stable. He’s banana pants CRZY.
We’re on a regular donation to the good Rev. Senator.
sab
I finally dpfound out what is going to be on my ballot for our second primary of the summer. An unopposed candidate for state representative, and two contested seats for state Democratic party committee, one for men, the other for women.
I usually vote, but I am not sure if I will haul myself in for this one. Basically my choice comes down to whether I vote for the man and woman from our urban/suburban county, or the pair from the neighboring rural county. I know something about the two women candidates. I know nothing about the men. Is utterly uninformed voting worse than not voting at all?
cain
@germy shoemangler:
I love that Paris loves to parody herself. I think she’s a really smart at managing her brand and making it accessible. I think I’d have a fun time hanging out with her.
Paul in KY
@Baud: I read a SF story where a weapon was a gyroscope, rotating in a metal shell at 1/4 speed of light. Something was triggered that made it not stable and as it disintegrated it releases all sorts of energy/shrapnel.
Had no explosives. Stuff like this (along with metal objects dropping from space at 40k mph) that will become the weapons of the future, IMO.
FridayNext
Way late for this open thread but:
Did you hear about the 4,000 beagles being rescued from a pharmaceutical research breeding program?
I volunteer at a rescue shelter that is taking an as-yet-to-be-determined number of these beagles. We could use all the help we can get.
https://www.lostdogrescue.org/beaglerescue/
Paul in KY
@Amir Khalid: You can smother someone with a pillow.
Paul in KY
@Soprano2: He is so pathetic.
Paul in KY
@lamh36: Congrats to her! Hope all well in the NOLA. I hope to get down there next year for Voodoo.
Paul in KY
@Barbara: I would assume the other two ‘Erics’ are also horrible in various ways.
evodevo
@Anyway: Well, not totally unimaginable…no competent caring phlebotomist would want to be involved in this AT ALL, so all the state would have left would be an incompetent…
evodevo
@Kropacetic: Yes. This. The machine Dems in old timey Chicago understood this. Constituent services are Job One, and everything else is secondary. When people go to the polls, they remember who personally helped them out in their hour of need, instead of showing up on the doorstep every 2 to 4 years whining about voting…
Barbara
@Paul in KY: Well I would too but there should be some shared understanding of what is horrible that crosses party lines. Evidently the national Republican is worried only about Greitens’ electability not whether he kidnapped his sexual conquest and then threatened to kill various family members.
Barbara
@Anyway: If the person had a history as an IV drug user many of their veins might have been destroyed. I had a friend who trained at the University of Chicago hospitals who had IV drug user patients who stuck themselves for blood draws because the “normal” ports of entry had closed up long ago.
Paul in KY
@Barbara: The national Repubs probably know of several more in that boat who just haven’t been found out yet. Good Repubs all!
Paul in KY
@Barbara: Plus, I guess, they probably used a needle much more than the plebotomists! Might have given them pointers.
Barbara
@Paul in KY: Let’s just say they had more of an incentive to cooperate and be helpful.
Steeplejack
@SiubhanDuinne:
My recent favorite was PatsyBaloneyHat. There is a Twitter account that logs all of his nyms: @PopehatNames.
Miss Bee
@O. Felix Culpa:
check this out for both confirmation of that thought and some good cheer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcfBingow3U&ab_channel=HayesCarll
Miss Bianca
@Steeplejack: OK, now that I’ve bothered to check out the referent tweet, that shit is hilarious.
Steeplejack
@Miss Bianca:
Inorite. Context!
MrKite
@Elizabelle: I would say we’ve “helped” Central and South American countries quite enough over the years. Other than the real work of diplomacy that Madame VP is involved with, I think it’s time we sat down and let them solve their problems without our so-called “help”.
misterpuff
The upscale version of the Moderate’s Cat Food Commission, Now with a maître d’!
Ruckus
@Anyway:
Not intended to defend the state murder program but there are people who have small and or tough veins/arteries and it can be tough to inject them. Yes 3 hrs is a long time but I’ve had people who had a difficult time hitting mine. There was this one nurse at the VA clinic that could draw blood so effortlessly that I believe her nickname was Elvira. Fun, funny and a good shot, a combo for all to reach. And I’ve been told that some addicts are extremely difficult to get needles into, and it’s not impossible to imagine that someone on death row might just be one such person. Or we could do without death row in the first place, thereby eliminating the problem. A small issue with troglodytes makes that possible resolution difficult to implement.
Steeplejack
@lamh36:
Happy birthday to Zoe! 🎊🎈🎉🎂 She’s sporting some serious shades in that photo.
Ruckus
@SFAW:
FIXITFY
From somewhere beyond this mortal coil, Ron Popeil is saying “Shit! Why didn’t I do weapons instead of horribly bad consumer goods?”
Ruckus
@Ken:
I’d say C, both of the above. Although I’m not sure SFB could make that connection on his own.
Ruckus
@Barbara:
I wonder why Yang decided that he needed to go into politics? Was it that he is so smart and successful that he thinks he can solve any issue? Or is it maybe that he isn’t all that smart and hasn’t actually been as successful as is made out, which is often referred to as right place – right time?
justinb
@Raoul Paste: BMDO represent!