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You are here: Home / Politics / Biden Administration in Action / Thursday Morning Open Thread: We’re Right, They’re… Reicht

Thursday Morning Open Thread: We’re Right, They’re… Reicht

by Anne Laurie|  August 11, 20228:12 am| 210 Comments

This post is in: Biden Administration in Action, Open Threads, Proud to Be A Democrat, Republicans in Disarray!, Trump Crime Cartel

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Jewish Grandpa vs Yurtle The Racist Turtle, who ya got? https://t.co/fvHLRznHig

— Fuzzy Trousers ?????? (@Old_Ironpaws) August 9, 2022


It’s been a busy couple of days. pic.twitter.com/zA0G71fAyj

— President Biden (@POTUS) August 10, 2022

Breaking: President Biden has just signed into law the PACT Act, which will provide life-saving care to veterans who've been exposed to toxic burn pits.

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) August 10, 2022

CNN: Yellen directs IRS not to use new funding to increase chances of audits of Americans making less than $400,000 https://t.co/lZcI5CeHxW

— Lily Adams (@adamslily) August 11, 2022

Dobbs had a huge political impact because it creates horrible outcomes touching millions of Americans, Inflation also impacted people directly….the raid touches the griftosphere and GOP electeds looking at primaries

— vocational politics stan account (@Convolutedname) August 10, 2022

You all need to vote like it's going to be close, but white women are furious at the GOP and will put us over the top if we turn out https://t.co/7v9j5flG9q

— ProofOfBurden (@ProofofBurden) August 10, 2022

I was a bit skeptical (though it seemed *reasonable*) of the analysis that the GOP holding unpopular views constrained by the court mooted those positions to normie voters. Happy to post this L!

— ProofOfBurden (@ProofofBurden) August 10, 2022

Publicly, they point to RSC types going to Bedminster this week as a microcosm of what the party is doing. Rah rah in the wake of the FBI search. Urging Trump to run. But post Kansas, and with probes mounting and sprawling, few are priv confident they know how this all plays out.

— Robert Costa (@costareports) August 11, 2022

Democrats would hate for Trump to announce his candidacy in September and make the midterm election a referendum on him and his search warrant. They would definitely not want him to do that. https://t.co/fb7YshXJdh

— I, Fred, will knock you all down!! (@LesserFrederick) August 10, 2022

Nothing, NOTHING would make me happier than this all going down in a blaze of paranoiac finger pointing

— Lord Businessman (@BusinessmanLego) August 10, 2022

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Reader Interactions

210Comments

  1. 1.

    Baud

    August 11, 2022 at 8:17 am

    I am concerned Biden’s historic success is a distraction from the abortion issue.

  2. 2.

    Danielx

    August 11, 2022 at 8:18 am

    Frist!

    eta: I should known.

  3. 3.

    Baud

    August 11, 2022 at 8:20 am

    @Danielx:

    I helped you get the coveted second spot.  You’re welcome.

  4. 4.

    germy shoemangler

    August 11, 2022 at 8:22 am

    I haven’t seen Republicans THIS angry since Sesame Street told them to get vaccinated, or the green M&M got less sexy, or Michelle Obama told their kids to do jumping jacks, or Barack wore a tan suit or (1/269)

    — connectpoliticditto. (@cpoliticditto) August 9, 2022

  5. 5.

    Danielx

    August 11, 2022 at 8:22 am

    @Baud:

    Of course you did.

  6. 6.

    WereBear

    August 11, 2022 at 8:24 am

    Something just occurred to me: a lot of what went viral lately was Democrats swearing righteously and I think we may have found our Republican kryptonite.

    Can they cuss? Are they helpless before our foul mouths and shrill voices?

    I’d be happy to see it continue.

  7. 7.

    Baud

    August 11, 2022 at 8:25 am

    I happened to catch a little MJ and they were gushing over Biden. Anne Laurie could have ghost written the show.

  8. 8.

    The Thin Black Duke

    August 11, 2022 at 8:25 am

    Sooner or later, it’s always the “kitchen table” issues that nail the GOP. After the noisy rhetoric goes away, voters are going to want someone who plows the roads, put food on the grocery shelves and keep the heat on in the winter (looking at you, Texas). Problem is, voters need to remember that voting Republicans back into office after the Democrats fix everything (again) is a vicious cycle that only makes things worse.

  9. 9.

    Baud

    August 11, 2022 at 8:25 am

    @WereBear:

    Who besides Beto?

  10. 10.

    germy shoemangler

    August 11, 2022 at 8:26 am

    honestly, I can't believe the FBI is doing this to a man who just buried his ex-wife at one of his golf courses

    — Fake Wortbutt (@falsebinary) August 8, 2022

  11. 11.

    Baud

    August 11, 2022 at 8:26 am

    @The Thin Black Duke:

    If we can break that cycle this time around, it would be earth shattering.

  12. 12.

    lowtechcyclist

    August 11, 2022 at 8:29 am

    That ‘last 10 days’ thing is great.  The DNC should be buying 15-second TV ads and getting it on as many screens as possible.

    America needs to get the message, over and over again, that Democrats are doing good shit for the country, and that the Republicans’ only agenda is to try to block the Dems from doing good shit.

  13. 13.

    germy shoemangler

    August 11, 2022 at 8:29 am

    I saw Gladwell on the CBS morning show.  He must have a new book to sell

    Malcolm Gladwell is one of my favorite frauds. A “public intellectual” with no qualifications for being one, writing on topics he has no expertise on, declared as such because he says the things powerful people like to hear

    — Kafka, Esq. 🧌 (@metalgearobama) August 7, 2022

    He’s literally just some asshole who couldn’t make it to grad school lol (and also worked for the Moonies) pic.twitter.com/MED8ayZc9T

    — Kafka, Esq. 🧌 (@metalgearobama) August 7, 2022

  14. 14.

    Old School

    August 11, 2022 at 8:29 am

    It’s great to see Biden use the “I did that!” sticker to point out accomplishments.  Similar to the Dark Brandon stuff, it is taking the right wing stuff and turning it to the Dems advantage.

  15. 15.

    germy shoemangler

    August 11, 2022 at 8:33 am

    Update: Bolton tells @vmsalama that Trump ended his Secret Service detail when he resigned despite FBI warning after Soleimani’s death Iran wanted to kill him. Last December Biden admin granted his request to restore protection as the assassination effort progressed, Bolton said. https://t.co/kclA19hodv

    — Dustin Volz (@dnvolz) August 10, 2022

    Now we see why Bolton was so pissed at Trump — they guy was trying to have him KILLED.

    — Roy Edroso (@edroso) August 10, 2022

  16. 16.

    schrodingers_cat

    August 11, 2022 at 8:34 am

    @Baud: We can. Step 1 is to ignore whatever the Punditeriat is saying on a given day.

  17. 17.

    lowtechcyclist

    August 11, 2022 at 8:35 am

    You all need to vote like it’s going to be close, but white women are furious at the GOP and will put us over the top if we turn out

    What are black women, chopped liver?  Does @ProofofBurden think they’re any less affected by this?

  18. 18.

    Baud

    August 11, 2022 at 8:35 am

    @schrodingers_cat:

    But Biden is sooooo ooooolllllldddd.

  19. 19.

    Baud

    August 11, 2022 at 8:36 am

    @lowtechcyclist:

    You all need to vote like it’s going to be close

    Also, how would people vote if it wasn’t close?
    ETA: I think the tweeter isn’t worried about black women voting.

  20. 20.

    germy shoemangler

    August 11, 2022 at 8:36 am

    Two Indiana officers were suspended after a stunning courtroom revelation that police thought a potential town council candidate was anti-police and arrested him, stopping him from running for office. https://t.co/kftOoYIk2E

    — The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) August 10, 2022

  21. 21.

    oatler

    August 11, 2022 at 8:37 am

    Been hearing an earful of AZ hate-radio on the bus the past week, and apparently a state of civil war now exists, with “reports” of troop movements and hints to arm themselves, stand back and stand by.

  22. 22.

    clay

    August 11, 2022 at 8:37 am

    I’m no fancy law-talking’ guy, but it seems to me that innocent people don’t have to get all paranoid about which close associates have flipped on them.

  23. 23.

    Baud

    August 11, 2022 at 8:38 am

    @oatler:

    Your bus driver is allowed to have hate radio on?

  24. 24.

    SFAW

    August 11, 2022 at 8:38 am

    @germy shoemangler: ​
     

    And yet “American Liberty News” or “Patriot Update” (RWMF “news” sites) is/are telling me that it’s Biden’s fault that Iran [so to speak] was able almost to kill Bolton.

  25. 25.

    germy shoemangler

    August 11, 2022 at 8:39 am

    @oatler:

    I guess they don’t use earbuds because they want other passengers to hear and appreciate the message?

  26. 26.

    germy shoemangler

    August 11, 2022 at 8:40 am

    @Baud:

    I thought it was a passenger with the radio

  27. 27.

    schrodingers_cat

    August 11, 2022 at 8:40 am

    @Baud: As opposed to these toddlers?

  28. 28.

    germy shoemangler

    August 11, 2022 at 8:40 am

    @SFAW:

    Fox News was expressing concern about “mom & pop gas stations” who are now suffering because of lowering gas prices.

    They’ll spin whatever they need to spin.

  29. 29.

    oatler

    August 11, 2022 at 8:41 am

    @Baud:

    It’s AZ county-funded, so go figure…

  30. 30.

    WereBear

    August 11, 2022 at 8:43 am

    @Baud: Jon Stewart was using quite a few names, hanging out and shaming Republican senators over the PACT Act.

    Others were creative citizens I got to see because their ideas appeared in my social media, but it was around messages about people registering to vote, especially younger voters.

    Who are upset. We have been showing it, and I think that’s good.

  31. 31.

    Baud

    August 11, 2022 at 8:43 am

    @WereBear:

    Does Stewart identify as a Dem?

    ETA: I agree about the importance of swearing around your people.

  32. 32.

    schrodingers_cat

    August 11, 2022 at 8:44 am

    @WereBear: Jon Stewart is a both sidery blowhard. It is curious how the media stans anyone but Dems who actually do the work.

  33. 33.

    SFAW

    August 11, 2022 at 8:44 am

    I’m a-thinking that the actual “rat” was TFG himself: he knew that getting “raided” would cause his standing among MAGAts to spike, and thus cut DeathSantis off at the knees. 13-th dimensional chess, libtards!

    I swear, I crack myself up sometimes.

  34. 34.

    Anne Laurie

    August 11, 2022 at 8:44 am

    @lowtechcyclist: Black women are known to be reliable Democratic voters, for excellent reasons!

    White (upper-middle-class, Californian) women… not so much.

    If we can get women who’ve always, not always consciously, voted for ‘lower taxes’ and ‘safe neighborhoods’ — i.e., GOP propaganda — to pull the lever for Democrats, that would be a major help at holding, and expanding, our reach.

  35. 35.

    SFAW

    August 11, 2022 at 8:46 am

    @schrodingers_cat: ​
     
    Give it a rest.

  36. 36.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    August 11, 2022 at 8:47 am

    @germy shoemangler: Is there such a thing as a mom and pop gas station?

  37. 37.

    sdhays

    August 11, 2022 at 8:49 am

    @germy shoemangler: All they did was arrest him. At least they didn’t cancel him. The republic wouldn’t have been able to survive that!

  38. 38.

    SFAW

    August 11, 2022 at 8:51 am

    @germy shoemangler: ​
     
    And a few days ago they were whining about the great jobs report because Sleepy Joe missed his numbers in the “wrong” direction. Or something.

    Rupert Fucking Murdoch has done more to destroy functional democracy around the world than just about anyone else.

  39. 39.

    rikyrah

    August 11, 2022 at 8:51 am

    Good Morning Everyone 😊😊😊

  40. 40.

    SFAW

    August 11, 2022 at 8:52 am

    @germy shoemangler: ​
     
    Fucking fascists.

  41. 41.

    Baud

    August 11, 2022 at 8:52 am

    FWIW, I don’t forced swearing would work very well.  Beto was triggered by an asshole who laughed at the murder of children.  Stewart by the assholes in the Senate GOP caucus.  The context made it work.

    I remember when Gillibrand tried swearing in normal conversations with voters.  Less effective.

  42. 42.

    Baud

    August 11, 2022 at 8:52 am

    @rikyrah:

    Good morning.

  43. 43.

    germy shoemangler

    August 11, 2022 at 8:53 am

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    “Mom & Pop” and “Small Businesses” are terms the GOP uses to describe large corporations, so that we’ll love them.

    They do the same thing with landlords (“just regular little people trying to earn some money”) and then it turns out the landlord owns fifty properties or something.

  44. 44.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    August 11, 2022 at 8:54 am

    @SFAW: I once saw someone compare countries that had Murdoch news outlets vs those who don’t: US vs Canada, Australia vs New Zealand. The political differences were striking.

  45. 45.

    rikyrah

    August 11, 2022 at 8:56 am

    No visibility into scope of evidence?

    Then ask Dolt45 for the list of items taken by the FBI. He has that.

  46. 46.

    Baud

    August 11, 2022 at 8:57 am

    @rikyrah:

    They won’t do that.  They want to keep the conversation on how unprecedented the FBI’s raid was.

  47. 47.

    SFAW

    August 11, 2022 at 8:58 am

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    Murdoch’s effect (via his “news” orgs) has been to damage democracy and reality in Australia, England, and here. I used to blame Traitor Turtle for the destruction of American democracy; while he’s certainly done his best to destroy it, he couldn’t have done so without Fox’s lies and propaganda.

    And fuck Roger Ailes, too, of course.

  48. 48.

    geg6

    August 11, 2022 at 8:58 am

    @lowtechcyclist:

    I actually saw an ad like that last night on tv.  All about the good things that are getting done and how it’s Biden and Democrats bringing us all these good things.  It was excellent to see.

  49. 49.

    germy shoemangler

    August 11, 2022 at 8:59 am

    @rikyrah: Then ask Dolt45 for the list of items taken by the FBI. 

    He’d plead the Fifth.

  50. 50.

    Gin & Tonic

    August 11, 2022 at 9:00 am

    Am I the only one who thinks the design of that graph in the Lenny Bronner sub-tweet is awful? Those little circles of imperceptible size difference are supposed to represent what, number of voters? Look in the middle of the plot – is there a statistically significant difference among sizes of circles above and below the red line? Colored pixels cost the same as monochrome, use colors in addition to size to distinguish among precinct sizes FFS.

    Harrumph!

  51. 51.

    NotMax

    August 11, 2022 at 9:00 am

    @rikyrah

    “The FBI filched my Nobel prizes.”

    //

  52. 52.

    SFAW

    August 11, 2022 at 9:00 am

    @Baud:

    They want to keep the conversation on how unprecedented the FBI’s raid was.

    And off of how unprecedentedly corrupt TFG was as President.

  53. 53.

    mrmoshpotato

    August 11, 2022 at 9:01 am

    It’s been a busy couple of days.

    Brandon has been going.  Thanks chickenshit, Trump trash!

    Oh, hello to you and your bones.

  54. 54.

    WereBear

    August 11, 2022 at 9:02 am

    @Baud: Well no, not like a fourteen year old. But I think it’s a sign that the Democratic Party is trying to connect in a way we have not seen in too long.

  55. 55.

    geg6

    August 11, 2022 at 9:03 am

    @lowtechcyclist: ​
     
    I don’t think that is the point. Generally, Black women are going to back the Dems, regardless. Hell, they are the absolute backbone of the entire party and we should worship the ground they walk, tbh. But white women (of which I am one) are less likely to be trustworthy Dem voters, as pretty much every election has shown us. All we need is a portion of new white women Dem voters to make November the midterm for the history books.

  56. 56.

    PPCLI

    August 11, 2022 at 9:03 am

    Mike Pence’s view seems to be that Trump should have tracked Pence down himself, and personally hanged him.

    The perfect crime!

  57. 57.

    germy shoemangler

    August 11, 2022 at 9:04 am

    Here’s a good ad from a Democrat who wants to unseat stephanik:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IC3LT8-TLw

     

    (trigger warning:  trump’s ass)

  58. 58.

    MisterForkbeard

    August 11, 2022 at 9:04 am

    @Baud: I remember when Gillibrand tried swearing in normal conversations with voters.  Less effective.

    To be fair, Gillibrand is also a woman. I could see that causing a problem if she steps outside of ‘acceptable’ discourse

  59. 59.

    Argiope

    August 11, 2022 at 9:05 am

    @Baud: I’ll believe it’s great for our whole side to cuss when politicians with vaginas also get props for it.  Have we seen any of that, yet, or is it just a guy thing?  It may be context (regular voter conversations don’t work, authentically demonstrated anger in the moment does) or it may be who is doing it.

    ETA or what Mr Forkbeard said

  60. 60.

    Baud

    August 11, 2022 at 9:06 am

    @MisterForkbeard:

    Good point. Like, I’ve wondered if a female Fetterman would be as popular.

    ETA
    @Argiope:

  61. 61.

    mrmoshpotato

    August 11, 2022 at 9:06 am

    @germy shoemangler:

    “Mom & Pop” and “Small Businesses” are terms the GOP uses to describe large corporations, so that we’ll love them. 

    They do the same thing with landlords (“just regular little people trying to earn some money”) and then it turns out the landlord owns fifty properties or something.

    Now now.  Sean Hannity is poor, working-class slumlord trash just trying to eek out a living.

  62. 62.

    Betty Cracker

    August 11, 2022 at 9:08 am

    @Baud: We ladies always sound less authentic when we swear. /s

    Seriously though, I loved that Beto clip, and so did the crowd. It’s not his first televised F-bomb either — remember “Members of the media, what the fuck?!?”

  63. 63.

    schrodingers_cat

    August 11, 2022 at 9:08 am

    @Baud: No a female Fetterman won’t win the race for the proverbial dog catcher.

    That level of sloppiness would be frowned upon even in a female academic

    I will set the bar even lower:

    Show me one female politician from any country who doesn’t comb her hair.

  64. 64.

    OzarkHillbilly

    August 11, 2022 at 9:10 am

    @Baud: If I had to forego swearing, I’d be mute.

  65. 65.

    prostratedragon

    August 11, 2022 at 9:10 am

    @germy shoemangler:  Someone knows what happened to her actual will and final directive.

  66. 66.

    Baud

    August 11, 2022 at 9:12 am

    @prostratedragon:

    Maybe it was in the Mar-a-Lago safe.

  67. 67.

    SFAW

    August 11, 2022 at 9:14 am

    @mrmoshpotato: ​
     
    And besides, isn’t Hannity also known as “Individual 3”? Not “Mega Corporation 3”!! Q, E, and touchdown, libtard!

  68. 68.

    Geminid

    August 11, 2022 at 9:15 am

    While trump is looking for moles in Mar-a-Loco, Joe Biden is looking at seagulls on Kiawah Island. He and family will spend several days on the island 25 miles southwest of Charleston, South Carolina. The White House declined to answer questions about planned activities or when Biden will return to Washington.

  69. 69.

    Baud

    August 11, 2022 at 9:16 am

    @Geminid:

    He’s earned it.

  70. 70.

    mrmoshpotato

    August 11, 2022 at 9:18 am

    @schrodingers_cat: No trigger warning?  At this hour?  Gross!

  71. 71.

    Baud

    August 11, 2022 at 9:18 am

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Show me one female politician from any country who doesn’t comb her hair.

     
    Ayanna Pressley

  72. 72.

    schrodingers_cat

    August 11, 2022 at 9:20 am

    @Baud: Good point.  Baud has the last word.

  73. 73.

    geg6

    August 11, 2022 at 9:20 am

    @schrodingers_cat:

    TBF, Fetterman doesn’t comb his hair because he doesn’t have any.

  74. 74.

    Starfish

    August 11, 2022 at 9:21 am

    @WereBear: Are you talking about Beto?

  75. 75.

    Geminid

    August 11, 2022 at 9:21 am

    @Baud: Joe Biden will still have briefings but it sounds like he’ll have some nice vacation time. And he can look forward to signing the Inflation Reduction Act when he returns to Washington. The House will pass the IRA tomorrow.

  76. 76.

    Gin & Tonic

    August 11, 2022 at 9:22 am

    Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense trolls russians. This is great, even without any swearing.

    Unless they want an unpleasantly hot summer break, we advise our valued russian guests not to visit Ukrainian Crimea.

    Because no amount of sunscreen will protect them from the hazardous effects of smoking in unauthorised areas.
    🎶Bananarama pic.twitter.com/NnWnpZqMhR
    — Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) August 11, 2022

  77. 77.

    OzarkHillbilly

    August 11, 2022 at 9:23 am

    @Baud: Touche.

  78. 78.

    clay

    August 11, 2022 at 9:23 am

    @Geminid: South Carolina in August is a choice, but not one I’d make.

  79. 79.

    geg6

    August 11, 2022 at 9:25 am

    @Geminid: ​
     
    I thought that was today because I’m working from home tomorrow and so didn’t set the morning alarm before I left the house today as I usually do. Dammit. I hate when I lose track of days like that. Haven’t done that since we returned to the office. Did it during 2020 a lot, but being home every day was disconcerting.

  80. 80.

    lowtechcyclist

    August 11, 2022 at 9:25 am

    @Baud:

    ETA: I think the tweeter isn’t worried about black women voting.

    What he’s saying is that white women are going to come through for us, just wondering why he only mentions them and not black women if he isn’t worried about either group.

  81. 81.

    mrmoshpotato

    August 11, 2022 at 9:26 am

    @SFAW: He’s a poor, Mom and Pop multi-millionaire slumlord! ☹️😭

  82. 82.

    schrodingers_cat

    August 11, 2022 at 9:26 am

    @geg6: Good point I was thinking of the likes of Boris and the Vt senator. Politicians who affect an unkempt image are almost exclusively male

    Pressley with or without hair is neat as a pin.

  83. 83.

    mrmoshpotato

    August 11, 2022 at 9:27 am

    @Baud: Well played.

  84. 84.

    Geminid

    August 11, 2022 at 9:29 am

    @clay: Hopefully there will be some sea breezes where Biden’s at. The water’s warm and the waves are low, so his grandson should have a good time.

    I hope to make it to a beach in South Carolina next month, when the sun is not so high. Huntington Beach State Park is a nice place to camp, 20 miles south of Myrtle Beach. A seven hour drive for me.

  85. 85.

    Ken

    August 11, 2022 at 9:29 am

    @SFAW: Now you’ve got me wondering how long they’d go along with it. Would we “this is unprecedented, no President has ever been indicted by a grand jury”? “Has ever been arrested for selling secrets to the Saudis before”?  “Has ever been convicted and sentenced to prison before”?

    Hmm, now that I see it written down, I’m kind of eager to find out.

  86. 86.

    geg6

    August 11, 2022 at 9:30 am

    @schrodingers_cat: ​
     
    Yes, you’re right about that. And honestly, Fetterman isn’t unkempt. Yes, he’s extremely casual, to put it mildly. But he looks groomed and bathed. And his wife is an absolute fashionista, in a relatable way. She’s the real superstar of the two of them, IMHO. I love to see them interacting with each other. She runs the show.

  87. 87.

    mrmoshpotato

    August 11, 2022 at 9:31 am

    @Gin & Tonic: Wow.  Glory to Ukraine!

  88. 88.

    Ken

    August 11, 2022 at 9:34 am

    @prostratedragon: I’ll be very disappointed if the only thing that comes out of the FBI search is a charge of ignoring a final directive. Maybe they can drag in one of those “improper action with a dead body” crimes.

  89. 89.

    Wanderer

    August 11, 2022 at 9:35 am

    A lot has been said about the warranted seizure of documents belonging to the government. I submit this is not unprecedented because this warrant was earned by the time lag to return the documents. There was a demonstrated lack of compliance in returning them and perhaps a critical change in the government’s perception in the security of the documents contents. This search and seizure was earned imho. The right is saying lots of things but no one is saying anything about tfg’s actions being innocent. This was a point well made by Keith Olbermann yesterday during his podcast.

  90. 90.

    schrodingers_cat

    August 11, 2022 at 9:35 am

    @geg6: His outfits come across as sloppy to me, something that a minority or woman wouldn’t get away with as a senate candidate.

    But then I am not his audience. If it gets him elected, good.

  91. 91.

    different-church-lady

    August 11, 2022 at 9:36 am

    “Will Biden run out things to accomplish too far before the midterms?”

  92. 92.

    tam1MI

    August 11, 2022 at 9:36 am

    @Baud: I remember when Gillibrand tried swearing in normal conversations with voters.  Less effective.

    What little judgement Gillibrand had deserted her after her antics concerning Al Franken blew up in her face.

  93. 93.

    mrmoshpotato

    August 11, 2022 at 9:38 am

    Consider this: the FBI didn’t broadcast they searched Trump’s home. They didn’t even send agents in FBI jackets. The only reason we know it happened is because TRUMP told us. The FBI didn’t try to embarrass Trump. The guy who publicized it should be the one who shows the warrant.— Rep. Eric Swalwell (@RepSwalwell) August 11, 2022

  94. 94.

    Amir Khalid

    August 11, 2022 at 9:38 am

    @WereBear:

    Swearing won’t work as an affectation. It has to come naturally, in the context at hand. E.g. Beto really was pissed at that guy giggling over the Uvalde victims; his anger was appropriate, and his use of “motherfucker” was instinctive and authentic in that context. As entertaining as the results would be, you can’t ask Democratic politicians to start deploying F-bombs to seem more relatable. It isn’t natural in most contexts, and chances are it won’t work as a strategy.

  95. 95.

    zhena gogolia

    August 11, 2022 at 9:38 am

    @Baud: I can answer the Fetterman question. No, no, she wouldn’t.

  96. 96.

    TS

    August 11, 2022 at 9:39 am

    @germy shoemangler:

    Two Indiana officers were suspended

    A town of 2500 people with a police force of 9. Is everywhere in the US overpoliced to this level? In my part of the world a town of 2,500 might have 1or at the very most 2 policemen/women.

    How do these towns ever raise money for their salaries – no wonder they have few, if any, other services.

  97. 97.

    kindness

    August 11, 2022 at 9:41 am

    @germy shoemangler: re: Fox news crying for the Mom & Pop gas stations.  I can only imagine what Fox will despair when 1/2 of us are driving electric cars and never buy gas.

  98. 98.

    Ocotillo

    August 11, 2022 at 9:41 am

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:  Interesting, the could have added the UK vs. name a European country and it would have been the same.  Truly despicable.

  99. 99.

    zhena gogolia

    August 11, 2022 at 9:41 am

    @Gin & Tonic: Moskali trusiat.

  100. 100.

    mrmoshpotato

    August 11, 2022 at 9:41 am

    @Wanderer:

    The right is saying lots of things but no one is saying anything about tfg’s actions being innocent. 

    Apparently that’s even a bridge too far for the Rethuglican trash!

  101. 101.

    oatler

    August 11, 2022 at 9:42 am

    @Geminid:

    “Don’t even turn to see the wreckage.”

  102. 102.

    OzarkHillbilly

    August 11, 2022 at 9:43 am

    @different-church-lady: Heh. Sad but true.​ eta we know somebody is going to say that.

  103. 103.

    Geminid

    August 11, 2022 at 9:43 am

    @schrodingers_cat: I wasn’t a big Fetterman fan, but Pennsylvania Democrats chose him by a wide margin over two good candidates so I’ll take their word that he’s a good politician. He might even do as well as the relatively staid Bob Casey, who won reelection in 2018 by 600,000 votes.

    I see his work clothes and tattoos as a Gen-X thing. I noticed this among his contemporaries 25 years ago.

  104. 104.

    different-church-lady

    August 11, 2022 at 9:43 am

    Huuuuge difference between casual cussing and righteous cussing at a sociopath.

    (p. S. Or what Amir said better at 94)

  105. 105.

    prostratedragon

    August 11, 2022 at 9:43 am

    @Baud:  Check! Or one of those porcelain “safes.”

  106. 106.

    brendancalling

    August 11, 2022 at 9:45 am

    @germy shoemangler: Tyler Mahan Coe does a very good podcast about the history of country music, “Cocaine and Rhinestones.” His takedown of Gladwell talking shit about the genre is GLORIOUS.

  107. 107.

    schrodingers_cat

    August 11, 2022 at 9:51 am

    @zhena gogolia:  That’s what I said. BTW we have both been proven right about Sarah Grifty Doomzior.

  108. 108.

    WereBear

    August 11, 2022 at 9:51 am

    @Amir Khalid: I wasn’t serious, and I’m certainly not a political consultant.

    I guess I remember for the days when a US politician would go down like the Hindenburg over such an outburst, then Trump sailed through with that leaked tape all over everywhere.

    We all knew what he was. As always, the Republicans had to rub it in. But I think the bully is getting pushback at last.

  109. 109.

    prostratedragon

    August 11, 2022 at 9:55 am

    @Ken:  Oh, it would just be a kind of grace, or rather graceless, note of course. Another side note from the NYAG suit is the possibility of the corporate death penalty I’ve heard about. Can such a judgement reach assets beyond NYState? What would a receiver of the golf course do?

  110. 110.

    Booger

    August 11, 2022 at 9:55 am

    @Gin & Tonic: You sound like Edward Tufte.

  111. 111.

    NotMax

    August 11, 2022 at 9:56 am

    @Baud

    Number of women with a goatee who have won an election: zero.

    ;)

  112. 112.

    Geminid

    August 11, 2022 at 9:58 am

    @WereBear: Trump’s more like a hot air balloon that’s running out of propane. Republicans need to land the thing soon and flee before they’re trapped by the deflating balloon. Or hit a powerline.

  113. 113.

    zhena gogolia

    August 11, 2022 at 9:59 am

    @schrodingers_cat: I haven’t paid much attention to her lately. I’m afraid to look.

  114. 114.

    The Moar You Know

    August 11, 2022 at 9:59 am

    South Carolina in August is a choice, but not one I’d make.

    @clay: I did this a few years back for my dad’s birthday.  We were right on the beach and had A/C.  Still not great.  The ocean is pure mud, loaded with silt and absolutely disgusting to this Californian.  Looks great from a beachside rental, though.

  115. 115.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    August 11, 2022 at 10:00 am

    @Wanderer: The right is saying lots of things but no one is saying anything about tfg’s actions being innocent.

    Saying “I’m sure they found a lot of damning evidence of crimes but it was all planted by the FBI, I tell you. He wuz framed!” doesn’t count as “saying he’s innocent”?

  116. 116.

    SiubhanDuinne

    August 11, 2022 at 10:00 am

    @WereBear:

    FWIW, I nominated Beto’s line as a rotating tag last night, and am reliably* informed that it’s already been added. Showing up soon on a Balloon Juice banner near you….

    *WaterGirl

  117. 117.

    eclare

    August 11, 2022 at 10:02 am

    @schrodingers_cat:   Who is Sarah Grifty Doomzior?

  118. 118.

    Booger

    August 11, 2022 at 10:03 am

    @kindness: The economics of gas stations are interesting. Fuel is low margin, high-volume, high risk (regulatory compliance), which is why virtually all fuel places make their money on marked up beer/cigs/snacks/soda. It shouldn’t take much of a percentage shift from internal combustion to electric or hybrid to force gasoline/diesel into a downward spiral from a retailer’s perspective.

    There are still “Mom & Pop” stations around, but like so many things, gas stations will go slowly at first then all at once.

  119. 119.

    different-church-lady

    August 11, 2022 at 10:04 am

    @SiubhanDuinne: It ought to be the only tag now ‘til November.

  120. 120.

    SiubhanDuinne

    August 11, 2022 at 10:04 am

    @germy shoemangler:

    (trigger warning: trump’s ass)

    I wish you had provided a trigger warning for that trigger warning.

  121. 121.

    Soprano2

    August 11, 2022 at 10:04 am

    @germy shoemangler: Are you fucking kidding me? Don’t they know that those stores barely make anything on the gas they sell, all the profit comes from everything else!

  122. 122.

    Gin & Tonic

    August 11, 2022 at 10:05 am

    @eclare: Sarah Kendzior. You can find her on Twitter as @sarahkendzior.

  123. 123.

    different-church-lady

    August 11, 2022 at 10:05 am

    @Booger: Why would they not convert to charging stations?

  124. 124.

    Gin & Tonic

    August 11, 2022 at 10:06 am

    @Booger: I can only take that as a compliment (yes, I own all his books and have gone to his public lecture.)

  125. 125.

    Amir Khalid

    August 11, 2022 at 10:06 am

    @eclare:

    Sarah Kendzior. schrodingers_cat no like Sarah Kendzior.

  126. 126.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    August 11, 2022 at 10:06 am

    @Baud: Tom Perez, too. It was kind of embarrassing.

    trump’s howler monkeys whoop and hoot like sixth graders when he says a swear at his rallies

  127. 127.

    Geminid

    August 11, 2022 at 10:07 am

    @different-church-lady: Slower customer turnover?

  128. 128.

    eclare

    August 11, 2022 at 10:07 am

    @Gin & Tonic:   Thank you.

  129. 129.

    prostratedragon

    August 11, 2022 at 10:08 am

    @Booger:  I wonder if Tufte would suggest fewer than 5 categories. Hard to distinguish more than 3 or maybe 4 without making the graph very busy. Seems he wants to show the larger ones consistently above the red line, while the rest are scattered on either side. So, they can be all one color, but just make one “large” category and a medium and small, or even just small, and have the smaller ones be fainter so the large ones pop out.

  130. 130.

    Eunicecycle

    August 11, 2022 at 10:09 am

    @Booger: we have a friend who owns a gas station and can confirm: He says he makes almost nothing on gas. He has a nice repair business and he does a good job, so that’s where he makes his money.

  131. 131.

    NotMax

    August 11, 2022 at 10:10 am

    @Soprano2

    Gas station sushi. Mmmm.

    The gift that keeps on giving.

    ;)

  132. 132.

    Citizen Alan

    August 11, 2022 at 10:14 am

    @Baud:  I suspect the beard would be a bigger issue for a female candidate.

  133. 133.

    eversor

    August 11, 2022 at 10:14 am

    @WereBear:

    Nobody likes a pussy or a coward.  There’s a lot to be said for being “toxic masculine” and shouting people down and hurling insults like a sailor at a bar, I say this as a sailor.  When you’re on the side of what’s right and you pull your punches you look like a fucking fool and people can smell the stench of weakness and your cause deflates like a sad balloon.  On the other hand if you’re on the side of right and go off on a fucking rampage people will grant you a lot of leeway in what you can say and do becuase you are RIGHT ANGRY AND SPEAKING FOR THEM.  So hurling cocksuckers and motherfuckers gets cheers.

    I’m not shocked that calling people motherfuckers got a standing ovation and caused the usual suspects to go for the smelling salts.  But this is how people actually speak.  “might be funny to you motherfucker but it’s not funny to me” is a hell of a lot more real than “I respect your opinion, but you are wrong, here’s my plan to fix this sir, vote!”

    We need more of this.  Call them the fuck out and hurl venom.

  134. 134.

    gene108

    August 11, 2022 at 10:15 am

    What I find curious is how dismissive the media is to Congressional Republicans calls to defund the FBI. The MSM were a lot more concerned that protestors and activists could deliver on their commitment to defund the police, than they seem to be that actual members of Congress who actually control the FBI’s budget could do this.

    I think part of it is Republicans cry wolf so often these days about every damned thing, it’s hard to take them seriously. Yet J6 showed when a small number of them become serious, they can cause a lot of damage.

  135. 135.

    Booger

    August 11, 2022 at 10:16 am

    @different-church-lady: They retain the liability for the underground storage tanks, which is not trivial; they would have to spend lots of money to build out new infrastructure which is completely different from what is in place. If you look at most independent gas stations, they certainly don’t seem to have a lot of liquid capital sitting around to make big changes.

    They will go all in on marked up impulse buys and overpriced groceries for those within walking distance, and completely divorce themselves from the fuel business…as they have virtually all done with the service business.

    Now the big chains like Wawa and Sheetz ARE going all in on charging stations as they build new facilities and upgrade older facilities; but this only hastens the decline of the ‘Mom & Pops.’ In a lot of communities, the biggest ‘restaurant’ is a 24/7/52/365 fuel-n-food emporium.

  136. 136.

    Wanderer

    August 11, 2022 at 10:18 am

    @Ceci n est pas mon nym: I view it as an attempt to muddying the waters. That type of statement actually assumes guilt and the attempt is to deflect attention.

  137. 137.

    Booger

    August 11, 2022 at 10:18 am

    @Gin & Tonic: Likewise. I work for an organization where it appears everyone owns all his books and nobody reads them.

  138. 138.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    August 11, 2022 at 10:21 am

    @The Moar You Know: I did SC in August but don’t remember anything in particular about the beaches or water as I was there to fulfill a lifelong dream and chase a total solar eclipse so I was looking up.

    My bad memory of that trip is about Expedia, who was apparently showing a full hotel as still available, and giving away rooms to people making reservations that day, locking out people like me who had prepaid months in advance but arrived at 6 pm.

  139. 139.

    Ksmiami

    August 11, 2022 at 10:21 am

    @kindness: the gas stations will switch to electric charging stations and adapt. They make more on their convenience stores anyway

  140. 140.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    August 11, 2022 at 10:22 am

    @Booger: Ha! you could do some kind of twitter query: “What books does everyone in your field own, but never read?”

  141. 141.

    Kay

    August 11, 2022 at 10:22 am

    An Escambia County public school teacher resigned this week over what he characterized as racist behavior by a school district employee.
    The teacher, Michael James, emailed a letter to Gov. Ron DeSantis and Escambia County Superintendent Tim Smith in which he wrote that a district employee removed pictures of historic Black American heroes from his classroom walls, citing the images as being “age inappropriate.”
    Images that were removed from the bulletin board at O.J. Semmes Elementary School included depictions of Martin Luther King Jr., Harriett Tubman, Colin Powell and George Washington Carver, James said.
    Michael James
    “It really floored me,” James told the News Journal. “I’ve been teaching special education for 15 years, and it just really floored me when she did that.”
    James chose the board’s theme because the majority of the students and the residents in the neighborhoods that surround O.J. Semmes are Black, and he wanted to motivate his students with inspirational leaders they could easily look up to and see themselves.

    Big round of applause for our “public intellectuals” who flogged the stupid CRT panic to boost substack sales, dumped a truckload of shit on every public school in the country and then sashayed away to appear on Bill Maher and promote themselves.

    More low quality hires. The work they do is junk. That they all came out of America’s most expensive educational institutions is embarrassing and says something about quality for price too.
    I’m baffled why they barged into public education anyway- an area none of them know anything about. Good Christ- isn’t there something productive they could be doing?
    Maybe they could take some of that “cancel culture” grift cash and donate to a legal fund to protect teachers from the panic they started and promote.

  142. 142.

    lowtechcyclist

    August 11, 2022 at 10:23 am

    @geg6:

    I actually saw an ad like that last night on tv.  All about the good things that are getting done and how it’s Biden and Democrats bringing us all these good things.  It was excellent to see.

    I’ll bet it was! Just hearing that they’re running ads like this warms my heart.  I’m starting to think we can win this thing.

  143. 143.

    cmorenc

    August 11, 2022 at 10:24 am

    @different-church-lady:

    @Booger: Why would they not convert to charging stations?

    How long does a gas-station customer need to hang out at the station/convenience store in order to fill their tank and move one?  How long would an EV charging station customer need to hang out at the station/convenience store in order to get an adequate charge and move on?  The charging-station model works much better at shopping centers and event locations where people have other stuff to do for at least an hour or longer, and there’s enough space for multiples of charging stations, whereas even large high-volume gas stations like the Sheetz chain would be strained to provide enough charging stations for cars to remain >hr before being ready to leave.

    In short, the scale is wrong for it to work well to convert most mom & pop gas stations to EV charging / convenience stores.

  144. 144.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    August 11, 2022 at 10:24 am

    I keep hearing that the docs the FBI took from Mar-a-Lago were stored in a basement. How plausible is that? I thought Florida houses didn’t have basements because of the water table levels.

  145. 145.

    Tony G

    August 11, 2022 at 10:25 am

    @germy shoemangler: The Green M&Ms!  In fairness, who among us has not had masturbation fantasies about little pieces of chocolate candies?  Not weird at all.

  146. 146.

    gene108

    August 11, 2022 at 10:26 am

    @The Thin Black Duke:

    Sooner or later, it’s always the “kitchen table” issues that nail the GOP.

    Also the fact in higher profile races that get much more public attention, they cannot hide the fact that they are fundamentally mean spirited people.

    This turns off a large part of the electorate.

  147. 147.

    stinger

    August 11, 2022 at 10:27 am

    @zhena gogolia: A female candidate can’t even call deplorable people “deplorable”, much less use expletives or profanity.

  148. 148.

    Tony G

    August 11, 2022 at 10:28 am

    @Kay: The “CRT panic” combines two centuries-old themes on the right — hatred of Black people and hatred of public education.  They want to go back to the 1820’s, not the 1920’s.

  149. 149.

    Soprano2

    August 11, 2022 at 10:28 am

    @lowtechcyclist:  I think it’s because he’s talking about white women who he knows personally, and thinks it will transfer to white women as a whole. No one has to mention everyone whenever they make a statement! This is why liberals drive some people crazy; rather than saying “Yeah, that’s right, R’s are screwed!” some of us wring our hands over why they didn’t mention other groups.

  150. 150.

    Just One More Canuck

    August 11, 2022 at 10:28 am

    @germy shoemangler: What horseshit. The station owners get a straight X cents per gallon, plus a percentage of store sales. Lower prices mean more people driving, which means more people buying Oh Henry bars and Mountain Dew. Lower prices benefit the station owners

  151. 151.

    OzarkHillbilly

    August 11, 2022 at 10:28 am

    @Soprano2: Yeah they know it but it sounds better than “Think of the poor multibillion dollar fuel corporations.”.

  152. 152.

    Soprano2

    August 11, 2022 at 10:30 am

    @geg6: Geez, every time a female celebrity changes her hairstyle there’s a huge amount of commentary on it!. So the answer is no, there is no female politician who could be successful and unkempt in the way Bernie and Boris are. None. Any woman who tried would be absolutely savaged by the press and other men and women.

  153. 153.

    satby

    August 11, 2022 at 10:30 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: Me too. I think it’s more in how naturally it falls into the conversation, i.e. during a contentious subject. I swear all the time, and I get very little pushback, but I also manage not to drop f-bombs in formal settings or at other little old ladies while discussing more genteel subjects. Most of whom also swear like truckers anyway.

  154. 154.

    Barbara

    August 11, 2022 at 10:31 am

    @Wanderer: Not innocent, just presumed to be above the law.   But then, this is the same guy who handed Russian diplomats highly classified information on Israeli security services.  There is no low point.  They will descend to any depths to placate this mob boss.

  155. 155.

    Obvious Russian Troll

    August 11, 2022 at 10:31 am

    @Booger: I drive down 23 in southern Ohio on a semi-regular basis when we’re visiting my mother-in-law. There are a number of Buster’s Bi Lo gas stations along the road and in the area that all shut down at about the same time. I think it was due to the 2008 meltdown when gas prices dropped, but I could be wrong.

    I think my wife went to school with the kids of the guy who owned them.

  156. 156.

    Nicole

    August 11, 2022 at 10:33 am

    Late to the morning party, but in the how-white-women-vote anecdotes, my GOP-loyal SIL officially registered as an Independent a few weeks ago. It wasn’t Dobbs that broke the bond, though; it was the GOP response to Uvalde. And she and my still GOP brother (sigh) have nothing good to say about Oz (they are Keystoners).  There was grudging respect for Fetterman’s campaign, and she mentioned more than once he came up governing some “tough areas.”

    So, baby steps.

  157. 157.

    Baud

    August 11, 2022 at 10:34 am

    @Kay:

    citing the images as being “age inappropriate.”
    Images that were removed from the bulletin board at O.J. Semmes Elementary School included depictions of Martin Luther King Jr., Harriett Tubman, Colin Powell and George Washington Carver, James said.

     
    Were they naked?

  158. 158.

    Ksmiami

    August 11, 2022 at 10:34 am

    @Kay: I was thinking about you this am as I sent in another donation to Tim Ryan

  159. 159.

    eversor

    August 11, 2022 at 10:34 am

    @Barbara:

    They realize we are in an religious civil war and the rules are off.  One side is going up against the wall and the other gets all the marbles.  You need to grasp that.

  160. 160.

    Baud

    August 11, 2022 at 10:34 am

    @Nicole:

    👍

  161. 161.

    BiogeoJim

    August 11, 2022 at 10:34 am

    @Booger: The geography of charging stations will also be different.  Electric vehicles mostly charge between trips, not during.  If we had gas pumps in our garage we would need a lot fewer of them on street corners

  162. 162.

    gene108

    August 11, 2022 at 10:37 am

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    Is there such a thing as a mom and pop gas station?

    There are where I live in NJ. Lots of gas stations are basically run as franchises. The owner may own one or two gas stations that sell a certain brand of gas. Definitely not run by the MNC gas companies at the local level.

  163. 163.

    lowtechcyclist

    August 11, 2022 at 10:39 am

    @Amir Khalid:

    Sarah Kendzior. schrodingers_cat no like Sarah Kendzior

    I don’t know enough about Kendzior to like or dislike her, but damned if s_c isn’t starting to speak in code like he was a MAGAt or something.

  164. 164.

    OzarkHillbilly

    August 11, 2022 at 10:40 am

    @cmorenc: Electric charging station/Diner would probably work

  165. 165.

    Betty Cracker

    August 11, 2022 at 10:40 am

    @Kay: If any one of the cancel culture panic purveyors would even own up to their part in this, I’d be impressed. None have AFAIK.

  166. 166.

    Kay

    August 11, 2022 at 10:42 am

    @Ksmiami:

    I’m only doing anything for Marcy Kaptur who is running in my district but Ryan is running a really good campaign. I do FTF stuff for Kaptur which is fun because I know a lot of the D regulars.

    Ryan has a great ad about JD Vance’s bogus drug treatment program which features a veteran who founded and runs a real drug treatment program :)

    I applauded. You may recall JD Vance returned to Ohio for this specific reason- to cure drug addiction. One of his 50 fake personas.

    Ryan is still a long shot. It’s a + 8 Trump state but you won’t get better work than what Ryan is doing. It’s a decent investment.

  167. 167.

    OzarkHillbilly

    August 11, 2022 at 10:44 am

    @satby: It is so much a part of my speech it comes out no matter where I am or who I am with. 35 years of working construction has left it’s mark on me. I don’t get embarrassed about it tho, my friends get embarrassed for me.

  168. 168.

    Geminid

    August 11, 2022 at 10:46 am

    So I checked out Fetterman news and found an article in The [Philadelphia] Inquirer about yesterday’s news conference staged by Real Doctors Against Oz. The medicos ripped Oz over his pushing of dubious diet food and other quackery.

    I also found out that Fetterman has scheduled his first in-person campaign event since May, tomorrow in Erie.

  169. 169.

    Barbara

    August 11, 2022 at 10:47 am

    @BiogeoJim: Higher speed charging stations are emerging, though I don’t know whether they will ever be as fast as a fuel pump.  The biggest issue to be overcome is charging for people who can’t rely on at-home charging options — live in apartment buildings or complexes, for instance.  Sheetz and Wawa do have a lot of charging stations up and down the East Coast.  Even if it takes longer to charge than the typical visit to a Sheetz location, they tend to have such large parking lots that they seem willing to do it and see how it goes.

  170. 170.

    eversor

    August 11, 2022 at 10:47 am

    @Kay:

    JD Vance converted to Catholic and wants a Christian state.  Again, it’s all about Christianity.  If you aren’t willing to slay that religion the fight is lost.

  171. 171.

    Fair Economist

    August 11, 2022 at 10:48 am

    @lowtechcyclist:

    I don’t know enough about Kendzior to like or dislike her, but damned if s_c isn’t starting to speak in code like he was a MAGAt or something.

    Kendzior says Nancy Pelosi is a Russian agent. I think that says enough.

    .

  172. 172.

    Kay

    August 11, 2022 at 10:48 am

    @Betty Cracker:

    Agreed. They’re firmly back in control of “culture” though so don’t expect a lot of humility or self examination. They beat the SHIT out of the 22 year old social workers though! Beat them back from gates. Now we can all ponder their thoughts in the NYTimes with no competition. Safe as houses. The proper Order has been restored. Just one fucking editorial in the NYtimes about what has happened as a result of this panic. Clean up the mess you left.

    I love that they all signed that idiotic mainifesto. We need to know who to ignore going forward.

  173. 173.

    PST

    August 11, 2022 at 10:50 am

    @Anne Laurie:

    If we can get women who’ve always, not always consciously, voted for ‘lower taxes’ and ‘safe neighborhoods’ — i.e., GOP propaganda — to pull the lever for Democrats, that would be a major help at holding, and expanding, our reach.

    In round numbers, there are about 100 million white voting-age women in the United States. Even a rather modest percentage of a population that size would have a revolutionary effect on elections if motivated to switch parties or get to the polls.

  174. 174.

    Omnes Omnibus

    August 11, 2022 at 10:53 am

    @eversor: There’s a lot to be said for being “toxic masculine”

    No.  The word toxic is there for a reason.  There is a lot to be said for fighting for a good cause and for righteous anger.  Those are different thing to toxic masculinity.  I can’t believe I need to point this out.  WTF!

  175. 175.

    Kay

    August 11, 2022 at 10:54 am

    @eversor:

    Ohio conservatives are more and more reliant on the religious Right, which includes far Right Catholics.

    Vance needs them, and that’s why he’s pandering to them. They backed Mandel who is authentically far Right. It’s been moving this way for 20 years. George W Bush carried the state by flipping enough Catholics on same sex marriage (demonizing gay people). Ohio Republicans crowed about it after.

    You shouldn’t think  he is authentically religious. He is authentically nothing. Another empty drum.

  176. 176.

    Anyway

    August 11, 2022 at 10:55 am

    @cmorenc:

    The charging-station model works much better at shopping centers and event locations where people have other stuff to do for at least an hour or longer, and there’s enough space for multiples of charging stations,

    Yes, charging stations make sense in office parks and employer parking lots as well. We have 5-6 at my work place and they are pretty much in use all day.

  177. 177.

    Omnes Omnibus

    August 11, 2022 at 10:56 am

    @lowtechcyclist: ​
      s_c identifies as female.

  178. 178.

    UncleEbeneezer

    August 11, 2022 at 10:58 am

    Ok where did the pie-filter link go?  I need it now as I see we have another misogynist Franken-apologist littering this space and I have zero tolerance for that bullshit.

  179. 179.

    Kay

    August 11, 2022 at 10:59 am

    @eversor:

    I read in the NYTimes that converting to Catholic is fashionable now on the Right, so don’t discount that.

    The NYTimes have their finger on the pulse of the 10,000 Americans who get wayyyyy too much attention

    They dress up in old timey clothes to go to church- frilly dresses for The Ladies . Hysterical. They should wear veils. I would enjoy that :)

  180. 180.

    lowtechcyclist

    August 11, 2022 at 11:01 am

    @Soprano2:

    some of us wring our hands over why they didn’t mention other groups.

    It just felt nonsensical to me in that specific context.  Usually that’s the sort of thing that flies right under my radar.

  181. 181.

    lowtechcyclist

    August 11, 2022 at 11:03 am

    @Omnes Omnibus: Thanks for the heads-up, I hadn’t realized that.

  182. 182.

    Soprano2

    August 11, 2022 at 11:06 am

    @eversor: I think people have to use their own style of outrage. If people don’t normally curse, and then try to in a situation like this, it sounds fake and has a bad effect. You’ve gotta be true to who you are.

    When Biden signs the IRA, I hope he whispers “This is a big fucking deal”. LOL

  183. 183.

    Soprano2

    August 11, 2022 at 11:08 am

    @Booger: We’re getting a Buc-ee’s here. I had never heard of them, but evidently they’re some kind of “super truck stop” that also has a big restaurant and huge shop. People stop at them deliberately just to shop and eat there.

  184. 184.

    Another Scott

    August 11, 2022 at 11:12 am

    @Fair Economist: She needed a citation for that.  But it was 3 years ago.

    (I don’t have a dog in this fight; I just think that energy spent getting upset at some Twitter rando – there are many of them – could be better spent elsewhere.)

    Cheers,

    Scott.

  185. 185.

    eversor

    August 11, 2022 at 11:14 am

    @Soprano2:

    While true people who don’t normally curse than should GTFO out of politics.  Most people swear and curse and hurl fbombs left and right.  If you can’t pull off “now you listen to me you stupid motherfucker” you have no appeal and shouldn’t pretend you do.

    Beto did good.

  186. 186.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    August 11, 2022 at 11:17 am

    While true people who don’t normally curse than should GTFO out of politics.

    Yeah, Nancy Pelosi’s a fucking loser

  187. 187.

    brendancalling

    August 11, 2022 at 11:17 am

    @eversor: This. Very much this. There’s a big difference between performative “tough guy talk” (hi Josh Hawley, you scampering little rat) and “righteous anger.”

    Beto’s “motherfucker” is a clear example of the latter. And, he shut down a heckler in glorious fashion.

  188. 188.

    Mike in NC

    August 11, 2022 at 11:19 am

    Iranians wanting to kill John Bolton. Who could possibly object to that?

  189. 189.

    eversor

    August 11, 2022 at 11:19 am

    @Kay:

    I’ve always found it funny that nobody goes to a city diner on the coasts and asks what they think.  There are 100s in NYC alone, why fly out to ass fuck Ohio?  Why not check what a bunch of union guys in Philly or NYC think at a diner there?  I’m pretty close to a military base (VA go figure) and there is a diner here that’s been around for decades, it’s a blue area though, and has anybody from buck privates all the way up to the 300k mba crowd there daily.  Why not ask us?

  190. 190.

    Omnes Omnibus

    August 11, 2022 at 11:23 am

    @eversor: ​
     

    Most people swear and curse and hurl fbombs left and right.

    Is this really true? I doubt it.

  191. 191.

    OzarkHillbilly

    August 11, 2022 at 11:24 am

    @Mike in NC: The fact that Joe Biden took steps to stop it makes him suspect in my book.

  192. 192.

    Kay

    August 11, 2022 at 11:25 am

    This is what public education and public educators have actually accomplished over the last 50 years.

    Compare this work to the work of their critics. If this surprises you -that it’s a success- you have been listening to their critics too much.

    Contrary to what you may have heard, average student achievement has been increasing for half a century. Across 7 million tests taken by U.S. students born between 1954 and 2007, math scores have grown by 95 percent of a standard deviation, or nearly four years’ worth of learning. Reading scores have grown by 20 percent of a standard deviation per decade during that time, nearly one year’s worth of learning. When we examine differences by student race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status, longstanding assumptions about educational inequality start to falter. Black, Hispanic, and Asian students are improving far more quickly than their white classmates in elementary, middle, and high school. In elementary school, for example, reading scores for white students have grown by 9 percent of a standard deviation each decade, compared to 28 percent for Asian students, 19 percent for Black students, and 13 percent for Hispanic students. Students from low socioeconomic backgrounds also are progressing more quickly than their more advantaged peers in elementary and middle school. And for the most part, growth rates have remained steady throughout the past five decades.Conventional wisdom downplays student progress and laments increasing achievement gaps between the have and have-nots. But as of 2017, steady growth was evident in reading and especially in math.

    They’re not smart, they’re not original thinkers, they’re just mediocre conventional wisdom people with a wildly outsized platform. They are going to halt this progress. They should reconsider.

    This is a good issue for Democrats. Defend public education. It’s worth defending and in 2018 it won them state races. Bet on it. It’s a good bet.

  193. 193.

    eversor

    August 11, 2022 at 11:34 am

    @brendancalling:

    Yeah and the fun part is the people clutching pearls and reaching for the smelling salts just draw more attention to what stands out as maning the fuck up and not backing the fuck down.  He looks bold, confident, sure of himself, angry.  It’s all the good sides of male aggression focused into a positive display for the good of others.  The crowd loves it.

    People want leaders that fight.  Yes for them but before you fight for me I need to know you can fight.

    Beto and Hawley are both scrawny ass rich boys.  But one of them fist pumps and then runs the fuck away and the other one is sitting there calling people motherfuckers in outrage over laughing at child killing.  It’s not hard to instantly see who’s the “real man” and real leader and who is a nutless coward play acting.

    We need to embrace and encourage this sort of stuff.  Anger and agression is not always bad.  You just need to aim it in the right direction and make sure it’s genuine.

  194. 194.

    Eunicecycle

    August 11, 2022 at 11:37 am

    @Soprano2: I love Buc-ee’s! Cleanest bathrooms around and you can buy just about anything! I can’t wait until they come to Ohio!

  195. 195.

    eversor

    August 11, 2022 at 11:38 am

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Outside of places where it gets you in trouble yes.  I don’t know anybody that I don’t hear multiple four letter words fly out of their mouths multiple times a day and I work at a fancy pants place.  When with friends most conversations are pretty much “fuck fuck fuck fuck fuckitty fuck fuck fuck”.

    People grasp cursing, anybody who’s going to get twisted over motherfucker is a lost cause anyways.

  196. 196.

    Soprano2

    August 11, 2022 at 11:39 am

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Normally they don’t. I suppose it could have been a lower level walkout type of basement.

  197. 197.

    schrodingers_cat

    August 11, 2022 at 11:50 am

    @lowtechcyclist: It was meant for zhena_g who perfectly understood what I said.

    @Omnes Omnibus: Is a woman who identifies as a cat in a thought experiment.

  198. 198.

    oatler

    August 11, 2022 at 11:53 am

    @eversor:

    Along with nudity, the last bastion of the FCC. Their laws threaten

    fines and imprisonment for “cursing”, Who wouldn’t…?

  199. 199.

    Amir Khalid

    August 11, 2022 at 12:01 pm

    @eversor:

    Most people swear and curse and hurl fbombs left and right.

    No we don’t.

  200. 200.

    eversor

    August 11, 2022 at 12:04 pm

    @oatler:

    I grew up on the east coast in DC my family is from Da Bronx when they first moved here.  The f bomb is our theme song I guess.  I was also in the Navy, where swearing is a game.  Family also now in Philly and Boston.   Swearing and being foul is a North East Coast institution.  But we are all nice over dinner.

  201. 201.

    Baud

    August 11, 2022 at 12:08 pm

    @Amir Khalid:

    Most people swear and curse and hurl fbombs left and right.

    No we don’t.

     
    No we fucking don’t.

  202. 202.

    eversor

    August 11, 2022 at 12:13 pm

    @Baud:

    fuck about and find out

  203. 203.

    brantl

    August 11, 2022 at 12:16 pm

    @lowtechcyclist: Sure, but how many black women (who aren’t in asylums) were going to vote for Rethugs, anyway?

  204. 204.

    brantl

    August 11, 2022 at 12:19 pm

    @SFAW:I swear, I crack myself up sometimes.

    It never hurts to cut out the middle-man.

  205. 205.

    Shalimar

    August 11, 2022 at 12:27 pm

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Water tables in Florida make basements extremely rare, especially that close to the ocean, but Mar-a-Lago apparently has 3 underground nuclear fallout shelters.  I assume we’re talking about one of them.

  206. 206.

    Soprano2

    August 11, 2022 at 2:12 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: Depends, do you work for a trucking company? I worked for Prime for a year; it took me 6 months after I left to clean up my language.

  207. 207.

    geg6

    August 11, 2022 at 2:35 pm

    @Soprano2: ​
     
    I don’t think I said anything different. I was only commenting on Fetterman. Everyone thinks he’s a slob, but he’s not. He’s normal for the place and his age. I don’t know any younger people who wear suits to work. Hell, I don’t dress in “professional” clothes when I go to work most days and I’m a Gen Jones.

  208. 208.

    geg6

    August 11, 2022 at 2:45 pm

    @Barbara: ​
     
    And pretty much all new Sheetz locations have a cafe now.

  209. 209.

    Dan B

    August 11, 2022 at 3:32 pm

    @Booger: I like your thinking.  Sorta.  I parked between two Leafs and a Bolt yesterday.  One Leaf had occupants when I got back with my groceries.  We had a rip snorting great conversation about range and loving our EV’s.  It’s great to be part of the solution.  I want the Electric Vehicle Owners Association to come back.  We need pep rallies to show the country that it’s f’ing fantastic!

  210. 210.

    Yutsano

    August 11, 2022 at 3:45 pm

    @eversor: ​

    I’ve always found it funny that nobody goes to a city diner on the coasts and asks what they think. There are 100s in NYC alone, why fly out to ass fuck Ohio? Why not check what a bunch of union guys in Philly or NYC think at a diner there?

    Cuz that’s not “real America” libturd!

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