Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

After roe, women are no longer free.

A lot of Dems talk about what the media tells them to talk about. Not helpful.

Come on, man.

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

We’ll be taking my thoughts and prayers to the ballot box.

They’re not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

“woke” is the new caravan.

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

Republicans choose power over democracy, every day.

Ron DeSantis, the grand wizard, oops, governor of FL

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

Hi god, it’s us. Thanks a heap, you’re having a great week and it’s only Thursday!

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

Battle won, war still ongoing.

Prediction: the GOP will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

It’s time for the GOP to dust off that post-2012 autopsy, completely ignore it, and light the party on fire again.

This fight is for everything.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / October Surprises

October Surprises

by | 245 Comments

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Optional soundtrack for this open thread:

I got up unreasonably early this morning, and catching up on Twitter today was like that time Steve Schmidt got fed up with Meghan McCain and opened up an entire tea emporium overnight. First, I wondered why Nancy Sinatra was trending on Twitter. Oh.

In other news, Dr. Oz killed hundreds of dogs in scientific experiments, including an entire litter of puppies. For real. This country was more pissed off about a football player abusing and killing dogs than other football players abusing and killing human beings. I kind of get that — dogs are generally better than people, but damn. Now Mitt Romney knows what it’s like to be George W. Bush — eclipsed by an even more horrifying villain.

Okay, another October surprise: one of Herschel Walker’s ex-girlfriends surfaced with receipts showing that Walker paid for her abortion in 2009 and even sent her a get well card, which is an unexpectedly thoughtful gesture from a walking CTE billboard. Georgia voter Eponymous Eponymouson still isn’t sure what to do with that information:

The serial domestic abuser/get well card sender is toast, so we better cheer for the puppy-killing snake oil-salesman instead if we hope to take the senate — got it. But wait:

So that happened. And then Walker’s (acknowledged) son must’ve got a sneak-peek at the will or something…

Puss in Boots STOCKPILE

The fuck? Walker the Younger, would-be influencer for profit who has inexplicably failed to catch on, is a huge Trump and DeSantis fan, by the way, so the family values crap applies to his own personal situation only. Oh well, Dems in disarray, good news for John McCain, etc.

Open thread.

PS: Just heard that Loretta Lynn is dead at 90, and I feel like a lost another grandma, damn it. Rest in peace, coal-miner’s daughter.

Reader Interactions

245Comments

  1. 1.

    Baud

    I’m not into country music, but Loretta Lynn is one of the people I think of when I think of country music.

  2. 2.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    I was just thinking those boots– shiny, shiny clean, as someone pointed out on twitter– haven’t gotten nearly enough attention. Brava again, BC!

    and RIP Loretta Lynn. I can’t believe Portland, Oregon came out almost twenty years ago, I would’ve guessed less than ten. She was willing to try something new at 70 plus, when she could have easily rested on her laurels

  3. 3.

    Cameron

    …and, of course, to complement the spotless boots, any governor who wants to show his deep and abiding concern for the welfare of his stricken constituents would wear….reelection campaign gear.

  5. 5.

    Kropacetic

    Surely he was just about to get in the muck and do hard physical labor for constituents…any moment now…

    A smarter man, or at least one with a modicum of awareness of how others may perceive him, would have chosen boots that didn’t make their clean state so abundantly obvious.

    Edited to switcheroo

  8. 8.

    trollhattan

    That’s about as good a look as Jared’s armored vest over the blazer ensemble.

    Ron thinks mom jeans make him relatable; fleece vest over engineer’s blue dress shirt is just a bonus. Boots do not compute.

    Dude hasn’t missed many buffet lines.

  9. 9.

    New Deal democrat

    Lean back and enjoy the relaxation vice of your choice after you listen to Christian Walker’s video this morning:

    https://twitter.com/ChristianWalk1r/status/1577284445367042049?cxt=HHwWgoDQvZT20eMrAAAA

    Oh, my.

    It’s clear that his past vituperation against fathers who abandon their families has been aimed directly at his own father.

    In normal times, this would absolutely kill Hershel Walker’s candidacy. Unfortunately, we are not in normal times.

  10. 10.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @New Deal democrat: Warnock already had what was, again, in normal times, a decent lead. Maybe this will stop some R-leaning tote-baggers from, as the pundits put it, going home. Or a few who were gonna close their eyes and think of tax cuts to stay home in the Normie sense.

  11. 11.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Loretta Lynn has died at 90. RIP.

    EDIT: Others beat me to it. I noticed that, because I did my usual thing of “Comment first, read thread later.”

  12. 12.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    I listened to a Bulwark (home of the Never Trumpers) podcast about a WI focus group of Republicans who were trump>Biden voters. They really, really did not like Ron Johnson, though I don’t think any of them really mentioned 1/6. Maybe this will sink in with some of those marginal R voters

    Heartland Signal @HeartlandSignal
    Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) this morning at the Milwaukee Rotary Club: “To call what happened on Jan. 6 an ‘armed insurrection,’ I just think it’s inaccurate.”
    “Now, some of the protestors did teach us all how you can use flag poles, that kind of stuff.”

    How to use flagpoles and stuff as weapons, against cops.
    I watched the clip to see if he was playing it for, or got, laughs. He’s dead serious.

  14. 14.

    Suzanne

    Is DeSantis trying to find clothes that look terrible on him? Is this whole dressing-blue-collar thing that Fetterman is doing catching on as cosplay? Good Lord. Wear whatever you want, but it’s such a cheap semiotic stunt. Blaaaaaaah.

  15. 15.

    geg6

    I really, really, really dislike country music.  But RIP Loretta.  You were a tough broad in a tough business and you kicked ass.  Good for you.

  17. 17.

    Suzanne

    Oh, and as for Herschel Walker….. I am skeptical that this moves the needle much. The people who are really in the tank for him are not going to change their minds because of facts. I see evangelicals dismiss blatant hypocrisy all the time, “we all make mistakes”, whatever. Liberals see it as a disqualifier but conservatives don’t.

    Then again, the needle doesn’t have to move very much. We’ll see.

  18. 18.

    Halteclere

    I’ve never seen white muck boots. WFT? And everyone else has their pants down over the tops of their normal work boots, so it isn’t like there is water wading to be done!

  19. 19.

    geg6

    @Suzanne:

    If he’s trying to channel the blue collar Fetterman vibe, he’s doing it wrong.  Never, never emphasize the spare tire and for gawd’s sake, do not sport spotless white rubber boots.  He looks like a very chubby girl with a bad haircut.

  20. 20.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    I don’t get why would Walker abortion antics would hurt him with Republican voters. I would expect they would be saying shit like “Well this is why Demoncrats are so dangerous if a fine young fellow like Walker gets trapped into the abortion on demand lifestyle.”

  21. 21.

    Cacti

    @trollhattan: The boots look like something a commercial fisherman might wear on deck.  That’s probably the first thing they found in a panicked last minute search.

  25. 25.

    geg6

    Speaking of people who were sporting bad looks yesterday, anybody see the Putin photo op with a bunch of his minions where they were all “go team” like a high school football team before the game starts?  All the minions were about 6-8 inches taller and it was just ludicrous.  I laughed like a hyena.

  26. 26.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    That DeSantis picture, I didn’t even know they made white boots for men outside something like clean room work.

  31. 31.

    Ruckus

    @Halteclere:

    Hate to be sexist but white rubber boots scream elementary school girl boots to me because those look exactly like rain boots some of the girls I went to elementary school wore, when it was actually wet out.

  32. 32.

    LeftCoastYankee

    Those boots have major “Dukakis Tank Helmet” vibe.

    Every article about Gator Goering should have that picture.

  33. 33.

    Josie

    @Ruckus: ​
     So true. Also, it occurred to me that the “mom jeans” are probably the only type of jeans that would fit his, umm, build.

  36. 36.

    Ruckus

    @Cacti:

    Said slaughterhouse workers don’t wear them to press conferences though.

    Pictures I’ve seen also don’t show them looking like they just ate an entire pig.

  37. 37.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    I’m guessing he didn’t want to get his expensive shoes wet, and expected to be wading through puddles. If he had more of a sense of humor about himself, I might react differently. But as far as I can tell, he has no sense of humor about anything

  38. 38.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Cacti: yes, something were you need to be clean at all times, not for wading threw the mud.  More to the point someone on DeSantis staff had to go threw a bit of effort to find them.

    Like others have said, this has a Jared vibe to it.

  41. 41.

    Baud

    Remember when DeSantis chastised the kids at that school for wearing masks because he thought they looked stupid…

    Those kids should tweet out a picture of themselves wearing white boots.

  42. 42.

    Ruckus

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    I always wonder about public individuals that have absolute zero concept of actual humans and act like they’ve never seen one. Especially in a mirror. Of course he may not have a mirror reflection at all…….

  45. 45.

    raven

    And you don’t know shit about Loretta either

     

    Well goodbye tubs and clothes lines goodbye pots and pansI’m a gonna take a greyhound bus as further as I canI ain’t a gonna wash no windows and I ain’t a gonna scrub no floorsAnd when you realize I’m gone I’m a gonna hear you roarAnd you’ll say hey Loretta I love you more than my Irish Setter

  47. 47.

    catclub

    @Halteclere: ​
     

    I’ve never seen white muck boots.

    I suspect you have never been to St Bernard Parish in Louisiana.
    They are practically the uniform. I would compare them to the white plastic handled knives in restaurants. Cheap, ugly and effective.

  51. 51.

    Mike in NC

    Saw a video clip of Trump frolicking with his pervert buddy Jeff Epstein last night, when he (Fat Bastard) was maybe in his 40s or 50s. At no point in his miserable life was The Donald anything but creepy looking and disgusting. The ridiculous thing on top of his head was especially weird. Every single asshole he has promoted for office needs to be shot down in flames, never to be heard from again.

  52. 52.

    Hoodie

    @LeftCoastYankee: That was my initial thought.  He did something similar with his Limecat helmet in that “Top Gun” campaign ad.  Notice that he and the wife had sparkling clean matching white boots, look like they’re right out of the box.   No one else around him seems to be wearing similar footwear, gives the impression he’s heading out to go oystering or clean up a mess of flounder.  You’d think his image people could have at least scored some camo.

  53. 53.

    Geminid

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: The Walker stories may not hurt him with most Republican voters, but they could with Independents. And some Republicans might no longer be willing to overlook his checkered past. That and his mental clarity have been his weak points all along and these events have put them front and center.

    Walker has consistently polled behind Kemp and I think that disparity will increase. Ticket splitting has lessened in today’s polarized environment, but it will be a factor in Georgia on November 8. Senator Warnock may win by a comfortable margin even if the Kemp/Abrams race is close.

  56. 56.

    zhena gogolia

    @gvg: Whatever they are, he looks like a doofus. Someone else might be able to carry the look off, but he doesn’t.

  59. 59.

    Paul in KY

    @Kropacetic: I go to alot of festivals and other outdoor things where those kinds of footwear are common when conditions are rainy/muddy. I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen a pair of white ones….white ones…now why do you think he’d have on white boots….

    Racist dogwhistles aside, they look stupid.

  60. 60.

    BC in Illinois

    55 years ago, I was a camp counselor at the Rockville (MD) YMCA Day Camp. One of the unfading memories of that summer was the experience of hearing 3rd and 4th grade girls singing “You ain’t Woman Enough to Take My Man.”

    I think it all goes back to one enthusiastic Junior Counselor.

  62. 62.

    Ajabu

    When I look at the picture I just assumed that Betty C. had worked her Photoshop magic. It never occurred to me that a man would ever dress that’s fucking ridiculous! Not even that clown…

  63. 63.

    Kropacetic

    @Paul in KY: I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen a pair of white ones….white ones…now why do you think he’d have on white boots….

    A couple years ago I noticed a lot of the Trumpier people in my sphere getting great oversized white pickup trucks.

    White…power?

  65. 65.

    Suzanne

    @geg6:

    If he’s trying to channel the blue collar Fetterman vibe, he’s doing it wrong.  Never, never emphasize the spare tire 

    For serious. I don’t like fat-shaming, but I will totally clothes-shame. He looks ridiculous.

    Also, one thing that I want to note…..the internet informs me that blue-collar dudes believe they are more fit than white-collar dudes because they do physical real-man labor and lift heavy objects. I have….not found that to be the case.

  66. 66.

    Kropacetic

    @Hoodie:He did something similar with his Limecat helmet in that “Top Gun” campaign ad.

    He’s going to look ridiculous on camera so often, his opponents will be viewed as petty for pointing it out.  Genius political strategerizing.

  69. 69.

    SFAW

    @SiubhanDuinne: ​
     

    I noticed that, because I did my usual thing of “Comment first, read thread later.”

    I do that, too, at times. Although my version is a macro (or whatever the kids call it these days) which jumps me immediately to ANY comment by you, kiddo.

  73. 73.

    Geminid

    @rikyrah: I’ve seen some very shocking assertions about the number of deaths in Lee County. If they are true, I think it’s too many to hide for very much longer.

  76. 76.

    scav

    More like majorette boots, although why a flashing image of a Japanese policeman directing traffic whizzed by I’ll never know . . .

  81. 81.

    rikyrah

    Olivia Julianna  (@0liviajulianna) tweeted at 3:00 PM on Mon, Oct 03, 2022:
    Earlier this year I attended a social security hearing. It was chilling. I watched first hand how Rick Scott, Mitt Romney, and Lindsey Graham talked so casually about stripping away peoples means of living. We must ensure they don’t have the chance. #ProtectOurSocialSecurity https://t.co/h0NNVfpjNh
    (https://twitter.com/0liviajulianna/status/1577025704897585152?t=To13vDZVOd8IZwPLJLTWNQ&s=03)

  85. 85.

    Suzanne

    @Baud: I observe, in general, a higher level of physical fitness and strength in the “professional class” men I know relative to blue-collar dudes. Probably because they work out more?

    This has been a thing I’ve observed since coming to PA. In AZ, there are gyms and various/sundry exercise studios at almost every major intersection. Here in PGH, they’re much fewer and further between, and they aren’t as amenitized. I also have had to find some new go-to small talk topics. In AZ, if I was meeting someone and trying to find something easy and inoffensive to talk about, I could always count on talking about what they do for physical exercise. I have tried that a few times here, and people tell me they don’t do anything, have never gone to a workout class, nothing.

  86. 86.

    WaterGirl

    @oatler: So he’s chunky.  That description might fit half the people on this blog.  It’s petty to pick on him for that.  Especially since he’s so evil that there are a hundred other things to drag on him about.

  87. 87.

    rikyrah

    Not suspicious at all…..

     

    uh huh

     

    Rebecca Kavanagh (@DrRJKavanagh) tweeted at 8:12 PM on Mon, Oct 03, 2022:
    LAPD officer Houston Tipping died after a training exercise during which he was beaten & slammed to the ground by other cops. Now his lawyer says at the time he died he was investigating a gang rape by 4 cops, at least one of whom was part of the exercise. https://t.co/hah4hztyx2
    (https://twitter.com/DrRJKavanagh/status/1577104442444238848?t=0-hR9y2ZBhz6dessQngpwg&s=03)

  88. 88.

    rikyrah

    They should be charged with trafficking

     

    Gary Grumbach (@GaryGrumbach) tweeted at 6:56 AM on Mon, Oct 03, 2022:
    NEW this morning, another bus of about 50 migrants – men, women and children who told me they were from Venezuela – arrived outside of the Vice President’s residence in Washington DC. They were then sorted into groups based on needs, by volunteers who met the bus. @NBCNews https://t.co/ichua2PhYP
    (https://twitter.com/GaryGrumbach/status/1576904038280749056?t=ogMzyGQzp3L6uQOyp4ehfw&s=03)

  89. 89.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @SFAW:

    Although my version is a macro (or whatever the kids call it these days) which jumps me immediately to ANY comment by you, kiddo.

    Ha! Maybe WaterGirl could work something like that up for all of us — a kind of Anti-Pie Filter Interactive Thingamadingle.

  90. 90.

    Damned as Random

    @geg6: I never bought into the “short man syndrome” stereotype until I had a boss who was the archetype. Putin is reinforcing a bias that I have tried to overcome.

  91. 91.

    geg6

    @Suzanne:

    I’m certainly not going to say that Yinzers have svelte physiques.  However, I think a lot of people around here exercise differently than they do in AZ.  I know almost no one who goes to a commercial gym except the local boxers and those 20 yos who frequent Planet Fitness.  I do, however, know an awful lot of people who belong to the local Y or who have equipment at home.  Many also run or walk, especially in local state parks (we have two plus a county one just here in BC, plus many municipal ones).  Some cycle, but it’s tough to do that year round.  Private gyms have never been much of a thing around here.

  93. 93.

    Anotherlurker

    @Cacti: You are correct. They are an inexpensive deck boot. They are popular in fishing ports from the Gulf of Mexico to Maine.  They are know, in the South, as “Shrimpin’ Boots”.  I have owned several pairs.

  95. 95.

    Baud

    @Suzanne:

    I’m just saying you can’t tell how strong a person is by looking.  Fat can hide a lot of muscle.  Fitness is usually associated with less fat.

  100. 100.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Baud:

    So he’s chunky. That description might fit half the people on this blog.

    It’s baby fat.

    We are just FLOOFY!!

  103. 103.

    Nicole

    Tucker Carlson once said that Michael Vick “should have been executed”:

    https://www.foxnews.com/sports/tucker-carlson-vick-should-have-been-executed

    I’m sure he’ll offer a similar opinion on Dr. Oz, no?  Unless there’s some big difference between Michael Vick and Dr. Oz that I’m not seeing…  hmmm… what could it be…

    https://medium.com/defiant/if-you-still-hate-michael-vick-you-might-be-racist-176a936d4eca

    (The Medium piece is quite good.)

  108. 108.

    Tony G

    Nancy Sinatra looked good in those boots, 56 years ago.  DeSantis, not so much.  As for Herschel Walker, I have to think that the GOP deliberately picked a guy who embodies all of the worst stereotypes of Black men.  Like choosing Tony Soprano to represent Italian-Americans.

  109. 109.

    Ksmiami

    @WaterGirl: it’s not about the chunk… it’s that the right is obsessed with “being manly men that punch woke down..” when in reality, this fucking guy wouldn’t last 3 minutes in a fight with most of the tough ass liberals and poc – he’s a soft man full of unearned privilege and hate. Fuck DeSantis.

  111. 111.

    Jeffro

    I love how Erickson only cares about the ‘win’ – nothing at all about how his party came to nominate such a candidate, the things it had to look away from in order to get behind Walker, nothing at all about the Walker family members and their trauma, just focusing on the ‘win’.  Sick.

  115. 115.

    dmsilev

    Per the Post just now, Elon Musk is raising the white flag in his Twitter controversy. No, not yesterday’s Twitter controversy, the other one. OK, the other other one.

    Elon Musk has offered to proceed with the Twitter deal at a price of $54.20 per share, two people familiar with the negotiations said.

    The offer comes after months of legal wrangling between the billionaire and the social media company following Musk’s moves to terminate his planned purchase of Twitter early this summer. Twitter took him to court to force him to go through with the deal and trial was set for Oct. 17.

    Musk sent his new proposal in a letter overnight and Twitter is considering whether to accept the proposal, one person familiar with the situation said.

  116. 116.

    Alison Rose 💙🌻💛

    @Damned as Random: Ah, but Zelenskyy belies the stereotypes! Although it is true that I’ve known a few shorter-than-average dudes who have had a bit of a complex about it. But then, with the way society in general looks at short guys, I suppose they can’t be entirely blamed for it.

  120. 120.

    Xavier

    Nobody on the right cares about Walker’s abortion. They know he’ll vote the right way when he’s told to.

  122. 122.

    trollhattan

    Only commercial fishing supply I’ve ever frequented offers myriad knee boots, and if you try hard you can get a white pair, not that I ever saw anybody using such.

    Ron is just a clown out of costume, and has that look on his puffy mug.

  123. 123.

    kindness

    Of course DeSantis was going to wear white boots.  Can you imagine the revulsion from ‘the base’ if he had worn black ones?  Come on now…get with the 4Chan signaling to the tribe.

  124. 124.

    Geminid

    @Tony G: I think Trump foisted Walker on Georgia’s Republicans. Of course leaders could have backed another primary candidate like the white state Agriculture Commissioner, but they thought it better to placate Trump.

    They knew Trump could hurt their whole ticket. They saw how in last year’s Senate runoffs enough disaffected Trump voters stayed home that both Warnock and Ossoff pulled out close wins. Trump set up that dynamic in his campaign appearances with Loeffler and Perdue, when he railed against establishment Republicans unwilling to “stop the steal.”

  125. 125.

    Tony Jay

    Why is Ron De Santanico Pandemonium wearing half of a classic S.H.I.E.L.D unitard?

    Is he signalling his not so secret allegiance to Hydra?

  126. 126.

    sdhays

    @dmsilev: But I thought that the Delaware courts were terrified of the prospect of ordering him to buy Twitter and then the MuskRat just saying “no”. Supposedly, the Delaware courts have no tools to make someone like Musky follow court orders beyond glares and stern reprimands from the bench.

    Does this mean that those reports were wrong??

  127. 127.

    Amir Khalid

    I saw Coal Miner’s Daughter many years ago, and that was my introduction to Loretta Lynn and her music. Country music’s not really my bag, but her stuff had an authenticity about it that lifted it above other artists’ work. RIP.

  128. 128.

    JPL

    @Geminid: AJC already interviewed republican candidates, and distancing themselves from Walker.   Kemp doesn’t plan on campaigning for Herschel, but because he is working hard on getting out the vote, that will also help Walker.

    Walker had a prayer luncheon, and media wasn’t allowed.

  130. 130.

    J.

    That photo of DeSantis made me laugh out loud. First laugh I’ve had in days. (We are currently homeless, courtesy of Ian, and crashing at a friend’s in Betty Cracker Country.) I can’t watch the news or even look at Twitter right now. But if Ian brings down DeSantis, some good will have come from the storm. Though I’m guessing Floridians outside of Lee County will still vote for WussInBoots in droves. Sigh.

  134. 134.

    trollhattan

    @J.: WussInBoots

    Instant classic!

    Sorry to hear of your housing issues. Hope there’s a path home (literal and otherwise).

  135. 135.

    MoCaAce

    @Kropacetic: A guy in my town has a large white diesel pickup with “White Privilege” in large letters on the tailgate… every time I see it I what to rear-end the bastard.

  136. 136.

    Omnes Omnibus

    This is as dumb a look as the business suit with Timberland boots that the people working for the Provisional Authority in Iraq adopted.

  137. 137.

    prostratedragon

    @J.:  Glad to hear you made it — like others, I’d wondered — but sorry to hear about your housing woes.  On the other hand, I see the spirit is with you😆

  141. 141.

    Soprano2

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I listened to the 3rd episode of  “The Wilderness” this morning (they’re putting it out on the “Pod Save America” feed). I thought it was interesting that they said Democrats should talk mostly about how the Jan 6th attackers beat up and killed police officers, period, because that’s what resonates with voters. Saving democracy, not so much. *sigh

  143. 143.

    realbtl

    Loretta Lynn was badass. While Tammy Wynette was singing Stand by your Man Loretta put out Your Good Girl’s Gonna go Bad and others in a similar vein.

  144. 144.

    catclub

    @JPL: ​
    &nbsp

    ;AJC already interviewed republican candidates, and distancing themselves from Walker.

    This makes it seem that the AJC is distancing itself from Walker.
    You may have meant that those GOP candidates are distancing themselves from Walker.

  145. 145.

    suzanne

    @Baud: I’m just sick of the fucken whining out of the “white working class” cohort about “elites” and how they suck. Look, no one I know who has a college degree gives a shit if other people do. There is a vocal cohort of mostly right-wing dudes on the internet who are incredibly salty that they are not with the women of their choosing, and they are pretty insulting to women who have degrees that they are “stuck up” and that men with degrees and white-collar jobs are weak “beta” types. That’s where that whole toxic masculine bullshit about blue-collar dudes being fitter/stronger/whateverer comes from. It’s just another extension of the same culture war bullshit.

  146. 146.

    Soprano2

    @rikyrah: So is Lee County run by Republicans? Because I’m sure if it were run by Democrats DeSantis would have already started blaming them for all of this awfulness.

  149. 149.

    Mike E

    @Amir Khalid: Same here. I watched Ken Burns’ Country Music and was immediately surprised at how many of the songs post ’60s that I knew and remember liking when they came out even though I was staunchly a “rocker”… my tastes have opened up considerably now that I’m older and any “good music” (per Satchmo) that catches my ear gets my support

  151. 151.

    Mike E

    @realbtl: I’m not sure that it’s exactly true but the remark about each country star making a name for themselves singing about the other’s life is a good’ern.

  152. 152.

    Nicole

    A friend of mine (he officiated my wedding, in fact), was a DJ in the midwest in the 1960s and had all kinds of cool encounters and relationships with a lot of country music starts.  He posted this on his FB page today (on the public setting):

    “One of my happiest memories is of sitting with Loretta Lynn in her show-bus, behind Whiting Auditorium, in between shows. She would sit at the table playing solitaire while chatting about her family and our mutual friends. She was such a giant in the industry that she could rarely go anywhere without being noticed, so she often stayed on the bus until showtime. I love you Loretta and thanks for the lovely memories. I know you are cuttin’ up with your pal Patsy Cline now. You always missed her.”

  153. 153.

    BenCisco 🇺🇸🎖️🖥️♦️

    @suzanne: This is it exactly.

    They’re angry that they are not SEEN as the center of the universe, monuments to manly manhood that all women want to be with and all “lesser” men want to be. In short, angry that they’re not seen as something that was ALWAYS a myth to begin with.

    Reality is hard.

  154. 154.

    Soprano2

    @suzanne: I work with a lot of guys like this. Some are in pretty good shape, others not so much. If they work things like construction all their lives they get broken down by their 40’s or 50’s. Some are resentful of educated people, some aren’t. But yeah, it’s a problem.

  156. 156.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Mike E:

    my tastes have opened up considerably now that I’m older and any “good music” (per Satchmo) that catches my ear gets my support

    me too.

  159. 159.

    Martin

    @Dangerman: That wouldn’t save the look. You can’t pull off an outfit you don’t normally wear. If you aren’t a stand in the mud guy, then don’t dress up like a stand in the mud guy.

  160. 160.

    zhena gogolia

    @The Moar You Know: Does this mean it’s going to become yet another Russian influence operation, like Fox News?

    ETA: I mean openly and by design as opposed to randomly, like now.

  162. 162.

    PJ

    @sdhays: What normally happens when a court issues a money judgment and the loser refuses to pay is that the winner goes to a court in the jurisdiction where the loser resides and obtains an order seizing the loser’s bank accounts, property, garnishing their wages, etc. until they get what they are owed.  I imagine specific performance (purchase of Twitter) would be more complicated to execute but obtaining the cash to do it from Musk would be not dissimilar.

  164. 164.

    Martin

    @The Moar You Know: Not sure he ever could have gotten away with just paying the penalty since it was revealed to never have been a good faith offer. The shareholders were always going to sue for the full amount. At least this way, he gets the company.

    If he’s smart, he’ll sit on the board and keep his fucking mouth shut.

  165. 165.

    Betty Cracker

    @realbtl: As someone pointed out in Ken Burns’ excellent country music documentary, Loretta Lynn and Tammy Wynette were singing each other’s songs. (Lynn stood by her man, and Wynette endured a ton of personal heartbreak and drama.)

  167. 167.

    trollhattan

    @The Moar You Know:

    Maybe the least surprising thing re. Michael Fucking Vick was that after prison he again played in the NFL because he was Michael Fucking Vick.

    Had he been an offensive interior lineman, or kick return specialist, he’d have never played another snap.

    Ditto Adrian Peterson, who played on after beating that poor child–he barely got a wrist slap. Will close with this note: “In 2018, Peterson admitted that he was still using a belt to discipline his son.”

  168. 168.

    Nicole

    @The Moar You Know: I don’t agree.  Vick served his sentence, paid his fines, and he’s not repeated.  He’s Exhibit A for rehabilitation.

    And, speaking as a pit bull owner myself, it was Vick’s getting arrested that led to a revolution in how pit bulls are treated by law enforcement.  Prior to him, most dogs recovered from fighting rings were euthanized because the belief was they were too vicious to be safe.  Thanks to Vick being a public figure, so the story (and the dogs) got national attention, and him having the $ to pay (over $900,000, if I’m remembering right), animal rescue groups had the resources to demonstrate that even pit bulls bred and trained for fighting could be rehabilitated into animal companions.  Law enforcement stopped seeing the dogs as evidence and started seeing them as victims.  It was a big change.

    I sincerely doubt any sort of major change in animal welfare will occur as a result of Dr. Oz’s cruelty, though.

  169. 169.

    Betty Cracker

    @J.: I hope you get to go back to Sanibel and see about your house and stuff sooner rather than later — the wait must be agonizing. Meanwhile, head on down to Tarpon Springs and get you some Greek food! Mykonos down by the sponge docks is unassuming, affordable and excellent!

  171. 171.

    becca

    I met Loretta when I catered a couple of CMA awards shows at the Ryman . She would take home leftovers from the rehearsals. She was sweet and unassuming and very ditzy, but in an endearing way. Mr becca worked with her in the studio and brought home some memorable tales. Everybody loved her.

    Moonie was an ass, tho.

  172. 172.

    Paul in KY

    @Betty: Maybe some cosplay gear from when he dresses up as one of Capital City’s security troops…cause you know he loves those guys.

  173. 173.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Baud: I can see why they chose that name but it definitely implies something different from the contents.

    (I suspect that we are going to have to argue about the rights of artificial intelligences sooner or later, but we’re a way off from the point where we’d even know what to put in a Bill for it.)

  174. 174.

    Suzanne

    @BenCisco 🇺🇸🎖️🖥️♦️: Right. They think they are aspirational and are aghast to find out otherwise.

    The screen shots going around about the new right-wing dating app are absolutely a riot. The comments from men wondering if the app is working because they can’t find any women, the comments from the dudes writing in their profiles that they were at the J6 rally and then were contacted by the FBI….absolute comedy gold. I hope they’re real.

  175. 175.

    cckids

    @geg6: But RIP Loretta.  You were a tough broad in a tough business and you kicked ass.  Good for you.

    I remember an aunt giving me an (authorized??) biography of Loretta Lynn when I was 13, and recovering from surgery.  It was an eye-opener for sure – married at 14, she straight-up says that her wedding night ended in rape, so many kids so fast, moving many times with her spouse – who she definitely loved – worked to get her music played on country radio. She was just so plain spoken and unworried about what people thought. A quote of hers that I still remember – from an interview about her song “The Pill” – she talked about what a blessing birth control was, and said that she was 20 before she realized that to not get pregnant, you had to cross your legs, not your fingers. She was one of a kind.

  178. 178.

    MomSense

    @Nicole:

    💕💕💕💕 That’s a beautiful story.  Those musicians were the real deal- had to be better and tougher than the men.
    We are buzzing at my house.  Kid’s band is opening for Molly Tuttle on Saturday at a big music festival- they are sold out so about 10,000 people which is big for my kid.  Molly Tuttle is so good.
    It’s a big Biden deal for us!

  179. 179.

    Ruckus

    @Kropacetic:

    There is a big Chevy dealership down the street from me and on my daily walk I pass the commercial yard. It is full of white work trucks, probably around 100 of them. A white truck is a good basis for signage, like a company logo.

  181. 181.

    Martin

    @suzanne: This sums up a lot of it.

    Women have figured out their standards can be a LOT higher.

    Men have not figured out that women have figured that out.

    But yeah, everything is culture war bullshit. All of it. I can’t think of a single issue right now that isn’t.

  184. 184.

    Tony G

    @Tony G: However … I suspect that DeSantis looking like a prissy phoney in this picture will not diminish him in the eyes of his supporters at all.  Look at Trump — an obese old man with orange makeup and a ridiculous combover.  His cult loves him.  In a weird way these cult members seem to love their leader even more, the more grotesque and ridiculous they are.  I don’t pretend to understand these people, and they represent 30 to 40 percent of the population.

  186. 186.

    catclub

    @The Moar You Know: ​

    I’d have paid the penalty instead.

    The court case was demanding ‘specific performance’ – which is pay the full $54.20 per share purchase. And in the court case he was/is going to lose. Paying just the $1B penalty was not going to do it.​

  191. 191.

    catclub

    @Suzanne: ​
    &nbsp

    ;the comments from the dudes writing in their profiles that they were at the J6 rally and then were contacted by the FBI

    if you are black and make up a song about being involved a crime, you can be convicted of that crime, based on the song, in these United States.

  194. 194.

    Baud

    @zhena gogolia:

    Does this mean it’s going to become yet another Russian influence operation, like Fox News?

    It’s funny.  The Texas GOP passed a law prohibiting Twitter from discriminating against content.  It’s going to the Supremes next year after the 5th Circuit affirmed it.  I wonder if Musk will talk Texas out of it if he buys Twitter.

  195. 195.

    Betty Cracker

    @Baud: I was reading about that case the other day. It’s completely insane. If we had a normal SCOTUS, I’d be confident they wouldn’t blow up the internet by making platforms host Nazis, the KKK, etc. But we don’t have a normal SCOTUS, so who knows?

  197. 197.

    Suzanne

    @BenCisco 🇺🇸🎖️🖥️♦️:

    My personal favorite (thus far) is a grid of profile pics, all 1) wearing sunglasses, 2) behind the wheel of their vehicles, and 3) identical facial hair profiles. You cannot make this stuff up! 

    I saw that, too. I was in absolute hysterics. I have some single woman friends who are on the apps and they snark on these dudes endlessly. Also apparently lots of men like to post photos of themselves holding up fish?! Like WTF?!

    But yes: facial hair grown to cover the double chin, stupid-ass Oakley-esque sunglasses, and trucks. All of these things are such strong visual signifiers of being a right wing douchebag that I now hate them all.

  198. 198.

    David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    I love the smell of October surprises in the morning

  199. 199.

    BenCisco 🇺🇸🎖️🖥️♦️

    @Suzanne:

    stupid-ass Oakley-esque sunglasses

    Yes, those have been the subject of some commercials – they’ve become part of the “tacti-cool” cosplay kit, along with camo/olive drab gear complete w/backward American flags – annoying to no end.

    We wore that stuff for a REASON, geniuses!

  203. 203.

    LeftCoastYankee

    ETA: deleted from me butchering it while editing.

    Prostratedragon said it before me too.

  208. 208.

    Salty Sam

    @Suzanne: Also apparently lots of men like to post photos of themselves holding up fish?! Like WTF?!

    ummm, Raven would like to have a word…

  209. 209.

    The Moar You Know

    The death penalty for mistreating animals?

    @ian: torturing them, electrocuting and beating them to death with his bare hands.  Using bait dogs to train dogs to kill other dogs.  Hell yes.  No qualms about that at all.

    Or if we’re talking about “Doctor” Oz, flaying them alive and then leaving them to die.  Again, zero qualms about removing anyone from society who does such things

    People who do that shit to animals will eventually end up doing it to people.

  210. 210.

    Betty Cracker

    Justice Jackson borrows originalists’ filet knife, uses it to deftly carve up conservative argument in Alabama redistricting case (via TPM):

    “I don’t think we can assume that, just because race is taken into account, that that necessarily creates an equal protection problem,” she said. “Because I understood that we looked at the history and traditions of the Constitution and what the framers and founders thought about, and when I drilled down to that level of analysis, it became clear to me that the framers themselves adopted the equal protection clause, the 14th Amendment, the 15th Amendment in a race-conscious way.”

    “I looked at the report that was submitted by the Joint Committee on Reconstruction which drafted the 14th Amendment, and that report says that the entire point of the amendment was to secure rights of the freed former slaves,” she added.

    She read out a quote from the legislator who introduced the amendment, and went on to explain that the 14th Amendment was enacted to give a constitutional foundation to the Civil Rights Act of 1866 that was “designed to make people who had less opportunity and less rights equal to white citizens.”

    Damn! Even the not-lawyers are impressed!

  213. 213.

    kalakal

    @J.: Tarpon is definitely the place for Greek food around here. I’m glad to hear you’re ok, it must be very difficult to get any idea of what it’s like on Sanibel. If you’re in Tarpon and want a relaxing day drive down the county to De Soto park.

  215. 215.

    Benw

    RIP Loretta Lynn. She was a real vanguard in country music.

    I’m young enough to remember candidate Obama showing up in regular clothes, rolling up his sleeves, and hauling sandbags for a day. How hard is it to be decent?

  217. 217.

    The Moar You Know

    She read out a quote from the legislator who introduced the amendment, and went on to explain that the 14th Amendment was enacted to give a constitutional foundation to the Civil Rights Act of 1866 that was “designed to make people who had less opportunity and less rights equal to white citizens.”

    @Betty Cracker: Oh my.  I expect a very revised version of originalism to come out by next week at the latest that boils down to “only parts of the Constitution/Bill of Rights written before 1790”.

    That pack of illegally appointed bastards is going to have their hands full with Justice Jackson.  May her knife stay sharp.

  218. 218.

    Geminid

    Until today Charlie Crist has been fairly restrained in his comments about Hurricane Ian and its aftermath. On Twitter and in interviews he’s mainly talked about relief and rebuilding efforts, and taken shots at the insurance industry.

    DeSantis gave him an opening, though in an interview reported by Florida Politics under  the headline “Ron DeSantis says ‘national regime media’ wanted Hurricane Ian to hit Tampa.”

    An interviewer from right wing media site Florida’s Voice suggested to DeSantis that predictions that the Ian would hit Tampa were responsible for lack of preparedness further south and DeSantis agreed, saying that the media’s eargerness to see the populous Tampa region devastated shaped their reporting.

    Crist responded about an hour ago:

       A true leader is accountable for their words and deeds

    It’s disgusting to see Ron DeSantis blame anyone and everyone, whether its the media or Floridians trying to help their neighbors, rather than own up to his failure of leadership.

    @CharlieCrist 2:22pm Oct. 4

    h/t to @Buffalo Meg Twitter

  221. 221.

    Miss Bianca

    @J.: sorry to hear about your travails courtesy of Ian, but just had to give a hearty thumbs-up to “WussinBoots”. Nicely done!

  223. 223.

    Anotherlurker

    @Salty Sam: I, too, will pose with prize catches.  I am also  a life long liberal who helps my neighbors and write post cards to voters

    However, I’m also clean shaven now as a result of seeing the scruffy look appropriated by RWNJs and assholes, in general.

    Also, being clean shaven takes a good 10 years off my look.

  225. 225.

    Gravenstone

    @Kropacetic: To be fair, white and black are the current dominant colors in the vehicle market. Good luck finding something different than those two color choices, especially in the used market.

  227. 227.

    MisterDancer

    @Betty Cracker: Justice Jackson borrows originalists’ filet knife, uses it to deftly carve up conservative argument in Alabama redistricting case

    And Justice Jackson is SO RIGHT! The parts of those arguments I’ve read are utterly fascinating in terms of the deliberate choices around Race in general, and Black folx in particular.

    There is a ton of useful information in that period of debate and argument that I suspect is worthy of pulling into the modern discussions on Race in America. There’s a reason the Amendments that came out of them are top of the list for these asshats to tear down.

  229. 229.

    geg6

    @AWOL:

    Yeah, one of the many reasons I have no time for country music or musicians.  9 out of 10 are racist, misogynist MAGAts.

  233. 233.

    Suzanne

    @Anotherlurker:

    I, too, will pose with prize catches. 

    Apparently it’s a common thing to pose with caught fish and animals one hunted on dating apps, and apparently it is a big WTF for a lot of women who are also on the apps, many of whom do not find it attractive.

    I will note that this is not my opinion, so don’t roast me by proxy. I am old and boring and married, and not on the apps.

  241. 241.

    Dan B

    @Josie: Happy Birthday!  I just had one Saturday, same as Jimmy Carter – yay!  Same day and year as the PRC – Aieeee!  We had my brother, his girlfriend and our two favorite friends to takeout Dim Sum and Thai food, yum, and far fewer than the 1.4 billion Chinese.  We ate out on our little elevated terrace and we only needed light jackets after dark thanks to a powerful high pressure ridge.  Seattle in October, WTF?  But it was great to be outside.

  244. 244.

    Jacel

    Nancy Sinatra’s own Twitter account (@NancySinatra) is well worth following and has a strong progressive voice.

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